Portrait of a Monarch

Chrysalis slipped inside her cave as quickly as she could. Lightbulb was still unconscious, and Amethyst was fully cocooned and oblivious to the world. She crouched to look at her eggs.

There was no chance of moving them until they hatched. They were cemented to each other and to the surface Chrysalis had laid them on. She could see the perfectly formed embryos inside, ready to hatch any day now based on how they wriggled and writhed, but even then she had no way of taking them across the snow without them freezing to death.

Perhaps a powerful teleportation spell could achieve it, but without her magic at full power she couldn’t imagine making it that distance.

The only thing she could think to do now was cover the cave mouth with her body, hidden as a rock, but even so, Eventide was nearby, and she wouldn’t even view it as betrayal for him to tell them where she was. A few caves over, Autumn Gem and that unicorn hung, their very presence revealing her own.

She scanned the cave opening, her eyes plumbing every depth to imagine herself as a rock that would slot perfectly into place, and then she changed.

The ability to see did not stay with her, but she left herself the ability to hear. If her disguise failed - and she knew it would - then she might at least have the opportunity to attack with the advantage of surprise.

She heard in the distance the soft sounds of hooves walking through the snow, and Cadance talking to her guards.

“I don’t want us to split up,” Cadance said. “She’ll take advantage of any moment like that. The three of us will take a look around together and hopefully it won’t come to a fight.”

The sound of metal on metal as the armoured guards saluted.

Crish. Crish. The hoofprints were drawing closer, but not moving directly towards her.

“Hey!” Eventide’s voice, starting as a shout and rendered quiet by the thickly layered snow.

Of course.

“Who is that?” one of the guards said.

“I don’t know,” the other guard said.

Running hooves, with the occasional sound of hoof striking stone. “Oh, thank Celestia you’re here. I’ve been up here for so long in the cold.”

“Careful. He might be a changeling,” the guard said.

“I’m not a changeling. But I can tell you where they are,” Eventide said. “I’m Professor Eventide, from Canterlot University. Do you have anything to eat?”

“My apologies, but no,” Cadance said. Chrysalis heard the sound of a spell charging, then the sparkling sound of it firing. “He’s not a changeling. Starlight taught me how to tell.”

Starlight Glimmer’s contributions to ruining Chrysalis’s life never ended, it would seem.

“Take us to the changeling, please,” the guard said.

Chrysalis tensed her magic, ready to strike. She heard rattling metal and hoofprints striding towards her, getting closer…

And then passing on by.

“I could have sworn it was around here,” Eventide said. “I think I’m going snowblind after how long I’ve been out here.”

There was no way he didn’t remember where it was. Her trick of imitating a rock wall would fool the others, but he had tracked his way here and slid himself through the narrow crevice to reach Lightbulb, and he had shown himself as being possessed of a good memory.

Was he lying? For her benefit?

The group kept walking past Chrysalis and far enough away that she couldn’t quite place their position from hearing.

She had to admire that Eventide had given himself an out instead of confidently leading them away from Chrysalis. He had simply made a mistake; he was snowblind.

“Here! It was this cave,” Eventide’s voice was deliberately loud, carrying around the side of the hill to Chrysalis. “She must have left.”

He had to be at her side cave, where Autumn Gem and the unicorn were being stored.

“Oh my stars! Let’s get them out of there,” Cadance’s voice said, rendered soft by distance.

They might believe it had been Chrysalis’s lair since they had found her cocoons there. And if they believed that, they might leave.

Several long minutes passed.

“You should leave them in the cocoons until you have a doctor on hand,” Eventide said. “The sleeping spell is a little temperamental, and they might need help when they wake up from stasis.”

Soft dragging sounds, and the guard’s metal armour sounds faded into the distance, along with Eventide’s voice telling the guards about how changeling cocoons were constructed.

He was leaving, and he was leaving Lightbulb with her.

She felt a strange weight settle in her chest. She could tell using her changeling senses that he really loved Lightbulb and wanted him to be safe. It seemed unbelievable that he was trusting her with the pegasus, particularly as she had captured him with the explicit purpose of feeding him to her young.

Well, if it came to that, she would feed them Amethyst first. It was the kind thing to do.

After several long minutes of silence, Chrysalis judged it as safe and turned back into her natural form.

The moment her vision was restored she came eye to eye with Cadance.

Excerpt: A Note on Changeling Flight

Let me quickly say that changeling wings, especially with the characteristic holes seen in Chrysalis’s changelings, are not at all sufficient to grant flight on their own like standard insect or bird wings. Although changelings are much lighter than ponies, they are still too heavy to lift themselves in flight without magical assistance.

Instead we see that changelings are privy to the same magical ability that affects pegasi and griffons; that is, they have an innate magic granting the ability of flight. Strangely I might add that due to their magical abilities of transformation channelled through their horns, and the advanced magical abilities of their queen, they share the powers of alicorns.

Cadance was fluttering above the ground, inspecting the caves from the air before she left to follow Eventide and her guards. Chrysalis had transformed right in front of her, and in doing so, she had revealed the location of her precious eggs.

She was not letting Cadance call the guards back.

In a moment she had turned into a manticore and lunged into the air, flapping her wings for a little extra height before she slammed her claws down on Cadance.

The tip of her claw hooked Cadance's chest and ripped apart lush fur to reveal meat underneath, and Cadance gave a grunt of pain, keeping her posture strong. She repelled Chrysalis with a strong magical blast.

Chrysalis whirled, caught her balance, and then stung with her tail. The tip of her stinger caught Cadance in the wing and forced her to stumble onto the ground.

“Chrysalis!” Cadance snarled. “What do you want with my people? Can’t you leave us alone?”

She charged another powerful magical blast and fired it at Chrysalis, who dodged nimbly out of the way. It fired past her and exploded at the mouth of the cave.

Chrysalis couldn’t let Cadance damage her eggs. All of this would be for nothing, and Chrysalis didn’t have it in her to lay another clutch. She moved her body between Cadance and the cave entrance, turning back into her natural form and using her magic to put up a sickly green shield between them.

Eyes full of grief and anger, Cadance fired another blast. Chrysalis’s shield held - barely - but she was pushed back a few steps, putting her haunches into the mouth of the cave.

“You attack my friend Starlight,” Cadance said, firing another blast, pushing Chrysalis back another step. “You kidnap my people - where is Amethyst Maresbury? - and you bring my kingdom into a state of terror. Why won’t you leave?”

Another powerful blast pushed Chrysalis all the way into her cave. Her magic was faltering; it pained her to stay on defence, but if she tried to attack, she would leave her eggs vulnerable. The taste of Cadance's fear and anger filled the air between them.

Chrysalis wasn’t fantasising about defeating Cadance and taking her place. All she wanted was just to survive and for her eggs to survive. Her dreams of ruling pony empires and taking whatever she wanted were being beaten out of her by the indignities she had been put through.

Her body exhausted, Chrysalis put everything she had into another shield, but it wasn’t enough. Cadance knocked the shield away and cornered Chrysalis, looking down through the crevice into the cave. She fired one more blast and Chrysalis could see that if she didn’t do anything it would hit the eggs.

Chrysalis dove into the way of the magical blast. It rocked through her body, shocking her to the tips of her hooves. She let out a gasp of pain and then slumped to the floor.

Cadance slipped down into the crevice.

Chrysalis tried as hard as she could to pull herself back onto her hooves. She felt shoots of pain running through the holes in her legs, weak points that only bothered her when things were truly dire.

Using her last spark of magic, Chrysalis changed form into a bugbear, a favourite of hers for fighting. She couldn’t muster the energy to get herself into the air and instead crouched, using her large body and six limbs to shield as many of her eggs as she could.

Cadance gasped when she saw Lightbulb and Amethyst in their cocoons, her eyes narrowing at Chrysalis. She charged up one more magical blast, and Chrysalis knew this one would kill her.

It made sense that it would end this way. The princess of love, striking out against the wraith that had tormented her family and drained love from her citizens. Chrysalis did what she could to arrange her body to protect her eggs and made her peace.

The blow didn’t come. It seemed Cadance was too merciful to strike a weakened opponent. Chrysalis longed to take advantage of this moment of stupidity, but she had nothing left in her.

“Are those eggs?” Cadance asked. She was looking past Chrysalis, at the little eggs full of squirming grubs that she was trying to hide.

Chrysalis snarled and tried to wanly slash a clawed paw at Cadance, who fluttered back a step to avoid it. It was pointless. She turned back to her natural form and tried to flare her wings out to intimidate Cadance.

“Leave them alone,” she hissed.

“I’m not going to hurt your eggs,” Cadance said, her face softening into concern.

“I don’t want your pity!” Chrysalis yelled with as much force as she could. “If you come one step closer to my children I will turn you into a red paste.”

Cadance kept her distance. “I just want to rescue these ponies. I’m a mother, too, Chrysalis.”

“Take them. I don’t need them.” Chrysalis needed them dearly, but she needed Cadance to leave more.

With one eye kept firmly on Chrysalis, Cadance used her magic to slice down Amethyst’s cocoon and with great effort, she lifted it out of the cave entrance.

There was a sweet smell in Chrysalis’s nostrils. Cadance finished straining herself with Amethyst and turned her attention to Lightbulb, but the exertion had pulled the claw wound open on her chest and loosed a spray of ruby droplets.

Saliva pooled in Chrysalis's mouth. Thick, rich pony blood, ripe for the taking.

Chrysalis stooped and lunged, her long tongue catching blood from the air and then trailing the floor to follow Cadance's blood spatter.

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my brood,” Chrysalis said, her voice a low hiss. She swallowed the droplets of blood and felt the searing hot love run down her throat, bringing warmth and magic back to her weary limbs. It wasn’t enough to make Chrysalis strong enough to defeat Cadance, but it might be enough for her to get Cadance out of here for the moment.

Behind her she heard a tiny cry. She knew that sound; she had heard it thousands of times before. One of her grubs had hatched.

Hot fire blazed through Chrysalis’s body. She needed to get Cadance out of her cave as fast as possible, and she wanted to keep Lightbulb if she could. She appreciated Eventide’s loyalty, in a way, but her eggs came first.

Cadance had been regarding her with pity and then disgust, but now all she saw was fear. Chrysalis bounded towards her, hissing and snarling with her tongue fully extended.

More little cries behind her. The eggs were hatching together.

“I will do whatever it takes to raise them and keep them safe,” Chrysalis said. “And if you don’t leave my sight now, I'll peel your flesh from your bones, Princess. Take that librarian and leave!”

Cadance did just that, backing out of the cave and levitating Amethyst’s cocoon down the hill. She hopped down the hill, fluttering her injured wing to break her fall as she got away from the cave as soon as possible.

Chrysalis was not delusional; she knew that it would not be long until Cadance returned with the entire royal guard of the Crystal Empire to get Lightbulb back. Cadance was a planner and would likely put together something well-laid with Starlight to catch her, so Chrysalis needed to be faster.

She turned back to her grubs. Most of them were out of their egg cases now, small and hissing. Chrysalis had filled their stomachs with love harvested from the town before they were born, and they wouldn’t need feeding for at least half a day while they learned what it was to be alive.

They looked excellent, strong and healthy. Chrysalis had never seen so many hatch at the same time before; she wondered what it was that had led them to emerge all at once.

Had it been the fight? She had seen multiple eggs hatch at the same time before if they were fed very close to hatching time.

It hit her. She hadn’t brought them love, she had shown them love by defending them, and they had responded in kind.

She had a moment of disgust at being anything resembling Thorax before she realised that she really did love them. She had proved it, by standing up to an alicorn just to keep them safe.

Chrysalis picked up one of the little grubs. It really was perfectly formed, fat and strong with bright eyes that gazed straight at her. Up close, she could see that unlike the larvae she had produced in her old hive, these ones had fully formed legs, with no holes. They were still hers - they were black and shiny and hissing, unlike Thorax’s band of cowards - but they were whole.