Identity Chrysalisby HapHazredChaptersChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter One. That would have been like a fairy-tale, he thought. He looked around him; carrying enough saddle-bags for two and on the run from the Town, heading towards a mysterious destination, held captive by the very pony he had a crush on. The wind whipped at his once perfect mane and dust was in his eyes; his hooves were sore and his muscles ached. How was he supposed to know he had tried to go out with a supposedly dead changeling queen? His luck was the worst. If there was one thought that went through the mind of the green-coated mare, striding in front of Feather Bangs, it was that she was Queen Chrysalis, the rightful ruler of all changelings. She looked down at her current form; a cute little disguise she had adopted as an emergency measure. Of course she would have natural instincts that got triggered when she was in danger or unconscious. She wasn’t… certain how she had got there, but she knew it must have had something to do with Twilight Sparkle. The last thing the Queen remembered was the feeling of… cold. Like ice, or granite. It had enveloped her, hooves first, and then rose around her legs and abdomen. She had felt her organs petrify, go stiff, and no sensory input came from any of her appendages. She had felt her body betray her, refuse her every command, and then she had seen it; stone covering her like, like, like… It couldn’t be described, the feeling of helplessness. Chrysalis stopped in her tracks, and in that brief moment, Feather Bangs… a crude creature who she had awoken near… caught up to her. He looked at her with a look of mild concern. Her horn flashed. In his mind he saw his thoughts addled by memories of some… some pony fool named ‘Emerald’. “Y-you okay?” Feather asked, stuttering. Was that something he would always do, or was his weak pony frame simply exhausted? “Silence,” she instructed. “Move.” She caught her breath, the memories subsiding. She knew roughly where she was now… that was all that mattered. On the outskirts of Equestria, far away from Canterlot… from Twilight Sparkle. How much time had passed? How had she escaped? It had to have been some plan, an emergency measure she herself in her wisdom had put in place. Twilight would not let her go… not after everything Chrysalis had done. She was too dangerous. Twilight at least must have respected her as an enemy enough to know to never, ever release her… Chrysalis picked up the pace, trying to catch up to Feather Bangs. She felt weak. Even her magic was lessened. It had taken more energy than she cared to admit to cast a spell of deception upon Feather. A clever trick… when unable to cast a geas, a spell of control, it was often enough to cast a weaker, less costly spell that merely convinced the target that she had. “Pony…” she began. “How much time has passed since the day I was defeated?” Feather looked towards her, nervous. “You mean… Queen Chrysalis?” “That is I, yes.” Feather scratched his head. “Um… pretty sure that was yesterday.” Chrysalis pondered. Not much time at all had passed, then. Either a blessing or a curse, depending on context. If Twilight was still cautious, still on edge, she might notice Chrysalis’s escape. Chrysalis herself did not fully recall the mechanism of her evading petrification, and therefore was unable to guess whether she might have left tracks, whether she could be caught, or found out, or detected remotely… Then again Twilight might be celebrating, might be utterly unaware that her most vicious and devious foe was loose and travelling across Equestria. Her and Feather walked up a rise, and from there they could overlook much of Equestria, the badlands, and in the distance… the rising smoke clouds of faraway volcanoes and lava flows. The dragonlands. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. She recalled in Twilights service there had been a dragon, a dragon queen no less. Powerful and strong, but… fragile, perhaps? “What’s going on?” Feather asked. “This morning I was talking to Emerald… how is it you were Emerald?” Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at Feather. The dumb creature was panicking. He would be useless as a servant unless she calmed him, eased his mind somehow. She summoned her magic to dull his senses, render him even more stupid than before… but the magic did not come. Instead it fizzled within her horn and died out before it could form a spell. Chrysalis spat angrily. She was as weak as a typical, dull member of the hive. A lesser changeling, not the mighty ruler she once was. The outrage. The despicable mundanity of it all. She would have to do things the old-fashioned way. “There are many things that are confusing,” she told Feather. “I am not going to hurt you, however… yet. I need you calm and focussed for the journey ahead.” Feather hung off her every word. Perhaps he hoped for answers… but Chrysalis had none. She was as confused as Feather… moreseo, even. A side-effect of the petrification, perhaps? Had it scrambled her mind? Her mind… Chrysalis rubbed the bridge of her nose. Well, Emerald Eve’s nose, since that was the form she was inhabiting. “Where are we going?” Feather asked her. Chrysalis was, again, unsure. What was her plan? She had awoken in the Town, asleep on a couch, a hot towel over her head as if she was sick. Feather had been there, playing on some infernal musical instrument, his strumming hurting her ears… She only knew she needed to put some distance between her and civilisation. Get away from the Town, away from ponies, away from anypony who might report to Sparkle… She had taken Feather with her. Why? It seemed like a less than sensible move, now. He was slow, clearly thick, and ordinary. He panicked, he lost his cool, and was unused to situations like these. Unused to running. Chrysalis needed time to think. “Shelter,” she told Feather. “We are going to seek shelter.” Feather swallowed. “There’s… a cave not far.” “A cave?” “It overlooks the land between Equestria and the Dragonlands. I’ve been there… once. It should be empty… bears only go there during winter.” Chrysalis did not like the sound of bears. She was weak; could she handle a bear? Could she handle any fight? If Feather were to rebel, to try to pin her down or escape, could she stop him? Questions, questions. For now, however, shelter seemed wise, especially if she was weakened. A risk taken to prevent further risks, maybe. At least it made sense… She didn’t enjoy the prospect of putting her faith in Feather Bangs, however. Trust him. Chrysalis shook her head angrily. “Lead the way,” she snarled. “We must rest before nightfall.” Feather Bangs sat down heavily as the whistling wind struggled to penetrate deep into the cave. He didn’t know how to start a fire… he didn’t know much about survival at all, actually. It presumably involved sticks, and… matches? He didn’t have matches. Perhaps there was some kind of alternative? Emerald Eve… Chrysalis, rather… stared at the small mount of sticks and dry leaves harvested from shrubs outside with a critical gaze. “This is pathetic. It will hardly last an evening.” Feather sighed. “It’s all I’ve got… There’s not much wildlife around here.” Chrysalis sighed, and her horn flickered to life. A single spark erupted from the tip of her horn, and landed onto the dry leaves, causing a small flame to sputter and emerge. Feather swallowed. He almost couldn’t believe that he had a geas put upon him… a spell to control and command him. Did Chrysalis have that power? Was there anything the evil queen couldn’t do? More than that, Feather could hardly believe that Chrysalis was Emerald. Emerald had lived in the Town for close to months now, and had been miles away from the fighting when Chrysalis had allegedly been petrified in stone. It made little sense to him that all of a sudden, Emerald had awoken from her fever with those piercing eyes filled with malice. “Are you really Queen Chrysalis?” he asked. Chrysalis looked up from the fire. She narrowed her eyes, and smirked. “Do you wish to behold my true form?” she asked him. “It has been known to shock ponies with weaker minds.” She chuckled. “Very well, then.” Magic like green fire rose from around the bottoms of Emerald’s hooves, transforming into a slick, shiny chitinous armour. Her height close to doubled, and from her once smooth back emerged a set of transluscent, fragile insectoid wings, like those of a dragonfly. What attracted Feather’s attention the most were the teeth… long, fang-like, and deadly. He could all-too easily picture them collapsing around his neck, piercing through his skin, and snapping the spine underneath… Feather took a step back, unable to control himself. To think that anypony could become something so… hideous. Chrysalis looked at him with a faint air of confusion. “Are you not awed?” “Um, yes!” Feather exclaimed. “Very, very awed. Uh-huh.” Chrysalis smirked, but the smile came a split second too late to be natural. Had Feather done something wrong? He hoped he hadn’t. He didn’t know whether changelings just ate love, or whether they sometimes had to make do with eating him the old-fashioned way. “It doesn’t matter,” Chrysalis said, and transformed back into Emerald Eve. Her form went back to the gentle, soft form that it had once been. Only the eyes, and the cruelty within, remained the same. “What happened to Emerald?” Chrysalis raised her eyebrow. “Who?” “Emerald Eve. She was the pony that… you became, I think?” Feather struggled to form words. He didn’t want to anger the Queen, he couldn’t… but he needed to know. “I don’t know her, nor do I wish to,” Chrysalis replied. “Was this pony… around for a long time before I arrived?” Feather nodded slowly. “For a few months… yes.” He struggled to breathe, Chrysalis’s stare was so piercing. “She liked talking about making music… I think. Maybe she was just pretending…” Chrysalis grinned, her teeth… Emerald’s teeth… flashing in the firelight. “I cannot imagine anypony being interested in making music with you,” she said. “But there is no accounting for poor judgement.” Night had fallen, and Chrysalis was still thinking. So, this ‘Emerald’ had been around for a long time, presumably whilst Chrysalis herself was off fighting Twilight? That hardly made any sense. She was Chrysalis, that much was certain… she had Chrysalis’s memories and thoughts, strategies and philosophies… but how could she have existed at the same time as, presumably, another Chrysalis? She rubbed her forehead. Everything was still murky… every time she felt close to the truth, the feeling of stone encroaching on her very soul threatened to overtake her, to consume and burn her mind away. It was the closest she had ever come to sheer, overwhelming terror… She forced herself through it. She was a Queen; her mind was indomitable, and would only fall prey to such weakness if and when she allowed it to. That was her way. The other changelings of the hive… the Usurper, who Chrysalis would not allow herself to even name… they had been weak, imperfect versions of her magnificence. Chrysalis was not so. As the rock had overcome her, what had she done? What would she have done? She would have desperately tried to escape. Yes, it was obvious. How? What devious trick had her mind come up with? Her mind... If her body could not escape, perhaps she would have sent her mind away? Chrysalis began to chuckle, then snicker. Eventually it became a full-blown laugh, a cackle at her own genius. Yes, it was perfect! It all made sense now. Feather stared at Chrysalis from the opposite side of the now dying fire, fear in his eyes. Chrysalis had sent her mind away. She had prepared for this years ago… long in the past, when she still had full control over her hive. A contract made with a loyalist changeling, independance for Chrysalis’s security. She had given a select few loyal changelings… there must be so few of them now… the opportunity to act as vessels in the event of Chrysalis’s demise, so she could live on. What a genius idea! Chrysalis had left her body behind, a statue in her shape, a decoy to distract Twilight and the Usurper, whilst she evaded capture, her mind freed from the prison she would have been held captive in for who knew how long. It had fled to a loyal changeling, a spy hidden from sight, and now… she was reborn. It was perfect! Hidden, unknown, and able to take Equestria completely unawares… it was a magnificent disguise. A devious ploy! Her masterstroke… With all the world thinking she was gone, she had the freedom to plan and plot whatever she wished. “What’s so funny?” Feather asked. “Oh, nothing your small mind would understand,” Chrysalis chuckled. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head over it.” Feather made more sense now, too. He must have been in the process of being manipulated for love by this ‘spy’, who had evidently been going by the name of Emerald Eve. That explained why he was so confused and concerned for ‘Emerald’. Too bad for him that Emerald never truly existed; she was just a waiting vessel for Chrysalis to inhabit. The only remaining question was the matter of Chrysalis’s missing power. Magic, particularly changeling magic, was dependant on the mind, of spiritual strength. So if her mind was now inside this body, where had her power gone? It was possible that she had been damaged by the petrification. She had already considered this, after all, and it had to be admitted that this technique of surviving at all costs had not been tested, nor was it exactly reliable. Her struggle to recall her plan was perhaps evidence enough that her mind had been damaged during the trip here. It didn’t matter. Chrysalis would regain her strength, in time. “Feather Bangs,” she called. “Tell me; have you ever visited the Dragonlands?” Feather shook his head. “A pity,” Chrysalis muttered. Dragons were… not known for their intelligence. Even weakened, perhaps Chrysalis could sow discord there… she still had the capacity to shapeshift, after all. And she was close to the Dragonlands… Of all the places to strike, where would be the smartest location to strike? Canterlot? No, not after what had happened. She was too weak and the ponies there too prepared and ready for her. Griffonstone? Perhaps, but they were already so prone to infighting that it almost seemed counterproductive to give them any help… Ponyville? Certainly not. Never again. Crystal Empire? Also too dangerous. Too many complicating magical factors. When she was stronger, with an army, perhaps… The Dragonlands seemed like a good place to start. There were a few reasons. They were big and strong, and probably the most likely to turn on Equestria anyway. Many of them followed the old ways, and only bent the knee to their Dragonlord because she was powerful and strong. They would be easy to manipulate. Dragons were also destructive… Chrysalis might not need much effort in order to set them loose, and in the chaos, she could set more plans in motion. And then there was Ember herself… Chrysalis was not blind to the world, and she knew full well that Ember and the Dragonlands had a strong relationship with Chrysalis’s former hive. She would take great pleasure in undoing Ember, and in so doing, strike a blow at the Usurper. Perhaps she could use her face in order to get close to him, strike him down, take back control of the hive… It was distant from Twilight Sparkle, far away from support, and ripe for treachery. Yes… the Dragonlands would do nicely. Chrysalis leaned back into the shadows of the cave. Getting there might be difficult… it was a long trip, after all. A dangerous one, too… she remembered previously avoiding trying to traverse the lava flows, the volcanic landscape, the razor sharp cliffs, the scree slopes, the ash clouds… On second thought, perhaps a safer place would be better… She glanced over at Feather. The stallion was… humming. To himself, presumably. After all, it wasn’t as if he would be humming for Chrysalis’s own benefit. She opened her mouth, about to snap at him for silence, but she stopped instead. Why? It didn’t matter, Chrysalis supposed. Let him hum away… at least his tuneless noise made for a change from the wailing of the wind outside… She gathered her wits. She had lost the ability to overcome minds in the same way as she used to. She could shapeshift, at least… that was good. There were, of course, limits to a disguise. They would not stave off discovery forever. What else? She had all of Chrysalis’s knowledge. Poisons and tricks, exploits and mind games. Those were all weapons she had at her disposal. She had no army… none worth speaking of. She looked at Feather Bangs. One weak pony, an Earth pony no less, and a musician, did not constitute a threatening force, or even a worthy distraction. He was good only for carrying bags. “What song is that?” Chrysalis asked, referring to the tune that Feather was humming. “It’s from a song,” Feather replied after a moment’s hesitation. “It’s called On an Adventure. It’s a little romantic song I was working on before…” Chrysalis raised her eyebrow. “Have you ever been on an adventure, Feather?” “N...no,” Feather told her. “I’ve always been kind of a loner…” Chrysalis snorted. “Well, you are on one now, it seems. Though I would much rather be rid of you, I think it will be a struggle to carry all these supplies to the Dragonlands by myself.” “To the Dragonlands?” Feather asked. “Why yes. That is where we shall begin our little movement.” Chrysalis clicked her tongue angrily. “I mean, I shall begin. You will be fortunate enough to serve under me, if I allow it.” Feather sighed, and looked down at his hooves gloomily. “Oh, yay…” he muttered. “A lifetime of servitude… just what I wanted.” “I could shorten it, if you’d prefer.” “The servitude, or my life?” Feather asked. “Nevermind, I already know the answer.” Chrysalis lay down on her stomach to sleep. “Good. You are learning.” She closed her eyes. She knew that Feather would not run, convinced as he was that she had a hold over him. Convinced she had control. So long as she held that illusion, she held power. Whilst the spell might be an illusion, its effects were very, very real. She drifted off to sleep, and let her mind drift off to dream of power, and victory. The Dragonlord was, for now, a happy dragon. Victory against evil had been found, the land was at peace once again, and she was looking at a pile of delicious, edible crystals at least as large as she was. Perfection. She dived into the pile, her claws wrapping around a large ruby, and she licked her lips in anticipation. “Y’know,” she began, and stuffed her face full of the delicious mineral, “I’ffs a goo’ f’ng dat…” Thorax, the Changeling King, groaned, and rested his large antlers on the table. “I… can’t understand a word you’re saying.” Ember swallowed. “Sorry, was that rude? Anyway. I said, it’s a good thing that this whole thing has been wrapped up quickly. I don’t like leaving the dragons alone all the time; they can be a pretty grumpy bunch.” Thorax gave Ember a look of concern. “You don’t expect they’d… rebel?” Ember shrugged. “Well, if they do, I can always smack them over the head with the staff. And then maybe set fire to them. And dunk their heads in lava.” Thorax sighed. Ember paused as she reached out to grab another gemstone to eat. “What? You look worried.” “It’s probably nothing…” Thorax said, looking sheepish and shy. Ember growled. She hated it when he was being shy. “Out with it. If it’s important, I don’t want it eating my butt later.” She frowned. “Is that the saying?” “I think it’s ‘bite me in the butt’, actually.” “Y’know, I thought so.” Ember shrugged. “Anyway, what?” Thorax frowned. “I kind of… maybe… detected a spell. When Chrysalis got defeated.” “A spell? Think she was trying to blast Twilight or something?” Ember asked. She threw the gem in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed it in seconds. “Well, if she did, it didn’t work, did it?” Thorax tapped his strange little bug-like… hoof things… together. “I don’t think Chrysalis would do that, really. She’s the type who’d try to escape, I think.” “Well, again, it didn’t work.” Ember sighed, and gave Thorax a tired stare. “Look, we won. Don’t be so paranoid; you’re just worried because she was a big deal to your hive, ruled over you, and is basically pure evil and stuff. That doesn’t mean she’s, like, invincible.” Ember pointed at herself. “If you want to think someone is invincible, then think of me. I mean, I survived, and Chrysalis didn’t. Hey, we all did.” She smiled. “So quit worrying, it’s a waste of time. Do you, like, eat things? That aren’t love?” “I do like cucumber sandwiches, actually!” “Sounds gross. I’m in!” Ember grinned. Today was the beginning of a new age, an age where she didn’t have to worry about borders and monsters. She could focus on bringing glory to the dragons… to her people and homeland. Thorax could do the same. It was all looking up for both of them. “If it’s all the same to you, though…” Thorax said as he went to the far side of the banquet hall to fetch Ember and himself some sandwiches, “I’m still going to keep a little… teensy weensy eye out, okay?” Ember rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just don’t infect me with your overcaution and stuff. I’m heading back home tomorrow, and I don’t want it to spread to all the other dragons.” Morning arrived, and Chrysalis stepped to the edge of the cave entrance. Before her was the large expanse of sand and dirt that bordered Equestria, on the edge of the Town. She was familiar with this land. After her defeat in Canterlot, the first time, she had retreated to her hive, which was miles away in the distance. She narrowed her eyes. It needed to be avoided at all costs… if any changelings were to find her, and detect her, she might be outed as a rogue agent, which could potentially bring the Usurper down upon her. That would mean the end of her little adventure. On the plus side, it meant that the dragons losing control of their borders would also affect them. That might be the chaos she needed to infiltrate and seize control again… and then it was anyone’s guess as to who would come out on top. Chrysalis, or the world… Shatter the alliances. Break the system. Salvage the pieces worth keeping. That would be her strategy. Distrust and paranoia would be her weapons. Feather emerged from the cave, carrying the large bags containing food, blankets, utensils, and protective gear he had lying around in his house, all scavenged before Chrysalis had ordered him to escape the town with her. Escape notice… Was it possible that anypony would miss this Emerald? Or Feather? It could mean detection if a search party went after her… and worse, found her. “Please let me and Emerald go…” Feather asked, pleadingly. “Emerald Eve is gone,” Chrysalis snapped. “In fact, she was never there to start with. She was a changeling spy, a plant. You were simply one of many they fooled.” Feather frowned, looking at Chrysalis defiantly. Chrysalis recoiled. She did not… like defiance. Too much of it, and he might try to fight the geas… and find that it wasn’t there at all. That would be too risky. “Oh, come. Surely this ‘Emerald’ you refer to is not as great as I?” Chrysalis smiled sweetly. “I am, after all, a Queen. Emerald was a mere puppet.” “I preferred Emerald Eve,” Feather said. Chrysalis’s eye twitched. True, there was no accounting for poor taste… perhaps Chrysalis ought to educate this fool as to the true gap between her and regular ponies, lesser changelings. “You hardly know what powers I have,” she told him. “Perhaps you shall see some of the many great things I can do. The power I possessed was once indescribable!” She approached Feather, still smiling with a predatory grin. “You shall see. I promise.” Feather’s lips turned downwards in an unpleasant curl. Chrysalis turned her head angrily. Why was she even trying to convince him? She didn’t need his appreciation. Perhaps Emerald Eve had tried to use him as a cheap supply of love, but Chrysalis did not need someone so petty for that. It still beggared belief that he thought that some nobody was greater than the mighty Queen of changelingkind, however. She snarled. He had best avoid irritating her further, or she would show him the wrath of a scorned Queen. “We move onwards,” she snapped. “Let us go; to the Dragonlands.” Author's Note Howdy folks. New story for a new contest this time around. As always, please feel free to like, comment, and all those things I'm obligated to say. I hope you enjoy reading! Cheerio. Chapter TwoThe tavern… or bar, or perhaps simply gathering cave, was loud, crowded, and filthy. It was, by and large, populated by dragons. There were a variety of regulars; and as conversations were overheard by Feather, he was able to put names to the many massive shapes that populated the bar. There was the mighty Grankertank, a behemoth of a creature with stubby wings but muscles large enough to compensate for any other item of anatomy lacking in scale, Garble, the bright red, loudmouthed brat just as likely to punch you in the face as he was to ask you to join him in punching someone else in the face. There was Brasser, who served as part bar-dragon, part regular customer, and one was never completely certain whether he was going to serve you a drink of molten, steaming substance best left to the imagination, or whether he was just going to straight up down his entire stock himself. It was a true nest of thugs and dastardly behaviour. Feather would have to be careful. “Don’t you think one pony, travelling alone, is just going to raise even more suspicion?!” A small figure by contrast, his beige-gold coat in stark contrast to the vibrant, metallic scales, the stallion Feather Bangs looked up at a slight, yet powerfully built green dragon. Female. “Not my concern,” the dragon replied. “If noting else, you will serve as a straightforward distraction.” Feather Bangs groaned as all lizardlike eyes turned towards him. He was still carrying supplies, though now much reduced after a long trip across dusty deserts, rocky ranges, sulphurous slopes, and deadly ditches. One half of his mane was also singed black from a very unfortunate encounter with a volcano. He hated the Dragonlands. “Who ‘dis, then?” one of the dragons barked. Feather Bangs swallowed. He was not accustomed to such a… tough crowd. What was he supposed to say? He decided to do what he always did; flick the mane, smile, and hope for the best. “Hey guys,” he said, his pearly white teeth glinting in the dark. “Where can a pony get himself a drink around here?” There was a small moments silence. Slowly, a massive finger (belonging to Grankertank) pointed towards Brasser. “At da bar… duh.” Chrysalis, wearing her disguise of a dragon to avoid detection, rolled her eyes. Feather decided to put some distance between him and the vicious Queen. Three days of putting up with her incessant commands, her snide remarks, and her increasingly dangerous requests… “Where do you think you’re going?” she snarled. “To get… a drink,” Feather muttered despondently. He glanced at Chrysalis, anger in his eyes. “Is that okay, mom?” He wasn’t sure where that quip had come from. He certainly knew he was going to regret it… but for the first time in a while, Chrysalis was forced to be on her best behaviour. Feather had thought about it… Chrysalis was going to have to play at being a dragon. She couldn’t do things like command him about like a changeling queen any more. That would risk exposure. She bared her teeth at Feather, but as expected, thought better of it. Ha, Feather thought. Got her! Three days, Feather thought. Three days of trekking, miserable and unhappy. It had toughened him up, at least. He had come to hate everything about Chrysalis. He hated how she talked, how she walked, and how she perverted virtually everything about Emerald Eve. Feather Bangs spluttered. He barely even knew Emerald, when he thought about it. He thought she had been hot, had been nice, and she liked talking about music despite, frankly, not being very good at it at all. He glance at Chrysalis, who was moving to talk with one of the dragons… she was leaning towards a slimy excuse for a dragon, more snake than mighty fire-breathing lizard. He knew that whatever Eve had been, it had been better than Chrysalis, though. Anything was better than her. If only he wasn’t under this accursed geas! He reached the bar, which was taller than he was, and looked up. He tried to scramble onto one of the stools, and upon succeeding, panted and looked over at the big, brass dragon behind the counter. Darn, the smell… it was like sticking his head in a bucket full of rotting eggs and jerky. “Do you have anything,” he began, “that, like, doesn melt ponies?” The giant dragon belched. “Dunno.” He turned behind him and poured a selection of drinks into stone cups. “Want t’try?” Frankly, after days of travelling with Chrysalis, Feather was sorely tempted. “Whoa there,” came a gruff voice from the crowd. The bright red dragon emerged from behind Feather and grabbed two of the cups. “Look, Ember’ll have my scales for dinner-plates if I let the only pony visitor in ages turn his insides to mush.” He put the cups down and stared at Feather. “Name’s Garble. Look; this one, regular alcohol. That one, diamond polish. This one will make you unconscious. That one will make you dead.” He growled. “Got it?” Feather nodded. “Y-yeah, sure thing, Garble. I’m Feather.” “I don’t care,” Garble replied. “Just… put a good word in for me with Ember? She’s been really making life hard for me lately.” Garble threw up his claws into the air angrily. “I burn one forest... just the one, and all of a sudden I’m the villain!” Feather took a sip from the ‘non-lethal’ drink. He coughed; it still tasted pretty lethal! It wasn’t exactly Sweet Apple Cider… “What do you do?” asked Brasser. Feather swallowed. He wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to talk… then again, what exactly was Chrysalis going to do to him here? Kill him? Around all these dragons? “I’m sort of… a musician and singer.” Feather flicked his mane. “I’m pretty popular in places like Fillydelphia and stuff…” “Whot’s Fillydelphia?” In the corner of the room, Chrysalis turned her eyes towards Feather, her eyes narrowing into slits. “Oh, y’know, just some place…” Feather muttered. “Don’t you guys, uh… have cities?” “More like gatherings,” Garble said. “Cities are for losers.” “Oh.” Brasser reached behind the bar. “Here. Can you play this?” He dropped a pan-flute onto the bar. They had clearly been designed for something larger than a pony… a single pipe was almost the size of Feather’s hoof in diameter. “Uh… I don’t think so…” “Not much of a musician then.” Feather winced. Was this going to be trouble? “What about this?” Brasser dragged out a large trumpet. “Play this.” Feather looked at the trumpet. It was… old, but functional. He picked it up in his hooves. Brass wasn’t exactly his strong suit… in fact, he kind of missed his troupe of back-up singers and dancers. How was he supposed to play and sing at the same time? He brought his lips to the instrument, and blew. It was a strong, clear sound that echoed throughout the bar. Feather played with the pistons a bit… tried a little tune. It was only when he realised all eyes were on him that he paused. He was used to attention on stage. He liked it, even… but something about the sharp teeth, predatory eyes, monstrous claws, and threatening smoke caused him to quake at the thought of being the focus of every dragon in the vicinity. Chrysalis continued to stare at him. Feather could only guess what she was thinking. “Um…” he began. “Do you maybe have something a little more… string-y?” Brasser threw a mandolin at Feather. “Like this?” The crowd looked at Feather, curious. Did dragons not do music? Feather wondered if that was part of why they were so very curious in him. He caught the mandolin in his hooves and discarded the trumpet. He had learned guitar as a young colt… back in his highschool days, mostly as a way to try and attract fillies (it hadn’t worked very well), but a mandolin was new. It couldn’t be that different, he thought… He plucked at the strings. Sound was different… lighter. Shape was weird as well… if he had time to practice, he could probably get used to the differences… “Oi! Make some noise!” Feather swallowed. Under the intense peer pressure of the dragons, it was difficult not to feel nervous… he couldn’t back down now. “A-ahem…” he coughed. Garble narrowed his eyes at the Earth pony, his arms crossed. Where was a convenient team of back-up dancers when Feather needed them?! “In… in the desert vast…” he began, struggling to come up with lyrics on the spot. Come on, he thought to himself. He was better than this… singing was literally his special talent. That and hair products, of course… He looked at Chrysalis. Overcome with anger at his situation, he focussed in on the changeling queen. He might not be able to rebel against her physically… but he’d enjoy doing it verbally. He took a deep breath… The door to the bar slammed open, and in its frame stood a tall, lithe, agile figure… from claws to spine she was the colour of sapphire, and large bat-like wings sprounded from her back. In-between fangs so jagged they could tear through leather slithered a forked tongue, and a pair of piercing reptilian eyes honed in on Feather. Every lyric, every word and sound that Feather was about to utter froze in his throat. He knew the dragon by reputation only, but a fearsome reputation it was: Dragonlord Ember, the ruler of the dragonlands, fierce warrior and nimble thinker. Small for a dragon, certainly, and with all the weaknesses that this implied, she nonetheless commanded a fierce aura of fear and power. Like Chrysalis, Feather knew that the dragonlord was equally dangerous, if not infinitely less malicious. “What’s a pony doing here?” she asked, stomping through the crowd towards Feather. Behind her scurried a smaller, less powerfully built dragon, with large, curling horns and big, bulbous eyes. A retainer? “And why isn’t everyone making him feel more welcome?!” The dragons assembled there all cowered. “I give you one job! Be nice to visitors. Look, you’ve got him all nervous.” Ember sighed, and walked up to the bar. “Uh, hello… male? That’s right, isn’t it?” Feather nodded. “Y-yeah. I’m… Feather Bangs.” Ember tried smiling, which to Feather looked more like she was showing off her teeth. “Great! A name I’ll definitely remember, I promise. Why exactly are you here?” Feather stalled. What was he supposed to say? He glanced over at Chrysalis, who was still staring at him in dragon form. That… couldn’t mean anything pleasant. Chrysalis would definitely kill him if he blabbed… but then again, if he blabbed, could Ember save him? If she even believed him… As far as she knew, Chrysalis had been petrified, right? Feather began to sweat. What was the right move? And even if he wanted to lie, what was he going to say?! “Uh, you okay there? You look kinda broken.” Ember turned to her retainer, eyebrows raised. “Was it something I did?” “I… I’m looking for my muse!” Feather exclaimed. “I’m a songwriter… and singer! Yes, that’s true.” Feather swallowed. Ember narrowed her eyes. “Seems legit. What’s a muse?” “It’s fun, innit?” said one of the dragons in the crowd. “Nah, that’s ‘amuse’, Stankrag.” “I thought it was like one of ‘em big animals with them horn things.” “That’s a moose, Brasser!” “It means… inspiration! Like… uh… when you can’t think of something, and then poof! It enters your brain and you can think things all of a sudden!” Feather explained. “It’s not a moose.” Ember clapped her claws together. “Wow! Why is a muse here? Last I checked we just had lava, rocks, and lots and lots of treasure.” She narrowed her eyes. “It’s not part of our treasure, is it?” “No! I don’t think so… it’s more of a mental thing.” “Sounds pretty mental to me,” muttered Brasser. Ember sighed. “Okay, whatever… losing interest. I mean… I’m very interested, but… whatever.” She groaned. “Do you have, like, somewhere to stay?” Feather swallowed. “No.” Chrysalis nodded to him, slowly. “I mean yes!” Chrysalis shook her head, anger flashing in her eyes. “Actually, no. Definitely no.” Ember clicked her claws together. “Well, you can decide on the way. C’mon, I want to show you my mountain. You’re the first tourist in the dragonlands! It’ll be great for this place if you bring back cool pictures and stuff.” Ember’s retainer, the small slimy dragon, held up a claw. “Um, actually…” “C’mon, what could be the harm?” Ember asked, and beckoned to Feather to follow her. “Besides I never get guests.” As Feather jumped off the stool to follow Ember, Chrysalis edged closer to him, and unbeknownst to Ember and her retainer, she wrapped a claw around Feather’s neck. “Act. Natural.” Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed. “Remember everything they say… spy.” She grinned. “Got it?” Feather felt his heart drop into his stomach. “Y-yeah, sure.” Ember exited the bar, and gestured wildly towards the vast expanse of volcanic rock, sulphur storms, and crags. “Behold!” She exclaimed, pointing towards a massive, black lump of rock. “For I live here.” Feather beheld, and was suitably impressed. “Rockin' the stone look, I see,” he said. "Heh." "Heh," Ember replied. “Let’s get going, Feather. And you, um… Wimp?” Her retainer sighed. “Ebonite…” “Wimp is more memorable. Let’s go inside.” Chrysalis, wearing the form of a sleek, slender dragon, slid out the entrance of the cramped, smelly bar, and emerged into the dusty brown landscape beyond. The travel had worn her down, more than she liked to admit. She hadn’t been able to increase her powers again… she was no closer to her old self than she had been when she had escaped the Town with Feather Bangs. What was wrong with her? She could luckily still shapeshift, but that was a skill that even the lowest changeling possessed. Clearly her magical self had been damaged when it had been transported from Chrysalis’s old form to her new one, and badly. Chrysalis moved through the rocks and acidic clouds, following Ember, her retinue, and Feather from a safe distance. She didn’t want to arouse suspicion. Ember might only be a big brute of a dragon, but she likely held the advantage in strength. Even wearing the shape of a dragon, Chrysalis was not one. She would have to rely on deception and intelligence to overcome Ember in a confrontation… and for that, Chrysalis needed information. Sending Feather into Ember’s castle was a risk… but a calculated risk. She knew that he might realise her deception, break the ‘geas’, and turn against her, revealing that Chrysalis was still alive to the world… but on the other hand, she could identify weaknesses, Ember’s habits, and other potential risks. Chrysalis licked her fangs. If she could simply remove Ember, she could throw the entire land into chaos, and with dragons being more integrated with pony life, the potential for widespread havoc was unimaginable. Chrysalis sniffed the air, and frowned. She sensed something… something unpleasant to her. It could simply be the sulphur and ash, but then again… there was a familiarity to this putrid odour. She stepped towards the ‘castle’ that Ember lived in… closer to a large mountain with a big hole in it than a proper fortress or living area. Chrysalis scowled at how crude dragon architecture was. Nothing approaching the complex three-dimensionality of changeling hives, for sure. She looked around for any sign of guards… but there weren’t any. Was Ember’s home completely undefended? The entrance lay before Chrysalis, vacant of all resistance. She could simply walk in if she wanted… Chrysalis snorted. If she had known the dragons were so pathetic and careless, she would have invaded them long ago. Thinking better of sneaking in, she decided instead to wait until she got a chance to see Feather again. It galled her how Feather seemed so unashamedly dismissive of her grandeur. She had risen the changelings to be feared by all of Equestria! Yet somehow he thought that she was the lesser for it. She snarled. She’d show him… she’d show all of them. She looked down at her claws, and clenched them together. The fool was likely still bemoaning Chrysalis switching places with his pathetic little changeling. Clouding his judgement. Ponies… they were so irrational and small-minded. She’d show him who was the greater of the two… some nameless changeling spy, or the queen of all changelings. Author's Note Sorry folks for being a bit inconsistent with publishing this one. It's been a little hectic on my end in the lab. As always, comments are supremely valuable to me! Please feel free to comment any thoughts or ideas, and I'd love to hear them. Cheers! Chapter Three“It turns out that I don’t actually have any pony food in here. Huh. Sorry about that,” Ember said. “What if I got the softest crystals we had? Could you eat those?” Feather stared blankly at the taller, more muscular dragon. He sighed. “No.” He took off his saddlebags. “Luckily I have some food with me.” Ember breathed out, clearly relieved. Feather wondered how many guests she had; it couldn’t be many if she was this enthusiastic (and unprepared) about bringing one of the only ponies to visit the dragonlands to her personal… cave. The cavern was largely unadorned, with glowing hot rocks (possibly connected to magma flows?) illuminating the otherwise dark, hot cavern. Pillars appeared to be carved out of sheer heat melting away the stone. Ebonite, Ember’s majordomo, was bustling around, trying to find… things. Feather wasn’t sure what; he mostly seemed to just take up space. “Uh… how’re you enjoying the dragonlands so far?” Ember asked, smiling awkwardly. “And will you be, like, telling everypony about how awesome it is here?” Feather sighed. “Well the weather is warm.” “Heck yeah!” Ember said. “The warmest! You should see the fire-showers.” Feather did not want to see the fire-showers. “I have a question,” Feather began, deciding that he had better at least try to do something about his unfortunate situation. “You’re friends with the changeling king, right?” Ember raised an eyebrow. “‘Friends’ is one way to put it, sure.” She put her talons on her hips. “We’re the best of allies! King Thorax helps out with stupid stuff I don’t like like ‘being nice’ and stuff, and in exchange I beat up his enemies!” Ember grinned. “It’s awesome. He also always makes sure to keep his hive full of awesome crystals for me to eat!” Feather tilted his head. “So you know a lot about changelings, then?” “Uh, kinda. I know that they’re really weak and flimsy and if you sit on them they sort of squelch and crunch at the same time…” “I meant… more like, do they have any other weaknesses?” “Fire, thrown rocks, talons, punches, headlocks…” “I mean… magical weaknesses? Like, if they cast a spell on you…?” “Fire, thrown rocks, talons, punches, headlocks…” Feather sighed. Ember was no help at all. “Ugh, okay. Thorax was talking about their disguises for a bit. I mostly only pretended to listen, but there was a little bit of it I kind of remember,” Ember said, and pulled up a rock to sit on. “It’s really boring though.” “I’m okay with boring,” Feather said. “Not everything sounds good in a song, but that doesn’t make it useless.” “That a pony saying?” “No, just… a Feather saying,” Feather said. “Anyway, what was it Thorax said?” Ember tilted her head back. “Well, if I remember right, he was saying that a changeling’s disguise by its very nature couldn’t be perfect. There would always be tells. Even if the physical appearance bit was perfect and stuff, there’d always be differences in how the changeling would think and behave… they couldn’t act the part perfectly, or something.” Feather raised his eyebrow. “Why is that?” “Pfft, something about them not being able to ‘disguise their minds’ or something. Like, if a changeling tries to disguise themselves too much, they forget who they are, because they have no way of figuring out what shape they originally had.” Ember tapped her chin. “Not sure why Thorax told me that. It’s not like I need to know more changeling weaknesses. Plus that’s a boring weakness. A cooler one is that in-between their front abdomen plate thing and the back one is this squishy gap that really hurts when you stick your claws in them…” “How do you know that?” Feather asked. “Thorax told me.” “I mean the… abdomen thing one.” “Oh. I stuck my claws in the gap, obviously.” “Why?” “Looked squishy. I wanted to poke it.” Feather sighed. He didn’t want to wait to see if Ember wanted to find any of his weaknesses. He wasn’t sure which was more monstrous… Chrysalis, or the more jovial, yet just as destructive curiosity that Ember seemed to display. Then again, he knew which one he preferred. At least Ember was actually good for her people… If Feather had anything to say about it, that’s what history would remember. Ponies would remember songs longer than history books, sometimes… “Y’know, it’s actually been pretty good… having the changelings around.” Ember waved her claw as she continued to lead Feather through the labyrinth of tunnels. “For a while it was a bit weird, trying to get my boys to try new things and not, y’know, burn stuff to the ground all the time, since there wasn’t anything else like us that was trying to low-key reform. Thorax helping out his changelings was a pretty big help, just by having them exist.” Feather trotted to catch up with the dragonlords titanic strides. “Is that so?” “Yeah. I mean, he’s got a way worse job than me. He’s also kind of a big wimp.” Ember stopped suddenly, and turned on her heels. “Nobody’s allowed to bully him but me, though. However big a pushover he is, he took his people from the dirt, gave them control to make their own decisions, control their own food instead of relying on other creatures for it, and all on his own turned opinions on changelings around… all that with an idiotic, bloodthirsty freak trying to drag them and how the world saw them back into the mud.” Ember’s knuckles cracked. Feather swallowed. “So, uh… you’re not a fan of Chrysalis, then?” “I mean, yeah, she can bark orders like the best of them, but what’s she actually done other than make things way worse for her people? And for what?” Ember sighed. “She’s a queen, but she’s no real ruler.” She looked down at Feather’s slightly concerned expression, and softened. “Sorry, I’m getting carried away.” Ember’s aid, Wimp, emerged from around a corner. “Oh, the pony’s still here.” “Yeah, yeah. Look, did you find any food or what?” Wimp nodded, his big goofy horns nearly bumping against the ceiling. “Right. Show me where they are and I’ll try making something… I guess? I don’t actually know how to cook.” “Is that a good idea?” Wimp asked. “Can’t be that hard. It’s just making things hot, right? I can do that.” Smoke poured out of her nostrils. “Trust me, it’ll be great.” “I’m… going to get some air,” Feather said. “It’s just you guys here, right?” Wimp nodded. “That’s right. Not exactly much need for bodyguards here…” Feather swallowed. Under his geas, he’d be forced to tell that to Chrysalis. What would she do then? “Okay,” he said, and trotted away. “Thanks for everything.” Chrysalis was sat on a small ledge overlooking the entrance to Ember’s lair. She shapeshifted into a small pony form, this time with a blue coat. A favourite of hers; she remembered distinctly calling it ‘Sky’ or something else suitably generic. Sky Melody? Star Symphony? If she was feeling naughty she’d call herself ‘Eclipse’. A good name, if a little edgy. That was all right, though. In any case, a good bet when it came to names was sticking a musical and weather reference in there somewhere, couldn’t go wrong. She saw Feather emerge from the dragon’s lair. Chrysalis trotted down to meet him, confident that no dragons were watching. She smiled as her spy approached. “Well, my little pet?” Chrysalis asked. “What news do you bring from inside Ember’s citadel?” “Well there’s barely any food for starters,” Feather quipped, displaying unsightly resistance. “But the decor is certainly unique.” “I meant forces. Bodyguards, traps, escape routes.” Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “Don’t play games with me.” Feather grunted, and walked over to a sheet ledge. Below him was a thirty foot drop down into what appeared to be nothing but smoke and ash… He turned around and leaned against a rock propped on the edge. “Ember’s only got one bodyguard, but it looks more like a secretary or assistant than anything. By the looks of things, other than that she’s alone. I couldn’t see any escape routes, but the place inside is a labyrinth. Lots of places to hide.” “Did you see her hoard?” “No. Isn’t that, like, her bedroom? Why would I see her…” Chrysalis sighed. “I suppose I can’t expect a clueless lump like yourself to improvise. No matter. I’ll locate it myself; without any bodyguards, it can’t be hard.” She took a few steps towards the citadel, and then turned back to face Feather. “How do I look?” she asked. Feather looked at her blue coated form, and sighed. “I preferred Emerald.” Chrysalis frowned, and transformed into a dragon shape, green and lustrous. “I suppose it would be better to refrain from asking you too many questions. I wouldn’t want to pollute my mind overmuch.” “Y’know, it kinda makes sense that Emerald Eve was a changeling,” Feather said. “She was always kinda evasive about her backstory, and stuff.” “A pity for you that you were too dumb to figure it out, then,” Chrysalis snapped. A part of her was uncomfortable with this line of discussion Feather was following. A part of her that didn’t feel very… Chrysalis-y. “Why? It wouldn’t have mattered. Because of Thorax, there wouldn’t have been a reason for her to hide. She was probably just shy.” “Don’t mention the usurper’s name. He’s no true ruler, whether he styles himself as a king or any other type of noble.” Chrysalis turned on Feather. “Nobility is the right to rule. He stole rulership from me; that doesn’t make him a king, that makes him a dirty, pathetic, sniveling thief. And when I find him again…” “He’s twice the ruler you ever were,” Feather snapped back. Upon seeing Chrysalis’s startled expression, he smirked. “What, nothing in the geas says I have to stay quiet, right? Ember told me a bit about you. Every decision you made led the changelings from bad to worse.” He snorted. “Hey, if Thorax hadn’t taken your position, you’d probably have just lost it yourself to someone else, once you ran out of excuses to bully your changelings.” Chrysalis snarled. Feather was getting closer and closer to realisation regarding the geas… closer to becoming an actual threat. More than that, though, he was angering her. He was taunting and teasing her. He was comparing her to the usurper, and deciding she was lacking! How dare he. He knew nothing of what it meant to guide the collective consciousness, to plot a course through the universe for an entity larger and greater than all, the mighty predator race of changelings… How dare he compare her to the usurper. “The usurper is a coward and a thief!” “Braver than you.” Chrysalis growled. “Careful, small pony. My patience is not infinite.” Feather began to bob his head from side to side. “Wah, wah… I did a bad job and got replaced. That’s basically you.” Chrysalis transformed back into the small, forest green mare she had been back before. Emerald Eve’s pony form. She put on a kind smile, a gently smile, and looked at Feather softly. The stallion’s taunting caught in his throat, and he went silent and stiff for a moment, paralysed by his own internal feelings for the fake pony. As expected. Chrysalis, not Emerald, pushed Feather over the edge. Too surprised and stunned by the sudden change, Feather was unable to catch himself, unable to balance himself. His forehooves waved around as he attempted to throw his body back to safety, but it was too late, and he began to topple down into the ash below. Chrysalis would not stand for his insolence any more. She would take revenge for the many slights he had leveled against her. “I am a queen,” she told him as he teetered on the edge of an uncontrollable fall. “You have made your last mistake.” Feather chuckled. “I always wanted to treat a mare like a queen,” he muttered. “Too bad you’re the one I got.” Then he fell, and disappeared into the smoke. Chrysalis breathed in. “Well, I’m glad that’s over with,” she muttered, and changed back into her dragon form. “I don’t know why I didn’t do that earlier.” As if expecting a reply, she paused. “Oh well. I’ll have to find some other lackey, now.” Chrysalis marched through the citadel’s corridors, keeping an ear out for any sign of Ember or her revolting aid. She narrowed her eyes, and crept around the corners. Once she caught sight of Ember, she’d know whether she could take her. Even weakened, Chrysalis could easily manage a stun-bolt from her horn, but she’d need to transform back into her original form to cast her offensive spells. If she failed to take Ember down now, then the jig was up. Perhaps it would have been wise to keep Feather as a distraction… but then again, if Feather realised his geas was fake, then he would simply turn on her and be another problem to deal with. No, Chrysalis would have to rely on a one on one fight, the element of surprise, and her usual array of mind-games. Chrysalis spotted a shape, bipedal and tall, move through the shadows. Chrysalis flattened herself against the wall. It had to be Ember’s aid; the dragonlord herself wouldn’t be scurrying around in the shadows. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. She was getting close. She transformed back into her changeling form, enjoying once again the tall, elegant shape she had once been born in. Her translucent wings erupted from her back in faint green light and fire, and she licked the tips of her fangs with glee. The shape felt… a bit unfamiliar, like putting on a suit one had grown out of. Likely another result of her weakness. Chrysalis peered around a corner, and was greeted with the sight of a tall pile of gemstones, largely blue and green. Ember was there, too, sitting on the gemstones with a curious look on her face. Chrysalis decided not to play around, and entered the room, horn blazing with green energy. A stun-bolt erupted from the tip, and shot towards Ember. The dragonlord wasted no time, ducking to the side as the energy blast hit her hoard. Ember moved with an uncomfortable gait. Chrysalis had her on the run! “Any final words, dragon scum?” Chrysalis asked as she powered up another bolt. Ember staggered upright, staring at Chrysalis with wide eyes. Then… they softened. An almost disappointed look passed over the dragon’s expression. “You’re not Chrysalis,” Ember muttered. Chrysalis frowned. “I am Queen Chrysalis. The one and only. And you are finished!” She fired another blast, and Ember ducked, still moving uncomfortably. “It’s okay, I see what happened now. Was Feather your prisoner?” Feather must have told Ember about the geas. It was the only way for a dumb dragon like Ember to figure things out so fast… Wait, no. Something was wrong. Something wasn’t as it should be… Chrysalis backed away. “Feather was just a tool. The idiot couldn’t even figure out that the geas wasn’t real.” “That makes sense. Ordinary changelings aren’t able to cast geas spells,” Ember said. “Trickery and shapeshifting is all you’ve got.” Chrysalis took another cautious step back. Ember had a low stance, and looked ready to topple at any time, but that wasn’t what was making the changeling queen nervous… it was the eerie knowledge that the dragonlord was displaying. She must have been researching changelings… that or the usurper had been outlining Chrysalis’s weaknesses to her. Chrysalis’s weaknesses? That didn’t make sense. If that was the case, why did Ember think that she was an ‘ordinary changeling’? Something inside Chrysalis was screaming at her to run. She didn’t have the advantage she thought she did… yet her eyes didn’t deceive her. A few stun-bolts was all it had taken to put Ember off-balance. She had the tactical edge… somehow? A few stun-bolts, and Ember was off-balance? That made no sense either. Run. No! Queens didn’t run. Run! “I’m sorry; it looks to me like you’re the victim of a rather nasty spell Chrysalis has cast,” Ember said, letting her claws fall to her side. “This is why changelings don’t use perfect disguises…” Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “You’re not Ember.” Ember erupted into green light, and in her place stood the usurper. Large horns raised up above him, and his soft eyes gazed at her with his usual weak-willed innocence. Chrysalis forced a smile to her lips. “I was hoping to take out Ember… but you’ll do.” Thorax chuckled. “Yeah, I am pretty defenseless.” Chrysalis felt something tap her on the shoulder. For a moment that felt like eternity, it was as if the very ground had opened up beneath her and swallowed her whole. Chrysalis swallowed, and glanced back. Ember… the real one, this time, was standing by her side, her fist clenched. “Hey,” Ember said. Oh, dear. Chrysalis had been outplayed from the start. The usurper… Thorax… must have known that Chrysalis had escaped from day one, somehow. Ember had been expecting her the whole time… Chrysalis immediately transformed back into her blue-coated mare form, which was short enough to duck the punch Ember had aimed at her head. The shockwave from the air alone whipped at Chrysalis’s mane and sent a wave of dust from the ground flying through the air. If that had connected… “Careful! We don’t want to kill her!” Thorax exclaimed. “Sorry! I forget your heads are fragile and stuff.” Chrysalis lunged away from Ember, turning back into a dragon to gain advantage of the additional reach to claw at the ground and put some desperate distance between her and Thorax and Ember. She needed to escape! Everything had gone wrong… “She’s not Chrysalis! She’s just some poor changeling who thinks she is.” Chrysalis transformed back into her original form, and as she galloped away, she fired a stun-bolt towards Ember. Instead of dodging, the dragon lunged into the blast, and it bounced off her scales with a pathetic display of green sparks. Flee! Get away! Chrysalis rounded a corner, desperate to evade pursuit. Her hooves kicked up clouds of dust every time they clawed against the ground. She heard a whoosh… Ember flew past her, and after landing she skidded to a halt, her claws digging into the stone. Her mouth was open, fangs bared. A true monster… Nothing but teeth, fire, and talons. Light began to erupt inside her throat, heralding the arrival of fire... Chrysalis shapeshifted into Thorax. Ember hesitated for a split second, her mouth closing slightly. Chrysalis grit her teeth. Not a true monster after all, then… Chrysalis fired a stun-bolt into Ember’s mouth. The powerful dragon leaped back from the shock and fell onto her side, clutching her neck with her claws, gasping for air. Even shot directly inside her, it wasn’t enough to knock her out cold… Chrysalis was a fool for thinking she could take on the dragonlord with anything less than her full power. Ember going down, even if it was temporary, was enough for Chrysalis to duck around a corner and disappear out of sight. Feather opened his eyes. He was at the bottom of a pit, and he was lifted above the ground by what appeared to be a pair of thick, large, scaled crimson arms. He swallowed, and looked to his side. He stared into a pair of bright yellow eyes. He recognised the dragon… Garble? “Uh… this better not be the afterlife?” Feather asked. “Nah, just the regular kind. I tailed you guys after you left the bar. I’m actually, like, a bodyguard and stuff now.” “I thought Ember didn’t have one?” Feather frowned. “She lied, duh.” Garble dropped Feather onto the ground. “What, just because we’re dragons, we can’t lie?” “Huh?” “Well I mean, it was Thorax’s idea.” “Thorax is here?” “Yeah. Something about looking for a missing changeling or something. Someone called Phyllidae?” Feather chuckled. Chrysalis had been played. “Nice.” He looked up. “Can you carry me back up there, please?” Chrysalis was panting heavily as she crept through the labyrinth of tunnels that made up Ember’s home. She was in trouble. Deep trouble. It was a true stroke of luck that Ember was soft enough for the old ‘turn into a loved one’ trick to work… but it wouldn’t work twice. It never worked twice. Thorax had been saying things… that she was just an ordinary changeling? That she merely thought she was Queen Chrysalis? To an outside observer, it might seem that way… but that was just Thorax’s speculation. In reality, Chrysalis knew that she had transferred her mind to this new body… Was that why she wasn’t getting stronger, though? Because her body wasn’t catching up with her mind? In theory, her magical power should have made the transition with her… that was how magic worked… … but not if it was all a trick. Like the fake geas, it didn’t carry much in the way of magical power other than a little deception… Chrysalis rubbed her forehead with her hoof. She was… she was still a queen, regardless of whether it was a deception or not. It was part of the plan. She was still Queen Chrysalis, just… weaker. It didn’t matter how her mind had made the transition, only that it had. Her nobility, her regal knowledge, her right to rule… those were the crucial aspects of her. She shouldn’t have taken revenge against Feather for his attitude so quickly. She should have scouted the citadel out more thoroughly. She should have been patient. If she had been patient, she could have retreated, she could have maybe done something... Used the only ally she had in this cold, inhospitable world. She clutched at her heart, which was pounding in her chest. What kind of thinking was that? What good would Feather be in this situation? Why was she regretting pushing him over the cliff that much? If everything was just some… some trick, perhaps this was Emerald Eve’s mind speaking to her… or was she Emerald Eve all along? Curses. Chrysalis had put on a perfect disguise, and now she couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t… She heard the sound of footsteps echoing through the citadel. “I can’t believe I fell for that,” came Ember’s distant voice. “It’s okay… I would have…” “Of course you would have. But I shouldn’t.” There was a pause. “Next time I’m going to punch her brains out.” Chrysalis lowered her stance as she crept towards where she believed the exit to be. If she got to the open sky, then she could fly away… regroup. Perhaps find easier allies… Allies like Feather? Chrysalis continued to clutch at her heart, and banged her head against the stone wall. She needed to focus. She needed to forget Feather… she needed Emerald Eve to forget Feather… She approached the exit, and the soft light of the dragonlands shone onto her. She was almost free… “Not so fast, bug-horse!” Chrysalis ducked a clumsy swing from a big red dragon, and backed away. She turned, but looking up at the sky… it was full of dragons. Full of them of all shapes and sizes. Chrysalis gnashed her teeth. It was a trap. This was all one big trap… Standing between two large dragons was Feather. Surely he should be… Chrysalis tried to back back into the citadel, but she bumped into Ember. Thorax was soon behind her as well. Chrysalis spun around, her eyes scanning everywhere… up was filled with dragons, and provided no cover. There was the cliff she had pushed Feather down, but it looked like a dead end… the landscape was covered in enemies. Enemies everywhere… “It’s over, Phyllidae,” Thorax said. “We can help you. I want to help all the changelings…” Chrysalis tried to think. There had to be a way out of here… She turned on her heels, and leapt towards Ember, her fangs bared. Ember squared her stance, ready to recieve… Chrysalis turned into Ember as she lunged, and when the two came into contact, they both went down in a flurry of blows. Chrysalis came off worse for it… she was uncomfortable fighting in a bipedal form, but maybe it was enough… “Get that one!” she screamed, pointing at Ember, hoping the confusing wrestle was enough to trick the dumb dragons. “That one is Chrysalis!” Sure enough, many of the less intelligent dragons began to charge at Ember, but the dragonlord simply shook her head, unimpressed. “Dragons!” Ember exclaimed. “Punch yourselves.” As Chrysalis tried to disengage from Ember and rush into the crowd, hoping to disappear, she felt a blow land on the side of her head. Panicking, she noticed all the dragons begin to beat each other up… indiscriminately. Feather hunkered down, trying to avoid the carnage. The dragons obeyed any order coming from someone looking like Ember. If Chrysalis acted quickly… “And don’t stop until every dragon you see is unconscious!” Ember roared, ducking a tail-swipe from Brasser. Ember smirked. Chrysalis realised her plan… Ember knew that if Chrysalis kept hiding amongst the dragons, she’d go down long before all the other dragons did. They were so simple, they couldn’t be tricked. Chrysalis transformed back into her regal, changeling queen form, and attempted to rush away from the crowd… but something was hanging onto her leg. She turned and faced Feather Bangs, clutching her with his forehooves. “Guess there wasn’t a geas after all…” Feather grunted. “Ha ha…” Chrysalis tried to shake Feather off, and due to her larger size, she succeeded… but then Feather lunged at her, the edge of his hoof shooting towards her abdomen… no, a small gap between the plates of her abdomen… The hoof dug into the squishy, squelching flesh beneath, and pain wracked Chrysalis’s body. Thorax flew over Chrysalis as she fell to the ground. “Ember taught me that one!” Feather shouted. “Ha ha, this is going to make the best song…” “Surrender, Phyllidae!” Feather looked up at Thorax. “Who’s Phyllidae?” “The missing changeling. She was hiding in your town after I took over.” Thorax landed over Chrysalis. “Chrysalis must have tricked her somehow into thinking she was her…” Chrysalis snarled. “I am the queen!” Feather got to his hooves. His mane, once carefully tended to, was now rough. Smoke and ash had darkened his coat, and his lips appeared dry and coarse. He looked nothing like the weak, shy, awkward stallion Chrysalis had woken up next to in the Town and taken prisoner… “You were never a queen. You were just some big… dumb… tyrant.” Chrysalis tried to escape, but she felt the familiar, uncomfortable feeling of talons wrapping around her. Ember had caught up to her at last… and all the other dragons were on the ground, save for Garble. “Try me,” Ember snarled. Chrysalis powered up a stun-bolt, but Ember clutched the tip of her horn with her talons. The spell backfired, and Chrysalis then saw nothing at all. “Changeling nobles… are complicated,” Thorax told Feather. Feather Bangs was sat in the bar. It was, after all, the first thing that had come to mind after Chrysalis… Phyllidae… Emerald Eve… had been defeated. “How so?” “For us, a noble… whether a king or queen… is just a changeling with enough vision to lead the rest. Whether it’s a good vision… or a bad one.” Thorax sighed. “Maybe we should revise that way of working…” Ember rubbed her throat, which appeared slightly red after her battle with the ‘changeling queen’. “Doesn’t matter to me so long as the bad guys get beat up,” she said. “Also, those stunbolts really hurt.” Thorax flashed Ember an awkward smile. “Heh… yeah, sorry about that…” “Hey, you didn’t fire it.” Feather frowned. “Will Emerald… get better?” “I don’t know,” Thorax said. “It kind of depends on exactly what kind of spell Chrysalis used to convince Phyllidae that she was the changeling queen. It’s possible Chrysalis simply meant to use her as a tool for revenge… not necessarily a means to escape petrification. We may never know, since communicating with Chrysalis, the real Chrysalis, isn’t possible.” “Way I see it, if she acts like Chrysalis, thinks she’s Chrysalis, and we have no way of telling the two apart, she might as well be Chrysalis,” Ember said. “Well… there may be something to be said about such a simplistic point of view.” “Well it’s all too complicated for me,” Feather muttered. “I’ve gotten more than I signed up for.” “You at least find your muse?” Ember asked. “Maybe. I might try a ballad. I’m thinking I’ll need a really good crew of back-up dancers for this one, though…” Feather sighed. Maybe next time, he’d have better luck when finding a mare he liked… Or maybe he’d get Emerald Eve back after all. Who knew? One thing was for sure… the world didn’t need more like Chrysalis. Feather shuddered at the thought of the original ever getting free again... Author's Note Sorry I've been late finishing this one. I'm stuck at home because of Covid and despite having therefore lots of free time to write, my extrovert ass is going ballistic. Hope you enjoyed it folks. Have a good one.
Chapter One. That would have been like a fairy-tale, he thought. He looked around him; carrying enough saddle-bags for two and on the run from the Town, heading towards a mysterious destination, held captive by the very pony he had a crush on. The wind whipped at his once perfect mane and dust was in his eyes; his hooves were sore and his muscles ached. How was he supposed to know he had tried to go out with a supposedly dead changeling queen? His luck was the worst. If there was one thought that went through the mind of the green-coated mare, striding in front of Feather Bangs, it was that she was Queen Chrysalis, the rightful ruler of all changelings. She looked down at her current form; a cute little disguise she had adopted as an emergency measure. Of course she would have natural instincts that got triggered when she was in danger or unconscious. She wasn’t… certain how she had got there, but she knew it must have had something to do with Twilight Sparkle. The last thing the Queen remembered was the feeling of… cold. Like ice, or granite. It had enveloped her, hooves first, and then rose around her legs and abdomen. She had felt her organs petrify, go stiff, and no sensory input came from any of her appendages. She had felt her body betray her, refuse her every command, and then she had seen it; stone covering her like, like, like… It couldn’t be described, the feeling of helplessness. Chrysalis stopped in her tracks, and in that brief moment, Feather Bangs… a crude creature who she had awoken near… caught up to her. He looked at her with a look of mild concern. Her horn flashed. In his mind he saw his thoughts addled by memories of some… some pony fool named ‘Emerald’. “Y-you okay?” Feather asked, stuttering. Was that something he would always do, or was his weak pony frame simply exhausted? “Silence,” she instructed. “Move.” She caught her breath, the memories subsiding. She knew roughly where she was now… that was all that mattered. On the outskirts of Equestria, far away from Canterlot… from Twilight Sparkle. How much time had passed? How had she escaped? It had to have been some plan, an emergency measure she herself in her wisdom had put in place. Twilight would not let her go… not after everything Chrysalis had done. She was too dangerous. Twilight at least must have respected her as an enemy enough to know to never, ever release her… Chrysalis picked up the pace, trying to catch up to Feather Bangs. She felt weak. Even her magic was lessened. It had taken more energy than she cared to admit to cast a spell of deception upon Feather. A clever trick… when unable to cast a geas, a spell of control, it was often enough to cast a weaker, less costly spell that merely convinced the target that she had. “Pony…” she began. “How much time has passed since the day I was defeated?” Feather looked towards her, nervous. “You mean… Queen Chrysalis?” “That is I, yes.” Feather scratched his head. “Um… pretty sure that was yesterday.” Chrysalis pondered. Not much time at all had passed, then. Either a blessing or a curse, depending on context. If Twilight was still cautious, still on edge, she might notice Chrysalis’s escape. Chrysalis herself did not fully recall the mechanism of her evading petrification, and therefore was unable to guess whether she might have left tracks, whether she could be caught, or found out, or detected remotely… Then again Twilight might be celebrating, might be utterly unaware that her most vicious and devious foe was loose and travelling across Equestria. Her and Feather walked up a rise, and from there they could overlook much of Equestria, the badlands, and in the distance… the rising smoke clouds of faraway volcanoes and lava flows. The dragonlands. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. She recalled in Twilights service there had been a dragon, a dragon queen no less. Powerful and strong, but… fragile, perhaps? “What’s going on?” Feather asked. “This morning I was talking to Emerald… how is it you were Emerald?” Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at Feather. The dumb creature was panicking. He would be useless as a servant unless she calmed him, eased his mind somehow. She summoned her magic to dull his senses, render him even more stupid than before… but the magic did not come. Instead it fizzled within her horn and died out before it could form a spell. Chrysalis spat angrily. She was as weak as a typical, dull member of the hive. A lesser changeling, not the mighty ruler she once was. The outrage. The despicable mundanity of it all. She would have to do things the old-fashioned way. “There are many things that are confusing,” she told Feather. “I am not going to hurt you, however… yet. I need you calm and focussed for the journey ahead.” Feather hung off her every word. Perhaps he hoped for answers… but Chrysalis had none. She was as confused as Feather… moreseo, even. A side-effect of the petrification, perhaps? Had it scrambled her mind? Her mind… Chrysalis rubbed the bridge of her nose. Well, Emerald Eve’s nose, since that was the form she was inhabiting. “Where are we going?” Feather asked her. Chrysalis was, again, unsure. What was her plan? She had awoken in the Town, asleep on a couch, a hot towel over her head as if she was sick. Feather had been there, playing on some infernal musical instrument, his strumming hurting her ears… She only knew she needed to put some distance between her and civilisation. Get away from the Town, away from ponies, away from anypony who might report to Sparkle… She had taken Feather with her. Why? It seemed like a less than sensible move, now. He was slow, clearly thick, and ordinary. He panicked, he lost his cool, and was unused to situations like these. Unused to running. Chrysalis needed time to think. “Shelter,” she told Feather. “We are going to seek shelter.” Feather swallowed. “There’s… a cave not far.” “A cave?” “It overlooks the land between Equestria and the Dragonlands. I’ve been there… once. It should be empty… bears only go there during winter.” Chrysalis did not like the sound of bears. She was weak; could she handle a bear? Could she handle any fight? If Feather were to rebel, to try to pin her down or escape, could she stop him? Questions, questions. For now, however, shelter seemed wise, especially if she was weakened. A risk taken to prevent further risks, maybe. At least it made sense… She didn’t enjoy the prospect of putting her faith in Feather Bangs, however. Trust him. Chrysalis shook her head angrily. “Lead the way,” she snarled. “We must rest before nightfall.” Feather Bangs sat down heavily as the whistling wind struggled to penetrate deep into the cave. He didn’t know how to start a fire… he didn’t know much about survival at all, actually. It presumably involved sticks, and… matches? He didn’t have matches. Perhaps there was some kind of alternative? Emerald Eve… Chrysalis, rather… stared at the small mount of sticks and dry leaves harvested from shrubs outside with a critical gaze. “This is pathetic. It will hardly last an evening.” Feather sighed. “It’s all I’ve got… There’s not much wildlife around here.” Chrysalis sighed, and her horn flickered to life. A single spark erupted from the tip of her horn, and landed onto the dry leaves, causing a small flame to sputter and emerge. Feather swallowed. He almost couldn’t believe that he had a geas put upon him… a spell to control and command him. Did Chrysalis have that power? Was there anything the evil queen couldn’t do? More than that, Feather could hardly believe that Chrysalis was Emerald. Emerald had lived in the Town for close to months now, and had been miles away from the fighting when Chrysalis had allegedly been petrified in stone. It made little sense to him that all of a sudden, Emerald had awoken from her fever with those piercing eyes filled with malice. “Are you really Queen Chrysalis?” he asked. Chrysalis looked up from the fire. She narrowed her eyes, and smirked. “Do you wish to behold my true form?” she asked him. “It has been known to shock ponies with weaker minds.” She chuckled. “Very well, then.” Magic like green fire rose from around the bottoms of Emerald’s hooves, transforming into a slick, shiny chitinous armour. Her height close to doubled, and from her once smooth back emerged a set of transluscent, fragile insectoid wings, like those of a dragonfly. What attracted Feather’s attention the most were the teeth… long, fang-like, and deadly. He could all-too easily picture them collapsing around his neck, piercing through his skin, and snapping the spine underneath… Feather took a step back, unable to control himself. To think that anypony could become something so… hideous. Chrysalis looked at him with a faint air of confusion. “Are you not awed?” “Um, yes!” Feather exclaimed. “Very, very awed. Uh-huh.” Chrysalis smirked, but the smile came a split second too late to be natural. Had Feather done something wrong? He hoped he hadn’t. He didn’t know whether changelings just ate love, or whether they sometimes had to make do with eating him the old-fashioned way. “It doesn’t matter,” Chrysalis said, and transformed back into Emerald Eve. Her form went back to the gentle, soft form that it had once been. Only the eyes, and the cruelty within, remained the same. “What happened to Emerald?” Chrysalis raised her eyebrow. “Who?” “Emerald Eve. She was the pony that… you became, I think?” Feather struggled to form words. He didn’t want to anger the Queen, he couldn’t… but he needed to know. “I don’t know her, nor do I wish to,” Chrysalis replied. “Was this pony… around for a long time before I arrived?” Feather nodded slowly. “For a few months… yes.” He struggled to breathe, Chrysalis’s stare was so piercing. “She liked talking about making music… I think. Maybe she was just pretending…” Chrysalis grinned, her teeth… Emerald’s teeth… flashing in the firelight. “I cannot imagine anypony being interested in making music with you,” she said. “But there is no accounting for poor judgement.” Night had fallen, and Chrysalis was still thinking. So, this ‘Emerald’ had been around for a long time, presumably whilst Chrysalis herself was off fighting Twilight? That hardly made any sense. She was Chrysalis, that much was certain… she had Chrysalis’s memories and thoughts, strategies and philosophies… but how could she have existed at the same time as, presumably, another Chrysalis? She rubbed her forehead. Everything was still murky… every time she felt close to the truth, the feeling of stone encroaching on her very soul threatened to overtake her, to consume and burn her mind away. It was the closest she had ever come to sheer, overwhelming terror… She forced herself through it. She was a Queen; her mind was indomitable, and would only fall prey to such weakness if and when she allowed it to. That was her way. The other changelings of the hive… the Usurper, who Chrysalis would not allow herself to even name… they had been weak, imperfect versions of her magnificence. Chrysalis was not so. As the rock had overcome her, what had she done? What would she have done? She would have desperately tried to escape. Yes, it was obvious. How? What devious trick had her mind come up with? Her mind... If her body could not escape, perhaps she would have sent her mind away? Chrysalis began to chuckle, then snicker. Eventually it became a full-blown laugh, a cackle at her own genius. Yes, it was perfect! It all made sense now. Feather stared at Chrysalis from the opposite side of the now dying fire, fear in his eyes. Chrysalis had sent her mind away. She had prepared for this years ago… long in the past, when she still had full control over her hive. A contract made with a loyalist changeling, independance for Chrysalis’s security. She had given a select few loyal changelings… there must be so few of them now… the opportunity to act as vessels in the event of Chrysalis’s demise, so she could live on. What a genius idea! Chrysalis had left her body behind, a statue in her shape, a decoy to distract Twilight and the Usurper, whilst she evaded capture, her mind freed from the prison she would have been held captive in for who knew how long. It had fled to a loyal changeling, a spy hidden from sight, and now… she was reborn. It was perfect! Hidden, unknown, and able to take Equestria completely unawares… it was a magnificent disguise. A devious ploy! Her masterstroke… With all the world thinking she was gone, she had the freedom to plan and plot whatever she wished. “What’s so funny?” Feather asked. “Oh, nothing your small mind would understand,” Chrysalis chuckled. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head over it.” Feather made more sense now, too. He must have been in the process of being manipulated for love by this ‘spy’, who had evidently been going by the name of Emerald Eve. That explained why he was so confused and concerned for ‘Emerald’. Too bad for him that Emerald never truly existed; she was just a waiting vessel for Chrysalis to inhabit. The only remaining question was the matter of Chrysalis’s missing power. Magic, particularly changeling magic, was dependant on the mind, of spiritual strength. So if her mind was now inside this body, where had her power gone? It was possible that she had been damaged by the petrification. She had already considered this, after all, and it had to be admitted that this technique of surviving at all costs had not been tested, nor was it exactly reliable. Her struggle to recall her plan was perhaps evidence enough that her mind had been damaged during the trip here. It didn’t matter. Chrysalis would regain her strength, in time. “Feather Bangs,” she called. “Tell me; have you ever visited the Dragonlands?” Feather shook his head. “A pity,” Chrysalis muttered. Dragons were… not known for their intelligence. Even weakened, perhaps Chrysalis could sow discord there… she still had the capacity to shapeshift, after all. And she was close to the Dragonlands… Of all the places to strike, where would be the smartest location to strike? Canterlot? No, not after what had happened. She was too weak and the ponies there too prepared and ready for her. Griffonstone? Perhaps, but they were already so prone to infighting that it almost seemed counterproductive to give them any help… Ponyville? Certainly not. Never again. Crystal Empire? Also too dangerous. Too many complicating magical factors. When she was stronger, with an army, perhaps… The Dragonlands seemed like a good place to start. There were a few reasons. They were big and strong, and probably the most likely to turn on Equestria anyway. Many of them followed the old ways, and only bent the knee to their Dragonlord because she was powerful and strong. They would be easy to manipulate. Dragons were also destructive… Chrysalis might not need much effort in order to set them loose, and in the chaos, she could set more plans in motion. And then there was Ember herself… Chrysalis was not blind to the world, and she knew full well that Ember and the Dragonlands had a strong relationship with Chrysalis’s former hive. She would take great pleasure in undoing Ember, and in so doing, strike a blow at the Usurper. Perhaps she could use her face in order to get close to him, strike him down, take back control of the hive… It was distant from Twilight Sparkle, far away from support, and ripe for treachery. Yes… the Dragonlands would do nicely. Chrysalis leaned back into the shadows of the cave. Getting there might be difficult… it was a long trip, after all. A dangerous one, too… she remembered previously avoiding trying to traverse the lava flows, the volcanic landscape, the razor sharp cliffs, the scree slopes, the ash clouds… On second thought, perhaps a safer place would be better… She glanced over at Feather. The stallion was… humming. To himself, presumably. After all, it wasn’t as if he would be humming for Chrysalis’s own benefit. She opened her mouth, about to snap at him for silence, but she stopped instead. Why? It didn’t matter, Chrysalis supposed. Let him hum away… at least his tuneless noise made for a change from the wailing of the wind outside… She gathered her wits. She had lost the ability to overcome minds in the same way as she used to. She could shapeshift, at least… that was good. There were, of course, limits to a disguise. They would not stave off discovery forever. What else? She had all of Chrysalis’s knowledge. Poisons and tricks, exploits and mind games. Those were all weapons she had at her disposal. She had no army… none worth speaking of. She looked at Feather Bangs. One weak pony, an Earth pony no less, and a musician, did not constitute a threatening force, or even a worthy distraction. He was good only for carrying bags. “What song is that?” Chrysalis asked, referring to the tune that Feather was humming. “It’s from a song,” Feather replied after a moment’s hesitation. “It’s called On an Adventure. It’s a little romantic song I was working on before…” Chrysalis raised her eyebrow. “Have you ever been on an adventure, Feather?” “N...no,” Feather told her. “I’ve always been kind of a loner…” Chrysalis snorted. “Well, you are on one now, it seems. Though I would much rather be rid of you, I think it will be a struggle to carry all these supplies to the Dragonlands by myself.” “To the Dragonlands?” Feather asked. “Why yes. That is where we shall begin our little movement.” Chrysalis clicked her tongue angrily. “I mean, I shall begin. You will be fortunate enough to serve under me, if I allow it.” Feather sighed, and looked down at his hooves gloomily. “Oh, yay…” he muttered. “A lifetime of servitude… just what I wanted.” “I could shorten it, if you’d prefer.” “The servitude, or my life?” Feather asked. “Nevermind, I already know the answer.” Chrysalis lay down on her stomach to sleep. “Good. You are learning.” She closed her eyes. She knew that Feather would not run, convinced as he was that she had a hold over him. Convinced she had control. So long as she held that illusion, she held power. Whilst the spell might be an illusion, its effects were very, very real. She drifted off to sleep, and let her mind drift off to dream of power, and victory. The Dragonlord was, for now, a happy dragon. Victory against evil had been found, the land was at peace once again, and she was looking at a pile of delicious, edible crystals at least as large as she was. Perfection. She dived into the pile, her claws wrapping around a large ruby, and she licked her lips in anticipation. “Y’know,” she began, and stuffed her face full of the delicious mineral, “I’ffs a goo’ f’ng dat…” Thorax, the Changeling King, groaned, and rested his large antlers on the table. “I… can’t understand a word you’re saying.” Ember swallowed. “Sorry, was that rude? Anyway. I said, it’s a good thing that this whole thing has been wrapped up quickly. I don’t like leaving the dragons alone all the time; they can be a pretty grumpy bunch.” Thorax gave Ember a look of concern. “You don’t expect they’d… rebel?” Ember shrugged. “Well, if they do, I can always smack them over the head with the staff. And then maybe set fire to them. And dunk their heads in lava.” Thorax sighed. Ember paused as she reached out to grab another gemstone to eat. “What? You look worried.” “It’s probably nothing…” Thorax said, looking sheepish and shy. Ember growled. She hated it when he was being shy. “Out with it. If it’s important, I don’t want it eating my butt later.” She frowned. “Is that the saying?” “I think it’s ‘bite me in the butt’, actually.” “Y’know, I thought so.” Ember shrugged. “Anyway, what?” Thorax frowned. “I kind of… maybe… detected a spell. When Chrysalis got defeated.” “A spell? Think she was trying to blast Twilight or something?” Ember asked. She threw the gem in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed it in seconds. “Well, if she did, it didn’t work, did it?” Thorax tapped his strange little bug-like… hoof things… together. “I don’t think Chrysalis would do that, really. She’s the type who’d try to escape, I think.” “Well, again, it didn’t work.” Ember sighed, and gave Thorax a tired stare. “Look, we won. Don’t be so paranoid; you’re just worried because she was a big deal to your hive, ruled over you, and is basically pure evil and stuff. That doesn’t mean she’s, like, invincible.” Ember pointed at herself. “If you want to think someone is invincible, then think of me. I mean, I survived, and Chrysalis didn’t. Hey, we all did.” She smiled. “So quit worrying, it’s a waste of time. Do you, like, eat things? That aren’t love?” “I do like cucumber sandwiches, actually!” “Sounds gross. I’m in!” Ember grinned. Today was the beginning of a new age, an age where she didn’t have to worry about borders and monsters. She could focus on bringing glory to the dragons… to her people and homeland. Thorax could do the same. It was all looking up for both of them. “If it’s all the same to you, though…” Thorax said as he went to the far side of the banquet hall to fetch Ember and himself some sandwiches, “I’m still going to keep a little… teensy weensy eye out, okay?” Ember rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just don’t infect me with your overcaution and stuff. I’m heading back home tomorrow, and I don’t want it to spread to all the other dragons.” Morning arrived, and Chrysalis stepped to the edge of the cave entrance. Before her was the large expanse of sand and dirt that bordered Equestria, on the edge of the Town. She was familiar with this land. After her defeat in Canterlot, the first time, she had retreated to her hive, which was miles away in the distance. She narrowed her eyes. It needed to be avoided at all costs… if any changelings were to find her, and detect her, she might be outed as a rogue agent, which could potentially bring the Usurper down upon her. That would mean the end of her little adventure. On the plus side, it meant that the dragons losing control of their borders would also affect them. That might be the chaos she needed to infiltrate and seize control again… and then it was anyone’s guess as to who would come out on top. Chrysalis, or the world… Shatter the alliances. Break the system. Salvage the pieces worth keeping. That would be her strategy. Distrust and paranoia would be her weapons. Feather emerged from the cave, carrying the large bags containing food, blankets, utensils, and protective gear he had lying around in his house, all scavenged before Chrysalis had ordered him to escape the town with her. Escape notice… Was it possible that anypony would miss this Emerald? Or Feather? It could mean detection if a search party went after her… and worse, found her. “Please let me and Emerald go…” Feather asked, pleadingly. “Emerald Eve is gone,” Chrysalis snapped. “In fact, she was never there to start with. She was a changeling spy, a plant. You were simply one of many they fooled.” Feather frowned, looking at Chrysalis defiantly. Chrysalis recoiled. She did not… like defiance. Too much of it, and he might try to fight the geas… and find that it wasn’t there at all. That would be too risky. “Oh, come. Surely this ‘Emerald’ you refer to is not as great as I?” Chrysalis smiled sweetly. “I am, after all, a Queen. Emerald was a mere puppet.” “I preferred Emerald Eve,” Feather said. Chrysalis’s eye twitched. True, there was no accounting for poor taste… perhaps Chrysalis ought to educate this fool as to the true gap between her and regular ponies, lesser changelings. “You hardly know what powers I have,” she told him. “Perhaps you shall see some of the many great things I can do. The power I possessed was once indescribable!” She approached Feather, still smiling with a predatory grin. “You shall see. I promise.” Feather’s lips turned downwards in an unpleasant curl. Chrysalis turned her head angrily. Why was she even trying to convince him? She didn’t need his appreciation. Perhaps Emerald Eve had tried to use him as a cheap supply of love, but Chrysalis did not need someone so petty for that. It still beggared belief that he thought that some nobody was greater than the mighty Queen of changelingkind, however. She snarled. He had best avoid irritating her further, or she would show him the wrath of a scorned Queen. “We move onwards,” she snapped. “Let us go; to the Dragonlands.” Author's Note Howdy folks. New story for a new contest this time around. As always, please feel free to like, comment, and all those things I'm obligated to say. I hope you enjoy reading! Cheerio.
Chapter TwoThe tavern… or bar, or perhaps simply gathering cave, was loud, crowded, and filthy. It was, by and large, populated by dragons. There were a variety of regulars; and as conversations were overheard by Feather, he was able to put names to the many massive shapes that populated the bar. There was the mighty Grankertank, a behemoth of a creature with stubby wings but muscles large enough to compensate for any other item of anatomy lacking in scale, Garble, the bright red, loudmouthed brat just as likely to punch you in the face as he was to ask you to join him in punching someone else in the face. There was Brasser, who served as part bar-dragon, part regular customer, and one was never completely certain whether he was going to serve you a drink of molten, steaming substance best left to the imagination, or whether he was just going to straight up down his entire stock himself. It was a true nest of thugs and dastardly behaviour. Feather would have to be careful. “Don’t you think one pony, travelling alone, is just going to raise even more suspicion?!” A small figure by contrast, his beige-gold coat in stark contrast to the vibrant, metallic scales, the stallion Feather Bangs looked up at a slight, yet powerfully built green dragon. Female. “Not my concern,” the dragon replied. “If noting else, you will serve as a straightforward distraction.” Feather Bangs groaned as all lizardlike eyes turned towards him. He was still carrying supplies, though now much reduced after a long trip across dusty deserts, rocky ranges, sulphurous slopes, and deadly ditches. One half of his mane was also singed black from a very unfortunate encounter with a volcano. He hated the Dragonlands. “Who ‘dis, then?” one of the dragons barked. Feather Bangs swallowed. He was not accustomed to such a… tough crowd. What was he supposed to say? He decided to do what he always did; flick the mane, smile, and hope for the best. “Hey guys,” he said, his pearly white teeth glinting in the dark. “Where can a pony get himself a drink around here?” There was a small moments silence. Slowly, a massive finger (belonging to Grankertank) pointed towards Brasser. “At da bar… duh.” Chrysalis, wearing her disguise of a dragon to avoid detection, rolled her eyes. Feather decided to put some distance between him and the vicious Queen. Three days of putting up with her incessant commands, her snide remarks, and her increasingly dangerous requests… “Where do you think you’re going?” she snarled. “To get… a drink,” Feather muttered despondently. He glanced at Chrysalis, anger in his eyes. “Is that okay, mom?” He wasn’t sure where that quip had come from. He certainly knew he was going to regret it… but for the first time in a while, Chrysalis was forced to be on her best behaviour. Feather had thought about it… Chrysalis was going to have to play at being a dragon. She couldn’t do things like command him about like a changeling queen any more. That would risk exposure. She bared her teeth at Feather, but as expected, thought better of it. Ha, Feather thought. Got her! Three days, Feather thought. Three days of trekking, miserable and unhappy. It had toughened him up, at least. He had come to hate everything about Chrysalis. He hated how she talked, how she walked, and how she perverted virtually everything about Emerald Eve. Feather Bangs spluttered. He barely even knew Emerald, when he thought about it. He thought she had been hot, had been nice, and she liked talking about music despite, frankly, not being very good at it at all. He glance at Chrysalis, who was moving to talk with one of the dragons… she was leaning towards a slimy excuse for a dragon, more snake than mighty fire-breathing lizard. He knew that whatever Eve had been, it had been better than Chrysalis, though. Anything was better than her. If only he wasn’t under this accursed geas! He reached the bar, which was taller than he was, and looked up. He tried to scramble onto one of the stools, and upon succeeding, panted and looked over at the big, brass dragon behind the counter. Darn, the smell… it was like sticking his head in a bucket full of rotting eggs and jerky. “Do you have anything,” he began, “that, like, doesn melt ponies?” The giant dragon belched. “Dunno.” He turned behind him and poured a selection of drinks into stone cups. “Want t’try?” Frankly, after days of travelling with Chrysalis, Feather was sorely tempted. “Whoa there,” came a gruff voice from the crowd. The bright red dragon emerged from behind Feather and grabbed two of the cups. “Look, Ember’ll have my scales for dinner-plates if I let the only pony visitor in ages turn his insides to mush.” He put the cups down and stared at Feather. “Name’s Garble. Look; this one, regular alcohol. That one, diamond polish. This one will make you unconscious. That one will make you dead.” He growled. “Got it?” Feather nodded. “Y-yeah, sure thing, Garble. I’m Feather.” “I don’t care,” Garble replied. “Just… put a good word in for me with Ember? She’s been really making life hard for me lately.” Garble threw up his claws into the air angrily. “I burn one forest... just the one, and all of a sudden I’m the villain!” Feather took a sip from the ‘non-lethal’ drink. He coughed; it still tasted pretty lethal! It wasn’t exactly Sweet Apple Cider… “What do you do?” asked Brasser. Feather swallowed. He wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to talk… then again, what exactly was Chrysalis going to do to him here? Kill him? Around all these dragons? “I’m sort of… a musician and singer.” Feather flicked his mane. “I’m pretty popular in places like Fillydelphia and stuff…” “Whot’s Fillydelphia?” In the corner of the room, Chrysalis turned her eyes towards Feather, her eyes narrowing into slits. “Oh, y’know, just some place…” Feather muttered. “Don’t you guys, uh… have cities?” “More like gatherings,” Garble said. “Cities are for losers.” “Oh.” Brasser reached behind the bar. “Here. Can you play this?” He dropped a pan-flute onto the bar. They had clearly been designed for something larger than a pony… a single pipe was almost the size of Feather’s hoof in diameter. “Uh… I don’t think so…” “Not much of a musician then.” Feather winced. Was this going to be trouble? “What about this?” Brasser dragged out a large trumpet. “Play this.” Feather looked at the trumpet. It was… old, but functional. He picked it up in his hooves. Brass wasn’t exactly his strong suit… in fact, he kind of missed his troupe of back-up singers and dancers. How was he supposed to play and sing at the same time? He brought his lips to the instrument, and blew. It was a strong, clear sound that echoed throughout the bar. Feather played with the pistons a bit… tried a little tune. It was only when he realised all eyes were on him that he paused. He was used to attention on stage. He liked it, even… but something about the sharp teeth, predatory eyes, monstrous claws, and threatening smoke caused him to quake at the thought of being the focus of every dragon in the vicinity. Chrysalis continued to stare at him. Feather could only guess what she was thinking. “Um…” he began. “Do you maybe have something a little more… string-y?” Brasser threw a mandolin at Feather. “Like this?” The crowd looked at Feather, curious. Did dragons not do music? Feather wondered if that was part of why they were so very curious in him. He caught the mandolin in his hooves and discarded the trumpet. He had learned guitar as a young colt… back in his highschool days, mostly as a way to try and attract fillies (it hadn’t worked very well), but a mandolin was new. It couldn’t be that different, he thought… He plucked at the strings. Sound was different… lighter. Shape was weird as well… if he had time to practice, he could probably get used to the differences… “Oi! Make some noise!” Feather swallowed. Under the intense peer pressure of the dragons, it was difficult not to feel nervous… he couldn’t back down now. “A-ahem…” he coughed. Garble narrowed his eyes at the Earth pony, his arms crossed. Where was a convenient team of back-up dancers when Feather needed them?! “In… in the desert vast…” he began, struggling to come up with lyrics on the spot. Come on, he thought to himself. He was better than this… singing was literally his special talent. That and hair products, of course… He looked at Chrysalis. Overcome with anger at his situation, he focussed in on the changeling queen. He might not be able to rebel against her physically… but he’d enjoy doing it verbally. He took a deep breath… The door to the bar slammed open, and in its frame stood a tall, lithe, agile figure… from claws to spine she was the colour of sapphire, and large bat-like wings sprounded from her back. In-between fangs so jagged they could tear through leather slithered a forked tongue, and a pair of piercing reptilian eyes honed in on Feather. Every lyric, every word and sound that Feather was about to utter froze in his throat. He knew the dragon by reputation only, but a fearsome reputation it was: Dragonlord Ember, the ruler of the dragonlands, fierce warrior and nimble thinker. Small for a dragon, certainly, and with all the weaknesses that this implied, she nonetheless commanded a fierce aura of fear and power. Like Chrysalis, Feather knew that the dragonlord was equally dangerous, if not infinitely less malicious. “What’s a pony doing here?” she asked, stomping through the crowd towards Feather. Behind her scurried a smaller, less powerfully built dragon, with large, curling horns and big, bulbous eyes. A retainer? “And why isn’t everyone making him feel more welcome?!” The dragons assembled there all cowered. “I give you one job! Be nice to visitors. Look, you’ve got him all nervous.” Ember sighed, and walked up to the bar. “Uh, hello… male? That’s right, isn’t it?” Feather nodded. “Y-yeah. I’m… Feather Bangs.” Ember tried smiling, which to Feather looked more like she was showing off her teeth. “Great! A name I’ll definitely remember, I promise. Why exactly are you here?” Feather stalled. What was he supposed to say? He glanced over at Chrysalis, who was still staring at him in dragon form. That… couldn’t mean anything pleasant. Chrysalis would definitely kill him if he blabbed… but then again, if he blabbed, could Ember save him? If she even believed him… As far as she knew, Chrysalis had been petrified, right? Feather began to sweat. What was the right move? And even if he wanted to lie, what was he going to say?! “Uh, you okay there? You look kinda broken.” Ember turned to her retainer, eyebrows raised. “Was it something I did?” “I… I’m looking for my muse!” Feather exclaimed. “I’m a songwriter… and singer! Yes, that’s true.” Feather swallowed. Ember narrowed her eyes. “Seems legit. What’s a muse?” “It’s fun, innit?” said one of the dragons in the crowd. “Nah, that’s ‘amuse’, Stankrag.” “I thought it was like one of ‘em big animals with them horn things.” “That’s a moose, Brasser!” “It means… inspiration! Like… uh… when you can’t think of something, and then poof! It enters your brain and you can think things all of a sudden!” Feather explained. “It’s not a moose.” Ember clapped her claws together. “Wow! Why is a muse here? Last I checked we just had lava, rocks, and lots and lots of treasure.” She narrowed her eyes. “It’s not part of our treasure, is it?” “No! I don’t think so… it’s more of a mental thing.” “Sounds pretty mental to me,” muttered Brasser. Ember sighed. “Okay, whatever… losing interest. I mean… I’m very interested, but… whatever.” She groaned. “Do you have, like, somewhere to stay?” Feather swallowed. “No.” Chrysalis nodded to him, slowly. “I mean yes!” Chrysalis shook her head, anger flashing in her eyes. “Actually, no. Definitely no.” Ember clicked her claws together. “Well, you can decide on the way. C’mon, I want to show you my mountain. You’re the first tourist in the dragonlands! It’ll be great for this place if you bring back cool pictures and stuff.” Ember’s retainer, the small slimy dragon, held up a claw. “Um, actually…” “C’mon, what could be the harm?” Ember asked, and beckoned to Feather to follow her. “Besides I never get guests.” As Feather jumped off the stool to follow Ember, Chrysalis edged closer to him, and unbeknownst to Ember and her retainer, she wrapped a claw around Feather’s neck. “Act. Natural.” Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed. “Remember everything they say… spy.” She grinned. “Got it?” Feather felt his heart drop into his stomach. “Y-yeah, sure.” Ember exited the bar, and gestured wildly towards the vast expanse of volcanic rock, sulphur storms, and crags. “Behold!” She exclaimed, pointing towards a massive, black lump of rock. “For I live here.” Feather beheld, and was suitably impressed. “Rockin' the stone look, I see,” he said. "Heh." "Heh," Ember replied. “Let’s get going, Feather. And you, um… Wimp?” Her retainer sighed. “Ebonite…” “Wimp is more memorable. Let’s go inside.” Chrysalis, wearing the form of a sleek, slender dragon, slid out the entrance of the cramped, smelly bar, and emerged into the dusty brown landscape beyond. The travel had worn her down, more than she liked to admit. She hadn’t been able to increase her powers again… she was no closer to her old self than she had been when she had escaped the Town with Feather Bangs. What was wrong with her? She could luckily still shapeshift, but that was a skill that even the lowest changeling possessed. Clearly her magical self had been damaged when it had been transported from Chrysalis’s old form to her new one, and badly. Chrysalis moved through the rocks and acidic clouds, following Ember, her retinue, and Feather from a safe distance. She didn’t want to arouse suspicion. Ember might only be a big brute of a dragon, but she likely held the advantage in strength. Even wearing the shape of a dragon, Chrysalis was not one. She would have to rely on deception and intelligence to overcome Ember in a confrontation… and for that, Chrysalis needed information. Sending Feather into Ember’s castle was a risk… but a calculated risk. She knew that he might realise her deception, break the ‘geas’, and turn against her, revealing that Chrysalis was still alive to the world… but on the other hand, she could identify weaknesses, Ember’s habits, and other potential risks. Chrysalis licked her fangs. If she could simply remove Ember, she could throw the entire land into chaos, and with dragons being more integrated with pony life, the potential for widespread havoc was unimaginable. Chrysalis sniffed the air, and frowned. She sensed something… something unpleasant to her. It could simply be the sulphur and ash, but then again… there was a familiarity to this putrid odour. She stepped towards the ‘castle’ that Ember lived in… closer to a large mountain with a big hole in it than a proper fortress or living area. Chrysalis scowled at how crude dragon architecture was. Nothing approaching the complex three-dimensionality of changeling hives, for sure. She looked around for any sign of guards… but there weren’t any. Was Ember’s home completely undefended? The entrance lay before Chrysalis, vacant of all resistance. She could simply walk in if she wanted… Chrysalis snorted. If she had known the dragons were so pathetic and careless, she would have invaded them long ago. Thinking better of sneaking in, she decided instead to wait until she got a chance to see Feather again. It galled her how Feather seemed so unashamedly dismissive of her grandeur. She had risen the changelings to be feared by all of Equestria! Yet somehow he thought that she was the lesser for it. She snarled. She’d show him… she’d show all of them. She looked down at her claws, and clenched them together. The fool was likely still bemoaning Chrysalis switching places with his pathetic little changeling. Clouding his judgement. Ponies… they were so irrational and small-minded. She’d show him who was the greater of the two… some nameless changeling spy, or the queen of all changelings. Author's Note Sorry folks for being a bit inconsistent with publishing this one. It's been a little hectic on my end in the lab. As always, comments are supremely valuable to me! Please feel free to comment any thoughts or ideas, and I'd love to hear them. Cheers!
Chapter Three“It turns out that I don’t actually have any pony food in here. Huh. Sorry about that,” Ember said. “What if I got the softest crystals we had? Could you eat those?” Feather stared blankly at the taller, more muscular dragon. He sighed. “No.” He took off his saddlebags. “Luckily I have some food with me.” Ember breathed out, clearly relieved. Feather wondered how many guests she had; it couldn’t be many if she was this enthusiastic (and unprepared) about bringing one of the only ponies to visit the dragonlands to her personal… cave. The cavern was largely unadorned, with glowing hot rocks (possibly connected to magma flows?) illuminating the otherwise dark, hot cavern. Pillars appeared to be carved out of sheer heat melting away the stone. Ebonite, Ember’s majordomo, was bustling around, trying to find… things. Feather wasn’t sure what; he mostly seemed to just take up space. “Uh… how’re you enjoying the dragonlands so far?” Ember asked, smiling awkwardly. “And will you be, like, telling everypony about how awesome it is here?” Feather sighed. “Well the weather is warm.” “Heck yeah!” Ember said. “The warmest! You should see the fire-showers.” Feather did not want to see the fire-showers. “I have a question,” Feather began, deciding that he had better at least try to do something about his unfortunate situation. “You’re friends with the changeling king, right?” Ember raised an eyebrow. “‘Friends’ is one way to put it, sure.” She put her talons on her hips. “We’re the best of allies! King Thorax helps out with stupid stuff I don’t like like ‘being nice’ and stuff, and in exchange I beat up his enemies!” Ember grinned. “It’s awesome. He also always makes sure to keep his hive full of awesome crystals for me to eat!” Feather tilted his head. “So you know a lot about changelings, then?” “Uh, kinda. I know that they’re really weak and flimsy and if you sit on them they sort of squelch and crunch at the same time…” “I meant… more like, do they have any other weaknesses?” “Fire, thrown rocks, talons, punches, headlocks…” “I mean… magical weaknesses? Like, if they cast a spell on you…?” “Fire, thrown rocks, talons, punches, headlocks…” Feather sighed. Ember was no help at all. “Ugh, okay. Thorax was talking about their disguises for a bit. I mostly only pretended to listen, but there was a little bit of it I kind of remember,” Ember said, and pulled up a rock to sit on. “It’s really boring though.” “I’m okay with boring,” Feather said. “Not everything sounds good in a song, but that doesn’t make it useless.” “That a pony saying?” “No, just… a Feather saying,” Feather said. “Anyway, what was it Thorax said?” Ember tilted her head back. “Well, if I remember right, he was saying that a changeling’s disguise by its very nature couldn’t be perfect. There would always be tells. Even if the physical appearance bit was perfect and stuff, there’d always be differences in how the changeling would think and behave… they couldn’t act the part perfectly, or something.” Feather raised his eyebrow. “Why is that?” “Pfft, something about them not being able to ‘disguise their minds’ or something. Like, if a changeling tries to disguise themselves too much, they forget who they are, because they have no way of figuring out what shape they originally had.” Ember tapped her chin. “Not sure why Thorax told me that. It’s not like I need to know more changeling weaknesses. Plus that’s a boring weakness. A cooler one is that in-between their front abdomen plate thing and the back one is this squishy gap that really hurts when you stick your claws in them…” “How do you know that?” Feather asked. “Thorax told me.” “I mean the… abdomen thing one.” “Oh. I stuck my claws in the gap, obviously.” “Why?” “Looked squishy. I wanted to poke it.” Feather sighed. He didn’t want to wait to see if Ember wanted to find any of his weaknesses. He wasn’t sure which was more monstrous… Chrysalis, or the more jovial, yet just as destructive curiosity that Ember seemed to display. Then again, he knew which one he preferred. At least Ember was actually good for her people… If Feather had anything to say about it, that’s what history would remember. Ponies would remember songs longer than history books, sometimes… “Y’know, it’s actually been pretty good… having the changelings around.” Ember waved her claw as she continued to lead Feather through the labyrinth of tunnels. “For a while it was a bit weird, trying to get my boys to try new things and not, y’know, burn stuff to the ground all the time, since there wasn’t anything else like us that was trying to low-key reform. Thorax helping out his changelings was a pretty big help, just by having them exist.” Feather trotted to catch up with the dragonlords titanic strides. “Is that so?” “Yeah. I mean, he’s got a way worse job than me. He’s also kind of a big wimp.” Ember stopped suddenly, and turned on her heels. “Nobody’s allowed to bully him but me, though. However big a pushover he is, he took his people from the dirt, gave them control to make their own decisions, control their own food instead of relying on other creatures for it, and all on his own turned opinions on changelings around… all that with an idiotic, bloodthirsty freak trying to drag them and how the world saw them back into the mud.” Ember’s knuckles cracked. Feather swallowed. “So, uh… you’re not a fan of Chrysalis, then?” “I mean, yeah, she can bark orders like the best of them, but what’s she actually done other than make things way worse for her people? And for what?” Ember sighed. “She’s a queen, but she’s no real ruler.” She looked down at Feather’s slightly concerned expression, and softened. “Sorry, I’m getting carried away.” Ember’s aid, Wimp, emerged from around a corner. “Oh, the pony’s still here.” “Yeah, yeah. Look, did you find any food or what?” Wimp nodded, his big goofy horns nearly bumping against the ceiling. “Right. Show me where they are and I’ll try making something… I guess? I don’t actually know how to cook.” “Is that a good idea?” Wimp asked. “Can’t be that hard. It’s just making things hot, right? I can do that.” Smoke poured out of her nostrils. “Trust me, it’ll be great.” “I’m… going to get some air,” Feather said. “It’s just you guys here, right?” Wimp nodded. “That’s right. Not exactly much need for bodyguards here…” Feather swallowed. Under his geas, he’d be forced to tell that to Chrysalis. What would she do then? “Okay,” he said, and trotted away. “Thanks for everything.” Chrysalis was sat on a small ledge overlooking the entrance to Ember’s lair. She shapeshifted into a small pony form, this time with a blue coat. A favourite of hers; she remembered distinctly calling it ‘Sky’ or something else suitably generic. Sky Melody? Star Symphony? If she was feeling naughty she’d call herself ‘Eclipse’. A good name, if a little edgy. That was all right, though. In any case, a good bet when it came to names was sticking a musical and weather reference in there somewhere, couldn’t go wrong. She saw Feather emerge from the dragon’s lair. Chrysalis trotted down to meet him, confident that no dragons were watching. She smiled as her spy approached. “Well, my little pet?” Chrysalis asked. “What news do you bring from inside Ember’s citadel?” “Well there’s barely any food for starters,” Feather quipped, displaying unsightly resistance. “But the decor is certainly unique.” “I meant forces. Bodyguards, traps, escape routes.” Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “Don’t play games with me.” Feather grunted, and walked over to a sheet ledge. Below him was a thirty foot drop down into what appeared to be nothing but smoke and ash… He turned around and leaned against a rock propped on the edge. “Ember’s only got one bodyguard, but it looks more like a secretary or assistant than anything. By the looks of things, other than that she’s alone. I couldn’t see any escape routes, but the place inside is a labyrinth. Lots of places to hide.” “Did you see her hoard?” “No. Isn’t that, like, her bedroom? Why would I see her…” Chrysalis sighed. “I suppose I can’t expect a clueless lump like yourself to improvise. No matter. I’ll locate it myself; without any bodyguards, it can’t be hard.” She took a few steps towards the citadel, and then turned back to face Feather. “How do I look?” she asked. Feather looked at her blue coated form, and sighed. “I preferred Emerald.” Chrysalis frowned, and transformed into a dragon shape, green and lustrous. “I suppose it would be better to refrain from asking you too many questions. I wouldn’t want to pollute my mind overmuch.” “Y’know, it kinda makes sense that Emerald Eve was a changeling,” Feather said. “She was always kinda evasive about her backstory, and stuff.” “A pity for you that you were too dumb to figure it out, then,” Chrysalis snapped. A part of her was uncomfortable with this line of discussion Feather was following. A part of her that didn’t feel very… Chrysalis-y. “Why? It wouldn’t have mattered. Because of Thorax, there wouldn’t have been a reason for her to hide. She was probably just shy.” “Don’t mention the usurper’s name. He’s no true ruler, whether he styles himself as a king or any other type of noble.” Chrysalis turned on Feather. “Nobility is the right to rule. He stole rulership from me; that doesn’t make him a king, that makes him a dirty, pathetic, sniveling thief. And when I find him again…” “He’s twice the ruler you ever were,” Feather snapped back. Upon seeing Chrysalis’s startled expression, he smirked. “What, nothing in the geas says I have to stay quiet, right? Ember told me a bit about you. Every decision you made led the changelings from bad to worse.” He snorted. “Hey, if Thorax hadn’t taken your position, you’d probably have just lost it yourself to someone else, once you ran out of excuses to bully your changelings.” Chrysalis snarled. Feather was getting closer and closer to realisation regarding the geas… closer to becoming an actual threat. More than that, though, he was angering her. He was taunting and teasing her. He was comparing her to the usurper, and deciding she was lacking! How dare he. He knew nothing of what it meant to guide the collective consciousness, to plot a course through the universe for an entity larger and greater than all, the mighty predator race of changelings… How dare he compare her to the usurper. “The usurper is a coward and a thief!” “Braver than you.” Chrysalis growled. “Careful, small pony. My patience is not infinite.” Feather began to bob his head from side to side. “Wah, wah… I did a bad job and got replaced. That’s basically you.” Chrysalis transformed back into the small, forest green mare she had been back before. Emerald Eve’s pony form. She put on a kind smile, a gently smile, and looked at Feather softly. The stallion’s taunting caught in his throat, and he went silent and stiff for a moment, paralysed by his own internal feelings for the fake pony. As expected. Chrysalis, not Emerald, pushed Feather over the edge. Too surprised and stunned by the sudden change, Feather was unable to catch himself, unable to balance himself. His forehooves waved around as he attempted to throw his body back to safety, but it was too late, and he began to topple down into the ash below. Chrysalis would not stand for his insolence any more. She would take revenge for the many slights he had leveled against her. “I am a queen,” she told him as he teetered on the edge of an uncontrollable fall. “You have made your last mistake.” Feather chuckled. “I always wanted to treat a mare like a queen,” he muttered. “Too bad you’re the one I got.” Then he fell, and disappeared into the smoke. Chrysalis breathed in. “Well, I’m glad that’s over with,” she muttered, and changed back into her dragon form. “I don’t know why I didn’t do that earlier.” As if expecting a reply, she paused. “Oh well. I’ll have to find some other lackey, now.” Chrysalis marched through the citadel’s corridors, keeping an ear out for any sign of Ember or her revolting aid. She narrowed her eyes, and crept around the corners. Once she caught sight of Ember, she’d know whether she could take her. Even weakened, Chrysalis could easily manage a stun-bolt from her horn, but she’d need to transform back into her original form to cast her offensive spells. If she failed to take Ember down now, then the jig was up. Perhaps it would have been wise to keep Feather as a distraction… but then again, if Feather realised his geas was fake, then he would simply turn on her and be another problem to deal with. No, Chrysalis would have to rely on a one on one fight, the element of surprise, and her usual array of mind-games. Chrysalis spotted a shape, bipedal and tall, move through the shadows. Chrysalis flattened herself against the wall. It had to be Ember’s aid; the dragonlord herself wouldn’t be scurrying around in the shadows. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. She was getting close. She transformed back into her changeling form, enjoying once again the tall, elegant shape she had once been born in. Her translucent wings erupted from her back in faint green light and fire, and she licked the tips of her fangs with glee. The shape felt… a bit unfamiliar, like putting on a suit one had grown out of. Likely another result of her weakness. Chrysalis peered around a corner, and was greeted with the sight of a tall pile of gemstones, largely blue and green. Ember was there, too, sitting on the gemstones with a curious look on her face. Chrysalis decided not to play around, and entered the room, horn blazing with green energy. A stun-bolt erupted from the tip, and shot towards Ember. The dragonlord wasted no time, ducking to the side as the energy blast hit her hoard. Ember moved with an uncomfortable gait. Chrysalis had her on the run! “Any final words, dragon scum?” Chrysalis asked as she powered up another bolt. Ember staggered upright, staring at Chrysalis with wide eyes. Then… they softened. An almost disappointed look passed over the dragon’s expression. “You’re not Chrysalis,” Ember muttered. Chrysalis frowned. “I am Queen Chrysalis. The one and only. And you are finished!” She fired another blast, and Ember ducked, still moving uncomfortably. “It’s okay, I see what happened now. Was Feather your prisoner?” Feather must have told Ember about the geas. It was the only way for a dumb dragon like Ember to figure things out so fast… Wait, no. Something was wrong. Something wasn’t as it should be… Chrysalis backed away. “Feather was just a tool. The idiot couldn’t even figure out that the geas wasn’t real.” “That makes sense. Ordinary changelings aren’t able to cast geas spells,” Ember said. “Trickery and shapeshifting is all you’ve got.” Chrysalis took another cautious step back. Ember had a low stance, and looked ready to topple at any time, but that wasn’t what was making the changeling queen nervous… it was the eerie knowledge that the dragonlord was displaying. She must have been researching changelings… that or the usurper had been outlining Chrysalis’s weaknesses to her. Chrysalis’s weaknesses? That didn’t make sense. If that was the case, why did Ember think that she was an ‘ordinary changeling’? Something inside Chrysalis was screaming at her to run. She didn’t have the advantage she thought she did… yet her eyes didn’t deceive her. A few stun-bolts was all it had taken to put Ember off-balance. She had the tactical edge… somehow? A few stun-bolts, and Ember was off-balance? That made no sense either. Run. No! Queens didn’t run. Run! “I’m sorry; it looks to me like you’re the victim of a rather nasty spell Chrysalis has cast,” Ember said, letting her claws fall to her side. “This is why changelings don’t use perfect disguises…” Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “You’re not Ember.” Ember erupted into green light, and in her place stood the usurper. Large horns raised up above him, and his soft eyes gazed at her with his usual weak-willed innocence. Chrysalis forced a smile to her lips. “I was hoping to take out Ember… but you’ll do.” Thorax chuckled. “Yeah, I am pretty defenseless.” Chrysalis felt something tap her on the shoulder. For a moment that felt like eternity, it was as if the very ground had opened up beneath her and swallowed her whole. Chrysalis swallowed, and glanced back. Ember… the real one, this time, was standing by her side, her fist clenched. “Hey,” Ember said. Oh, dear. Chrysalis had been outplayed from the start. The usurper… Thorax… must have known that Chrysalis had escaped from day one, somehow. Ember had been expecting her the whole time… Chrysalis immediately transformed back into her blue-coated mare form, which was short enough to duck the punch Ember had aimed at her head. The shockwave from the air alone whipped at Chrysalis’s mane and sent a wave of dust from the ground flying through the air. If that had connected… “Careful! We don’t want to kill her!” Thorax exclaimed. “Sorry! I forget your heads are fragile and stuff.” Chrysalis lunged away from Ember, turning back into a dragon to gain advantage of the additional reach to claw at the ground and put some desperate distance between her and Thorax and Ember. She needed to escape! Everything had gone wrong… “She’s not Chrysalis! She’s just some poor changeling who thinks she is.” Chrysalis transformed back into her original form, and as she galloped away, she fired a stun-bolt towards Ember. Instead of dodging, the dragon lunged into the blast, and it bounced off her scales with a pathetic display of green sparks. Flee! Get away! Chrysalis rounded a corner, desperate to evade pursuit. Her hooves kicked up clouds of dust every time they clawed against the ground. She heard a whoosh… Ember flew past her, and after landing she skidded to a halt, her claws digging into the stone. Her mouth was open, fangs bared. A true monster… Nothing but teeth, fire, and talons. Light began to erupt inside her throat, heralding the arrival of fire... Chrysalis shapeshifted into Thorax. Ember hesitated for a split second, her mouth closing slightly. Chrysalis grit her teeth. Not a true monster after all, then… Chrysalis fired a stun-bolt into Ember’s mouth. The powerful dragon leaped back from the shock and fell onto her side, clutching her neck with her claws, gasping for air. Even shot directly inside her, it wasn’t enough to knock her out cold… Chrysalis was a fool for thinking she could take on the dragonlord with anything less than her full power. Ember going down, even if it was temporary, was enough for Chrysalis to duck around a corner and disappear out of sight. Feather opened his eyes. He was at the bottom of a pit, and he was lifted above the ground by what appeared to be a pair of thick, large, scaled crimson arms. He swallowed, and looked to his side. He stared into a pair of bright yellow eyes. He recognised the dragon… Garble? “Uh… this better not be the afterlife?” Feather asked. “Nah, just the regular kind. I tailed you guys after you left the bar. I’m actually, like, a bodyguard and stuff now.” “I thought Ember didn’t have one?” Feather frowned. “She lied, duh.” Garble dropped Feather onto the ground. “What, just because we’re dragons, we can’t lie?” “Huh?” “Well I mean, it was Thorax’s idea.” “Thorax is here?” “Yeah. Something about looking for a missing changeling or something. Someone called Phyllidae?” Feather chuckled. Chrysalis had been played. “Nice.” He looked up. “Can you carry me back up there, please?” Chrysalis was panting heavily as she crept through the labyrinth of tunnels that made up Ember’s home. She was in trouble. Deep trouble. It was a true stroke of luck that Ember was soft enough for the old ‘turn into a loved one’ trick to work… but it wouldn’t work twice. It never worked twice. Thorax had been saying things… that she was just an ordinary changeling? That she merely thought she was Queen Chrysalis? To an outside observer, it might seem that way… but that was just Thorax’s speculation. In reality, Chrysalis knew that she had transferred her mind to this new body… Was that why she wasn’t getting stronger, though? Because her body wasn’t catching up with her mind? In theory, her magical power should have made the transition with her… that was how magic worked… … but not if it was all a trick. Like the fake geas, it didn’t carry much in the way of magical power other than a little deception… Chrysalis rubbed her forehead with her hoof. She was… she was still a queen, regardless of whether it was a deception or not. It was part of the plan. She was still Queen Chrysalis, just… weaker. It didn’t matter how her mind had made the transition, only that it had. Her nobility, her regal knowledge, her right to rule… those were the crucial aspects of her. She shouldn’t have taken revenge against Feather for his attitude so quickly. She should have scouted the citadel out more thoroughly. She should have been patient. If she had been patient, she could have retreated, she could have maybe done something... Used the only ally she had in this cold, inhospitable world. She clutched at her heart, which was pounding in her chest. What kind of thinking was that? What good would Feather be in this situation? Why was she regretting pushing him over the cliff that much? If everything was just some… some trick, perhaps this was Emerald Eve’s mind speaking to her… or was she Emerald Eve all along? Curses. Chrysalis had put on a perfect disguise, and now she couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t… She heard the sound of footsteps echoing through the citadel. “I can’t believe I fell for that,” came Ember’s distant voice. “It’s okay… I would have…” “Of course you would have. But I shouldn’t.” There was a pause. “Next time I’m going to punch her brains out.” Chrysalis lowered her stance as she crept towards where she believed the exit to be. If she got to the open sky, then she could fly away… regroup. Perhaps find easier allies… Allies like Feather? Chrysalis continued to clutch at her heart, and banged her head against the stone wall. She needed to focus. She needed to forget Feather… she needed Emerald Eve to forget Feather… She approached the exit, and the soft light of the dragonlands shone onto her. She was almost free… “Not so fast, bug-horse!” Chrysalis ducked a clumsy swing from a big red dragon, and backed away. She turned, but looking up at the sky… it was full of dragons. Full of them of all shapes and sizes. Chrysalis gnashed her teeth. It was a trap. This was all one big trap… Standing between two large dragons was Feather. Surely he should be… Chrysalis tried to back back into the citadel, but she bumped into Ember. Thorax was soon behind her as well. Chrysalis spun around, her eyes scanning everywhere… up was filled with dragons, and provided no cover. There was the cliff she had pushed Feather down, but it looked like a dead end… the landscape was covered in enemies. Enemies everywhere… “It’s over, Phyllidae,” Thorax said. “We can help you. I want to help all the changelings…” Chrysalis tried to think. There had to be a way out of here… She turned on her heels, and leapt towards Ember, her fangs bared. Ember squared her stance, ready to recieve… Chrysalis turned into Ember as she lunged, and when the two came into contact, they both went down in a flurry of blows. Chrysalis came off worse for it… she was uncomfortable fighting in a bipedal form, but maybe it was enough… “Get that one!” she screamed, pointing at Ember, hoping the confusing wrestle was enough to trick the dumb dragons. “That one is Chrysalis!” Sure enough, many of the less intelligent dragons began to charge at Ember, but the dragonlord simply shook her head, unimpressed. “Dragons!” Ember exclaimed. “Punch yourselves.” As Chrysalis tried to disengage from Ember and rush into the crowd, hoping to disappear, she felt a blow land on the side of her head. Panicking, she noticed all the dragons begin to beat each other up… indiscriminately. Feather hunkered down, trying to avoid the carnage. The dragons obeyed any order coming from someone looking like Ember. If Chrysalis acted quickly… “And don’t stop until every dragon you see is unconscious!” Ember roared, ducking a tail-swipe from Brasser. Ember smirked. Chrysalis realised her plan… Ember knew that if Chrysalis kept hiding amongst the dragons, she’d go down long before all the other dragons did. They were so simple, they couldn’t be tricked. Chrysalis transformed back into her regal, changeling queen form, and attempted to rush away from the crowd… but something was hanging onto her leg. She turned and faced Feather Bangs, clutching her with his forehooves. “Guess there wasn’t a geas after all…” Feather grunted. “Ha ha…” Chrysalis tried to shake Feather off, and due to her larger size, she succeeded… but then Feather lunged at her, the edge of his hoof shooting towards her abdomen… no, a small gap between the plates of her abdomen… The hoof dug into the squishy, squelching flesh beneath, and pain wracked Chrysalis’s body. Thorax flew over Chrysalis as she fell to the ground. “Ember taught me that one!” Feather shouted. “Ha ha, this is going to make the best song…” “Surrender, Phyllidae!” Feather looked up at Thorax. “Who’s Phyllidae?” “The missing changeling. She was hiding in your town after I took over.” Thorax landed over Chrysalis. “Chrysalis must have tricked her somehow into thinking she was her…” Chrysalis snarled. “I am the queen!” Feather got to his hooves. His mane, once carefully tended to, was now rough. Smoke and ash had darkened his coat, and his lips appeared dry and coarse. He looked nothing like the weak, shy, awkward stallion Chrysalis had woken up next to in the Town and taken prisoner… “You were never a queen. You were just some big… dumb… tyrant.” Chrysalis tried to escape, but she felt the familiar, uncomfortable feeling of talons wrapping around her. Ember had caught up to her at last… and all the other dragons were on the ground, save for Garble. “Try me,” Ember snarled. Chrysalis powered up a stun-bolt, but Ember clutched the tip of her horn with her talons. The spell backfired, and Chrysalis then saw nothing at all. “Changeling nobles… are complicated,” Thorax told Feather. Feather Bangs was sat in the bar. It was, after all, the first thing that had come to mind after Chrysalis… Phyllidae… Emerald Eve… had been defeated. “How so?” “For us, a noble… whether a king or queen… is just a changeling with enough vision to lead the rest. Whether it’s a good vision… or a bad one.” Thorax sighed. “Maybe we should revise that way of working…” Ember rubbed her throat, which appeared slightly red after her battle with the ‘changeling queen’. “Doesn’t matter to me so long as the bad guys get beat up,” she said. “Also, those stunbolts really hurt.” Thorax flashed Ember an awkward smile. “Heh… yeah, sorry about that…” “Hey, you didn’t fire it.” Feather frowned. “Will Emerald… get better?” “I don’t know,” Thorax said. “It kind of depends on exactly what kind of spell Chrysalis used to convince Phyllidae that she was the changeling queen. It’s possible Chrysalis simply meant to use her as a tool for revenge… not necessarily a means to escape petrification. We may never know, since communicating with Chrysalis, the real Chrysalis, isn’t possible.” “Way I see it, if she acts like Chrysalis, thinks she’s Chrysalis, and we have no way of telling the two apart, she might as well be Chrysalis,” Ember said. “Well… there may be something to be said about such a simplistic point of view.” “Well it’s all too complicated for me,” Feather muttered. “I’ve gotten more than I signed up for.” “You at least find your muse?” Ember asked. “Maybe. I might try a ballad. I’m thinking I’ll need a really good crew of back-up dancers for this one, though…” Feather sighed. Maybe next time, he’d have better luck when finding a mare he liked… Or maybe he’d get Emerald Eve back after all. Who knew? One thing was for sure… the world didn’t need more like Chrysalis. Feather shuddered at the thought of the original ever getting free again... Author's Note Sorry I've been late finishing this one. I'm stuck at home because of Covid and despite having therefore lots of free time to write, my extrovert ass is going ballistic. Hope you enjoyed it folks. Have a good one.
