Dreams of the Golden Isle
Everything was just perfect. The ever-troublesome Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor’s sister, slowly came awake as Queen Chrysalis watched. The frail creature tried to rub her eyes, but found them bound by the emerald sap. The tall changeling laughed, and Twilight whimpered, tears of fear running down her face.
“Do you fear me?” she asked, smiling down at the pony. The tiny purple unicorn wept, tugging at the restraints holding her inside the feeding chamber. Still, Chrysalis could taste the hatred boiling within, and she was curious.
“Why?” the changeling queen raised her hoof to her mouth, wisps of green flame surrounding her as she turned into a perfect copy of her captive.
“Why do you fear me?” Twilight’s own voice questioned her.
“You’re a monster! You’re evil!” the unicorn growled.
“Look around you.” Chrysalis hissed, her body shifting into that of Princess Celestia.
“You have no need to worry about food or shelter. No creatures of the Everfree Forest threaten you. I personally watch after each and every one of you.” The fake Celestia illuminated her horn, and rows upon rows of feeding chambers glowed with the energy of changeling magic. The ceiling, too, held cocoons, and deep cave fungi made their home around each one, creating tapestries of green on black.
“We are not the monsters here. We want you to survive, to thrive, even. Are not your dreams pleasant? Are they not as real as anything this outer world can offer? I watched you enjoy a day with Celestia just the other month…” Chrysalis looked on as the unicorn continued to tear herself out of her enclosure.
“You killed Celestia! You bucking made puppets out of everypony! All of you are a plague!” Twilight’s horn glowed, and as hard as Chrysalis tried to force the young pony’s magic, she could only slow the growth of the spell.
Sudden terror stabbed at the changeling queen’s heart as she found her grip on the magic of the cave breaking, her food source fighting back.
“I am better than Celestia! Why cannot you see that?” Chrysalis screeched, her form slipping as she fought the unicorn’s power.
“I feed my kind and I give you ponies more than any of you would grant us!” with those words, Twilight broke free of the cocoon, and her spell ripped through the endless cave. Shards of stone fell around the changeling queen as she fell to the floor. She felt small, helpless, and alone. What happened to her kind, to the ones that maintained this place?
“We told you over-grown parasprites to leave us alone three hundred years ago, and you didn’t. Now, it’s time to write a research paper about what changeling guts look like...” Twilight walked toward the shaking grub that was the Queen, surrounded on all sides by her friends. Somewhere from the depths of the cave, Chrysalis heard a low moan. Celestia, the real Princess of the Sun, was coming!
The fever dream dissolved and Chrysalis briefly floated in the calm darkness...
Chrysalis woke up, only the cold night wind singing in her ears. She sniffed, hissing at the pain in her cracked legs and abdomen. Memories came back. The island prison and the endless torture of waiting for her body to heal rushed up to meet her like the sand dunes did only a week ago. The stench of the sea and rotting changeling molts almost overpowered her when she tried to expand her senses beyond her usual flat, pony-like limits, and her eyes hurt. Still, her changelings depended on her, and the emptiness in her soul where many of her subjects used to be proved fuel enough to focus Queen Chrysalis’ mind.
“They refused to accept their duty as our food source, even though the life of a domesticated pony is so much sweeter than that of their own cows and chickens.” Chrysalis whispered. A bitter smell, all burnt wood and cinnamon reached her nostrils, and her eyes focused on a far-off shape.
“Board their ship. Feed on them and dump them in the sea. But, leave the captain and the foals alive and sane. I want some entertainment.” The cruelty in her tired, raspy voice surprised her. She enjoyed toying with her food, true, but what she found herself imagining instead of cold, calculated moves to win affection were torturous methods she heard only the least intelligent of her subjects use. A part of her hoped no changelings received such a tainted message, even as she watched the black cloud of her subjects rise around her, preparing to attack the unfortunate ship.
“They deserve it.” She finally said to herself, looking at her broken hoof.
“If the pathetic sailorponies sink the ship instead of letting us command it, kill them.” She felt the buzz of her subjects quiet down for a moment, but they soon recovered. After all, they too missed their homeland and hated the ponies for what happened. They would understand, she decided.
“When I get off this island, Twilight Sparkle, even if it takes me five more ships sinking beneath my hooves, I will bring you such dreams…” the changeling queen looked at the horizon, her horn sparkling in the darkness like a bizarre lighthouse.
“You will imagine my previous invasion a utopian vision.”
Chrysalis watched as the ship succumbed to her kind’s assault. Mercifully, the sailorponies gave up without a fight. When the merchant vessel landed on the sands before her, she hovered over it, watching the terror in the eyes of the surviving unicorns and pegasi. Their captain, a grizzled earth pony wearing nothing but a blue silk cap yelled at her in Prench. A nearby changeling, sensing the emotions behind the fool’s words blasted him to his knees.
“If any of you can understand me, vivaparians, translate for the rest.” Chrysalis chirped, a hollow sound that made some of her own subjects cringe.
“You are food. You have no hope of fighting me and my changelings. You will live and die by my whim. But, if you please me, you may be spared.” This would be just perfect, she thought…
((AUTHOR’S NOTES: First person to say what “vivaparians” refers to gets a cookie and a pat on the head.))
