Queen Chrysalis, some would call her a dictator, others call her their savior.

She would personally refer to herself as a controversial leader, she was simply reaching for what was right in her eyes! There were reasons for Changelings to hate her, and she understood that, Queen Celestia had her critics.

Every great leader has their critics...

Chrysalis however, was a strange case for her species. Her background was kept hidden from everyone, even her own subjects didn’t know where she came from. She preferred it that way, being more mysterious than understood.

Her society was equal, everyone had an equal chance at succeeding, everyone was to be treated with decency... although there were a few incidents that not even Chrysalis could prevent. She was beloved and practically worshipped by her followers, who were affectionately nicknamed the ‘Renegade Changelings’ by outsiders.

She prided herself on being an excellent caretaker for her children, and the Changelings that weren’t even birthed by her were treated with the same amount of love and care. Sure they were hungry most of the time but she was doing her absolute best, proving a point if you will.

Traditions in her home country were idiotic, sexist, and demeaning to everyone involved, especially the poor males who were being raised to be sexual objects for their wive’s pleasure. Damn their religion, it could get a Changeling killed if they said they didn’t believe in it.

She ripped every part of their culture away from them, in order to protect her subjects from being hurt by it. They were forbidden from eating the food of any Changeling culture, wearing traditional clothing of any kind was enough to get rocks thrown at you (not that she condoned this), and speaking any of the languages was a serious taboo.

‘I’m doing this for their own good,’ is what she would always tell herself, and she genuinely believed it.

Now here she was, curled up in bed next to her Army’s General. How did she get here, you ask? Well after a few glasses of Rượu cần (courtesy of General Mantis, the sweetheart), you lose your impulse control.

She was fully awake, just lying there thinking deeply about everything and nothing. Mantis was snoring softly, his cheek was smooshed against her back.

How she wished her life could be this simple every single day, she normally woke up miserable and exhausted due to the knowledge of having to handle an entire war... however, this was rather lovely to wake up to.

“Bian...?” She froze, glancing behind her to see Mantis sleepily looking at her.

He pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder, mumbling, “are you up, Bian? We have work to do later on but... I’m too comfy and my hangover’s already hitting me.” Chrysalis felt inclined to laugh, but bit it back and said, “I’ll tell them we had errands to run, just try to sleep it away.”

“Can’t we get green tea?” He whined, making her chuckle, “we stole some of it from our trip through Fanghai!” He placed a hoof to his head, feeling the headache begin to slowly hit him.

“More like our vacation in Fanghai, dear,” Chrysalis teased, sitting up and brushing her blue mane out of her eyes.

He pouted, “but the tea!” She sighed and agreed as she felt her head pounding a bit, not her worst hangover but it was pretty bad.

In case you were wondering why they were so casual about this, it was because this wasn’t the first time, there were countless ‘incidents’ like this. They loved to refer to these as ‘happy little accidents’ that happened every so often, they were often sweet and pleasant.

The only problem that always arises because of these intimate moments was the question Mantis would always ask without fail, “have you changed your mind yet?” He looked so soft, so breakable whenever he asked this question.

It was almost incredulous that this was her Army’s best General, the most hardened male she had ever met. Yet, in these moments, he seems to sink back into his natural instincts of being gentle and subservient.

“Mantis, you know that we can’t, it would ruin everything I stand for,” she said with a frown, feeling her heart ache at the sight of him seeming to shrink at her words.

“Marriage doesn’t have to be seen as traditional,” he grumbled as he sat up.

She shook her head, “that’s not the point, it’s just... things are difficult, our species is confusing and hypocritical—“

“I get it, your reputation is more important to you than I am,” Mantis cynically noted.

“That’s not what I mean!” She protested, cupping his face in her hooves.

His light blue mane seemed to be mocking her, reminding her and everyone else that she favored him. Every other member of her army lost their manes due to their diet, and they completely envied Mantis for his lustrous mane.

She let him eat solid foods and drink whatever he wanted, claiming that it was a perk of his high position. In reality, it was because she loved seeing how pretty he looked with his mane, “I do adore you, you mean so much to me. Let’s make a deal, I’ll make a decision once the war is over, but I don’t want a traditional wedding if that’s my decision.”

“Sure...” he responded, looking annoyed as he pulled the sheets over his head.

She was about to say something else when he popped his head out, “if you get me a green tea, I won’t be upset about this.” Chrysalis nodded and got off the bed, wincing at her nausea.

It would take her a few extra minutes to navigate her way through the hallways to find a servant, who was more than willing to fulfill her request for two cups of tea with multiple banana slices. She felt a bit embarrassed when a few servants asked as she passed the following questions: ‘are you alright, your majesty?’, ‘you look ill, my Queen!’, and even ‘would you like for one of us to accompany you to your room?’.

She of course, said no to all of those questions, ignoring their protests as she shut the door behind her. She was surprised to see Mantis looking at a map on the floor, looking focused as he made small marks with an ink quill.

The other thing she noticed was the fact that he was wearing his helmet again, which had been discarded on the floor the night before.

“What are you doing?” She questioned as she sat down next to him.

He rolled his eyes, “marking every village that we liberated,” she couldn’t help but notice the large X he made on one of them.

“And that is?” She pointed at it, being answered with, “the village that was massacred by the Equestrians, we only managed to save under two dozen of the villagers.”

She sighed, remembering the carnage she bore witness to just a month ago. “What a shame it was,” she uttered, shaking her head.

“So many potential members of our Army,” she lamented, not noticing the strange look on Mantis’s face as she said this.

“It’s rumored that the massacre will be covered up by the Equestrian Princesses, apparently they weren’t the ones who made the call to kill the villagers,” Mantis explained, practically telling Chrysalis they were back to being professional with each other.

It bothered the Queen with how much it hurt her, but she kept face, “typical of them, those Equestrian dirtbags.”

Then Mantis asked, “when are we going to liberate Flygon? Or are we to wait a bit longer, for the Equestrians to drop their guard?”

“The Equestrians are most likely on high alert, that is if they’re aware of the killings. If they’re not...” she smirked, “I’m sure they wouldn’t care to notice a spy or two hiding in the city.”

He nodded, “brilliant Bi-my Queen,” he stammered when he corrected himself, knowing that it was unprofessional to call her by her birth name.

She had paused for a moment, staring at Mantis before saying, “thank you, Hiroshi.”

They locked eyes, both blushing with nervous smiles. The soft moment was ruined by the door opening, revealing two soldiers and an annoyed looking servant standing there. She could easily recognize the soldiers as Hornet and Nepidae, the couple that pretended like they didn’t make out in every alleyway they found.

While the servant, who she recognized as Katydid, said, “your highness, I tried to calm these two down but they insistent that they needed to speak with you.”

He placed the tray in front of the two, then gave the soldiers a weak glare before walking out. Nepidae began speaking first, “my Queen! We’ve been meaning on sharing this information with you—“

Hornet interjected, “not that we purposely kept this information away from you—“

“—of course we didn’t!”

“But we learned something important about one of our prisoners!”

Chrysalis looked unamused as she said, “oh really, is that so?”

Hornet nodded, “he was a suspicious individual, we originally believed him to be a spy—“

“—But we were instead shocked to find out who he really is, or at least who he’s claiming to be,” Nepidae had slapped his hoof over Hornet’s mouth.

Chrysalis and Mantis gave each other a similar confused look, then the General said, “well what are you waiting for? Spit it out.”

Nepidae was about to answer when Hornet pulled his hoof away, so both answered, “he’s a son of Tsubaki!”

The Queen’s ears perked up, looking extremely intrigued as she said, “is that what he told you? How strange,” then she looked to Mantis, “General Mantis, be a dear and find... what is his name?”

“He stated his name as Yang Jung-ho, but we believe otherwise,” said Hornet, as he proudly held his head up.

General Mantis stood up, wincing a bit, no doubt from his hangover, “I shall retrieve him, my Queen. Do you want me to take him here or back into the interrogation room?” The Queen requested the former as her horn lit up, levitated her tea cup to her lips.

She took a tiny sip before muttering, “Katydid could’ve added jasmine,” then she used her magic to hold the other tea cup up to Mantis, “don’t forget to drink this, I didn’t order him to make it just to have it forgotten.”

“R-right, my Queen,” he blushed as he used his own magic to hold it, saying in a firm voice to the soldiers, “alright, you’ve both done your job, that’s it. You go back, I’ll take over now.”

They both obediently saluted him before going on their way, he swore he could hear them whispering, “why is he in her bedroom?” Which made him scowl in annoyance.

A gentle hoof was placed on his shoulder, making his hard expression drop immediately, his lover whispered, “ignore them, just do as I ordered Hiroshi.”

He nodded, “of course, my Queen. I’ll find this little... nuisance, and perhaps we’ll have him eradicated?”

“No no, I’m interested in what he has to say. I believe he is far more than we expect him to be, we’ll just have to find out.”

Author's Note

I’ve really been wanting to write on these two!! (also I couldn’t help but use General Mantis because I think he deserves a chance with Chrysalis, even if this is a different universe)