Chrysalis and the Crystal Cave

Chapters

Chapter 2 - The Cobweb Cove
Chapter 3 - The Construct
Chapter 4 - The Wings
Chapter 5 - The Cocoon
Chapter 1 - The Storm

Chapter 2 - The Cobweb Cove

Chrysalis awoke to a strange sensation.

"Am I alive ... or did the fall do me in for good?" she wondered. " Chrysalis felt a slight headache coming on. "Is this some sort of afterlife, the end for a once fearsome monarch ... or ... ?" she further inquired about her situation, barely awake.

She took a chance, and opened her eyes. All she could make out was a long tunnel leading into darkness.

This probably wasn't the afterlife, the walls were dark gray, she could at least make out that much.

"I'm beginning to think I survived that fall after all. Hah! Why did I ever doubt myself? I've survived the Badlands for centuries, I can handle anything," she reassured herself.

Chrysalis took a moment to get her bearings, then placed a hoof upon the gray mass that surrounded her. It felt rough to the touch, and structurally sturdy once she gave it a quick tap. That confirmed her suspicions for her.

She was sure of it now, she had survived, she had made it through yet another harrowing misadventure while just barely making it. She thought she would be used to the pain associated with this sort of thing by now, but after going through so many disastrous experiences over the years one-after-another, the repetition started to help less and less.

I've survived another brush with death it seems ... almost assuredly so I can suffer through more of them.

She wasn't alone this time, though. Her frown lessened slightly knowing that from now on, she would never be alone, not as long as her loyal Lieutenant remained by her side. Fortunately, there wasn't much Chrysalis needed to worry about in that department, the options for a non-sentient stick betraying her or making a getaway weren't exactly numerous.

One thing was obvious to her now. This shadowy gray abyss was none other than the inside of the cave.

It's so empty. Honestly, I'm starting to get second thoughts about that leap of faith I took, maybe I would've had better odds with the manticore. Oh well, not much that can be done at this point, it's far too late to turn back now.

Upon further inspection, Chrysalis reasoned that the cave entrance she fell from had already collapsed behind her, leaving the hole she entered the cave from blocked by chunks of rubble. Chrysalis reasoned that the manticore must've flown into a rage and smashed the cave entrance in a blind rage once its prey evaded it. Regardless of why the rubble was in her way, simply being there meant she wouldn't be able to leave just as soon as her torn wings were healed, contrary to her original plan. Now, with her way inside obstructed, the only path out was forward.

“Excellent choice, Lieutenant, I’ll defer to your wisdom here,” replied Chrysalis.

Chrysalis made the only logical decision after surviving a fall of unknown height and performed a quick survey of her situation, beginning with her own form.

For starters, her wings were ripped, torn during the manticore’s assault. Chrysalis made a mental note to remember that she wouldn’t be able to fly until the torn wings issue was resolved.

"Come to think of it, how exactly am I going to fix my wings in a place like this? It's not like there's any kind of doctor here. Guess that's a question for later then," she supposed.

After all, a changeling’s ability to transform was directly tied to their original form. Without functional wings, a changeling couldn’t transform into a creature with the ability to fly. It would be more accurate to say she could still transform into a pegasus, for example, but her wings in that form would be torn as well, reflecting the injured state of her true wings. Chrysalis, for all her power, was no exception to the basic laws of changeling biology.

As for her horn, she could already feel something was wrong when she tried to perform a spell to test her capabilities, and after inspecting the damage by using a reflective mineral she found nearby, Chrysalis realized that the horn issue was far more severe than she had initially realized. Her horn was cracked, a consequence of the manticore having slammed her against the cave’s inner wall before she fell.

“Ugh ... as if this wretched day couldn’t get worse. The world has seen fit to put another roadblock in my path, but no matter, I’ll persevere! Do you hear me, what powers may be? I will carry on, I won't give up no matter what obstacles you place in my path!” Yelled Chrysalis, as though the concept of fate could somehow hear her frustrated declaration. The odds of this actually being the case were slim, but Chrysalis wanted to take her anger out on said concept, just on the off chance it was controlled by a being she could frighten into submission.

It wasn’t as tragic as it could’ve been for the changeling queen. After all, her horn was intact, it was merely cracked. That was little comfort for Chrysalis though, as she knew what a cracked horn meant. With a cracked horn, Chrysalis would face constant resistance when attempting to use her own magic. It would be like trying to do construction work with a combination of sickness and broken limbs. It simply wasn’t practical, and for the time being, Chrysalis wouldn’t be able to do much with her magic other than the most basic telekinesis, a skill so deeply ingrained in her mind and so instinctual that it wouldn’t strain her horn, even in its current state.

Chrysalis wondered for a moment what remedy there might be for a cracked horn? She had never needed to learn healing magic, as her chitin and her defensive spells was almost always sufficient to protect her. Even when they weren't, changeling healers were quick to give her all the aid they could offer. She lacked anatomical expertise in this case. Simply put, Chrysalis finally settled on the idea that she would have to use trial and error to fix her horn. She had little choice in the matter, since without a properly functioning horn she had no easy way to escape this horrid cave, her new stony prison.

Chrysalis continued to inspect her condition, determining that her chitinous form had protected her from the worst of the damage and none of her other major body parts or organs had suffered heavy damage. Additionally, and much more positively, Chrysalis was still filled with love from her earlier excursion, so she could survive without worrying over hunger for the next few weeks at minimum.

Chrysalis counted herself lucky that her chitin was hardy enough to protect her from the worst of the fall. She only had a minor headache, and she could live with that when she reminded herself of the many far greater pains she had endured throughout her eternal life.

A minor headache, truly? That's nothing, I've survived the full force of magical beams conjured by ancient alicorns before, what hope does gravity have to put an end to me? she asked herself rhetorically.

Actually, when I put it like that, my royal chitin must be unfathomably durable for it to continually impress me like this time and time and again. If I were made of a squishier material, like ponies are, I likely would've been turned into a ... what's the word for that pony dish again? Chrysalis searched her scattered brain for a moment. Ah yes, pancakes, I would've been turned into one of those.

“Perhaps I should be grateful the powers that be didn’t see fit to torture me further, allowing my other limbs and love reserves to remain relatively close to peak condition. Although I dare not speak too soon,” said Chrysalis, with a cynical tone, expecting fate was waiting for the right time to make her life even worse.

“Oh right, my forms,” remembered Chrysalis, mentally facehoofing for so foolishly forgetting to check what she was capable of in that department. Up to this point, she had simply assumed her ability to transform was unaffected by her run-in with the manticore without bothering to check if that was actually the case.

First, Chrysalis allowed herself to relax, a key aspect of the transformation process. Then, she attempted to alter her body into that of her most recent form. Chrysalis easily managed to transmute herself in a wash of green flames from an imposing insectoid queen to a humble beige green mare with a penchant for photography and journalism, and a cutie mark resembling ladybugs. She called this form “Shutterbug,” a form she was quite proud of. It was an expertly crafted identity, built from scratch as she worked her way up the ranks of the Canterlot Historical Society and gained their trust, all so that her web of lies would be built on a solid foundation of truth. A foundation in truth was fundamental to any lie, otherwise it would fall apart under the slightest scrutiny. It's the first rule one has to learn in the art of deception, a rule Chrysalis learned the hard way centuries ago when her barebones lies fell apart at the seams the moment ponies got a bit curious. Thanks to her diligence, anypony that looked into Shutterbug's past would find all the credentials she claimed to have were genuine. Chrysalis then bathed in the dark green flames once more, and returned to her true, imposing figure.

“At least that form still works. Good, I've been enjoying that one as of late anyways,” remarked Chrysalis, happy that at least one of her forms still functioned properly, especially this personal favorite of hers.

Unfortunately, while her form outwardly appeared to have a functional horn to others, she still lacked the ability to cast spells while transformed like this. Additionally, her changeling biology meant that her horn was still cracked in this form, but she quickly concealed it with beige green cloth she had on her in case of what a certain pony might call a "fashion emergency."

Chrysalis then attempted to do the same, but this time transformed herself into a lowly spider. This ... did not work, which perplexed her. Perhaps the cracked horn left as a parting gift from that disgusting manticore was interfering with her ability to transform. Chrysalis then repeatedly attempted to transform into all manner of other creatures she had once taken the forms of before, but to no avail. Chrysalis decided to give up on transforming for now, and work with the assumption that she only had one form, the unicorn mare known as Shutterbug, and plan around the fact that she would only have access to that form exclusively for the time being.

“Ugh, I can’t even transform properly. This is ridiculous, I’m the queen of a species entirely known for their ability to transform! What’s wrong with me, is this some cruel joke the world is playing at my expense?” said Chrysalis, demanding to know if some higher power had brought this miserable fate upon her.

She was filled with rage at the thought of being unable to utilize more than one form. Back when she was in charge of all changelings, she would’ve written off an adult changeling that could only manage a single form as a weakling who could only serve the hive as a menial servant. She certainly wouldn’t trust such a weak changeling to survive on their own in the wilderness. And yet, here she was, and she had no choice but to try to survive in this harsh new environment without the support of a hive behind her. Somehow, she’d have to make do with just one form.

As the reality of this problem set in for her, she flew into a fit of pure anger. She wanted to yell, to scream. Chrysalis instinctively tried to summon a blast of pure malice with her horn so she could take her anger out on the cave itself. Yet this only caused her a brief headache and dizziness, as her cracked horn resisted the attempts to cast a spell by the very creature it was part of.

Chrysalis forced herself to calm down after a while. Then, she decided to inspect her saddlebags, starting with the one containing her Lieutenant. She was worried the poor thing would be in pieces, but she had to know.

“Well, this is quite the predicament we find ourselves in. What are your thoughts on the matter, Lt. Sparkle?” Asked Chrysalis, as she surveyed the saddlebag she was storing her so-called Lieutenant inside. Thankfully, her right-hoof mare was more intact than Chrysalis at this point, easing Chrysalis's fears.

The personified purple stick that Chrysalis dubbed “Lt. Sparkle” didn't reply back, for several reasons. For starters, it physically couldn't due to its lack of sentience and vocal cords, facts which would be immediately obvious to the average Joe. Secondly, the Lieutenant simply didn't feel like speaking to its superior, Sparkle was in a bit of a bad mood. However, what Chrysalis believed that it advised her to do was this, “We should make our way forward, my liege. It’s the only proper course of action given the situation. I know it's tempting to try to leave the same way we came, but as that irritant of a manticore diced up your wing membranes, you'll need to find a way to remedy that problem before we have any hope of making it back up. In the meantime, our top priority should be restoring the function of your wings, and once that objective is complete, we'll move on to returning your cracked horn to its former wicked splendor, allowing you to clear away the rubble that's giving us so much trouble in your current state.”

Chrysalis took this advice, prioritizing things accordingly. She then noticed something dreadful had occurred in the same saddlebag as her Lieutenant.

"No, my favorite camera!" Chrysalis couldn't be bothered to yell anymore, so she settled for a slightly louder, angrier version of her regular speaking voice. "It must've softened the blow, keeping my Lieutenant intact at the expense of its structural integrity. It's useless now, but at least it kept the Lieutenant safe," grumbled Chrysalis.

She had spent time earnestly working in Canterlot to purchase that camera in a legitimate manner when she could've just stolen it any time she wanted to, and she was rather proud of that fact. Seeing the camera she had worked so hard to obtain broken to bits filled her with bubbling rage, but she had to swallow her anger for now, there was more to attend to.

"Fortunately, I've got a backup camera," she stated, investigating the other saddlebag. "Aha, it seems it avoided the brunt of the damage. With my horn out of commission for the time being, I bet I could use the camera flash as a makeshift light source. It's not great, but it's usable, and that's what matters here," said Chrysalis.

Finally satisfied with the survey of her current state, Chrysalis decided to press forward through the cavernous abyss.

And so, Chrysalis marched onward through the long tunnel. It didn’t seem to twist or bend at any point, it was merely a long, boring, straight line. Chrysalis began to tire of this, desperate for an end to the drab misery of wandering in a straight line for hours. Then, she hit a dead end. Stone debris blocked her path and there was no way forward without a lot of manual labor to clear the rubble.

At this point, Chrysalis merely took the rubble’s existence as a fun challenge, an amusing distraction from her troubles. Mere rubble in the way of the queen of all changelings? Hah, the thought of such a thing even being an obstacle for her failed to register in her mind. So, she began using minor telekinesis to dig, get to work on the process, which took hours upon hours.

“Is this what’s going to do me in?” she worried.

No, even with the pain she felt in her horn, she had to break through this ridiculous rubble or she would be trapped for all eternity, and the stubborn queen refused to let her tale end in such a mundane manner, trapped in a random cave. She was furious at the world for daring to think it could stop her so easily. All of this and more was true, Chrysalis assured herself. Even though she became exhausted as time went on, she never once even thought about giving up, she didn’t know the meaning of that term.

Piles upon piles of rubble were left behind in her wake as she telekinetically flung the debris backwards, just a small amount at a time.

Just as she had reached her wits’ end after trotting across the tunnel and telekinetically flinging away debris for what felt like millennia, Chrysalis finally reached a more open section of the cave. She had never felt more relieved and proud at accomplishing a task in her entire existence. This was her achievement, and it was hers alone, with no hive to back her up. Well, perhaps it was up there in terms of accomplishments. She wouldn't personally rank moving several tons of rubble without stopping above the pride she felt the first time she outsmarted the ruler of Equestria, or nearly conquering Equestria.

The opening Chrysalis reached by the end was massive, Chrysalis was awestruck by how long the empty darkness stretched on for in every direction. She could hear the screeching sound of bats echo from all sides, as well as the sickening crawling noise of bugs from every angle. Further, the cave smelled abysmal. To the average pony, a place like this would’ve been a living nightmare. To Chrysalis, it reminded her of home, especially the pod storage areas, and the infamously pungent “goo” smell that permeated from them.

Despite being faced with endless walls of grey and unending darkness, Chrysalis never allowed herself to be scared. Chrysalis assured herself that she wasn’t in danger, she was the danger, and any creature that tried to test the validity of that idea for themselves would have it quickly and painfully proven to them by Chrysalis that she was right to consider herself the greater threat.

Now, Chrysalis had a real choice to make in regards to the direction she’d head. At least, she had a choice in the same sense that one wandering into unknown darkness has a choice in which area of overwhelming shadow they’d like to forever lose themselves in. She of course decided that right is always right, and with nothing left for her to lose, what could really go wrong? So, she followed the right wall, deciding to stay as close to it as possible so that she could always use it as a reference point should she need to retrace her hoofsteps. All throughout this process, she used her camera flash to orient herself, being careful not to let it run out of juice. The camera automatically recharged itself after a while, but it didn't have much juice. It was her cheap backup camera, after all, she didn't ever expect she'd be in a situation where she would need it to navigate an underground abyss.

As she trekked across the cave, she noticed something peculiar about this one in particular that really made it stand out. There were glowing crystals of all shapes, colors, and sizes protruding from nearly every surface. Chrysalis silently thanked the crystals for providing some small light in this otherwise incredibly dark cave, and made a mental note to investigate them later.

"I wonder, could they be related to the crystals that the Crystal Empire is so famous for? Likely not, I'm certain those would be exclusive to the northern region if they named their entire empire after them," reasoned Chrysalis.

After a few more hours of wandering, Chrysalis passed under a large crystal archway and found something incredible.

She considered doing a little jig on the spot out of sheer happiness. This find was clearly the stars' doing, they were finally throwing her a bone after kicking her while she was down for so long.

From the looks of it, it was an abandoned home carved into the wall. The home was rounded near the ceiling, but the walls and flooring were perfectly flat once they met, closer to the floor. There was an aura of coziness to the home, despite its clearly ruined state. It had an empty fireplace with no way to release the flames. Chrysalis assumed it must've been powered by magical flame. Some of the furniture and decorations still lingered.

Calling it a “home” in its current state may have been too generous. It was three rooms in total, all of which shared a theme of dark green coloring wherever coloration was present. The first of these rooms was a living room and kitchen mixed together, covered from top to bottom in cobwebs. There was a single couch, though only half of it remained, and a torn rug as well as a shattered table that used to be made of glass. There in the kitchen side were counter tops in shockingly good condition, Chrysalis wondered how such a thing was even possible. Still, she knew not to look a gift pony in the mouth. There was also, shockingly, a modern day kitchen with a sink, food cabinet, and other amenities. The kitchen was miraculously still mostly intact even if many of the food cabinet’s shelves were in need of repair.

Next, there was a bedroom. The dusty queen-sized bed with wavy dark green bed sheets was perfect. It was still in usable condition, and the irony of her finding a mattress of the queen-sized variety wasn't lost on her. The only other noteworthy aspects of the bedroom were a nightstand with an old but still working lantern on top and a storage chest that could slide out from under the bed.

Finally, what Chrysalis discovered in the third and final room was the most exciting of all. That incredible room was dedicated entirely to one thing, the practice of alchemy.

“Lieutenant, are you seeing what I’m seeing? Yes, it seems to be an alchemy lab, complete with an alchemy table and shelves built into the walls filled with varying ingredients. Do you understand how perfect this is for us?” asked Chrysalis.

“This couldn’t possibly be more perfect for me, I've always been a savant when it comes to the alchemical arts. Finally, our luck is turning around!” Just you wait, Lieutenant, soon I’ll show you alchemical concoctions you’ve never seen!” proclaimed Chrysalis.

Luckily for Chrysalis, alchemy was one of the lesser known extensions of magic which she had considered worth her time to study and practice. Though, she thought of it as an entertaining hobby rather than a serious pursuit at the time. Still, her rudimentary knowledge of alchemy and the tools and resources this room provided meant she had a fighting chance at surviving her time in this cave, and that was more than enough to make the normally stoic queen joyously leap into the air! Upon further inspection, many of the instruments in the room were still entirely usable, and only a rare few were broken beyond repair. Less fortunately, the stock of alchemical ingredients was lacking, and many of the resources within were less than useful for her current situation. Regardless, Chrysalis was excited beyond measure to stumble upon such a fortunate find, and she intended to make full use of this gift.

Considering how well-kept the home was, Chrysalis wondered if perhaps the home still had an owner. Of course, she was willing to parley or even do battle with the owner for access to this shelter, so she figured that she’d deal with that problem if and when it presented itself. For now, she would rest in her new glorious home, a miniature hive with a population of one. Well, a population of many if you count all the spiders that had made it into their personal nest.

Naturally, as this home was going to be her base of operations for the foreseeable future, she had to decide on a name for such a place. After much deliberation with Lt. Sparkle, Chrysalis eventually decided on “Cobweb Cove” as the name of her new abode. She named it based on it being covered in cobwebs, as well as being a hidden cove away from the main cave’s ever-present darkness.

With a name for her new home chosen, Chrysalis drifted to sleep. For the first time in months, she went to sleep confident in the knowledge that she would be ready for whatever challenges the next day posed.

Author's Note

Alchemy will be relatively important later, just need to work out the issues involved with writing a unique alchemy system first. Also, thanks to everyone who's liked, commented, or otherwise given this story a chance, your feedback is very much appreciated!

Chapter 3 - The Construct

Chrysalis woke up with renewed vigor, excited beyond measure to begin her work for the day. She nearly leaped out of bed and flew around in a bout of excitement. Some of her more devout changelings would insist that the simple concept of "having fun" was a pony invention, and not be tolerated in the hive. Chrysalis disagreed with that on several counts, though mainly because she was a firm believer that if you weren't having fun conquering the world, you weren't doing it right. That, and she didn't want to give ponies credit for an emotional concept they almost assuredly learned from other creatures. In spite of her many rather heavy-hoofed and strict policies as a ruler, she wasn't in the business of keeping her changelings from enjoying a little recreation here and there, a happy hive is a healthy hive as they say. Getting back on track, Chrysalis unfortunately remembered that she was incapable of going on a joy flight in her current condition, all thanks to that abominable manticore. That didn’t deter her though, no, knowing that her efforts would soon result in the grand return of her ability to fly only served to motivate her even more.

She quickly made her way from the bedroom to the exit, which was a stone latch door covering the entire entrance space, which was the only thing valiantly holding the line against small animals and other pests creeping in. Fortunately, it was very ineffective at keeping out pests, otherwise a parasite like Chrysalis wouldn't have been able to get inside so easily. She slammed the door open with a mighty thud, and began her trot through the cave.

This time, Chrysalis decided to head further right, continuing to hold to her philosophy of hugging the right wall. She always hated that phrase, “hugging” the wall implied she had held some compassion for the wall, when in truth it was merely being used as a helpful tool. It was an apt metaphor, she supposed, for how she saw others. They could be useful tools, and she wouldn’t go around discarding them for no reason, but there was no real attachment between her and her tools. They could be discarded once they stopped being useful. This was fine to Chrysalis, seeing others as lesser, and really only serving two possible purposes. The first category was that of an underling, a useful minion that could do Chrysalis’s bidding. Her other perceived category of creature was a resource, creatures such as ponies that are only worth keeping around as a food source to harvest.

Moving on from her thoughts on other creatures, Chrysalis continued her journey, marveling at the sights she witnessed throughout her trek. There were a great many sparkling crystals forming mesmerizing patterns out of glowing light. Some of the highlights Chrysalis encountered were a bright yellow butterfly shape complete with two antennae near its head, a white bat with sharp fangs and pointed wings, almost reminiscent of a thestral, or perhaps even some sort of vampiric creature. Near it was a blue glow resembling an earth pony, Chrysalis's mesmerized expression immediately faded in its presence. Chrysalis wasn’t a fan of that last one, she hated how it reminded her of the despicable creatures responsible for putting her in this situation.

“Intriguing. I can’t help but admire the beauty of these crystal formations. I have to wonder though, why do they resemble existing shapes so closely? I doubt it’s mere coincidence, I’ve passed by three formations shaped like creatures so far, and it seems I’m bound to pass by even more. Lt. Sparkle, you'll have to remind me to investigate that later, but for now, I need to keep moving,” said Chrysalis, now refocused on the task at hoof.

Chrysalis thought she noticed some confusion on the part of her second in command. “Ah, Lieutenant, you’re befuddled by what I'm up to, I get it. Not to worry, I completely understand. Alchemy is a rather difficult subject for many, and ponies in particular haven't thought of it as a noble profession in ages. In spite of my best efforts to mold you into something better than your origins, you still came from ponies. It's only natural that your pony origins hold you back from true greatness. It might’ve been prudent to begin experimenting with alchemy back at our new little Cobweb Cove right away, I have a much more important goal in mind for today. You see, after a good night's rest, I managed to remember a remedy I learned a long time ago. It’s meant to enhance a creature’s existing flight capabilities, and historically it’s been used as a performance enhancer by pegasi to cheat in various sporting events. Normally, I wouldn't recommend it, some of my changelings tried it in order to infiltrate a flying competition, and despite the short-term benefits, it brings you crashing down later on, though the crash time depends on the potency. I'd love to get into the advanced thaumodynamics that explain why exactly that is, but I'll spare you the details for now. For our purposes, we’re brewing it due to its minor healing properties for wings. Though not an intended effect, the stimulation of the wings provided by a potion of fancy flying is enough to cause injured wings to heal faster than normal. I’ve heard stories of pony doctors using it to save pegasi in critical condition when other options aren't available. Hopefully by brewing that potion I’ll be able to heal my wings faster than I would by lazing around waiting to recover,” explained Chrysalis, confident she had sufficiently answered any questions her Lieutenant posed.

“As for the ingredients, I remember them well enough for our purposes. We’ll need the feathers of a flying creature for starters. Unfortunately, I doubt we’ll be seeing any feathered flying creatures around her, so we’ll have to make do with something else. Fortunately, I've thought of a replacement that shouldn't be hard to acquire." Chrysalis emphasized that she had a proper "eureka" moment here. "We'll be substituting feathers with bat fur. It’s the single most important ingredient in the potion, so we’ll be going after bat fur first, the other ingredients are much easier to obtain,” added Chrysalis, finished with explaining her plan to Lt. Sparkle.

Chrysalis wandered further onward, never once reaching a place that felt tight or confined. It seemed like the emptiness stretched on infinitely. Even with her superior vision in low light due to being a changeling, she couldn’t manage to make out where exactly the darkness ended.

Finally, she heard it, the noise she’d been searching for, the screech of a bat. It sounded like it was just a singular flying rodent, but that was all she needed for her potion. Without hesitation, Chrysalis galloped towards the screeching whenever she’d hear it, then stopped in her tracks to listen in. She repeated this process several times, until finally she was able to pass under a small opening in the cave wall and see it, the bat she’d been searching for.

She gently approached the bat, trying to show it she meant no harm. To her dismay, however, the bat was terrified of her twisted and monstrous appearance. She wasn't mad, she was actually rather giddy that even as dejected as she had become, lesser creatures still had that same feeling of abject terror mixed with awestruck respect at the sight of her true form. The bat quickly flew in the opposite direction, making its way to the other side of the area on a ledge Chrysalis wouldn’t be able to reach. She had little time, she had to act fast or the bat would escape her grasp and ruin her dreams of flight.

She began her pursuit of the bat with minimal hesitation, even though it would be risky. She’d have to make several jumps across stone pillars all raised above a hard floor far below them. She kept forgetting, but with her wings out of commission, falling here would mean seriously injuring herself. Knowing all this, Chrysalis chose to pursue the runaway bat regardless.

She hopped across the first pillar with determination fueling her. “I will catch this smug little winged rodent, no matter the cost!” said Chrysalis, reassuring herself.

Then, she managed to leap even farther this time, just barely landing on the second stone pillar. She made the mistake of looking down for a brief moment, flinching, but just as quickly as she’d lost it, she regained her composure.

She made a great effort and just barely managed to land on the third and second to last stone pillar. She lied to herself, tried to convince herself that she wasn’t nervous, giving herself the usual "I'm the queen, I can never lose" pep talk, but she started shaking all the same. Was this bat fur really worth it? Yes, she needed that bat's fur for her potion, otherwise by the time her wings healed the manticore venom would already take its full effect.

Chrysalis took a deep breath, and hurled herself towards the next pillar with all the grace and technique of a yak that just discovered the concept of jumping. Somehow though, Chrysalis was able to reach the fourth pillar. All that was left for her was the jump from the fourth pillar to the other ledge.

It would be risky, but she had come too far to give up now. She gave Lt. Sparkle a resolute glance, and gave this next leap forward to her all, envisioning herself with the glorious wings she so desperately craved.

By a hair’s breadth, she didn’t make it. Still, she wasn't completely off, she had latched onto the side of the ledge with one hoof, and desperately tried to force her way back up, but it was futile. Even with her natural ability to stick to walls, this cave was made of unusually slippery material. She began slipping away, and the bat merely perched itself on the ceiling, staring intently at her while she struggled. At that moment, she really started to hate bats. She already didn’t have a very high opinion of them, though. Once upon a time, they had been a terrible nuisance for her. When the hive was first taken over by her and her changelings, she had to wage war with an enormous number of bats that were already living there. It took years to finally force all the bats to relocate, and for years onward she would still hear the constant screech of those dreadful pests in her nightmares. The current situation with a bat, which was doing nothing to aid her as she slowly fell to her doom wasn’t exactly doing any favors for her opinion the furry little monstrosities.

After multiple failed attempts to lift herself up, Chrysalis resigned herself to her fate; she was going to fall whether she wanted to or not. All she could do now was think of some way to cushion her fall. Then, she had an idea.

“Lt. Sparkle, I think I know a way we can survive plummeting to the bottom of this pit, but it won’t be pretty. I’ll try to hold myself aloft using some minor telekinesis to slow my descent, thereby decreasing the rate I fall, and the pain I experience when I hit the ground. Sadly, I’ve no time to get your input on the idea. “ said Chrysalis.

Normally, she would rely on her chitin to protect her, just as it had during the initial fall into this repugnant cave. But, knowing it had already saved her from an impressive fall just a day prior, she wasn't exactly eager to test her luck again this soon. She had no choice but to let go, that bat clearly wasn't going to help, and she doubted a single ordinary bat could've helped much regardless.

Chrysalis was starting to notice that her "having no choice" was becoming an obnoxiously recurrent theme for her lately.

Alright, let’s do this!” yelled Chrysalis, more sure of herself than ever.

Then, she let go. She began to descend at a rapid rate towards the hard stone floor.

Despite the fact that this situation would terrify the average Joe. Chrysalis, luckily, was anything but average. She focused her magic and tried to envelop herself in her own telekinetic field to slow down her fall. She strained herself, she truly strained herself, she forcibly took control of her own body using her magic despite her own cracked horn resisting her attempts. Self-targeted telekinesis was normally only achievable under ideal conditions by the most talented of magic users, and Chrysalis had wings, so she never bothered to learn that sort of thing. While falling, she briefly considered just how many unicorns could do this; she certainly couldn't think of any magic users in general that could manage this unassisted without any training like she was hoping to. Then again, she couldn't think of any other magic users who had bested an alicorn in a one on one battle either, but even Chrysalis knew that didn't mean much here, beam strength wasn't everything and her previous success was due to an abundance of love at her disposal. The renowned master of transportation magic who pioneered many of the spells spellcasters enjoy today, for example, was infamous for how terrible he was in magic duels, though that didn't stop young upstarts from constantly challenging him in order to prove their superiority. Then she focused again on self-telekinesis as she fell, there was one unicorn that she knew for certain could achieve levitation via self-targeted telekinesis, that hive-ruining self-absorbed preachy little pink unicorn, Starlight Glimmer.

Chrysalis was fuming, if she couldn't manage this, it would go down as yet another way in which Starlight Glimmer had bested her. Chrysalis would NOT stand for that, she wouldn't let Starlight beat her in anything else, not this, not anything else!

Chrysalis began to slow down.

"NEVER ... " Chrysalis grunted, steeling her resolve.

"EVER ... " Chrysalis could feel her horn cracking.

"AGAIN!" Her horn was cracking, but she felt it was worth it to save her life, and more importantly, to spite her archenemy.

It was close, too close, but Chrysalis had managed to slow her fall speed to a survivable rate.

“Phew ... ” said Chrysalis, huffing and puffing from exhaustion. She quickly looked at a nearby crystal to see her reflection, immediately noticing that her horn had cracked even further. She inspected her chitin, it was only barely dented. Yet again, she couldn't help but feel proud of how tough her natural protection was. She was this close to referring to it as her "royal armor."

She could admit that she had failed at very important things before, and she had her weak points, but when it came to sheer heavy-duty durability, she was consistently unmatched. It was actually the reason she refused to waste her time learning all but the most basic of defense spells, it just wasn't a necessity. Her prior encounter with the manticore in which her shield spell miserably failed against the beast made it clear she probably should've studied her defensive magic more thoroughly, but there she was, dwelling on past mistakes again. She shut that train of thought down immediately, and surveyed the area she had landed in.

Even worse was what Chrysalis noticed next. Finally, after so little contact for so long, Chrysalis wasn’t alone. To her distress, though, she really would've preferred to be alone if the alternative was to be stuck down here with what she saw.

It trotted out from the darkness, a strange construct resembling a pony in the surface, but made up of all sorts of magical mechanisms, gears, and wires. In the center of its torso was a strange yellow gem, a form of topaz that every other section of the mechanized pony was connected to. It seemed docile at first, but that illusion was shattered when it got within range of Chrysalis, and its eyes switched from an inviting yellow to a dark red instantaneously.

“Halt, intruder” ordered the construct, with exactly the monotone, robotic voice one would expect from a machine. “Surrender now, and you'll be taken into custody. Failure to surrender will result in the use of lethal force and possible termination.”

Chrysalis knew from the very moment it turned its attention to her, this would be a fight for her life.

“Impudent machine, you expect a queen to surrender? What gives you such authority?” asked Chrysalis

“The Kingdom of Orelia has given me the directive to eliminate all threats to their well-being. You have been designated as a threat, prepare for elimination,” said the construct, without a hint of empathy in its lifeless voice.

Chrysalis then retorted “All the better, I prefer to settle things through strength anyways. Go ahead and give it all you’ve got, strange golem! You claim some nation known as the Kingdom of Orelia constructed you? Interesting, then let’s see just how capable this supposed kingdom really made you,” said Chrysalis with a smug grin, challenging the construct.

The construct didn’t hesitate to make the first move, rudely interrupting Chrysalis before she could properly begin her pre-fight monologue. It went for a swift jab on Chrysalis’s right side, moving at speeds that seemed impossible for a mechanical being made of such dense materials.

"Hey you, tin can! Don't you realize you're supposed to wait for me to finish my grandiose speech before we start trading blows. Honestly, you've got no sense of style, even ponies understand the proper way to do things better than y-" Chrysalis's complaint was interrupted by another strike from the red-eyed construct, though this time she ducked out of the way just in time.

Chrysalis was surprised, but she retaliated in seconds, attempting to buck the construct in its side right as it passed behind her. Her hind legs successfully connected, but the construct didn’t even react. Bucking like a pony was never her strong suit, she preferred to rely on her repertoire of magic and transformations, but she had no other options here.

There it was again, "she had no choice." Chrysalis mentally groaned, but maybe she would get used to having such a limited set of options if this pattern kept up.

She decided to reframe this, she was extremely limited to be sure, but limitation breeds creativity. She knew that from years of infiltration experience, sometimes the only way to get out of a bad situation was through clever usage of limited resources. She thought back on a time when she and a group of fellow changeling spies were all nearly exposed at a social gathering in Canterlot a decade ago, but managed to handle the situation thanks to one of the rookie changelings performing a daring gambit. To the shock of every other changeling there, the rookie intentionally claimed to be a shapeshifter in disguise, causing everypony there to laugh his "obvious joke" off and ease the tension enough that all suspicions went away near-instantly. It helped that the list of nobles suspicious of them at the time included a younger and even less self-aware Prince Blueblood, who was the first to laugh at the rookie's supposed "joke."

Again the construct went for a simple jab, this time to her left as it sped around the cave to make itself a more difficult target to hit.

Chrysalis wasn’t sure what to do. She had no idea what this unfamiliar being was capable of. Sure, she had heard of golems made by unicorn wizards to protect themselves before, but this was a much greater advancement, far beyond that type of magical construct. She could guess, though. Its shape was that of an earth pony, that was unmistakable, and knowing ponies and their obsession with theming, she doubted it would be able to cast any magic of its own. Unfortunately, that was a small comfort considering she had no access to flight or magic of her own, either. Actually, the "no magic" part wasn't true, she had access to no magic aside from minor telekinesis, but that was still a useful magical option.

Wait, that’s it! Chrysalis had an ingenious plan. Just like the rookie changeling spy from ages ago who had admitted to a secret in order to avoid suspicion, she would intentionally take the blow she already knew was coming. All she would have to do was let the construct try to violently beat her to a pulp! Alright, that sounded a lot better in theory, but it was now or never with the construct racing towards her, staring through her with a cold and calculating focus on only one thing, eliminating the threat by any means necessary.

Chrysalis narrowly dodged out of the way as the construct tried to buck her with enough force to knock her head clean off. Thanks to her evasive maneuver, the construct's valiant kick left a massive crack in the stone pillar Chrysalis was standing in front of. Another hit like that, and the pillar would come tumbling down, right on top of the construct.

Chrysalis briefly considered mocking the construct, comparing its intelligence as a non-sentient machine to that of his majesty Prince Blueblood, but even she didn't hate ponies and their creations enough to insinuate that a well-designed automaton was anywhere near the same level of idiocy as the hive's greatest unofficial asset.

Chrysalis once again forced herself to stop focusing on her past exploits, and turned her attention to the construct, glaring at it with an intense hatred that directly contested the automaton's dark red eyes. Chrysalis almost thought she saw it flinch, was she that menacing? No, she stared more closely at the machine and it had just gotten its hind legs slightly stuck on a stony protrusion it hadn't detected while getting ready to charge at her again, but she preferred the idea that she had made an unfeeling machine afraid of her.

Chrysalis focused entirely on avoiding the construct’s blows, dodging it time and time again. Chrysalis a bit disappointed she wasn't fighting a real pony, who would’ve grown frustrated and hurled empty insults her way, something she would’ve loved to make some witty remark back to. But alas, this was merely a machine performing a routine task, it sadly lacked the capacity for mid-battle chatter, she hoped that the pony engineers would figure that out eventually. Still, Chrysalis was a bit thankful for its mechanical nature, a regular pony would’ve realized what she was doing by now and switched up their strategy. This bucket of bolts clearly only knew one way to deal with any threats it encountered, punch and kick at them until they're neutralized. She had been subtly dodging the construct's strikes and then using some minor telekinesis to rapidly maneuver the construct's attacks directly into the stone pillars around her.

Finally, after knocking away chunk after chunk of stone, the construct missed another powerful slam intended for Chrysalis, and with a loud echoing thud, it knocked over one of the massive stone pillars. This set off a chain reaction as pillar after pillar toppled over each other and caused what could be described as a miniature cave-in. Chrysalis deftly got out of the way of several chunks of stone that nearly fell on her, thanking her lucky stars for each painfully heavy rock she avoided. The construct wasn’t so lucky, and despite its speed, Chrysalis was able to use her telekinetic field and just good old-fashioned shoving the darn thing to keep it in the danger zone long enough for the falling pillars to crush the machinal terror right before her eyes.

“Finally, that was starting to drain me. Now then, time to get a move on. Come to think of it, where did that belligerent bat go?” said Chrysalis, having lost track of the bat’s location during her struggle with the construct.

Then, out from the rubble crawled a metallic hoof. Chrysalis nearly froze, shaken to her very core. Was this machine really that resilient, could it still function even after pillars of rock-solid stone had fallen directly on top of it? Apparently so, as it was rising from the debris with ruthless efficiency. Eventually, the now shattered construct broke free, and Chrysalis had no idea how she’d survive what would come next.

It wasn’t nearly as fast as before, considering both its hind legs were crushed and left behind in the debris, but the construct was still fully capable of using deadly force. Chrysalis tried to sidestep each and every punch and kick it tried to throw, but she was growing wearier by the second. After dodging so many potentially life-ending strikes in a row, Chrysalis just couldn’t keep up, it finally landed a painful right hook on her left side, sending her skidding across the cave floor and into a wall.

Chrysalis was battered and bruised, but she could still move. She knew she wouldn't be able to avoid another blow from its precise, mechanical limbs. Sure, she could probably take dozens more of those before she was actually down and out thanks to her royal chitin's excellent protection, but it didn't get tired like she did, so it could just keep wailing on her while she was unconscious and immobile until there was nothing left of her but a fine paste. She didn't like to imagine herself meeting the same fate as an insect that comes into contact with a moving train.

Just when she closed her eyes, rapid-fire brainstorming a way to prevent this crawling construct from ending everything here and now, she heard a squeak. It was the bat, now resting on her haunches, and it was screeching at the construct, seemingly trying to get the machine to stop attacking Chrysalis.

"The gesture is appreciated, little rodent, but I doubt the construct will listen to a bat if it won't listen to me. By all means though, screech away, it isn't like you can make this situation any worse for me," Chrysalis did her best to eye the construct, just in case she could move in time, but she doubted that she or the bat would accomplish much like this.

Oh how wrong Chrysalis was, and she hadn’t been this happy to be wrong in a long time. The bat had let out such a powerful screech that it shattered the exposed yellow gem in the construct’s central bodily area entirely. Without this gem, the entire construct was instantly deactivated. The remaining half that had been crawling towards her with violent intent was now nothing more than a heaping pile of scrap metal.

“Hmph, you can't be serious,” grunted Chrysalis. She forced herself up after having almost gotten slammed against a wall with deadly force.

"That's all it took? Come on, I could've casted an echo amplification spell and dealt with ten of these worthless machines if my horn was functioning correctly! Ugh! That being said, I suppose I should be grateful for your intervention, rodent. You did protect me, and teach me a critical weakness of these machines if I'm unfortunate enough to encounter them again any time soon," said Chrysalis, pausing to think.

Chrysalis decided what she would say to the bat, a creature which much like "Lt. Sparkle" was incapable of understanding her, but at least it was a living creature that could gather her general meaning. “Little bat, your help with my cause will never be forgotten. I think you’ve more than earned that level of respect, wouldn't you agree, Lt. Sparkle?”

“How about this? I shall henceforth dub you my new army’s first recruit. Congratulations on the promotion, Private Screech. You've protected your monarch and given me valuable intel for any future altercations with these crystal-powered constructs, but don't go around getting a big ego just because you were successful this time. I've seen what that does to some of my most promising soldiers. From here on out you’ll need to be ready to aid me in any way I need you to, and that’s an order, soldier!" barked Chrysalis to the newly minted recruit.

Somehow, the bat seemed to gather vaguely what she meant by all this. "For now, though, continue going about your business, and be ready for me to call upon you when needed, understood?" said Chrysalis. The bat was able to pick up on her request for further aid, and its gentler demeanor compared to how it was acting earlier indicated that it would be more cooperative with Chrysalis in the future.

After quickly patting the newly promoted Private on his fluffy little head, something Chrysalis would never let ANYONE find out she did, Chrysalis carefully extracted a tuft of bat fur for later use using her telekinesis.

She then gathered up the crystal dust left behind from the construct's shattered gem-based power source. This was actually perfect for her, since the potion of fancy flying she was planning to brew required crystal dust, which explained its exorbitant price in pony society alongside the fact that it was an illegal substance.

She was uncontrollably excited, she would be getting her wings back soon, all she had to do was make her way back to her new temporary home.

She then bid the bat farewell, and trotted along the only path she could, in search of another way back home from this lower section of the cave, another way back to Cobweb Cove.

Author's Note

Y’know, when I first made the outline for this story, I did not intend for Chrysalis to end up talking to so many things that can’t communicate back. Makes for a very “interesting” experience when writing dialogue.

Chapter 4 - The Wings

Chrysalis already made some distance from where the construct had met its end and where she was at now, but getting out of this deeper section of the cave was taking longer than anticipated.

Chrysalis grumbled and stomped her hoof, how much longer would it take to get out of here?

Most folks reasonably assumed that all immortals were master schemers who could patiently wait years, decades, or even centuries for their plans to come to fruition. It wasn’t illogical to think that immortals viewed everything in terms of a grand design, carefully manipulating mortals to bring about their master plan. Chrysalis boldly defied this expectation, impatiently lashing out whenever the things took slightly longer than expected. Chrysalis did actually have a grand plan that would span centuries, but that didn’t preclude her from feeling justifiably angry when things didn’t go her way.

She could practically taste it, anger wasn’t just bubbling up inside her. Now, it was pouring out of her like a raging waterfall. She noticed the spice of anger on her tongue, and that she was getting worked up over practically nothing. She thought for a moment about the last time she had been this angry over something so minor. It was quite a long time ago, while she was enduring the cruelest torture ponykind has ever invented, Manehatten traffic. At the time she was disguised as an earth pony, preventing her from flying or teleporting to solve the issue. By the fourth hour of not getting anywhere, she considered blowing her cover by teleporting in broad daylight just to avoid waiting any longer. Reminiscing on this, Chrysalis realized that both then and now she was furious over so little.

Chrysalis took a few deep breaths, cooling off until the anger within subsided.

The high cliff sides preventing her from getting out on both sides had long since merged with the cave ceiling, having gotten lower and lower the further she went. Even still, she was deeper down than before, and the cave ceiling was still a ways above her.

During her moment of anger, she hadn’t even realized it yet, but now she could see clearly now, there was an opening in front of her.

Chrysalis let out a relieved sigh, “Finally, I’ve reached the end of this lower ravine. I don’t think I could’ve taken much more of that.”

She walked up to the opening and tried to listen in. She heard nothing, and decided it was safe enough to enter.

Upon entering the room, a bright light immediately switched on with no input from Chrysalis. Her expression changed to one of shock as she failed to cover her eyes in time, she had to stare at it, her insectoid instincts demanded it. It was blinding at first, but her vision quickly adjusted. The light was coming from a glowing piece of quartz in the ceiling. Chrysalis reasoned that the quartz was likely enchanted so that it would glow whenever it detected a living thing in the room.

Now she could see the entire area, it seemed to be one large room made entirely of white marble. On one side of the room, Chrysalis spotted a strange apparatus that looked like the sort of display you’d use to hold up a mannequin. Next to it was a desk with several strange blueprints. Chrysalis, seeing no other creatures around to stop her, made her way to the desk and investigated the blueprints.

They contained writing that she could fully understand, the same language most creatures used these days. That fact alone gave her several ideas, but she shut them down to focus on reading what it said, Combat Construct V9, Recon Variant.

The blueprint resembled an earth pony construct, identical to the one Chrysalis had recently fought with.

Intriguing, so that construct must’ve been a design they were testing, whoever “they” are. Apparently it was a recon variant, which explains its high speed, and why it was so far out. But, who could've made this? Actually, I think I’m worried less about who’s responsible and more about the fact that “variant” implies there’s at least a few more of these constructs somewhere in this cave.

She investigated the display, and realized that it was mannequin-sized so that it could serve as a place to store a construct. A yellow gem connected via some wiring to the display indicated it was likely a charging station.

Chrysalis then began her investigation of the other side of the room. There, she saw several glass containers on a counter and lining the wall. Inside these containers were the remains of various small reptiles and insects, preserved for study and dissection. Chrysalis knew of this practice, a rather unpopular practice among ponies. She was never personally interested in the idea of studying and displaying critter corpses, she vastly preferred the company of the living.

Still, this was fortunate for her, very fortunate indeed. If she ever needed a critter for a potion she was brewing, this place would provide. Once her wings were in working order again, she could make several trips down here until everything of value was brought back to Cobweb Cove. With that construct gone, it was all ripe for the taking.

“Now that I think about it, this is probably some sort of research outpost, maybe a lab of some kind?” she considered.

She turned her attention to the ceiling, and made her greatest discovery thus far. There was a hatch up there, which Chrysalis gleefully yanked open with her magic field. Out came a ladder, and Chrysalis took a peek up through the now opened hatch. She couldn’t tell where it went from down here.

Chrysalis grabbed one of the glass containers, specifically containing a lizard known for its ability to stick to walls, and made her way up the ladder.

At the top, she found what she had been hoping for, a way out. It wasn’t a way out of this cave, she wasn’t that lucky, but it was a way back to the upper level of the cave she came from.

Knowing the rough direction she needed to head from here in order to get back to Cobweb Cove, she ventured forth.

She passed by the glowing crystals with strange shapes on her way back, now even more irritated by them than ever. She spit at the one that vaguely resembled a pony, feeling a bit better afterwards.

Eventually, she managed to stumble through the door, drained from her prior battle and irritatingly long journey here.

She managed to force herself past the bedroom, as tempting as it was, and down the hall into the alchemy lab.

“Finally,” said Chrysalis. “We can get to work.”

Chrysalis immediately began preparations. Vials were laid out and placed in the proper racks. She chopped up various ingredients and placed them right alongside the vials. Tubes of glass interconnected each vial, which she could open or close when needed. This left the possibility open for her to use more complex alchemical processes, though this particular concoction would be relatively simple.

First, she filled the main flask with water. Luckily, Chrysalis was able to locate a functional magic-powered burner inside the nearby instrument cabinet, and with a full charge to boot! She heated the primary flask, and bubbles began to rise up in the flask. Smoke soon followed suit, masking the lab with the scent of sulfur. She made sure to let the water simmer for a bit before the next step could begin.

“Seems I’d forgotten just how obnoxious it is to set up for alchemy. So far the only thing I've successfully brewed up is boiled water in a fancy flask,” said Chrysalis, frustrated at how little progress she’d made.

Chrysalis, as she continued to demonstrate time and time again, utterly despised anything that involved a lot of waiting around. Chrysalis was fully capable of mulling about when it was for a worthwhile cause, such as brewing a life-saving potion, but that didn't mean she had to enjoy it. Considering how much waiting was involved in a simple task like cooking your own meals, Chrysalis was lucky to be an emotivore.

The next step was ingredient purification. She carefully placed crushed up sprinkles of magnesium into one of the smaller vials. She then poured water in the vial, and began to rapidly heat it. After several agonizing minutes of waiting, the magnesium had been successfully purified.

She then repeated this process in another of the vials, but instead of crushed up minerals the bat fur was used instead. She watched in satisfaction as the boiling water dissolved the bat fur and changed its coloration before her eyes.

She then mixed it all in with the main flask by opening the interconnecting tubes. She stirred the mixture up, grinding it until it was fully liquid. Then, she waited for the potion to settle.

Finally, after all that effort, the infamous Potion of Fancy Flying was within her grasp.

Chrysalis wasted no time and immediately gulped down the entire potion. Normally, this sort of thing would be ill-advised, as even the most avid users of this performance enhancing potion only took small sips at a time. Chrysalis didn’t particularly care what “normal” individuals thought was safe, and she especially didn’t care when those individuals were ponies.

Unfortunately for Chrysalis, she instantly learned the precise reason as to why the potion was taken in small doses. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, like it was somehow both empowered and incapable of doing anything at the same time. The main area of pain was the wings, which felt less like they were healing faster and more like an entirely new set of wings was trying to grow in their place.

Chrysalis was nearly paralyzed, she reached a hoof to the hallway in desperation, hoping to make it to the bedroom so she could get a proper rest. Unfortunately, she was stopped in her tracks by her own body, unable to reach the bedroom she so desperately craved. With nowhere else to go, she was left with no choice but to lie down and spend the rest of the day on the cold stone floor. It was anything but comfortable, but it wasn’t her mind’s decision to make, her body was in control and it refused to budge.

The wing restoration process took the entirety of the next two days. Throughout the entire process, Chrysalis was unable to move, speak, or do much of anything besides lie there. It was as excruciating as the pain of a tooth growing in where an existing tooth was already in place, except instead of a tooth it was one of your limbs. Still, she knew it would be worth it.

The thought that kept her going despite her unimaginable pain was simple. I have to survive, for the sake of my revenge.

Everything was dark, no matter where Chrysalis looked, the dark surrounded her. She reached for her camera, hoping she could use the flash to guide her. Strangely, it wasn’t there. Her horn light wouldn’t activate either, despite trying it several times it just kept fizzling out.

Deep, deep below here she could hear a heartbeat. It smelled like chocolate, the very same scent that would alert any changeling that the most valuable emotion of them all was nearby, true love. It was a rare commodity, and Chrysalis quickly began trying to determine its source. Could it be a loving couple, a pure and devoted partner doing everything for their other half, or could it be a caring mother protecting her young from a terrible threat? Chrysalis went through every possibility, but something was ... off about this love, though that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It was just very ... different to what she was used to from her previous experiences with true love, yet positive in its own way.

Except, it felt distant, very distant, but still just as warm as a cozy fireplace. Chrysalis couldn’t explain why, but she had a sudden urge to go much, much deeper into this cave, no matter how dark things got. If she could find this massive love source in the deepest reaches of this place, she would have enough power to take over Equestria and enact her revenge and still have plenty to spare.

This beating heart, whatever it was, was unlike anything Chrysalis or really any changeling had ever experienced before. Just being this great distance from it was nearly overloading her senses.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, the heart continued to beat with a steady rhythm.

Was this a dream? Perhaps, but she had noticed traces of this in the real world before, hints at something greater that she had ignored at first. Now, the reality of this massive love source was becoming undeniable.

That was when something loud and commanding called out to Chrysalis from within the darkness, unlike any voice she had ever heard before.

“HEAR OUR VOICE AND OBEY!”

Thunder and lighting roared all around Chrysalis the moment the voice spoke. The voice, amplified by thunder, echoed from every direction at once. Strangely, the lightning never struck Chrysalis, it was narrowly avoiding her at every opportunity.

“THY TALENT FOR EMOTIONAL DETECTION SHALL SERVE THEE WELL. WE ARE CERTAIN A COMMON GOAL IS SHARED BETWEEN US. LET LOVE BE THINE GUIDE, AND A GREAT TREASURE SHALL FOLLOW BEHIND.”

Chrysalis saw a pink trail in the air extending from her all the way to the deepest point in the dark she could see, and likely much further beyond that. It was the same scent as before, the chocolate smell associated with love. Her suspicions were correct, it seemed, a massive love source was somewhere deep in this cave, ripe for the taking. She was practically salivating at the mere idea of such a thing, when she was interrupted by the booming voice dissipating the pink trail entirely.

“REACH THE HEART, HIDDEN WITHIN THE DARKEST DEPTHS. TRUTH SHALL SERVE AS THY REWARD.”

Chrysalis was puzzled, wondering what sort of truth could be so important that she would listen to this voice just to discover it. She was a master of deception, truth was the complete antithesis of everything she stood for. Why would she ever want any kind of truth as a reward for a job well done? Unless ... perhaps that truth was that her changelings were playing the long game, merely pretending to reject their old ways, biding their time for the right moment to reinstate Chrysalis as their queen. That was a ridiculous idea though, and Chrysalis knew it. They would’ve consulted her about such a plan, and even if they didn’t she would’ve heard something from a changeling agent by now if it was all a ruse. For plentiful reasons, it couldn’t be the truth, but it’s the only idea of a truth Chrysalis desired that she could come up with.

“OBEY OUR WISHES, AND WE SHALL PROVIDE THEE ALL THE AID WE CAN MUSTER, BUT DO NOT STRAY FROM THE PATH TOO FAR, OR FOR TOO LONG. TIME IS TICKING AWAY, DO NOT DELAY!”

Finally, the voice faded out, leaving Chrysalis alone in the dark to process everything she just learned.

With the voice finally done delivering its message, Chrysalis realized she had never felt so compelled to listen to any kind of authority in her entire life. It almost felt unreal, like something was terribly wrong with her for even considering that she try to listen to this mystery voice. She already wanted to find this so-called heart the moment she understood the potential of its love-based power. But now, with this strange voice? She felt an even greater desire to accomplish this task, though not just because the voice had given her orders to.

Queen Chrysalis, taking orders from a higher authority? That was an acknowledgement from her that another creature was greater in strength and force of will than herself. She would never admit such a thing, surely this was some sort of dream. No other explanation made any sense to her.

Suddenly realizing this, Chrysalis awoke, snapping back from her mysterious dream to the real world.

Chrysalis had made it to the end of day two out of pure unbridled spite. But when she woke up on the third day’s dawn, she felt like a Phoenix that had risen from the ashes of death itself.

Well, that was certainly an interesting dream. I’ll have to tell Lt. Sparkle all about it! For now though, let’s check in to see if my bodily functions have improved as much as I anticipated.

She moved her hooves around, trying to determine if her state of paralysis was truly over. She could move, finally. Even more exciting was what she saw to her sides. After all that pain and effort, her wings were back to their former glory. Her wing membranes were completely healed, and that meant she would need to test them out.

She inspected them again just to be safe, and realized they were actually as “completely healed” as she thought. Physically, they were back in peak condition, but she would have to get in some practice before she felt comfortable flying everywhere again.

She wouldn’t let herself celebrate too early. Jumping for joy over minor victories would be highly embarrassing for a royal such as herself. That kind of thing was for ponies, no matter how good she was at faking it, she had to remind herself that she most certainly wasn’t one.

How could she not be at least a little happy, though? Her wings were back to their full functionality, she could fly again! She ended up disregarding her prior concerns, and buzzed around the lab with the excitement of a young pegasus that had just learned to fly for the first time. For a frequent flier like Chrysalis, this was like regaining the ability to walk.

Chrysalis let out a brief evil laugh. “Hah, take that, manticore! And take that, puny construct! I’ve survived your worthless attempts on my life and come out the other side all the stronger for it! It’s all thanks to my alchemical talents, my achievements, my abilities, MINE!” said Chrysalis, maniacally laughing some more.

“Focus, Chrysalis, focus! Now that I can fly, what’s next?” thought Chrysalis aloud, realizing she had lost track in her moment of joy.

“Right, my horn is still a bit worse for wear. On top of that, the manticore toxin is still flowing through my veins, though it seems my physiology has kept me from the worst effects for the time being. For now, fixing my fractured horn should be my number one priority. Without my spells, I won’t stand a chance at finding a cure for the toxin, or that strange heart from my dream,” she continued.

“Let’s see here,” Chrysalis searched the lab’s aging old cabinet shelves for something of use. “Perfect! Here it is, a guide to the basics of alchemy. It even includes plenty of potion recipes, how convenient! In contrast to the past few days, today just keeps getting better and better,” said Chrysalis.

Topaz tonic’s alchemical essentials wasn’t the most exciting read, but it might as well have been the most engaging book in the world to one in Chrysalis’s situation. She flipped through page after page until she found something that seemed promising for her predicament.

“Here we have it, a remedy of horn healing, exactly what I need. It might need some tweaking due to my unique horn, but that shouldn’t pose much of a problem. This formula seems simple enough, all I need is an olive shroom, and they’re native to caves! Well then, finding these ingredients should be easy enough for a changeling of my talents,” proclaimed Chrysalis.

She was about to step out of the door, considering this next task so easy as to be entirely beneath her.

“What’s that you say, Lieutenant, I missed something?” asked Chrysalis, looking to her prized purple log for guidance.

Suddenly, she remembered something, and she ran back to the open book she’d left on the counter. She gave the recipe a second look, reading over the potion recipe again.

“Wait, you’re right, I did miss one of the key ingredients. It’s only mentioned in passing, but this horn healing potion requires ground-up emerald dust. The healing properties present in emeralds are a necessity.”

“How am I meant to obtain emerald dust? This guide book is ludicrous, no creature has easy access to emeralds that they can afford to grind up on a whim!” yelled Chrysalis.

She briefly considered throwing the book in frustration, but she stopped herself. It wasn’t because her common sense stopped her, though, it was because a sudden ache reverberated throughout her entire body.

She could feel her horn begin to writhe and crack just a bit further, slowly falling apart at the seams. She began to have a dreadful headache, completely preventing her from thinking.

This excruciating headache lasted for the next five full minutes before she could regain her regal composure. Still, she’s been through worse before, much worse, she got up, and she soldiered on.

Ugh ... that was ... awful. I need to find a way to repair my horn, and soon. Otherwise, these headaches will get to me before the manticore toxin does, thought Chrysalis, with a mix of resignation and comfort at the thought of not having to deal with the toxin if her horn problems finished the job.

She decided to peruse the guide book’s pages once more, looking for something, anything she could use. In spite of her best efforts, there was no substitute she could use this time, not for a horn healing potion. Ground-up emerald dust really was the only option.

“What can I use, what can I use? Ah, right, this is what my advisors are usually for, it’s been a long time since I last had to rely on their council. Lt. Sparkle, I know alchemy isn’t exactly your field, but do you have any suggestions? asked Chrysalis, desperately hoping for an answer.

She decided she heard the lavender log provide her with helpful advice, and replied as such. “Good catch, Lieutenant, that’s genius! You remind me a bit of myself with that ingenuity of yours,” replied Chrysalis.

She quickly flipped over to the appropriate page. The “ultra-stick potion.” Usually used for sealing cracks in buildings, construction work, or repairing damaged objects. Considering her horn was cracked, not broken, she figured it would work on her horn well enough. All the potion recipe required is several sticky substances.

“According to this guide, there’s one very difficult ingredient to obtain. Hmm ... the guide says here that the most dangerous ingredient needed is ... changeling goo?” read Chrysalis.

Chrysalis took a moment to laugh. “Hah, I can produce that on a whim! Now then, what else is there? Yes, this might be a bit troublesome. The other ingredient we don’t have is giant spider silk, but giant spiders shouldn’t be too difficult to find in this dreary cave, I’ll just have to go searching for one of their webs, lie in wait, and then give them a good poking with my horn.”

“It’s settled then, I’ll rest up for now. Once that’s done we’ll head out to find some of this giant spider silk,” said Chrysalis, confident that things would only get easier from here.

After spending briefly resting in her bedroom to fight off another minor horn ache, Chrysalis gathered her things, attached one saddlebag to each side, and set out to gather the ingredients for her next potion. Her horn would be good as new in no time, she just knew it!

She galloped on and on, setting out further into the cavernous void then she had ever gone before.

“Ah, astute as always, Lieutenant,” said Chrysalis, noticing what she believed to be Lt. Sparkle inquiring about the nature of giant spiders.

“Unlike a regular spider, these horrid beasts fit the classical definition of a monster. Also, as the name implies, they’re gigantic. Well, they’re gigantic in comparison to a regular spider, in reality they’re only as big as a pony. Giant spiders are highly aggressive towards anything other than their own kin. Actually, scratch that, they don’t even get along with other giant spiders,” explained Chrysalis.

“One might call them lone wolves, lone wolf spiders? I’ll keep workshopping that one,” said Chrysalis, thinking out loud.

“Oh, and I forgot to mention, giant spiders are all just as venomous as their smaller counterparts except amped up to the appropriate level for their size. One bite from a giant spider can leave the victim completely unconscious for days on end, so it’s paramount that we avoid meeting that fate. I’ve already got manticore venom coursing through my veins, and I’m not exactly looking to add another poisonous substance to the mix, nor would I like to repeat the process I just went through of being paralyzed for two straight days” grumbled Chrysalis, distraught with the idea of having two poisons in her bloodstream.

“I wonder though, would two poisons cancel each other out, or simply be twice as potent? How would that all interact with my own biology, my changeling blood is closer to acid than it is to a normal creature’s blood. Would my own acidic blood melt me from the inside somehow, or has it already burned away the other toxins? Perhaps I should’ve paid more attention when my drones were delivering reports about the hive’s medical wing, though it’s too late for that now. You know what, Lieutenant? let’s hope we don’t have to find the answers to any of that out,” said Chrysalis, deciding her questions were better left unanswered.

She continued to drift further into the never-ending darkness. A pony, or any other sane creature for that matter, would’ve lost their composure, turned tail, and fled the moment they got a glimpse of the murky abyss that Chrysalis was casually wandering through. Fortunately for Chrysalis, she was anything but ordinary, she was the glorious leader of the changelings. She wasn’t about to let a little darkness get in the way of her ambitions.

Naturally, Chrysalis still thought of herself as the queen and rightful ruler of the changelings, even if they had cast her out. If by some strange happenstance she encountered any of them while she was down here, she’d expect them to address her as such. Even treasonous little rebels could show their former leader the proper amount of respect, couldn’t they?

Chrysalis continued on her journey through the dark expanse. She still wasn’t fully comfortable with flying again, and she didn’t want to risk interfering with the healing process if it had anything left to do, so she still walked across the hard stone surface of the cave for the journey’s duration. After hours of trekking across the hard stone floor, though, she began to start wiping the sweat off her brow. She felt weary, she could practically feel her aching muscles begging her for mercy, begging her to slow down and relax, but she had to press onwards. Her time was running out.

“How strange?” Chrysalis was puzzled. “normally I can walk for days at a time without needing to sleep. You may not believe this Lieutenant, but I once managed to force myself to travel for 2 weeks without resting while journeying from the badlands to the other side of the world,” explained Chrysalis.

“In fairness, I was only able to manage that feat because I was leading a rushed rescue mission to recover a captured changeling agent before they could reveal any crucial information. I would tell you, but it’s a long story. Maybe some day?” added Chrysalis.

“And to think, after doing all that and more, my subjects had the gall to turn on me. What was going on in their minds? I still just can’t fathom why they betrayed me, those worthless turncoats!” yelled Chrysalis. Her furious cry echoed across the cave, repeating “worthless turncoats!” over and over again.

Chrysalis lifted the purple stick from her saddlebag so it could listen the echo. “Hear that echo, Lieutenant? Even the cave agrees with me.”

Despite how far the echo went in all directions, nothing showed up to track down the source of the noise. Chrysalis decided to take this as another sign that her luck was turning around.

She pressed on, rambling about her betrayal and chatting with her Lieutenant had done wonders for passing the time and an hour had already passed. The next hour of walking in silent solitude then passed by without a single word from Chrysalis or her Lieutenant. It wasn’t that she was tired of hearing herself talk, far from it, hearing her regal voice resonate across rooms was one of the things she enjoyed most.

Rather, it was in the interest of not drawing unwanted attention to herself. She was lucky that nothing heard her echoing voice the first time, and she didn’t want to test her luck again.

More time passed, and despite feeling like her legs would give out at any moment, she forged ahead. Whenever things got too dark, she relied on her trusty camera flash to light her way, so her horn light could have a break.

Again, being tired after only a few hours of walking in a straight line was unusual for Chrysalis. “I’m not worried about this in the slightest, it’s probably just a side effect of the potion of fancy flying now that it’s starting to wear off. That performance-enhancing potion was outlawed for a valid reason, I suppose,” said Chrysalis, rationalizing her abnormal behavior.

Chrysalis berated her subordinate for an imaginary reply, questioning if this is the manticore venom taking effect. “What? Of course, it isn’t the manticore venom! Yes, I’m aware that the potion already caused me to crash once before, but I did drink an entire flask of the stuff.”

Satisfied that she won the argument with the Lieutenant, she carried on. She made it past a few interesting rock formations, but aside from that, there wasn’t much to write home about. Not that she could write home even if she wanted to, what with their currently less than favorable opinions of her and her reign.

“Home ... Cobweb Cove is slowly starting to feel like a temporary home, but make no mistake Lieutenant, my true home is the hive. I have the rightful claim to every last part of it. Me and my first few subjects cleared out the old cave systems and it was our work that led to the hive becoming the masterpiece of architecture it is today. I personally helped carve out most of the tunnels and caverns in the hive. The only reason any of those ungrateful wretches are able to live in that hive is because of my tunneling efforts!” declared Chrysalis.

“I’ll admit, Cobweb Cove is … quite cozy. Maybe I should be thinking of this like a vacation. At the very least, Cobweb Cove was far better than the Everfree. It reminds me of the early days, when it was just me and about two dozen subjects. I truly miss those first few changelings, we were all so close back then, and I hardly considered myself a queen, I was just the organizer. We were a perfect hive mind, metaphorically at least, and none of us were more important than each other. I really do miss the old days, Lieutenant. If I had to pick anyone in the world to serve me in circumstances as dire as these, I’m glad to have one as trustworthy as you by my side,” said Chrysalis, fondly reminiscing on the old days.

Chrysalis got so lost in nostalgia that she failed to notice a pony-sized web she had walked directly into.

“Ack, what’s the meaning of this? I demand you show yourself, foul beast!” said Chrysalis.

She struggled against the web, trying to use her sharp horn to cut the webs restraining her. Failing this, she calmed herself down and tried to get a look at her surroundings. Upon examining her surroundings, she made a terrible realization. She had unwittingly fallen into the dead center of a massive spider web, presumably spun by the very creature she was searching for. Unfortunately, it seemed that it was bound to find her first.

Just above her now, she could hear it, the rattling of thin legs tapping in the rough stone ceiling. She dreaded what came next. It began to lower itself with a string down towards her, revealing its hideous dark-green form as it rappelled downwards.

Chrysalis struggled and struggled, trying to get out of the webbing in time, but her efforts were futile, giant spider webs were virtually impossible to escape without the aid of magic or someone else to help drag you out. Chrysalis shuddered at the thought, as at the moment, she had access to neither.

The colossal arachnid seemed like it was about to bite into her at first, but hesitated. Instead, it went straight to work, wrapping Chrysalis up in something irritatingly familiar.

It can’t be! A silk cocoon, really?

Chrysalis couldn’t force herself to be angry, only fair that she meet the same cocooned fate as her own victims. Besides, this cocoon was expertly-crafted, she would be stunned by the spider’s craftsmanship if this were happening to anyone else. Chrysalis considered applying the spider’s techniques to her own cocooning methods once she was out of this.

Eventually, the spider sunk its fangs directly into her side, injecting her with its venom. She could feel herself getting drowsy, but still she rallied every last ounce of resolve she could muster. She fought her body’s overwhelming urge to go into a deep slumber. Her struggle continued for hours, fighting her own body the entire time. Even after that impressive display, she couldn’t hold on to consciousness, and almost drifted to a well-earned sleep as the venom within her finally worked its magic. There might’ve been some leftover manticore venom adding to that, she wasn’t sure. Regardless, she had to stop this somehow, there was nobody and nothing left that wanted to or could help her.

Chrysalis couldn’t help but feel lonely.

"No ... no ... I have to ... fight back … have to … escape this!" said Chrysalis, getting more exhausted with each strained breath.

She fought with all her limited might against the cocoon and venom combination. The spider had to inject its venom several times more before Chrysalis was finally subdued. She wanted to make sure the spider earned its prey, even if she knew she couldn’t hold out forever. After her long and tireless struggle, her eyelids could remain open no longer.

For the second time in recent memory, Chrysalis unwillingly fell unconscious.

Author's Note

I accidentally deleted a thousand words of this chapter and had to redo them. I’m honestly happier with the end result though, so it sorta worked out!

Chapter 5 - The Cocoon

Chrysalis was again back in the endless void, surrounded by nothing but darkness in every direction. She knew this place couldn’t be real this time, but try as she may, waking up seemed impossible.

She tried to navigate the void, but everything looked the same. All she managed to do was spiral deeper and deeper into the dark. With nowhere to go, she was forced to wait for anything to happen.

“Greetings, my friend,” called a voice from the dark.

Chrysalis didn’t recognize it fully. It sounded like a softer, quieter version of the same voice she heard in her previous dream. Chrysalis was now fully convinced that something or someone from the real world was influencing her dreams. The only question was who or what was responsible.

“Listen to me, former queen. I can offer you so much more than that other voice. That loud, obnoxious one can’t be trusted. You’ll have to listen to me if you want to reach the heart resting below and claim the power you desire,” said the voice, echoing all around Chrysalis.

Despite this softer voice clearly assuming otherwise, Chrysalis wasn’t born yesterday. It was readily apparent that this new voice thought it could manipulate her, so she immediately shut that down.

“Sorry, mysterious stranger, but I’ve got plenty of voices buzzing around in my head already, and I’m not accepting applications for any more at the moment,” explained Chrysalis.

“Ah, so that’s how you’re going to play it? It seems we’re more alike than I realized. In that case, let me state my intentions clearly,” said the mysterious voice.

The voice changed its tone, becoming deeper and more serious. “Face it, right now you’re completely alone, and you’ve got nothing to fall back on. I’ve been watching you for a long time, and I think we would make an excellent team. With my help, you could escape this cave, and reclaim your rightful place as ruler of the changelings. My only wish is to see you succeed,” said the voice.

“All you have to do is find me. Seek me out and we’ll meet face-to-face further into your journey through this cave. I eagerly await your arrival, Chrysalis. I just know that we’re going to do great things together,”

The voice drifted away until Chrysalis was alone once again, leaving her with only eerie silence for company.

Should I trust a voice that’s so obviously trying to manipulate me? What is its true goal? Why does it want me to ignore the other, louder voice? So many questions, so little time. If nothing else, I can try my luck getting answers from the louder voice the next time it pays me a visit.

In the middle of her thought process, she was interrupted. Her legs sank into the void little by little, followed by the rest of her body. She soon found herself upside down on the other side of the floor.

Then Chrysalis noticed that she hadn’t come out the other side quite the same. Now she looked more like a pony, a unicorn to be precise. After a moment, she noticed she had been transformed into her Shutterbug disguise, currently the only form she was capable of using. This wasn’t much cause for concern though, she was used to taking the form of different creatures.

What was concerning was her location, which she realized upon looking around. Chrysalis was somehow back at the Hive, going through that moment again, the moment that ruined centuries of careful planning and shattered the loyalties of so many changelings. It was just before the moment when Starlight beat her. Instead of what really happened, with her taunting Starlight Glimmer just before she convinces the changelings to betray Chrysalis, something far worse was taking place.

Chrysalis, in the form of Shutterbug, was attached to the ceiling. She was hanging upside down inside a changeling cocoon. From this vantage point, she could see all her other victims wrapped up alongside her. Normally this wouldn’t bother Chrysalis or any other changeling for that matter, but now that she was the one dangling from a cocoon the situation was more frightening than she could’ve possibly imagined.

She could do nothing to escape the cocoon. She was forced to just hang there and watch as her changelings defeat Starlight and Thorax, but forget to free Chrysalis. Instead, another changeling impersonating Chrysalis convinced the other changelings to follow her instead, and managed to take over the hive. The impersonator eventually conquered all of Equestria, proving to be a more effective leader than the real Chrysalis in every way. Throughout the entire ordeal, the real Chrysalis was mistaken for a pony and left in a cocoon for all eternity while her changelings celebrated their victory without her.

But that wasn’t how it really happened. Starlight Glimmer won that encounter, and Chrysalis was forced into exile. The changelings chose peace, they conquered nothing. Chrysalis was just reliving that moment again in a dream. Once again, the same dream was replaying in a different way. Chrysalis was considering another possibility in this one, in which changelings successfully conquered Equestria and her plan succeeded, but their victory was achieved without her.

Chrysalis would never be satisfied with that outcome, she had to be the one leading the changelings when they took over Equestria. If they achieved the goal she had worked towards for so long without her getting to take part in it, what was the point? She would only ever be happy if she was the one to conquer Equestria.

Chrysalis realized that it didn’t really matter now, there was no way to go back and change what happened. At least, she was mostly certain it was impossible to go back and change the past , magic capable of altering the flow of time was something any self-respecting magic user knew was impossible. Even if she could go back somehow, chances are some other unknown variable would lead to the same outcome all over again.

It shouldn’t mean so much to her, she knew that. She then banished the what-if scenarios running through her mind. All that mattered now was her current situation. Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t remember her situation all that well. The only thing she could remember was accidentally ending up in a giant spider’s web and getting bitten by one.

Wait, she was bitten? But their venom can render a creature unconscious in a matter of hours. Chrysalis suddenly realized that if that was the case, she was unconscious at the moment, completely at the mercy of the giant spider that caught her.

She had to wake up soon, or she may not wake up at all. She quickly grew restless, fighting with her entire mind focused on the singular goal of escaping this dream, and her eyes finally opened.

Chrysalis awoke in a groggy half-cognizant state.

“What’s going on, where am I?” asked Chrysalis.

She couldn’t see anything, so she tried to feel her surroundings by wiggling a bit, but none of her limbs moved. Instead, her whole body just felt stuck somehow.

The realization hit her with the force of a speeding chariot.

This is a cocoon, that spider must’ve ambushed me and wrapped me up! exclaimed Chrysalis, or she would’ve yelled it out loud if her mouth wasn’t currently sewn partially shut with silk.

She felt her blood rushing to her head, making her woozy and light-headed. This immediately tipped her off about her direction.

I can tell that I’m hanging upside down. A classic for spiders and other creatures that like to utilize cocoons. It leaves prey dazed and confused as their blood rushes to their head even if they manage to break free. I should know considering I’ve done the same thing. Fortunately for me, changelings can hang upside down without issue.

She collected her thoughts, and got to thinking about her situation.

Me, the queen of the changelings, trapped in a cocoon?” Chrysalis sighed. “The irony is palpable. This giant spider has done the same thing to me that I’ve done to ponies countless times, making them feel helpless and alone.

Is this what it feels like to be suspended midair? I always wondered how the ponies we captured felt. Now that I'm up here, I can understand why they were so all so frightened of changelings. It must've been terrifying knowing that they could be betrayed and strung up at any moment.

She lashed out at the cocoon of silk keeping her stuck, but to no avail.

She tried to kick, but she couldn’t move.

She tried to propel her horn into the webbing to slice it open, but her head was enveloped in webbing.

She struggled one more time, giving it everything she had. Despite this, her attempt was again met with failure..

They felt helpless, they felt alone, and they felt like this was the end for them. It’s only fitting then that this abominable spider is putting me through all the same emotions.

Wait, what am I sympathizing with ponies for? Have I truly fallen that far? The ponies I captured weren’t some selfish means of feeding my own hunger. Unlike this spider that’s so insistent on greedily devouring everything it can find, I trapped every single one of those ponies for the sake of my hive. Every captured or slain pony I’m responsible for was for my changelings. I’ve dedicated my entire life to improving theirs!

She struggled once more against the webbing, now with renewed strength.

“Come now, why have I been so down in the dumps lately? I’m the queen of the changelings, aren’t I? I’m a thousand times stronger than this overgrown arachnid! I’ve felled the monsters of the badlands, I’ve conquered countless lands, and I’ve bested an alicorn in single combat!” Proclaimed Chrysalis, hyping herself up.

Dying in some random shoddily-crafted cocoon just wouldn’t suit a dignified royal. The only thing here that could ever hope to stop me ... is myself, realized Chrysalis.

Yes, now I get it, I was getting in my own way by doubting myself. That’s why I was having such difficulty facing all these creatures, and it’s why I’ve had so much trouble surviving in this dreadful cave and the Everfree Forest before it, I had unwittingly weakened myself.

The only reason I struggled with those soldiers, the manticore, the construct, and this giant spider was my own lack of confidence. My head wasn’t in it, I was so busy wallowing in self-pity I failed to do what needed to be done.

I just need to be brave, to regain my lost confidence. I’m the mastermind who nearly took over Equestria. I’ve come the closest of anyone in history to finally defeating the ponies once and for all. Unlike the others I’ve managed to avoid siding with the ponies, being turned to stone, or any other fate that would keep me from returning to try again and again. That’s what makes me superior to my contemporaries, I refuse to give up, and I learn from past mistakes. If I keep trying, I'm bound to succeed eventually. Before I can even consider my conquest of Equestria though, I’ll have to get out of this cave, and this cocoon before that.

She used her changeling spit to blast off the silk that was keeping her mouth sealed shut.

“I WILL find a way out of this! That overgrown spider WILL face the full wrath of the changeling sovereign!” she yelled.

She had a clever idea just then. With her brilliance restored, she inferred that this cocoon had a fatal flaw. While a lesser creature like a pony would’ve been hopeless in this situation, a changeling had an ace up their sleeve. Chrysalis was only trapped in this cocoon because she was in her usual large and imposing form, but being a changeling meant that being the wrong size for the situation was entirely optional.

Chrysalis then thought about what form might suit the situation best. During her previous tests after the fall she was unable to use any form other than her basic Shutterbug disguise. But now, she had a feeling deep within her that she could at least manage one more form. That mental block she had unwittingly put in place for herself had been chipped away, at least partially. Changeling transformations tended to be an emotion-based form of magic, and Chrysalis could feel her emotions turning, allowing her to do what she was always capable of but didn’t yet realize.

Her heart began to pound, and her breathing got rapid. Her breaths became quieter, and her heart beat slower and slower, until eventually, she found that a wave of green light had altered her entire being. Now, instead of a royal changeling that was struggling to fit inside this cocoon, she was a different kind of insect entirely. Well, arachnid, but the difference didn’t matter much, her main concern was that now she had successfully shifted into a normal-sized spider.

Due to her new size and her current form’s adeptness with moving around on and across webs, she was now completely free. From here, things would be easy enough, she used her spider form’s ability to weave silk just as easily as she would weave a cocoon of her own. She eventually found a weak point, and used her spindly limbs to carve a path out of the cocoon. How did she ever let this pathetic excuse for a monster capture her in the first place, when it had been so easy to outwit now? She wouldn’t dwell on the matter, her past failings were a result of poor planning and self-doubt, mistakes she would work tirelessly to avoid in the future.

While lost in thought, she decided to shift forms while grappling down from a silken robe made from her cocoon. In a green flash, she was back to her normal self. There was just one thing Chrysalis forgot to account for. She was still upside down, in the air, and before she could face off against her new spidery foe, she would have to contend with one of her most ancient and powerful foes, an insidious enemy she hadn’t faced off against since her earliest days. That enemy’s name was gravity.

Immediately, she fell directly towards the hard stone floor and was able to see that it was roughly a 3-story drop, only now able to understand the gravity of her situation.

She hurtled downward rapidly, quickly closing in on the floor that would cause her to meet a cold, hard end. She wasn’t afraid, she would figure something out, she always did. That’s when she remembered something of use.

Wait, I’ve just noticed ... my wings, they’re functional? Hah, it seems the stimulant potion worked faster than I anticipated!

She managed to flap her wings in quick succession just in the nick of time, stopping her descent entirely. She then flew to the floor and touched down. She smiled smugly, proud of herself for surviving everything she’d just gone through.

“Now it’s time to find where that spider went. It can’t have gone far,” said Chrysalis, talking to herself aloud.

She then noticed that her Lieutenant had been captured. A small web was keeping the purple stick stuck to the floor.

“This just won’t do,” said Chrysalis, quickly getting to work.

She used her horn as a cutting utensil, slicing the small web apart and carefully extracting the purple stick that she continued to consider her trusted Lieutenant. Just next to it were her saddlebags, which she quickly re-attached to her sides. She carefully placed her Lieutenant into the bag on her right side.

“There there, Lieutenant, I won’t allow anything else to happen to you, you have my word,” promised Chrysalis.

In the distance, Chrysalis heard a familiar tip-tapping of thin spindly legs on stone, and from the sound of it she could tell it was coming her way.

“Perfect, looks like the beast is making its way right to me, now I don’t even have to bother searching for it,” thought Chrysalis, excited for the rematch.

Then, it arrived, the spider emerged from the darkness and glared at her with her down with hungry eyes.

Chrysalis stared down right back at it. Her eyes revealed her hunger, too, but unlike the spider, she had no desire for sustenance, she was hungry for revenge.

Within moments after their eyes locked, violence followed.

The spider was the first to make its move, leaping down from its upper position towards Chrysalis. The creature knew it would have to get up close to deal any real damage to its intended prey.

Chrysalis saw this, moving closer in turn. She readied herself, having learned that her biggest obstacle was herself. Compared to how much she’s sabotaged herself, this spider couldn’t compare.

There, in the center of the spider's web-filled cave, both combatants were ready to fight to the bitter end.

It began with the spider pushing itself off the ground with a mighty leap, aiming to land on top of Chrysalis and throw her off balance. It fell towards her, nearly crushing her, but she managed to react with a well-timed horizontal slice with her crooked horn. Using her horn as a cutting tool was the right call, she had sliced one of its eight sharp legs clean off before it could pierce through her.

All it had taken to make progress was coming up with a solid plan and trusting herself, why had that been so hard before? She didn’t have much to question it with the spider about to resume its assault.

The spider let out a shrill cry of pain so obnoxious that it made Chrysalis wish she had shifted into a form lacking ears. With Chrysalis still reeling from the screech, it then lunged towards her, trying to skewer and bite down on Chrysalis's now-exposed side with a surprising degree of precision and skill for a run-of-the-mill monster.

She managed to react to the mass of limbs and fangs that tried to puncture her side, but the screech had thrown her off, causing her to be partially injured in her side by its leg. Chrysalis reeled back without making a sound, despite how much she wanted to grunt through the pain. She focused on the fact that she had avoided the spider's attempt to inject her with venom in an attempt to leave her unconscious again, bolstering her resolve by thinking of the fate she avoided.

Retaliating near instantly, Chrysalis flipped around and bucked backward towards the spider, sending it flying. She was never as good at that sort of thing as alicorns or even earth ponies were, but in terms of physical strength she was no slouch.

The spider crashed violently into the cave wall with a resounding thud, losing several of its remaining legs in the process. Chrysalis noted that the creature was quite literally on its last legs. In spite of its terrible state, the spider managed a desperate attack, yet another grandiose leap into the air. It nearly tripped just attempting the leap, but steadied itself in time to launch right into the air above.

Chrysalis already knew how to handle this, why was the spider trying the same tactic again? Chrysalis immediately got the answer to her question, as the spider fired a web straight at her from midair. It was trying to get her caught in a web before it landed so it could pounce on her and finish her off.

Chrysalis breathed in ... .and breathed ... and breathed. Just before the flying web reached her, she managed to jump upwards, and once aerial she angled her wings directly toward the flying web. She flapped her wings and sent out a gust of wind that launched the speeding bundle of web right back at the soaring spider. Her jump went further, and she flew upwards. The arachnid realized the folly of its decision too late, and tried to course correct away from her, but only managed to wobble helplessly in the air. The spider was directly impacted with the web bundle and sent flying backward towards the ceiling. With Chrysalis flying towards it in hot pursuit, she could sense its fear washing over the area like a wave, masking every other feeling she could previously sense. With the spider now stuck to the ceiling, it was an easy target. Chrysalis continued her ascent, ramming her jagged horn straight through the underside of the giant spider's head.

It was over with a grotesque finish. As the spider’s life finally drained completely from its eyes, a green substance spilled all over Chrysalis, leaving her horn in particular coated in the spider's mysterious ooze.

Ugh, I'm going to have to clean this all eventually. At least I don’t have fur at the moment. Really though, I’m just glad I survived that ordeal. Now I can finally get what I came here for, that's what matters.

Chrysalis was aware that it was probably hypocritical to judge another bug for their particular brand of silk, goo, or whatever other strange substance they utilized for all manner of purposes, but considering this one had tried to make a meal out of her she didn’t much care about being polite.

She cut down the webs trapping the spider’s corpse and flew back down to solid ground, letting the spider's corpse harmlessly flop down. Upon hitting the ground, she made sure to gather up several bundles of giant spider silk from all across this part of the cave system and place them in her saddlebags.

Finally, the reason I was here in the first place, thought Chrysalis as she gazed upon the spider’s lifeless body.

Though, was there ever any doubt? I am a queen, an immortal, the utmost example of raw strength, clever wits, and regal elegance in a single package. Honestly, I can't believe I ever had the audacity to doubt myself, how dare I? If any of my changelings had ever talked to me the way I spoke to myself, I would’ve had their head on a platter by the end of the day.

She stared again at the body of the spider, the beast she had personally conquered all on her own, no changeling soldiers required.

"I truly did lose myself, didn't I? For so long while I was in the Everfree Forest, I was just Chrysalis, downtrodden changeling, despised by all, incapable of doing anything right. Now ... now I'm something greater! I've been missing that part of myself for too long, that invincible queen that tossed Celestia aside like she was a mere pest, that brilliant queen who fooled nearly every pony in Canterlot, that resourceful queen who built the greatest hive in history out of nothing in a hostile environment where everyone and everything wants you gone or dead! To think, I let the loss of my mere title prevent me from being a queen? I never needed subjects to be that changeling, the one that conquered countless lands. But I won't spend another second wasting time as just Chrysalis the exiled changeling. Hear me now, world! I have returned to my true self, a queen to be feared," proclaimed Chrysalis.

"Look out, Equestria, your rightful queen has returned!" Proclaimed Chrysalis, yelling to all who could hear. She knew the odds of anyone else hearing her were slim, but in truth, she did this for herself, to proclaim to every doubtful aspect of her mind that she is a queen, and she is not to be trifled with.

After a brief shouting match with Equestria and the world at large, which Chrysalis seemed to be winning, she gathered up the remaining silk she needed for her potion

“Well that’s the silk collected, time to head back to Cobweb Cove. Oh, and Lieutenant? Try to avoid getting caught like that in the future, I can’t always be there to rescue you and I can’t risk a soldier with as much valuable intel as you falling into enemy hooves,” she said to an unresponsive lavender log.

“Onwards! We make for Cobweb Cove with haste, soon my horn troubles will all be over!” proclaimed Chrysalis.

Chrysalis considered today to be a good day when she thought about it as a whole, and those were so few and far between for her. She began to make the trek back to home base.

Six grueling hours, that’s how long she’d been walking in a straight line. She’d been counting, there wasn’t much else to do. The only other sources of entertainment she passed by during the trek were the occasional crystal formations, but even those lost their luster after passing by so many of them. When Chrysalis saw her first crystal formations, they seemed to tell a kind of story, she could even pretend they reminded her of varying creatures. By her thirtieth crystal formation - or was it the thirty-second? She liked to keep track of details. No, she couldn’t keep lying to herself any longer. There was no true pattern to them, they were just shiny rocks in whatever pattern they happened to have formed in. She could explain the one she thought looked like a pony formed from crystals, she had deluded herself into thinking that her enemies were everywhere, even in the very foundation of the environment itself.

I suppose it’s a testament to my skills, thought Chrysalis. My mastery of deception is so great that I managed to convince myself of my own lies.

Chrysalis, to this end, began to lecture her favorite lavender log. “Take notes, Lieutenant. Perhaps one day you’ll be able to deceive gullible fools just as well as I can. Actually, I misspoke somewhat, you can be a close second, just behind me. Sorry Lieutenant, but there’s not a soul alive that can get anywhere near the level of perfection I’ve achieved in my talents. Don’t feel too bad about it though Lieutenant, I’ve had millennia to practice, and I’m perfectly willing to teach you what I can,” explained Chrysalis.

Chrysalis wandered further into the dark. Before she knew it, another hour had passed. Just one last hour of walking left, then her horn issue would be nothing but a distant memory.

She thought she noticed passing by the same rock three times during this journey, a rock there was only one of on the way up here. She hadn’t been paying much attention to anything but her personal problems until her recent confidence boost, so she couldn’t be certain, but it reminded her of a changeling tactic.

That was ridiculous though, only a select number of changelings are capable of transforming into objects and even the ones that can need a modicum of talent to get any real use out of it. She only knew of a few personally, most of whom used it for frivolous things like playing inane practical jokes on their fellow changelings. In fact, she could think of one with that unique ability that was at the forefront of her mind lately, once he figured it out he would always find a dark corner to hide in where the other changelings couldn’t find and bully him, usually in the form of a rock. She was still confused why he had been blessed with such an ability out of all changelings, but it could at least be viewed as a saving grace for an otherwise useless changeling. His name still left a bitter taste in her, the traitor Thorax. She quickly shifted away from thinking about him any longer than she had to and decided to ignore the rock since it had only been repeated thrice, but she would keep an eye out for that rock formation in the future.

“It’s good to have you by my side, Lieutenant. Brings me back to the old days, when my advisors were ruthless, but loyal to a fault. Back then they hadn’t yet learned to question my rule. It made life so much simpler, I could give an order, and it would be done. There would be no hesitation, no whining, and no back-talk. They just … did. Those old changelings really were something, and now, well, let’s not dwell on the past too long, shall we?” said Chrysalis, changing the subject.

Though the trot back was going surprisingly smoothly, Chrysalis couldn’t help but stay on guard. You never knew what rangers might lurk in the dark, a monster would've followed you, ready to attack the moment you get distracted. Chrysalis couldn’t afford to be distracted, and forced herself to stop thinking about the old days. She was a queen, she had to remember that, and she didn’t need her old changelings, she didn’t need anyone. She knew what was right, the only way to survive was alone.

Thirty minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Only thirty more and she would be home at last. At least, that’s what she thought. What if this ultra-stick potion was a flop? It wasn't exactly the same solution to the problem, she could easily see it failing miserably. Chrysalis didn’t care, though, she had gotten back a part of herself she thought was gone forever, and there was no spell her horn would let her cast that could make her feel quite as good as that did.

There, in the depths, was something odd. A particularly long stretch of the cavern in a somewhat tightly knit space. The outer sides were reinforced with wooden support beams all over, and were those ... lanterns? lanterns lining the walls, artificial light. That meant other living things were in the area, not just monsters. In fact, Chrysalis was able to just barely make out something, rails. This was a mineshaft! It seemed civilization was closer than she thought. Sure, if the lanterns weren’t lit it could’ve just been abandoned, but they were still bright. Some creature must’ve been through here recently, they had to have been. Chrysalis almost caught herself smiling, civilization was where she thrived, after all. Then there was a debate raging in her mind.

Should I check it out? I’m so close to getting my horn fixed, it can wait! No, wait, if I can disguise myself and convince whoever’s in that mineshaft to help me out of here, I’ll be free from this wretched cave, then I can get my horn fixed some other way that doesn’t involve using a potion that functions as glorified superglue. Still, the promise of a fixed horn right away is tempting, decisions, decisions.

“I know, I’ll ask the Lieutenant,” she said, quickly levitating her Lieutenant out of her saddlebag. “So Lieutenant, what are your two bits here?” asked Chrysalis.

The log was unresponsive, but then Chrysalis heard something. She did a double-take. Had she actually heard a voice, as in, a real voice, from the Lieutenant? No, she knew her trusted soldier’s voice well, it was mostly identical to that goody-two-shoes Twilight Sparkle, minus all the irritating rants about the value of friendship, love, peace, and so on. This was different, it sounded more like two voices, one of which was decidedly too masculine to belong to the Lieutenant, and it was coming from the mineshaft.

“Seems you answered me after all, mineshaft it is. I know this detour might be dangerous, but when have I ever been afraid of a bit of danger?” she said rhetorically. Fortunately, the Lieutenant was very good at handling rhetorical questions.

Chrysalis placed the Lieutenant precisely as she was, right back into her saddlebag, and trekked towards the source of the voices.

The mineshaft was eerie, to say the least. The sound of crackling flames was the only thing keeping away the silence, but silence would’ve been preferable to the occasional creaking sound of mine carts and singular hammering noises caused by metal slamming against steel. It wouldn’t be so bad, but Chrysalis had wandered for what felt like a mile by now without stopping once, and she felt no closer to her destination, whatever that may be.

The whole place reeked of sulfur, probably leftovers from controlled detonations used to expand the mineshaft. Chrysalis tried to detect any trace emotions in the air, but nothing came up. The mineshaft looked like there was a story behind it, but it seemed that Chrysalis wouldn’t get any answers from emotions, she’d have to go straight to the source.

“Any insight here, Lt. Sparkle?” asked Chrysalis. The log said nothing back. Nonetheless, Chrysalis was satisfied with its nonexistent answer, and imagined its reply.

“Interesting, so you think the source of the voices will be hostile? Your assumption is incorrect, though it has some merit, it’s understandable given your lack of information. You’re partially right, ponies would attack me in my true form without hesitation, but that’s just the thing. Have you forgotten who you’re talking to? I’ll just have a chat with them in the guise of “Shutterbug,” the innocent lost little unicorn. My disguises are expertly crafted, and I’ve always got a believable story for each and every one of them, trust me Lieutenant, they won’t suspect a thing,” explained Chrysalis.

Chrysalis was proud, confident, and unshakeable. What could a couple of ponies do to her? And if they were some other species, all the better! Then she might even be able to get away with using her true form, as they might not even be aware of who she is. Shapeshifting is second nature for changelings, to them it's just as natural as breathing, and for Chrysalis it takes even less effort than that. At least, normally it does, but she was dealing with some issues after that combined love blast from her traitorous subjects and her recovery would take longer still. All that being said, it still uses up the same magical energy changelings obtain from harvesting love. Considering their primary biological advantage is their ability to shapeshift, and it expends the same resource that they use as food, it's a wonder changelings have survived this long. Chrysalis, thinking on this, was certain that her leadership was the only reason changelings have survived, and even thrived after all this time.

"It was always supposed to be me and my fellow changelings against a cruel and indifferent world, one that would've shunned us if we ever revealed our true selves. After centuries of leading them to victory after victory, on the cusp of dominating the entirety of Equestria, with only a single obstacle left in the way, they ... they ... " Chrysalis lost herself in thought for a moment.

"How DARE they! Ungrateful traitors, the whole lot of them! I fed them, gave them identities, trained them, gave them the best home and community they could ever ask for in the hive to be raised in, and what did they do? When it came time for them to truly show their dedication, to do what they'd always done, side with me against the world, they turned on me. When the world was against all of us, they sided with the world ... and left me behind. Every single one of them deserves the worst fate imaginable!" yelled Chrysalis.

She turned to look at her Lieutenant.

"You'd never betray me, right Lieutenant? What am I saying, you're the last loyal soldier I've got left. I should never accuse you of such a heinous act," she said, allowing herself to relax. She tried to focus on what she lost, rather than her fury. Eventually, her nerves settled, and she was able to let herself move on.

Wandering through these empty mineshaft halls was beginning to take a toll on Chrysalis. "Does this mineshaft ever end? I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps this is some magical trick, and this mineshaft is enchanted to go on forever," she said, with a hint of aggravation.

Chrysalis snarled, "How much further must I go to reach those voices? With how far back those echoes went, I should've arrived there by now," she reasoned.

Suddenly, the path opened up, and a rubble-filled hole to the right appeared at the farthest reaches of Chrysalis's vision. Chrysalis immediately recognized the signs of an explosion, the side path had been blasted open. Judging by the remaining sulfur from the blast, it was only opened recently. Even more noticeably, the voices were finally within proper hearing distance, coming from whatever was on the other side of that opening.

Chrysalis let out a huff of resentment, "Speaking of ... "

With nowhere else to go, Chrysalis trotted through the hole in the right wall. The structure finally came into view, beyond that opening was a large, old, and abandoned-looking storehouse of some kind. It had been made from stone, though it's not like there were many other materials available in a cave.

"It looks ancient. There are cracks all over, and it looks as though an entire corner of the building is just ... missing. That can't be right though, I've lived long enough to see what happens to a truly 'ancient' structure and this fails to resemble an old ruin like that in the slightest. Perhaps it was attacked, then promptly abandoned, that might explain why it looks as though it's been hit with a battering ram," she reasoned.

“This could work out in my favor. If this storehouse is as abandoned as it looks, I can just waltz in and take whatever I desire. I won't count on it, though, those voices I heard haven't gone away. In fact, they seem to be coming from inside, and it sounds like some sort of argument?"

Chrysalis felt a twinge of movement from her saddlebag, and assumed her Lieutenant was uneasy. She couldn’t sense that emotion here, but

"There's nothing to worry about Lieutenant, contrary to popular belief I make for an excellent negotiator. I can play the role of a peace-brokering mediator when the need arises, and it seems like soon I'll need to put those skills to work if the sounds of heated arguing in there are any indication," assured Chrysalis.

With a familiar flicker of green flame engulfing her, her entire form shifted into the only other option she had at her disposal besides her recent addition of a regular spider form, that being Shutterbug. She would look a bit out of a place, a lime green city pony with autumn hair standing out against the ever-present gray backdrop, not to mention her usual cover story being that of a Canterlot photographer. Sure, she's managed to deceive ponies with flimsier claims before, but it was still a disadvantage. Still, she could come up with some new lie to spin, she was practically a bottomless well of those. Without any other forms at her disposal, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter anyways, so Shutterbug would have to do.

She was Shutterbug now, the key to selling a good lie is believing it yourself. You’re Shutterbug, just remember that, nopony else. Shutterbug, Shutterbug, Shutterbug she reminded herself.

Shutterbug took a moment to practice her overly excited voice, as grating as it was, and get it just right. With that settled, the pieces were in place, all that was left was to make her way inside.

The storehouse had a front entrance, but taking the main entrance was never her style. Why would she when she was one of the most all-terrain all-environment creatures in existence? On top of that, it was generally a better idea to head around the side and up the stairs, that way she could get a better look from an indoor balcony or listen in through the upper floor without revealing herself just yet. And so she did, making naught but the slightest of sounds as she went up the stairway.

Just as she suspected, the building had an upper balcony, made of some old, cracked stone, and with the lack of lighting inside, avoiding notice would be simple.

Every aspect of the storehouse showed its age the moment Shutterbug stepped a hoof in it. The wooden boards were creaky, and visibly worn. She managed to lightly step over them, but she almost wished she hadn't when she was subjected to the smell. By all things sacred, what was that smell? Upon further inspection, it was the distinctly sour scent of sweat. Shutterbug thought that they could’ve been exhausted, but their voices sounded normal. She couldn't be entirely sure, but it would line up with what she'd learned so far. Why else would two reasonable creatures willingly choose to spend their time in a creepy abandoned storehouse?

Shutterbug would soon get her answers. She heard the voices again, and swiftly put her ear to the floor. She heard the voice of a stallion.

"Still can't believe this was here, a storehouse being used by one of ... them. Who knows how many more of these might be out there!" said the stallion.

Another voice, this one sounding more like a typical mare, replied. "Tinson, buddy, it's just a single storage building, I highly doubt they've somehow been hiding that many of these, otherwise we would've found plenty more like this one by now," said the mare.

"You never listen to me, do you Eyesoar? This is a major security threat we're talking about here, our ponies need to know about this so they can prepare for what's coming, surely you understand that?" replied the newly identified Tinson.

Eyesoar quickly retorted, "And what danger would that be exactly, pal? Do you truly think we should run back to our superiors and warn them that our sworn enemies have, to our horror, discovered the concept of storing their valuables in boxes?" she said sarcastically.

"How can you still not take this seriously?" Tinson frantically asked.

She quickly explained, "because it just isn't that serious, you really need to lay off the kooky conspiracy theories, Tin. It's starting to get tiresome. Now focus up, we've got a job to do here, and we've wasted our time bickering for what, half an hour, maybe an hour now?"

With that, Shutterbug had heard enough to intrigue her, and if she wanted to hear more, she'd have to get her answers from the unaware ponies on the first floor. She assumed they were ponies, at least. For all she knew they could be diamond dogs or, even a new species the surface world has never seen. With that said, she would be willing to bet all her bits that they were ponies. If she could ever be sure of something, it would be that wherever you go, you’ll always encounter ponies. The little pests tended to nose their way into every corner of the world, regardless of whether or not they were welcome there.

Shutterbug needed answers, especially about these so-called “sworn enemies.”

Shutterbug dwelled on this thought, If they’re sworn enemies of ponies, they could make valuable allies. I’ll make it a top priority to learn more about them, assuming they aren’t just some unintelligent monsters.

Shutterbug focused her breathing, she’d need to extract as much info as possible from these ponies, and if they saw through her lies, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to fight them off or escape in her current state. Worse yet, she had to sell a lie to these ponies that she was a harmless photographer who just got lost in this dreadful cave. It was going to take everything she had to get these ponies to believe her. Even in the face of overwhelming odds, she was ready, and there wasn’t a hint of nervousness anywhere in her body.

She focused herself, “deep breaths, breathe in and breathe out,” she said, re-centering herself. She was going to make a good first impression, it had to be perfect. Chrysalis always demanded perfection from both herself and her subjects, settling for second-best simply didn’t occur to her in any scenario.

Without further ado, she swung the doors open and headed inside.

The denizens were shocked at first, their expressions showing an immediate willingness to attack. The stallion was some sort of metallic pony, with a true to his name coat that resembled the silvery white color of tin, and blue eyes. The mare was a bat-pony with the same predatory yellow eyes she’d come to expect, though she noticed that the bat pony was covered in more fur than the bats she was familiar with. Shutterbug assumed it was a unique trait of the bat ponies native to this cave, likely an advantage meant to aid with the frigid temperatures.

More importantly, these two were armed and armored, and gave her a startled but tough look that made it clear they were ready to use violence if she presented a threat. In spite of their attempts to look tough, their shivering betrayed their nervousness, the grip they had on their spears was shoddy and their formation wasn’t even right.

The pair of petrified ponies continued to silently stare at her in fear, and Shutterbug stared right back at them with a blank expression, she was already tired of their attempts to intimidate her.

Finally, the tin-colored pony piped up, presumably the one referred to as Tinson before.

“What are you? I mean, you’re clearly a pony, and a unicorn it looks like, but your coat is a lime green with fur. I can’t think of what that would correlate to and you’ve got some kind of strange device around you too. Most importantly, I can’t detect a hint of metal on you, what’s going on here?” asked Tinson.

“Answer us, now! Otherwise my partner and I will have to give you the kebab treatment, and no pony here needs to get hurt, alright?” added Eyesoar.

Shutterbug was quick to respond, sticking to her original story, “I’m just a regular old pony, like you two. I’ve heard of bat ponies before, but I have to admit a type of ponies made of metal is a new one for me. With that said, I’m a photographer, and I work for the Canterlot Historical Society, ever heard of it?” asked Shutterbug.

“Huh, you’ve seriously never heard of metal ponies? Where are you even from?” replied Tinson.

Shutterbug responded politely, “So sorry friends, I forgot to mention that part, my bad! I must be so nervous after I got lost. I’m from Canterlot, born and raised.”

“Canterlot huh? I’ve never heard of it,” said Tinson.

“Me neither, where’s that?” asked Eyesoar with a raised eyebrow.

“How peculiar, ponies who know nothing about the capital of Equestria? Maybe my theories about a power similar to the Crystal Heart down here means there's a society similar to the Crystal Empire down here too, which could explain a few of the oddities of this place. How do I best explain this whole situation to them?” Shutterbug thought for a moment before deciding.

“To make a long story short, I was in the Everfree Forest, tracking down a lead for a story. Then, out of nowhere, I got chased by some horrible monstrosity! Before I knew it, the beast had me cornered. I had no choice but to take a leap of faith into a cave entrance, which turned out to be a lot deeper than I realized. Ever since, I’ve been stuck in this dreadful cave. It’s really a wonder I’ve survived this long, you have no idea how elated I am to find other ponies,” she explained. The best lies were based mostly in truth for a variety of reasons.

Eyesoar began to understand, “Oh, I get it now, you’re one of those surface dweller folks then. I’ve never seen any myself, but I’ve heard stories, I just can’t believe I’m really here meeting you right now! I’ve gotta know, is it true that instead of food, you get nourishment from the light produced by a big floating orb?” asked Eyesoar.

“No, we don’t. I’m assuming by “floating orb” you mean the sun. It does aid us in the cultivation of our crops, but we don’t photosynthesize like plants, sorry to disappoint,” explained Shutterbug.

“That’s disappointing, but whatever, you can tell me more later. A surface dweller all the way down here though, weird. Should we report this to the boss?” asked Tinson.

“Obviously!” Eyesoar yelled. “You wanted to report a storehouse with the same urgency as a world-ending threat, but now you don’t know what to do about a surface dweller? Use your noggin, Tin, you weren’t born yesterday!” said Eyesoar, before slapping him with her wing.

“Ow! That one actually hurt!” complained Tinson. “Though, I kinda deserved that. If you think we should report it, I’ll follow your lead. We should get going soon though, the boss will really wanna know about this.”

Tinson remembered to say something he nearly forgot, “You! Surface Dweller! You’re coming with us! Continue cooperating and everything will go smoothly. Really sorry to spring this on you lady, it’s just protocol.”

Shutterbug thought to decline, but she was in no position to do so. She could fight her way out if needed, so there was little danger once she thought over it a bit more. She debated with herself for a moment about how she could use this situation to her advantage, and decided to go along with the two soldiers as requested.

“Can I look at something first? There’s a sour smell coming from a box back in there and I’d like to at least know what’s causing it,” pleaded Shutterbug, putting on her best attempt at soft, innocent, adorable little eyes.

Eyesoar yielded in the face of such innocence,“Fine, but make it quick, we’re both tired after a hard day’s work and we’d like to get back home before we pass out.”

Shutterbug understood. “Oh thank you, thank you ever so much! I promise it won’t take but a moment,” said Shutterbug.

With that, Shutterbug ran past the soldiers and raced towards the scent. Within moments, she went into the main storage room, out of earshot of the soldiers, and was able to determine which container held the curious scent, a rickety old chest. She hastily opened it, but the only thing inside was a bottle containing some sort of viscous black liquid. She recognized the way it was contained, the very same way her hive would bottle up love and store it for later use. But this wasn’t love, this was something far darker. Still, she had been growing peckish, and she was too curious to back out now. She removed the cork keeping the bottle sealed, and drank up the mysterious emotion in an instant.

For a moment, she felt sick to her stomach. It tasted and felt like eating rotten, molded cheese found in the wilderness. Shutterbug felt delirious, her surroundings were horrifying. She was locked in a dungeon and sentenced to death for her crimes against Equestria, all the while Starlight Glimmer and Thorax were just outside her reach, laughing at her and smiling.

Then she suddenly snapped back to the real world, back in the storehouse. What sort of hallucinatory substance she had just taken? This was the stuff of nightmares in a bottle, not the kind of emotion she would store back at the hive.

She nearly threw up on the spot, “Ugh, that was …revolting. What was that? It definitely wasn’t love. Wait..the sweat smell, the anxious curiosity, the feeling of adrenaline rushing through one’s veins, I’ve been feeling…this is bottled fear! But that doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense, a changeling wouldn’t bother keeping bottled fear around, especially if this storehouse was meant to serve as a hideout. I’ll have to get to the bottom of this, but in the meantime, I’m keeping my senses peeled for any more of this,” said Shutterbug, befuddled by her findings.

With the conclusion of her findings, Shutterbug walked back through the double doors and met up with the pair of soldiers.

"Finally done?" asked Tinson.

"Yes, I found what I needed," said Shutterbug.

"Let's get going. Stick to the path and don't wander too far from us, you never know what might pop out around here," said Eyesoar.

“And where are we going exactly anyways? I don’t mean to pry, but I’d like to know where I’m being taken before we go, as long as that’s alright of course?” pleaded Shutterbug.

“The Kingdom of Orelia, that’s where,” replied Tinson.

Her thoughts raced, that was the same kingdom mentioned by the construct before, the evidence of a society of ponies living underground continued to pile up. There were so many possibilities from such a place, especially considering they didn’t seem to be aware of Equestria at large. So many possibilities, so little time. What mattered now was following the pair of soldiers to this destination to see it for herself. She could only imagine what awaited her there.

The three ponies exited the storehouse. Though the path ahead would be long, they began their journey.

Chapter 1 - The Storm

Alone … Chrysalis was … alone.

Chrysalis was resting at an old abandoned camp site, though calling it a “camp site” was generous. In truth, it was more like a set of tents and a dirt mound with space for a campfire in the center. There weren’t even any log benches to give you a reprieve from resting on the ground. Chrysalis was standing next to the fire pit, eyeballing the flickering flames and reflecting on everything that had led to this moment.

Three weeks ago she had made the mistake of thinking she could be a leader again. She had used dark magic to give life to new creations that would obey her without question. At least, they were supposed to. Sure, they resembled her greatest enemies, but they were hers, they should’ve been obedient. Unfortunately, they thought they knew better, they were rebellious, and they betrayed Chrysalis all over again. Further investigation revealed they had almost succeeded in their mission regardless of their betrayal, but that strange tree … ruined them.

Now she was alone, again.

She was losing her mind in a forest, again.

“What do you make of this, Lt. Sparkle?” asked Chrysalis.

The lifeless lavender log was unresponsive. Perhaps a few weeks ago it would’ve been able to reply, when it was a fully formed being resembling a dark mirror version of Twilight Sparkle, but now…not so much.

“I understand, you’re correct once again, I made a tactical error. Your advice is invaluable as always, Lieutenant,” said Chrysalis.

Chrysalis was sitting near a fire, holding her trusted purple advisor close. The other remaining sticks that had once been the mean six were used to fuel the fire, as a sort of … funeral for them. Still, Chrysalis held on to the lavender remains, she couldn’t let go of her most successful creation, her most talented prodigy. So, she managed to delude herself into believing this lavender stick was her loyal underling. It was something, at least, and Chrysalis was willing to believe her own lies if it meant she wasn’t alone.

Besides, if you fall for your own lies, isn't that just a sign you’re an expert deceiver? Chrysalis thought so.

She was disheveled and broken, she needed somepony to blame for everything she’d been through.

“I’ve been dethroned, I’ve had my own hive turn on me, and I’ve been humiliated in front of my subjects at the height of my power, twice.” Said Chrysalis, huffing with anger

“I’ve been set back time and time again, and after everything I’d done for my people, they cast me out, they threw out their own queen!” Said Chrysalis, with visible anger rising to the surface from deep within her.

“When my changelings and I were sent flying from Canterlot all across Equestria, I persevered, and though we failed to conquer Canterlot, we were together. The changelings, all of us, didn’t give up. I formed search parties that worked to bring every last member of the hive back together, no matter how long it took. Together, nearly every single member of the hive was brought back home. Sure, plenty of them were love-starved, but they were alive, and that's what mattered. We regrouped, planning our next big move for years," pondered Chrysalis aloud.

"Together we managed to kidnap and replace every major figure in pony society, we had practically won! Under my leadership, the hive had reached its apex. Then, what did they do to thank me for leading them to the victory we were working towards for so long, the victory that we had spent years planning, the victory we had finally achieved? They turned on me the very INSTANT that it became convenient to abandon me, the very instant that they were offered an easier path!” screamed Chrysalis.

“Starlight Glimmer, she’s the one responsible for all of this, she’s the reason I’m like this, the reason I’ve been left in a forest to go mad, she’s the reason I’ve been separated from my hive! When I find Starlight, I’ll show her true fury! She’ll beg for mercy, and she’ll beg for her friends, like that traitor Thorax!” Chrysalis softly yelled to herself, angrily stomping the ground as she spoke.

“But help will never come, her friends will never appear to save her. Yes, that dreadful Starlight Glimmer … she's going to get everything she deserves,” said Chrysalis with a sinister grin.

“Once I take my revenge on Starlight Glimmer, I’ll cast down that traitorous false king, Thorax, and lock him away in the darkest dungeons of the hive as an example, that’ll show them what happens to those who betray me!” -Chrysalis raised her hoof and slammed it through a nearby tree in an excited rage - “After that, the hive will demand that I rule them again, not that I’ll give them a choice,” said Chrysalis

"No, no, that's too good for Thorax! I'll have that traitor executed, and every changeling will have to WATCH! They can watch their beloved leader get the fate he deserves, and they'll never try to backstab me like that again!" yelled Chrysalis.

“But first, I must formulate a proper revenge plan, a plan that’ll really shock the poor foals I’ll be unleashing it upon. Lt. Sparkle, any input you’d like to provide on the plan? Any at all?

“I suppose not, then. Well, I’ll just have to workshop my revenge plan alone then, I don’t require your aid, I don’t need help from anypony,” said Chrysalis.

"Ugh, am I going native? I'm even saying things like anypony," she considered.

Chrysalis felt a sharp twang, as though something had gone missing inside of her. “It seems my hunger is growing, I need to find a source of love to drain, soon,” said Chrysalis, suddenly shifting priorities.

Chrysalis’s love reserves were running low, dangerously low. She could tell it was starting to get dire. Not surprising in a forest where most creatures capable of love actively chose to avoid doing so, but that knowledge did little to sate her hunger. To remedy this, Chrysalis began to trek through the Everfree Forest, searching for any source of love she could find.

Chrysalis was visibly distressed, she was moving at a speed akin to a starving predator. It felt like the forest was intentionally throwing obstacles in her way, vines, critters, gaps. Chrysalis refused to slow down for any of these distractions, slicing through vines with a magical blade protruding from her now glowing horn, easily evading the critters that wanted to nip at her hooves. She effortlessly flew over gaps in the ground she encountered, silently laughing at every river and ravine that thought it could challenge the mighty changeling queen.

Eventually, Chrysalis managed to pick up a trail, the scent of love in the air. She quickly followed the trail straight to the source. She hopped and skipped over more and more obstacles, with the most irritating by far being the briars all over the ground. Thankfully, she had wings to deal with problems ground-bound creatures found impossible to solve. After far more galloping than Chrysalis would’ve preferred, she managed to get a look at the source of the love. It was a young pony couple enjoying a camping trip together.

The pair consisted of a dark yellow pegasus stallion and a brown, fluffy unicorn mare. Their love was young, fresh, and to Chrysalis, delicious.

"Finally, a proper meal. The Everfree has been content to starve me for the past few weeks, maybe now it's trying to apologize?" considered Chrysalis. "Well in that case, apology accepted! This is an excellent gift, forest! Although it still doesn't make up for otherwise being an awful excuse for a home, filled with monsters and other constant perils."

She hid away in the nearby bushes, feeding off of the love the couple was giving off. It tasted like sweet nectar, and with how new the couple’s love is, the love had a fresh texture. I love it when it's fresh. There's nothing wrong with the timeless joy shared between long-time lovers, of course, but young love is like a carefully crafted dessert to us emotivores. I suppose that would make long-lasting love somewhat similar to a healthy five-star meal, prepared by a master chef who's made the same dish countless times and become a master at it. Yet still, there's a desire to shake things up, add a few new spices, learn from new cultures, and there's still so much mystery to it, even after decades of trying and failing to fully grasp its true nature. Young love, in comparison … how would the pink one put it? Young love is like a birthday cake explosion in your mouth for a changeling. It's reminiscent of the very first time you ever had your parents tell you that today is dedicated to celebrating you, and how special you are, and how it's time for you to have your very first dose of sugary sweets. The best part? It tastes like that first time you ever had a sweet treat every, single, time, mused Chrysalis, getting lost in the love-feeding experience.

The couple started saying all sorts of lovey-dovey stuff to each other as Chrysalis watched. "C'mon, babe, why are you always so scared of the dark? There's nothing to be afraid of. I mean seriously, what are the odds a monster is gonna pop out?" asked the brown unicorn mare.

"Pretty high in the E-E-Everfree. Y'know I can't believe I love you so much that I let you talk me into coming here! Ponies go missing in these woods all the time, Cocoa. We should REALLY get out of here by tomorrow, by the absolutely latest. Besides, can you blame me for being a little nervous?" said the dark yellow pegasus stallion to his marefriend, apparently referred to as Cocoa.

Chrysalis could feel something about to happen, she always enjoyed these moments. Perhaps ponies were irritating pests, but even pests can be adorable under the right circumstances. That goes double when the pests are serving you the emotional equivalent of chocolate on a silver platter, after you've been trying to survive in the wilderness for months.

Cocoa got even closer to her coltfriend, leaning into his wings. "Awww ... you're cute when you're scared, babe, has anypony told ya that?" said Cocoa, inching to within a hair's breadth from her now-flustered coltfriend. "What's the matter, Huff, need me to cuddle up with you so you don't feel so scared?"

At this point, the stallion now known as Huff had cheeks redder than freshly-grown tomato. Obviously, he obliged and put his wings around her, in a warm and fuzzy display of shared affection. They closed their eyes, completely at peace.

A few more minutes of feeding off their love, and Chrysalis had her fill. That should be enough to last at least a month on its own, assuming she doesn't have to expend too much energy. Now came her favorite part, showing the ponies who's boss. Chrysalis thought of what transformation she'd use. A manticore, or a cragadile, maybe even a windigo? No, all of that would be too much. I can't waste too much energy, I just replenished my love reserves. Hmm ... think ... think …

That's it, a young hydra will do! Won't waste too much energy, but it's still suitably terrifying, Chrysalis thought, going over how this would work in her mind before executing her comical plan.

Chrysalis rapidly transformed, enveloping herself in a glowing green flame. Within a moment, she emerged as a completely different creature, a young hydra about the size of a small tree, but no less terrifying than its older counterpart. She popped out of the bush she was hiding in, and let out a magnificent roar that shook not just the trees, but the ground itself.

The young couple immediately perked up at this, turned around, and witnessed the three-headed terror before them.

The pegasus, Huff, was the first to speak. Ponies were rather predictable, so Chrysalis assumed the next word to leave his mouth would be something along the line of "RUN!"

And right she was. The couple immediately made their escape from their small camp site, leaving everything they brought with them behind for Chrysalis to "repurpose" later. With the hapless pony couple having made it out of her line of sight, she transformed back into her true form. "Well that was effective. Good thing that didn't take much longer, maintaining transformations with multiple heads can be exhausting ... and very disorienting," remarked Chrysalis, proud of her successful scare.

“Hah, Ponies running in terror! Excellent! I needed that,” said Chrysalis. Displaying a rare example of a happy expression, Chrysalis smiled on the way back to the abandoned camp site.

Now back at the camp site, Chrysalis began to think things were looking up. Of course, nothing good that happens to Chrysalis lasts very long. She had learned that cosmic truth somewhere around the time her initial attempts at peace with the pony tribes. They were separated back then, Chrysalis always found that odd. Even back then, it seemed obvious that ponies should stick together, they were all a herd species, and in all practical terms there wasn't much reason for the hostilities, aside from, perhaps, political and land reasons. That was likely the explanation, but maybe it ran deeper than that? Chrysalis decided to stop considering this, ponies were simple-minded fools, and that was that, no need to look any deeper into why that's the case.

Chrysalis would never know why ponies were so prone to infighting, but she learned to be grateful for it. How else would she have her fun, deceiving them, spreading rumors, and convincing them that it's their idea to do what she told them to do.

She finally had some time to relax. She hated relaxing though, she need to be doing something at all times, that was her philosophy. She considered sleep a necessary evil, but resented it for several reasons. The chief among these being the dreams she had. Every single time she went to sleep for the past few months, she replayed that moment, when her own hive betrayed her. How could she let this happen? Should she have disciplined them more, threatened them so they'd stay loyal, or perhaps some other approach? There were thousands of possibilities on how she could've gotten out of the situation victorious, or at least not in as terrible of a situation as she was now. Every night, she considered one of those possibilities in the form of a dream, but somehow the dream would always end with it not working, or getting replaced with what really happened.

Chrysalis couldn't be certain why her dreams were so odd. She was under the impression they were usually meant to be peaceful. At least, she hoped dreams were peaceful, since she's responsible for wrapping up thousands of ponies in cocoons and leaving them helpless to do anything besides dream. Maybe this was some form of punishment for all those ponies she'd trapped? No, that's ridiculous, ponies don't matter, or at least most of them don't.

She wanted to be rid of the past so badly. Once she knew what she should've done back then, how she could've avoided all this, she wanted to move on to planning out the future. After all, the past is over and done with, and her real priority should be planning her revenge, not moping around over her past failures.

Chrysalis had a hypothesis of sorts about her dream problem. She had heard rumors in her day that Princess Luna could alter dreams somehow, a rather unique form of magic. The first time she heard that, she dismissed it as utter hogwash. She thought it was a ridiculous rumor indeed, dream-walking magic? Oh please! Then again, ponies aren't the best at outright lying, so she didn't completely dismiss the notion. Now though? She was almost certain the rumors were true. Chrysalis could nearly guarantee now that Luna, that repugnant moon witch, is forcing her to relive the same scenario in her dreams over and over again, all so that she can never focus on forming a proper revenge plot! It's genius, really, or it would be, if Chrysalis hadn't already uncovered Luna's plan. Now that she knew, she would simply do her best to ignore the dreams ... even if deep down she wanted to explore the possibilities they offered.

Chrysalis continued to think, but she was resting inside a tent, and tomorrow would surely bring her the vengeance she sought. If not tomorrow, it would be the next day, and if not that day then the next day after that, and so on. This was the only way she could rationalize resting when she should be planning, but she had to remind herself, vengeance takes time, and it wouldn't be fair to her or her enemies to give them a shoddy, half put-together revenge she thought up during a deranged stupor. So, she allowed herself to rest, because vengeance takes time, and a queen deserves rest, doesn't she?

It began to rain.

It had scarcely been an hour, and Chrysalis had truly hoped beyond that for once she'd be wrong, but no, the cosmic truth that nothing good ever that happens to her ever lasts once again proved itself, this time in spectacular fashion.

Chrysalis was in a panic, she had nowhere to go. The few tents at the campsite wouldn’t provide enough shelter, and there was an even bigger problem.

Then ... thunder rang out.

She was running out of time. Though, she stopped for a moment to think. Can you imagine it, an immortal changeling queen being done in by a perfectly ordinary storm. Well, this storm wasn't quite ordinary, it wasn't created by pegasi, no, this was a creation of the Everfree Forest itself. She should've expected this, considering the forest's most infamous property is its inexplicable ability to generate weather without the aid of pegasi.

It was too late to worry about it now, though. All that mattered was finding some sort of shelter.

She rushed outside, looking for anything nearby. The slight dripping sound of rain was quickly replaced with the white noise of a torrential downpour. Chrysalis wasn't able to locate much besides tree cover, which wasn't ideal considering the lightning problem. Just before she could think of anywhere else to go, she felt that uncomfortable sensation, water on her chitin.

"Ugh ... guess I'm already drenched at this point, can't get much worse. Oh, and would you look at that!" exclaimed Chrysalis, as she watched the water ruin her perfectly good campfire. "You can't be serious, now the rain has decided to ruin the makeshift funeral for my fallen creations? At least the fire already got to them, but I wish it would have lasted longer, at least."

With nothing else to do, Chrysalis took one last look at the abandoned campsite, and glanced at the sticks that had once been the Mean 6, now piles of ash. Though they had failed their mission, Chrysalis decided it was only proper to give them a final salute. She then bid them farewell, and raced off into the forest to find a reprieve from the storm.

fifteen minutes of gallivanting and she was no closer to anything that even so much as resembled a safe haven from the storm.

That was when things got worse, much worse. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a group of ponies wearing armor that was all too recognizable. Five of them, all pegasi, Bright yellow armor in the middle of the forest made them stick out like a soar hoof, and their standardized white and gray coats made it all the more obvious who those "mystery" ponies were. Equestrian soldiers, specifically part of the solar section of the equestrian military. Chrysalis knew they meant business, after all, why else would they be in the Everfree? Well, it could also be the fault of a certain chaos spirit getting up to his old tricks again, but one can explain just about every strange circumstance they encounter by simply assuming that it's somehow Discord's fault, and that's just a bad habit to get into.

She was in her true form, and there wasn't much cover besides trees. Chrysalis, being one of the few equine creatures blessed with an unnatural height that allowed her to tower over lesser creatures, was just reminded why said blessing can also be a curse. She instantly stood out among the trees with her black chitin and her easily recognizable silhouette, and even less stealthy was her unique twisted horn. Most days, Chrysalis appreciated that even though she was a changeling, her true form was still striking, elegant, recognizable, awe-inspiring and so much more. This, however, was not one of those days.

All that being said, the leader of the soldier ponies instantly recognized her based on her dark outline alone, even in spite of the heavy rain, now accompanied by even heavier fog, obscuring their vision. The captain called out to Chrysalis "I-It's her! I found her, the one we were looking for! Ready yourselves ponies, s-she's extremely dangerous!"

One of the younger soldiers added, "Heh, and you were even willing to bet me that the changeling sightings were just hearsay. Looks like I win, and YOU get to be the one handling latrine duty for the next couple weeks. Consider it payback for all the ear damage your yelling has caused us," said the young soldier rather casually despite the situation.

"Cork it, newbie! In case it isn't obvious, this is the one and only ... Queen Chrysalis." He said in a mocking tone.

"She's currently the last loose end for Equestria. Worse, she's the mastermind behind every single family, friend, lover, or otherwise that's been "disappeared" by changelings for the past thousand years or so." said the captain, with renewed confidence as he adapted a battle-ready stance. The other soldiers followed suit, spears and shields at the ready.

Chrysalis finally stepped out of the shadows, and got a proper look at the captain. He's clearly old, his coat is bright white, the standard color for a member of the solar branch. His mane was the usual blue for solar guards, but it was darker, an indication of his age. He had striking green eyes, eyes which were currently giving Chrysalis an impressive death stare.

"So, I suppose there's no way I can convince you this is all a misunderstanding?" asked Chrysalis.

The captain replied with a strange venom to his words, "No tricks, changeling. My name is Captain Shattershield, leader of this fine squadron, and servant of Equestria. You can do this the easy way, and surrender immediately, so you can enjoy the rest of your immortality in a dungeon. Or, you can do this the hard way, and we have to use force, and maybe if you're too rowdy we'll finally get to be the ones to put an end to your ugly mug. I won't lie, I'm hoping you choose the hard way, but unfortunately that choice is up to you."

"It would be unbecoming of a queen to go in chains, so I'll be choosing the hard way, thanks. But just so we're clear, little ponies, this scuffle will only be "hard" for you, not me."

She readied herself, and ignited her horn. She was waiting for the pegasi squad to make their first move. They were in a battle formation with spears and shields in every direction, perfectly covering each other. "Aim pointy sticks in every direction" has been a solid battle strategy since the dawn of time, sometimes it's just hard to improve on perfection.

Chrysalis flashed back, thinking of the name Shattershield. This was a long-time captain indeed. He was one of the guards during the wedding incident. He had been a Lieutenant then. With Shining Armor incapacitated, he must've taken charge. Chrysalis was impressed, and a little annoyed that a pony that had bested some of her top warriors decided to show up and be a thorn in her side all over again.

"You, Shattershield. I think I recognize you, you were on the guard detail meant to protect me, yes?" asked Chrysalis.

Captain Shattershield flinched. "Y-yes, but I was there to protect Princess Cadance, not some lousy imposter. My work there was the reason I was promoted to Captain. Now, are you going to attack us, or are we both going to wait in attack formation forever here?"

"That answers that. Now then, if you insist on wasting my time by fighting a battle you can't win, we can get this over with," said Chrysalis, not taking the soldiers seriously.

The rain still didn't let up, and the thunder intensified. In sync with the thunder strike, Chrysalis teleported to a random side, and fired a beam of sickening dark magic from her horn directly at the cocky young soldier that was so self-assured just moments earlier. The beam was all too quick, assaulting the young soldier before they even had a chance to react. It was a terrible sight, sending the soldier out of formation and knocking them directly into a tree with a painful thud. The soldier was already unconscious, seconds into the battle.

The other soldiers were well-trained, and shifted positions to cover as many angles as possible. They remained calm and collected, at least on the outside. Still, they couldn't help but notice the festering wound on their comrade's wing. Beams of concentrated dark magic like that could last for months without expertly handled healing magic, though they could rest assured that a pony on the royal payroll would be provided the best care bits could buy, assuming they managed to emerge victorious. Chrysalis could taste it, now, there was resolve in the air, they knew they had to defeat her, or else they would all suffer the same fate as their unfortunate friend.

Chrysalis used the rain to her advantage, staying just out of sight. Normally the pegasi would be the best choice for dealing with a weather problem like this, but Everfree's weather was untamable. Chrysalis would turn this fog into her ally, rather than a hindrance.

Chrysalis called out from the fog as she teleported around, "You've trained well, against any other foe, you'd appear to be stoic, unshaken. But me? I can taste your fear, it's running off of you like a waterfall. I almost pity you."

Chrysalis surrounded herself in an aura of sickly green dark magic, and charged straight towards the four soldiers. Something wasn't right, though. Chrysalis noticed they no longer smelled like body odor and sweat, the normal scent for fear, but it was too late to stop her charge now, it was all or nothing at this point.

Just before she made impact with them, potentially dealing with them all at once, they all turned to face her, and created a gust of wind with the combined force of four angry pegasi. Chrysalis was launched by this vicious gust away from them and directly into a pile of bushes, getting covered in twigs and briars.

"Perhaps I underestimated you soldiers," she remarked.

"Last chance, Chrysalis, give up now, or this will start to get messy" said Captain Shattershield.

The soldiers moved in closer to where she landed, but Chrysalis was already upright again.

Only then, Chrysalis noticed that she had landed directly next to a river. In seconds, a terrible beast arose from the river, a lizard-like beast with a rough body made of stone, known to most as a cragadile.

"Oh joy, another problem, just what I needed, and this time it's one of the Everfree's horrific monsters" said Chrysalis with an eye roll.

The cragadile lunged at her immediately, while the soldiers blocked her escape further inland. Chrysalis couldn't fly well, not with the rain still pouring. She also couldn't keep backing up, she'd just get skewered by spears. She had to think, and fast.

Chrysalis had a burst of inspiration, and surrounded her form with dark-green flames. She shifted into a previous form, that of the young hydra she used to frighten the young couple earlier that day. Now, she was twice as tall as the cragadile, and it was three heads versus 5. Chrysalis liked those odds.

The cragadile was shocked at first, but kept trying to gnaw at Hydra Chrysalis's ankles and drag her under. At the same time, Chrysalis avoided the soldiers' attempts to poke her with such a major size difference, it couldn't quite move her, but she did screech out in pain.

With a horrible screech emanating from three heads at once with a backdrop of rain and thunder, the cragadile released the scent Chrysalis was so used to by now, the characteristic body odor smell of fear. She was starting to get sick of how atrocious all these frightened creatures were starting to smell, but it was a small price to pay to live another day. The intimidated cragadile retreated back into the water in the face of the larger predator, leaving Chrysalis alone with the soldiers, her intended adversaries.

Shattershield yelled at Chrysalis, "Just because you look like a hydra now doesn't mean you're as strong as one. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Time to humble this so-called queen, c'mon soldiers!"

Chrysalis immediately realized her error, but before she could change forms, she was once again hit with a gust of wind, this time with one of the soldiers' spears added to the mix in order to pierce her hide at high velocity. She couldn't transform in time, and she began to topple over. At the same time, the spear launched by the gust took her left head clean off. Fortunately she had two heads left, and two heads against four was still better odds than before.

Her clumsy hydra form tilted further and further back until she could do nothing but watch as she tumbled backwards into the river with all the grace of a tower undergoing demolition. She managed to place her right head below her back, cushioning her fall at the cost of destroying another perfectly good head, leaving only the middle head remaining.

To avoid risking herself any further, she was able to transform back into her true form shortly after hitting the ground. Thanks to being made of chitin, her true form was mostly unscathed, and the spear that had hit her other form was now inside the left side of her torso, just under her left wing. Chrysalis was accustomed to this sort of thing, and grasped the spear with her telekinesis. With a quick yank, she dislodged the spear from her side, much to the horror and shock of the soldiers.

She then telekinetically chucked the spear back towards the soldiers, purposely hitting next to them instead of on them.

"Look, ponies, I'm feeling generous, and I'm a very busy changeling these days. Run off now, and we can call this a draw, even if I've obviously outdone you in every regard."

Thunder cracked down, nearly hitting the river Chrysalis was standing in. She checked around, and she hadn't been zapped, so she assumed it was fine. More concerningly, the cragadile that had been lurking in the river was now gone, likely having run off once the fighting intensified.

Wait, Chrysalis realized. That wasn't thunder. That was ...

She could make it out more clearly now, or as clear as she could with the neverending sound of rain.

"You hear that too?" asked Shattershield.

It was a roar, the kind of roar that told everyone else that you were at the top of the food chain, and to get out of your way or face the consequences. That kind of roar could only belong to one creature in the Everfree Forest, its simultaneously gentle and predatory, beautiful and terrifying, mish mash of all your worst nightmares. It was a manticore, and it was MAD.

That sort of roar was only released by a truly angry manticore. That particular roar, if Chrysalis had memorized it correctly as part of her shapeshifter training, meant that the manticore was very, very hungry. Considering she and the soldiers were made out of food in a manticore's eyes, this was less than ideal.

It was time to use that planning brain of hers, but Chrysalis struggled to think of anything this time. "Sure, the soldiers are likely to run, I can count on that, but what if the manticore decides changeling is its preferred snack? I can't afford to waste any more of my love reserves after that idiotic stunt with the young hydra transformation. C'mon Chrysalis, think!

Wait, the soldiers are going to try and run, and then they can lose the manticore in the fog, assuming they can carry their unconscious comrade. That's actually not a bad plan, I think I'll copy it. I suppose the changeling philosophy of "copy it if it works" really does apply to everything.

So the plan was settled, if the ponies were going to run and try to shake the manticore, so would she. It's not like any of them could fly out of here anyways with the endless deluge from the clouds going on at the moment. And even if it wasn't raining, manticores have wings, much to the dismay of all creatures who have found themselves the target of a manticore attack and mistakenly believed that the power of flight would be enough to escape the beast.

Chrysalis fired a dark magic beam at the manticore to draw it attention as she galloped past it, summoning all her strength. It reeled back for a moment, inspected its now-wounded side, it had been infected with dark magic, and that kind of magic would can leave behind a wound for months without proper magical treatment. Unfortunately for the manticore, it didn't have access to modern medicine, but it did have access to chasing down the changeling that had given it this excruciatingly painful wound.

Chrysalis glanced back, the manticore was in hot pursuit, and Chrysalis knew it would take everything she had to slip away from such a massive monster. She galloped and galloped, racing through the forest as her heart pounded. In that same glance, Chrysalis also noticed that the soldiers had picked up their one unconscious soldier, and they were getting out of there with their tails tucked behind their flanks.

"Serves them right, thinking they could mess with the queen of the changelings and get away unscathed," proclaimed Chrysalis. She would've loved to gloat more, but the manticore breathing down her neck was a more pressing matter.

She came across a series of vines, and slashed them to ribbons with her twisted horn, then continued her gallop, searching every direction for shelter, somewhere the manticore couldn't reach her. The rain then truly fell in full force, and combined with the fog, visibility was at an all-time low. Suddenly, she lost track of the manticore. Chrysalis listened and tried to determine where it went, but couldn't figure out where it had suddenly gone. While trying to determine where the manticore went ... it leapt out at Chrysalis! Out from the fog it ripped directly into her wings, brutally tearing through her wing membrane.

Chrysalis could barely contain the urge to scream out in pain, but she forced the urge down and used her negative emotions to fuel her horn, igniting it. From her ignited horn, Chrysalis unleashed a blast of pure magical hatred at the manticore, nailing it squarely in its own wings, and forcing it to back off. She had no time to admire the pain she had caused it, so she made a break for it further into the forest.

I have to reach shelter soon, then I’ll be able to heal my wings, c'mon Chrysalis, you won’t be done in by some random grab bag of animals with a face only a mother could love.

The rain was pouring, and the fog was getting worse and worse. It was like the forest itself was against her, but Chrysalis refused to give up that easily. She could handle a little fog, she just had to keep going.

The manticore, with renewed confidence, managed to catch up to her. She summoned a magical shield with her usual green aura to block the manticore's advance, but trying to cast a shield spell while running and unable to see behind her left it flimsy and badly positioned. Breaking through the shield with ease, the manticore stung her with its massive scorpion tail, injecting its toxin right into Chrysalis’s veins. Once it finished its injection into her left back leg, the manticore retracted its tail, leaving Chrysalis with a gaping wound in that leg.

Ugh ... I.. Chrysalis could feel nothing but pain, as her acidic blood leaked out from her previous wounds more and more the faster she ran. I have to keep reminding myself, that love blast I took back at the hive took nearly everything I had, now I can barely even handle a few soldier ponies and a cragadile, much less an apex predator.

Still she managed to muster up enough strength to fire another dark magic beam from her horn, sending the manticore packing. Now, the beast had three major wounds, each of which could take weeks, or even a month or two to heal. Chrysalis took solace in the fact that thanks to her mastery of dark magic, the manticore would be dealing with the injuries she gave it for far longer than she would have to suffer from the injuries it inflicted upon her.

She continued to gallop away, running for her life in spite of the manticore toxin running through her veins. Eventually, she reached something that could be used as a shelter, a cave entrance too small for the manticore to fit through. Right on time, too, as another burst of thunder rang out across the forest, and the roaring manticore could be heard alongside it.

“Finally! I can deal with this toxin and my torn wings later, all that matters now is survival. I’ve no choice but to enter that ominous cave, then,” said Chrysalis, with a nervous tone.

Chrysalis peaks over the entrance, with the manticore's enraged stomping not far behind her. Unfortunately, the cave entrance is a deep hole that seems to go further down than Chrysalis can see, she considers her options. There’s nothing nearby, and tree cover won’t save me, my only option here is to take a leap of faith. But, my wings are torn, can I even survive that fall? The rain from this storm drained down there as well. It's too slippery for me to climb down across the walls. What to do, what to do? Chrysalis pondered these things for a few moments, wishing she had more time to decide.

But then she heard the manticore about to catch up, alongside the routine sounds of thunder and rain. "I've only really got one choice, huh?" thought Chrysalis.

She jumped, taking the ultimate leap of faith. She had the utmost confidence she would survive. She was Queen Chrysalis, how could she not? Besides it would be a nice break from getting rained on.

Just as Chrysalis fell down the seemingly bottomless pit, the manticore reached its claw into the cave and slammed her against the cave’s inner wall, cracking her horn. Out of time and out of options, Chrysalis bit down on the manticore’s claw, causing it to let out an ear-piercing shriek of pain. More importantly, it let go of its grasp on Chrysalis.

Chrysalis felt like she was going to fall endlessly. Then, everything went dark.

Author's Note

Enjoy the ride, this is my first story here so I'll be learning as I go. I've been wanting to make something like this for a long time, so I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoy making it!