Portrait of a Monarch

Chrysalis’s next victim was a pony from out of town, almost a week later. A mint green coat and a white and blue mane. The mare seemed familiar and as she walked around the library looking at music theory books Chrysalis watched her, trying to pin down where she knew this pony from.

Her memory caught up when she saw the pony’s cutie mark. A golden lyre. This was one of the ponies Cadance had picked to be her bridesmaids; it had taken a skilled act of subterfuge for Chrysalis to overpower all three of them.

She was a unicorn, and so Chrysalis had assumed she was from out of town, and now this confirmed it. Even better, she was the last pony in the library, and they were about to close.

Chrysalis locked the front doors while the pony rifled through the shelves, and then walked slowly and calmly up to the unicorn.

“Oh, hey, sorry, I’ll be done in a moment,” she said, not looking back at Chrysalis.

In a flash of green light, Chrysalis was in her own body, lunging towards the unicorn and slamming her to the ground. Her golden eyes shone up at Chrysalis in fear for just a second, and then in another flash, the pony was unconscious.

She had taken food up to Eventide a few days earlier, but it wouldn’t hurt to do it again now. The unicorn was folded into Amethyst’s cart and delivered up to her new place next to Autumn Gem. Eventide’s questions on her last visit were about how the hive worked, and Chrysalis answered a few and gave him some food, as well as a blanket. A reward for good behaviour.

She dumped his food in front of him, and he looked up from where he had been reading. With a blanket he looked a little less miserable.

“Good evening, Queen,” he said with a smile.

Chrysalis grunted. He was showing some respect, at least. “I have some questions for you.”

“Oo, what is it?” He sat up and shook his head. “Guh. Been sleeping badly, for some reason.” He snorted at his own pathetic joke.

Chrysalis ignored that. “How are changeling hives built? I know of what materials they are constructed, but I was raised in Alate’s pre-existing hive and have not myself seen it done.”

“Huh, that’s a tricky one. Changelings keep to their hives for so long that it’s rare to find accounts of one being built, but I have read the yearly records which contain the time period in which Alate was building her hive,” Eventide said. He mounded snow in front of him to illustrate as he spoke. “Your chamber - the queen’s chamber - and the nursery chambers are the core of the hive, with the queen’s chamber above the nursery chambers -”

“I know that part,” Chrysalis hissed.

“Sorry, sorry. What I’m trying to say is that hivebuilding in changelings is pretty similar to termites - you’re a member of the order Blattodea, like termites are - but there’s some key differences. Instead of using wood pulp, changelings use available grit and rocks and then bind them together with sticky saliva that drones make, which helps to make the hive magically changeable. The nursery is actually below ground to keep the temperature more consistent, and then that area gets covered over and the queen’s chamber is built above it. That’s the core structure, then it gets built iteratively out from there. Not that it matters, but Alate’s hive was actually somewhat smaller than other older hives that I’ve had the chance to study.”

“I want you to draw up plans. Instructions. My drones and workers will use them to build,” Chrysalis said.

“Sure. I’m not much of an artist but I’ll give it a go. Can you get me some paper and pencils?” Eventide said.

“Yes. I will bring them next time I return.”

“Thanks! I've finished the book, by the way. I’d love another one but I get it if you don’t want to do that,” Eventide said.

Chrysalis finally snapped. “Why are you being so cooperative? Don’t you know I hold your pegasus friend’s life to ransom? Do you not understand that you helping me here will mean the death of your precious Equestrian society? You should be crawling on the ground and spitting at me in disgust!”

Eventide flinched for a moment as she yelled, but that placid, somewhat excited look came back to his face nearly instantly. “I just find changelings really interesting. I don’t really mind being in this cave if I get to scratch that itch. And you said Lightbulb would be fine if I cooperate, but I don’t really have much control over how this all turns out, so why not?”

Excerpt: The Position of Changelings Within Blattodea

Due to the unusual size and appearance of changelings, their position within the kingdom of animals has long been a source of academic dispute. Although their traits generally indicate that they fall within Arthropoda, and more specifically within Insecta, several traits such as their bidirectional internal lungs, four legs, and complex neurological processing abilities led several competing theories as to the origin of this species.

The eusocial structure that informs changeling feeding, reproduction, and social behaviour has always been viewed as key to unlocking this mystery. Eusocial organisation (a “hive”) is found in both Blattodea and Hymenoptera, as well as several non-insect groups including mammals and crustaceans. Although several traits link changelings to Hymenoptera, most notably the lack of a “king” and the gracile body plan capable of flight, it is now generally considered accurate to place changelings within Blattodea along with cockroaches and termites.

The connection to termites was what eventually informed the placement of this species, although it should be said that it is believed that eusociality in changelings evolved convergently rather than deriving from a common ancestry, as changelings share more physical traits with cockroaches than with termites. A key termite trait examined here is the mechanism by which hives (mounds, in termites) are constructed. Termites process available wood using their saliva to rapidly construct chambers of their mound in a very similar way to how changelings process grit and small stones with magical secretions to build hives.

Like other members of Blattodea, changelings are capable of flight. The harder wing case or elytron of the changeling may falsely give the impression that they are more closely related to beetles, but select observations of members of the cockroach family shows the presence of similar, although less ornamented, elytra. Changeling flight is generally more essential to their lifeplan than any other member of the order, with changelings covering extensive distances to find other creatures to parasitise.

Aside from their more magical properties, two key adaptations allow changelings to reach a maximum size of up to seven hundred times the size of the second largest insect species in the world. The first is the changeling lung, which is a derived spiracle and functions very similarly to the mammalian lung, including muscle structures which allow for negative pressure breathing. This overcomes the difficulty faced by larger insect species in performing gas exchange with efficiency high enough for activity.

The other key adaptation is changeling internal fluid. Members of Insecta have haemolymph, which can contain some haemocyanin for oxygen distribution but which ultimately relies on passive diffusion of oxygen into water, which imposes limitations on the speed of oxygen distribution. Changeling internal fluids are derived from hemolymph, but heavily utilise haemocyanin and some haemoglobin to provide significantly more efficient gas transportation within the body. This internal fluid is colloquially known as ichor.

The library door swung open. Chrysalis heard a familiar voice and looked up calmly, not wanting to jerk her head up or snarl.

It had been five days since she had captured that unicorn, and she was looking for someone new to add to her collection. Someone had come by the library asking about Autumn Gem, but Chrysalis had told them she didn’t remember her coming by.

Now, though, she had to stop her blood from getting up in excitement.

Starlight Glimmer was walking into her library, first thing in the morning. There was no one else in the building, and she was alone, and she seemed distracted. If Chrysalis could catch her with her guard down, then this was her chance to finally exact some revenge.

“Morning, Amethyst. Just grabbing a few spellbooks,” Starlight said without even looking at her. She trotted past the front desk and up the stairs into the magic section, diving into tall shelves and immediately levitating out books to examine.

Chrysalis made her way upstairs pushing her returns cart, wheeling a few shelves away from Starlight and using her magic to creak the cart along to make it seem like she was still there. Instead she was in her natural body, climbing the shelf next to Starlight, silent and creeping.

It felt good to properly hunt. As she reached the top of the shelf, she balanced atop it, making sure her shadow didn’t fall across Starlight’s vision. Starlight hummed and moved to the side, then crouched down to read the spines of books on the bottom shelf.

Chrysalis charged her spell and then dropped from the shelf.

Her hoof slammed into the back of Starlight’s head and crushed her to the ground, Chrysalis’s weight pinning Starlight's body down. There was a split second of reorienting herself before she fired her spell, and in that moment, Starlight teleported, and the green flash of Chrysalis’s magic harmless fired harmlessly against the floor.

“Curse you!” Chrysalis snarled, and then lunged out of the aisle. Starlight was standing in the atrium of the library; Chrysalis changed form to a puma and lunged to close the distance between them, tackling Starlight to the ground and leaving a bloody slash across her back. She turned back into her own form and stood over Starlight, reveling in the splatter of blood across the tiles.

Starlight screamed, scrambled to her hooves, and tried to teleport again, but Chrysalis parried her spell and tried to knock her out again.

With a flare of magic, Starlight summoned a shield and knocked Chrysalis out of the way. She sprinted out of the library, running into town.

Chrysalis cursed again and followed her. She had been reckless. She was a smart hunter instead of just a powerful one, and she needed to act like it.

Chrysalis charged a teleportation spell, turned herself into Starlight injuries and all, and then vanished.

She reappeared next to the Crystal Heart. She was taking a big risk here; Chrysalis had not confirmed whether there were any specifically anti-changeling spells around the palace. But nothing bad happened, and so she let out a wail of fear and sprinted into the palace.

Chrysalis burst into Cadance’s throne room, gasping for air and letting out whimpers of pain.

Cadance jumped to her feet. The two guards on either side of her jumped up too, raising their weapons. This gambit could make things worse, but it could also make things better.

“Changelings - Chrysalis is in the city! I saw her, and she attacked me!” Chrysalis said. She ran right up to Cadance as though she was going to hide behind her, tail tucked between her legs and ears pressed against her head.

“You’re safe here, Starlight,” Cadance said. “What did you see?”

“She was on the edge of town, near the train station.” Chrysalis wanted to remove any suspicions around the library as much as she was able. “When she saw me, it was like she lost control. She turned into some kind of big cat and attacked me, but I got away and teleported here.”

“Go and alert the other guards,” Cadance said, sending the royal guards on their way. She pulled Chrysalis into a brief hug, and Chrysalis had a nauseatingly strange moment of being pressed against Cadance’s soft pink fur that she had once worn herself.

“She’ll likely try and hide. It’s what she does,” Chrysalis said.

Cadance was trying to reassure Chrysalis and was keeping her emotions measured, but to her satisfaction, Chrysalis could see just a spark of fear in her eyes. That was how she liked to be thought of.

“Flurry and Shining are with Twilight this weekend. They’re safe,” Cadance told her.

“That’s good. Hopefully since I’ve raised the alarm she’ll back off and go somewhere else,” Chrysalis said.

One of the guards who had just fled returned. “Princess. We’ve got someone to see you."

He and another guard led in Starlight Glimmer at the tips of their spears. The wounds on her back were still oozing blood, her panicked heartbeat keeping the arteries from clotting.

“She’s a changeling!” Starlight snarled, pointing a hoof at Chrysalis.

“She’s impersonating me!” Chrysalis said to Cadance, adding panic to her tone. Cadance was already drawing away from her, unsure of whom to trust.

Impersonating those injuries wasn’t quite possible; Chrysalis had no blood to ooze. She needed to stay distracting so that Cadance didn’t have the chance to doubt or fear her.

“I’m sorry, Starlight,” Cadance said. She didn’t say it to either of them, but instead to the middle of the room. “Guards, take them both to the dungeons.”

That was what Chrysalis didn’t want. Any amount of time without the ability to go to her eggs and care for them was unacceptable, and although Cadance didn’t know it, it would be a death sentence for Eventide.

“If that’s what it takes,” Starlight said, gritting her teeth.

Chrysalis trembled. “She’s trying to get me alone in the dungeon with her. She’s had a grudge against me since I helped Thorax overthrow her.”

“I know, Starlight,” Cadance said, and this time she did address Chrysalis directly. She was yielding, just a little. “We can’t place them both in the dungeon alone. Guards, I’ll want them actively watched, around the clock.”

Starlight hung her head for a moment, defeated, and Chrysalis loved to see it. Then she lifted her head again, resolute. “I understand completely. Can you give me a first aid kit so I can take care of these cuts?” There was a gleam in her eye, and Chrysalis knew she was in trouble.

Blood was still running down her sides, drying in her fur before it could drop onto the floor. Chrysalis knew she wasn’t managing to copy this, and she couldn’t show the green flare of magic required to change her appearance.

Cadance briefly looked over at Chrysalis, checking on her wounds, and then Chrysalis saw or perhaps smelled how Cadance’s joints stiffened just a little bit as her brain computed what Starlight had already seen.

Chrysalis's skin prickled. She'd been so stupid as to prioritise her grudge over her survival. Now she would need to map her way out of here.

The windows were regular glass and the only other easy way out was the door where there were two guards.

Cadance opened her mouth to speak, her body language pulling her away from Chrysalis, and she knew it was the right time to move. She sent a blast of magical energy into a random window, shattering it, and then ran and jumped in Starlight’s form onto the window sill. She changed, turning into herself for just a moment to see the look of fear on their faces, and then turned into a falcon and dove from the window.

Her cover as Amethyst was potentially destroyed. She had a choice to make - she could accept that it was over and try to make do with the five captives she had now, or she could return to the library immediately and claim to be a victim, not the perpetrator.

Starlight would report that she had been attacked in the library, and she would likely report that the only person she could remember being there was Amethyst. If Chrysalis had a hive backing her up, she would take the riskier option and return to the library.

But she had already made the mistake today of being too bold. She tempered herself to look after her eggs; there would be enough food for them. She had been greedy by attacking someone with as much magical ability as Starlight, and now she was paying the price. She could go hungry to compensate for her own mistakes.

Her decision was made. She took advantage of her swift, lithe body, and headed towards the mountains with as much velocity as she could manage.

She collided with the dome.

Not expecting it, Chrysalis’s speed crushed her against the wall, dazing her. She felt something in her neck crunch in a way it shouldn’t, and she turned back into her natural form, plummeting from the sky for a long second before her wings fluttered and she stopped herself.

In front of her, the force field shimmered, faint glimmers of pink and blue magic running through it.

Chrysalis slammed her hooves against it and found it hard and unyielding.

This had to be some spell they had channeled through the Heart. They didn’t want her to escape; they wanted to track her down.