Chapter 4: Mare in the Mirror

Dull dark blue mane, lime-green eyes, black coat, jagged horn, holes in it's mane, and holes in it's legs.

This was what Queen Chrysalis saw when she looked in the mirror. A monster. But the Changeling Queen, and her changelings,hadn't
always looked like this. Like monsters.

The changelings used to be beautiful. With shiny white coats, butterfly wings, and no holes plaguing their bodies.

It had been like that, until King Sombra had placed a curse on Chrysalis and her nation. Until somepony loved Chrysalis for who she was and what she looked like she would remain a monster.

With a green flash, Chrysalis became who she had once been. A beautiful white alicorn mare, with butterfly wings and a royal blue mane. Even her crown became a beautiful bronze, with little green emeralds. Changelings had always been able to change, even when they had been beautiful. The fangs too, had always been part of the changelings. As did the thing around their waist.

But wait, Queen Chrysalis could be anything. She went from her old self to Princess Cadence, then Princess Luna, and finally Princess Celestia. Yes, Queen Chrysalis could be anything, but she only wanted to be herself. Her old self.

And part of the Queen blamed herself for what she was now. The monster she was. Had it not been for her invasion on Equestria, maybe the curse would be broken.

That was the entire reason Chrysalis had done what she did, just to break the curse. The love between Cadence and Shining Armor was so strong. But when Shining's love didn't help, Chrysalis thought maybe if she was the Queen of Equestria, somepony was bound to love her.

Until she was defeated.
Now nopony would love her.

The thing was, the pony, whoever it may be, was supposed to love Queen Chrysalis despite her appearance. But these days, appearance was everything, and nopony loved something as ugly as herself. Who would? Not even Chrysalis loved herself. Countless times had the Queen thought of ending it. Of ending her reign and her life alike. When a Changeling Queen stepped down from the throne, they ultimately died. The nation was what kept her alive, and she kept them alive. If she decided to step down from the throne and didn't have an heir her changelings would die. It was just the way things were.

Sure. Queen Chrysalis wanted to die, but she didn't want her entire kingdom to die as well. That wasn't fair.

"Your highness! Dinner is ready!" The Queen jumped having not expected anypony to be at her door. "In a second..."

Chrysalis used telekinesis to shove a bunch of old dusty photos into an old dusty drawer. She paused though, at one photo. It was a photo of her, Celestia, Luna, Valentina, Discord, and Sombra at Chrysalis's fifteenth birthday. Oh, how she missed the old days. After a good few seconds, the mare slipped the picture back into the drawer, smiling at the memory.

It was at that moment when Chrysalis saw it; her mother's last day. Chrysalis's eighteenth birthday. On the Queen's eighteenth birthday, her mother had stepped down from her throne, leaving the burden of a nation to Queen Chrysalis. And on her birthday, no less.

The thought pained Chrysalis. She remembered her mother's departure, her mother placing the Changeling crown on her head. A bronze crown with beautiful emeralds. To this day, Queen Chrysalis couldn't bear to wear it.

"After the curse is broken, I'll have a foal." The Queen thought aloud. "Yes...but I'll never leave her. I will never ever leave her."

"Your majesty!" And then Queen Chrysalis remembered; Dinner with Goldenia, her assistant.

Queen Chrysalis swung her door open, a Changeling maid outside her door. "Your highness..." But Queen Chrysalis was too depressed to acknowledge her subject. She trotted right past the shaking changeling.

The Queen passed countless doors until she came to the dining hall, a long oval room with a long rectangular table. "Queen Chrysalis! Goldenia exclaimed. "Good to see you." The Queen nodded in acknowledgement. Goldy had always been cheerful, to cheerful for her taste.

"I apologize for being late, Goldenia. Overslept."

"Not a problem, Queen Chrysalis. Now, if you will. Are you going to be making that trip to Zebrica? If you would like I could just cancel it." Chrysalis thought about that for a moment. While Chrysalis and her nation were now hated by most of the world, Zebrica was a nation focused on peace and absolutely hated wars.

"That's not necessary, Goldenia. But could you please reschedule it for Sunday?" Goldenia nodded, and smiled, her bright yellow eyes flashing in the light. Only guards had those weird blue eyes, that didn't have irises. However, that wasn't their natural form, just a form that they changed too while on-duty. All civilian changelings had bright irises, and usually had dull manes, holes in their legs, crooked or jagged horns, transparent wings, and fangs. But they hadn't always looked like that.

"K." Goldenia said, jotting down a note in a little notebook. "How about that visit to Metamorphosis Elementary?" Chrysalis nodded. "And what about Emerald Creek High? Would you like that to be rescheduled?"

The Queen shook her head. "I want to make a trip to all the public schools in Chanmaria. It may take a few months, but it will get done." Goldenia nodded, scribbling that down in her notebook. "And..." Goldenia trailed off.

"What?" The queen asked. Still, the golden-eyes changeling didn't say a word, she just stared blankly at her notepad. "Goldenia..."

"Princess Celestia. She wants to arrange a meeting with you in Las Pegasus." Goldenia said, not daring to look into her queen's eyes. It took almost all of Queen Chrysalis's strength not to scream and shout, but she kept her temper, and decided to lose it later in her bedroom.

"Give me some time to think about that. Two days tops. Anything else?" Chrysalis asked calmly. Goldenia, along with a few listening guards, looked shocked. They had expected her to scream out in rage and hatred, perhaps even fire Goldenia for even saying the Equestrian Princess's name.

"Ummm...that's all, your highness."

"Dinner is served..." A chef said, levitating Queen Chrysalis and Goldenia's dinner to the table. In front of Goldenia was a healthy salad, and in front of Chrysalis was a not-so-healthy hayburger with fries and ketchup on the side. While changelings did feed mainly off of love, they needed real food as well. However, a changeling could last three weeks without eating if they were fed lots of love.

"No offense, my Queen, but how can you eat that? Your the Queen of Chanmaria, I'd expect you to be eating something really fancy-" While Chrysalis was Queen of Chanmaria, that didn't mean she couldn't indulge in some fast food. "If its baked by a professional chef, I think it's fancy enough. And how can you, my little assistant, eat a salad? It's so...vegetabley." Goldenia rolled those golden eyes "I'm on a diet." Chrysalis snickered.

For the rest of dinner time Chrysalis and Goldenia just talked about whatever came to mind. Gossip, food, politics, fashion, etc. After the main course was done for, Chrysalis some how persuaded Goldenia to have a piece of cheese cake, which actually turned into three pieces of cheese cake, and finally, a few glasses of wine. Chrysalis couldn't keep track, and Goldenia eventually lost track.

When dinner was over, Goldenia was escorted to her house by two royal guards, just to ensure she returned safely being drunk and all. While her assistant was pretty much smashed, Chrysalis was just a little buzzed. Being as old as she was, she had a high tolerance to alcohol. A heavy weight, if you will.

"My Queen, your sure you don't want somepony to take you to your bedroom? It's dangerous to transport while your drunk-" the chef was cut off by the Queen "Nonsense! Me? Drunk? I don't get drunk. I'm buzzed. Buzzzzzzzzed." Ok. Maybe Chrysalis was a but drunk, but not by much. And it wasn't as though her guards and so forth had never witnessed her in her being drunk. Chrysalis got drunk, or at least buzzed, often. The Queen was a queen, true, but she had to drown her sadness in something. It wasn't as though she was titanium, impossible to break. Chrysalis was most likely the easiest pony to break, other than Fluttershy the tree, of course.

Flash.
Chrysalis appeared outside her bedroom door. "Just a few inches away. I was reeeeeally close!" The two guards in front of her door were just sorta scratching their heads. Maybe they had never seen their queen drunk.

On accident, Chrysalis slammed the door opened, and it ended up hitting the wall with a large bang. The changeling jumped back, and her guards peered through her bedroom door, but Chrysalis closed it slowly with her hoof. Once the door was closed and locked, the mighty Queen of Changelings started...dancing. But not like a normal dance, but more like a drunk dance. Chrysalis started off by doing...a thing. She jerked her back legs in the air, doing a sorta-hind leg stand, before standing on her back legs, hooves flailing.

After attempting to do this "dance move" the mare attempted a front flip...which ultimately failed. Chrysalis fell on the ground, bawling like a foal.

Guards heard her cries, but she commanded them to go away, like an angry teen commands her angry parents to go away. When the pain in her back and horn subsided, she crawled onto her bed, drying tears from her light green eyes. Soon, Queen Chrysalis found that she was bored to death. She was drunk, no buzzed, and she was sitting in bed drying her tears with feather tissues. She always kept these by her bed, Chrysalis tended to cry a lot.

Flash.

Chrysalis appeared in front of the mirror, blinking.

What the buck was this? She hadn't looked like this a thousand years ago. She had been beautiful, the most beautiful creature in the world. The changelings had been the most beautiful race, as well, and Queen Chrysalis just had to find somepony that would love her for her, not the pony she would change into, or what she used to be.

Author's Note

Ok. I'm 99.9% sure that their are errors in this. Sowwy about that. Thing is, I write these at night before I go to bed, and I'm to lazy to proofread. Next chapter probably won't be done for a while.