Portrait of a Monarch

Chrysalis felt no small amount of apprehension about her journey to Canterlot. So many things could go wrong and leave her eggs to rot alone in the frozen North.

It seemed almost laughable that she was doing this just to learn a small amount of pony knowledge. She had dithered over whether to instead invite Eventide to the Crystal Empire to speak, but if he took a long time to have an opening in his schedule, then she might have moved on by then.

Deeper in her psyche Chrysalis had to admit that part of the appeal of traveling to Canterlot was proving to herself that she could do it. That her infiltration and camouflage abilities were still as sharp as ever, and she wasn’t scared to face any pony princess or delve deep into the heart of their empire.

She had dug through Amethyst’s house to turn up coins so she could book her return ticket. She had found a notepad in the library and some pens, and packed everything into a tasteless quilted saddlebag for the journey. She had dragged Lightbulb’s lifeless form all the way out into the frozen wasteland, stuffing him down the tunnel into the thermal cave and leaving him there as a backup pantry for her soon-to-hatch larvae. She had even notified Cadance that she would be on leave for the day.

That task had caused her trouble. The princess had come to the library to pick up her requested books for Flurry Heart, a request that Chrysalis had completely forgotten about shortly after it had been made. She had bigger things on her mind.

Ever quick on her feet, Chrysalis had claimed she wanted Cadance’s help in selecting books, since Cadance knew the filly better. Cadance had shown just a split second of irritation before capitulating, and they had spent a wordless few minutes in the children’s section, Cadance completely unaware she stood a hair’s breadth away from the queen who had almost been the end of her.

It had been tempting just for a split second to turn and slash Cadance’s throat and gather up rubies of her sweet blood to drop into the waiting mouths of her larvae. Even a scratch’s worth of blood from the Princess of Love would be enough to raise them to adulthood.

When Chrysalis had established her hive in the west, she would return here and repay Cadance in kind for every awkward indignity this experience had pushed upon her. For now, Chrysalis would not pick fights she wasn’t sure she could win.

The ticket she had booked was for the very first train of the morning, slightly before sunrise in the shadowy spring of the Crystal Empire.

Before dawn Chrysalis had lingered in the town square, near enough to the Heart to feed on it but far enough from the palace to not have her disguise ripped away. The enchantments around the palace were immensely powerful and she could sense them like feeling the radiating heat from white-hot iron.

Dew lingered on the cold crystal buildings for longer than felt instinctual. She thought of Lightbulb the weatherpony, and wondered if it would ever be possible for changelings to harness weather magic like pegasi did.

There was room in her new hive for creativity. She would see to that.

The train waited. Amethyst Maresbury was not possessed of enough coins to buy Chrysalis her own private space on the train; she would have to sit with the ponies.

An exhausted stallion with a pair of excited young colts took a seat next to her, the colts chasing each other up and down the main aisle. To Chrysalis’s other side sat an elderly mare who offered her a hard candy. Chrysalis declined.

The ticket taker wandered up and down the carriage, and Chrysalis dutifully presented her tickets. Another patron on the train, a young mare, burst into tears and admitted she didn’t have a ticket, and the ticket taker talked with her until she became calm again. One of the other ponies on the train bought her a ticket, and all was peaceful again.

The machinations of pony society were always curious to watch. In the absence of a central, all-powerful leader, they had invented money and nonsense jobs like ticket taking to keep a firm hand on their infrastructure.

She tucked her hooves under her and got comfortable for the long, dull ride to Canterlot.

Excerpt: Royal Report 2nd Moon, 14th Day.

Celestia reports significant conflict with changeling forces. Description includes the survival of the changelings and leader. Description includes magical combat which resulted in minor injuries to Celestia. Description includes changeling forces retreating. Inference given by Celestia is the return of changeling forces to the hive.

Description includes magical injuries acquired by changeling leader described as perforation with many holes present. Description includes this same perforation appearing on non-leader changelings including those outside of the radius of spell.

Canterlot Station was a chaotic mess of activity, bustling Chrysalis every which way until she managed to extract herself and head for the centre of the city.

Chrysalis hadn’t been to Canterlot since her failed attempt to seize it with Cozy Glow and Tirek, and since then, Twilight Sparkle - the name made her want to spit into the gutter - had taken over control of the pony throne. Although it had been a while, the ceremonial purple hangings depicting her coronation still hung from lampposts and the sides of buildings, declaring her reign.

The last time Chrysalis had confidently walked the streets of Canterlot was in the skin of Cadance, beloved princess of the people, and she could remember so clearly ponies turning to her in the street to smile and praise her and thank her for bringing love to all ponies. It was enough to nauseate Chrysalis. At first, she had been strictly dedicated to upholding the charade, playing Cadance’s part perfectly, smiling and embracing and kissing babies. It had worn on her fast, so that by the time the actual wedding rolled around she was unable to keep up much of a facade.

It had been that, for the most part, that had led to Twilight finding her out. If Chrysalis had more patience for being treated in the ridiculous way that ponies treated Cadance, then perhaps the world would be different now. Perhaps Chrysalis would walk these streets as a victor.

There was still time. Chrysalis was old, as old as the Equestrian monarchy, and while she had never been pushed this low before, Chrysalis knew she would rise again.

She slowly wound her way through the centre of town towards Canterlot University. She had no idea where it was located and the idea of asking for directions repulsed her, so she consulted the map boards in the town regularly as she walked. Travelling on the first train had given her ample time to get to the university while keeping up her affect of Amethyst’s slow, dawdling walk.

Without the Crystal Heart and Cadance at the heart of Canterlot, she couldn’t passively feed from the air around her, and knew that if she didn’t make her train this evening she would be quite hungry.

Canterlot University was a grand old building in the same style as the castle and the other older buildings, made of dressed white stone and sporting tall towers. The front door was made of some golden metal and was propped wide open, ponies of all ages and backgrounds filtering in and out of the building.

There was minimal signage to help her find her way to the professor’s talk, and she was forced to ask for help from one of the employees.

She was led into one of the large lecture theatres. It featured a beautiful wooden stage with curtaining and lighting as though for theatrical productions, and an amphitheatre of cushioned seating. Ponies were already filing in and taking their seats.

Chrysalis’s blood ran cold for just a moment as she saw Twilight Sparkle sitting in the front row with an entire note-taking system spread out on the lecture desk in front of her.

Of course the princess would be here. She prided herself on her bookishness, and this was her city. Chrysalis should have predicted this.

Without missing a step, she kept moving forward, her eyes scanning subtly behind her glasses to get a measure of the room.

Twilight Sparkle was not the only old enemy of Chrysalis in this room. She saw Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer sitting together two rows behind Twilight, talking to each other excitedly and laughing.

A group of bored-looking students sat together near the back of the room, barely paying attention as Eventide prepared his slides and nervously shuffled through his cue cards at the front of the room.

Chrysalis took a seat in the second row, on the opposite side of the room from Twilight.

Twilight got to her feet and met the latest guests at the door. It was all Chrysalis could do not to fly into a rage when she saw them.

Thorax stood there, smiling confidently at the ponies in the room. Accepting their welcoming words and playing nice, as though changelings were meant to kiss the hooves of ponies. He was accompanied by changelings that Chrysalis recognised: Cornicle, a nursery worker, Urtica, who Chrysalis had taught to read, and Pharynx, a once-formidable warrior. They all wore their bright colours and glittery wings as though they weren’t a mark of shame.

Even a moment’s slip-up surrounded by so many enemies would be the end of Chrysalis and her eggs. But it was hard. She kept Amethyst’s face totally normal as she felt adrenaline zing through her body, matched only by the boiling rage that caused her to nervously tap one foot on the floor.

She looked away. Nothing could be gained by venting her anger now, as much as she wanted to.

Thorax went and sat with Twilight, greeting the pony princess like an old friend while the three changelings who had accompanied him went and took seats in the free space.

The rest of the room filled up steadily with university students and fellow professors.

The time for the start of the talk came and went. The professor fussed at the front of the room, glancing at the expectant crowd and then over at the door as though waiting for someone. Finally, a few minutes after he was supposed to start, the professor began to speak.