Prologue
“NOOO!” screamed Chrysalis as she and her changeling army were flung into the distance by Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's love barrier. About her, changelings screamed similarly as they were scattered in the wind. Below her, the ground dramatically changed from mountain to field to forest to desert. Amidst the flight, many unlucky changelings lost their momentum, forcing their bodies into trees, boulders, buildings, and other similarly hard objects. The impacts were bone-crushing, and she knew that none of those unfortunate ones will survive.
After several minutes, the remaining changelings finally began to fall, their speed reducing, allowing most of them to land safely in the desert sand. She landed unharmed, but about her, other changelings were not as fortunate, some even dying upon impact due to wounds received from skirmishes with the Royal Guard before the blast.
On a nearby cactus, a young changeling already near death was suspended by its holey hoof on its spines.
Tears formed in the queen's eyes as she looked at the remaining changelings, who were so few in number and in varying states of disrepair. Some of the more healthy changelings were helping their brothers and sisters back onto their hooves. Such death should not be necessary, she thought, finally breaking into sobs. A nearby drone cautiously approached her in an attempt to comfort her. “My Queen, please fret not. We may be thin, both in numbers and physique, but nonetheless, some of us have survived, and some of us will survive.”
There was another injured changeling next to her who had just awoken from unconsciousness. It groggily turned its head, blood oozing from many disfiguring scars that riddled its face. The changelings lifted its head enough to inspect the rest of itself, and sure enough the rest of his body was damaged in the same way. It knew it was going to die, and soon. It heard its brother talk, and so turned its head, only to see none other than Queen Chrysalis in tears. “You did your best,” it said weakly to its queen, catching her attention. “You did your best...and we will...never forget that.” With that, the changeling fainted again, doomed to die of its wounds.
From seemingly nowhere, Chrysalis felt a large surge of love. It wasn't nearly enough to get the hive back in working order, and its source was a mystery, but Chrysalis didn't care. The resources were there, and she was going to utilize them. Collecting herself, she concentrated and put herself into a hive mind state. “Do you feel the love?” she asked all the changelings around her. Those who were capable of answering her said yes. “Let the injured ones use it to regain their strength; take the remainder for long term storage and later use. We return to the hive once this is complete.”
The able-bodied changelings bustled into activity, some of them tending the wounded while others while others paced about, their horns glowing, collecting the strong love and converting it into a physical form; spheres that slowly filled the holes in their hooves. She even went to pry the young changeling off of the cactus.
Not more than ten minutes later, the small troop was ready for mobilization and set a course back to their home.
Chrysalis was a fair ruler. She was just, kind, and caring to those who were her subjects. And long before their alienation and entitlement of “monsters”, she extended those courtesies to other civilizations. However, her changeling subjects were much less controlled, and it took a calming charm on her part to make her subjects civil.
Once, long ago, she had failed to do so. The resulting uncontrolled changelings ran amuck and caused widespread death and destruction to that long forgotten civilization as they satiated themselves with their emotions. Since that incident, changelings had been made outcasts, alienated, and rendered as beasts to be slain. Food became scarce and starvation was a common cause of death among changelings. A growing disdain for other societies festered within her. Eventually, Chrysalis had seen enough of her subjects dying needlessly, and so she put into motion a plan to capture Canterlot and use it as a feeding grounds for he beloved changelings.
But now, this was not possible, and she was back where she had started. Now, though, progressing would more difficult now that they had become notorious. These thoughts and more she pondered as she sat alone on her throne. Her mind was riddled with a multitude of emotions: fear of losing her remaining subjects, regret for having so many suffer due to her failure, anger towards Celestia for not giving the changelings prior leave to make amends; but mostly, what dominated her was a growing desire to avenge her fallen changelings.
“Equestria knows not suffering like we have,” she mused to herself. “They know not the privileges that are wasted on their kind. They know not fairness nor justice. But soon they shall; soon they shall learn of their transgressions and the consequences, and we shall be their instructors!”
The Decision
Chrysalis paced about her throne room, muttering about potential ways of exerting revenge upon the ponies. She needed to do something, perhaps even something drastic, to get her changelings the resources they needed to survive. Their numbers had diminished severely, and they continued to drop at a rate of several per day.
The plan to invade Canterlot had all been her idea; every aspect of it was chosen of her accord. And it had failed. Certainly, if some other plan were to be concocted, it would have to be done by someone more tactical than her. Someone like her military leader, General Devious.
The Queen concentrated, connecting to the hive mind and summoning the General to the throne room with her. The General arrived promptly, and Chrysalis began informing him of the situation. “As you are most likely aware, General, we are starving, and our most recent attempt of finding sustenance was met with little success. It is now my belief that our efforts be directed from solely finding food to exacting some revenge on Celestia and her ponies.”
“My queen, I do not think this wise. An operation like this needs proper resources to be carried out properly, and it seems like a waste of our efforts, considering our situation.”
“I will see to it that whatever forces that are sent are given what they need,” assured Chrysalis. “Our last move against the ponies was an all-out invasion. Perhaps, this time, a more subtle approach is necessary, and such measures could unveil a new source of food.”
Devious sighed. “While I would oppose acting on such folly hopes, whatever you choose to do, my queen, I will assist with to the best of my abilities.”
“Excellent,” answered the Queen. “Now, the issues that I'm facing are that I can't seem to think of an adequate course of action. Perhaps you might be able to assist?”
“Of course, my queen,” complied Devious. “What exactly are you wanting to do to the ponies?”
Chrysalis grinned evilly. “I want to see them fall.”
“That could certainly be arranged. If you want to make them crumble, you need to take down their defenses, first.”
Chrysalis snarled. “I already tried to remove Shining Armor from the picture.”
“I'm not talking about the Royal Guard, your highness. I'm talking about a different, more powerful, defensive measure. The
Elements of Harmony.”
The Queen's smile withered at their mention. “The bearers of the Elements are known to live in the
small village of Ponyville. Quite simply, we send a team there to eliminate or otherwise remove the bearers from the picture. Now that I think about it, the place might have a substantial quantity of love for us to take; it only makes sense, considering
it's the living place of the Elements.
“We have also recently come into contact with our three best spies, who went missing after the previous invasion. If this goal is important to you, I recommend you send them to fulfill the task. Having them enter the town disguised as ponies will be no small hassle for these three.”
“Very good, Devious,” complimented Chrysalis. “I knew you would come through. Send these spies to me so I may give them instructions and prepare them.” Devious bowed, then went out to satisfy his commands. When he had gone, Chrysalis
walked over to and sat on her throne.
The premise was simple, and she could almost taste the victory already. Her mind began to contemplate the various complications that may arise, as well as the possible outcomes of both success and failure.
In the end, she concluded that victory was eminent.
The three spies that Devious had recommended stood before Chrysalis, each standing still at attention and awaiting their orders. She smiled at their display of discipline and began giving them instructions. “Alright, my children,” she started, “you three have been selected for a task that I deem of utmost importance. You are to infiltrate the town of Ponyville, the home of the Elements of Harmony, and dispose of them in anyway. This is your primary objective, but there is another goal that I want you to satisfy. General Devious and I suspect that Ponyville is ripe with food for us, due to the Elements living there. You are also to determine the validity of our suspicions before moving onto the Elements. Are these instructions
understood?”
The three changelings nodded there understanding, prompting Chrysalis to continue. “Good. You are granted as much time as you need to fulfill these orders, and you will leave as soon as you are given your equipment.” She strolled over to an unlocked footlocker that had prepared for the spies while they made their way to the throne room.
“You will each be given a standard espionage package; a map, some rope, non-lethal chemical weaponry; the usual. Additionally, because this mission is so important, you will each be given one of our few precious rations and a cyanide tablet, for use if you are inescapably caught.
“The potential for death is extremely high, though if anything goes awry, I will ensure that there is always a medic ready to respond at a moment's notice.. I will admit, I am hesitant to send you off to what could be your doom, but this mission's
success is important enough to the hive's survival that it is a necessary risk.
“That is; you are dismissed. Go, now, and make your queen proud.”
Without hesitation, the three spies moved to claim their gear from the footlocker. They equipped their things and sped out of the throne room to make towards Ponyville.
