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// Chapter 1 - Captured 
// Story: A New Prince 
// by foxbard 
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    I was on an errand for Fluttershy one day during those months before the wedding. It took me a little deeper into the Everfree Forest than I was used to, but I figured it was no big deal; I had gotten used to trekking its darker depths during my time in Ponyville. That day, though, something felt off. It wasn’t something I could really explain in detail, but I just felt worried about the day, like something was going to go wrong, and it would be my fault. Of course, I tried to reason out why I felt that way, which got me quite lost in the forest. Not the ideal situation by any stretch. Wandering my way around, I heard a faint whooshing noise, and then some rustling around me. Then the world exploded into black stars, pain blocking out my sight and thought.

I awoke with a splitting headache, to be expected I suppose, in hindsight. Dazed and dizzy, head pounding, I tried to see where I was. It was certainly darker than the spot in the forest I had been. How much time had passed? Was it already night? I couldn’t feel the open air on my skin anymore, I wasn’t outside. Where the hell was I? Did somepony find me and bring me back? Maybe it was that zebra I’d heard about that lived in the Everfree, Zecora. I’d always meant to introduce myself to her...

A sudden strike to my ribs ended my pondering and squirming around. I realized that my hands and feet had both been bound together, which had been preventing me from moving around well. I stopped moving, and when I wasn’t hit again, I figured that I probably shouldn’t try again. Yeah, I was definitely not in a good place. I tried to take in the few surroundings that I could see. Everything around me was blackish in colour, and looked like it was carved out from what was already there, rather than having been built from premade materials. It felt a little cold, but dank as well. Perhaps I was in some sort of cave? Thoughts of the Ursa Minor that had been drawn to Ponyville a while back flashed through my mind and I shivered, eliciting a sort of chittering hissing noise from somewhere I couldn’t see. I cringed, and hoped I hadn’t earned another shot to the ribs from my captors, but no attack came. Instead, I was grabbed by my collar, and dragged roughly to my knees.

I was surrounded! There were these insectile creatures, most no larger than a mare around Twilight’s age, all around the chamber I was in. They all had wings, more like what you’d find on a bee than a pegasus’ wing, and horns that were almost unicorn-like. They had long fangs, short horselike tails, and their skin, or whatever they were covered with, looked hard and shiny. Their limbs all had holes in them, like swiss cheese. But their eyes were what scared me the most. Their eyes were hard, solid, as if one single piece each, of bright, piercing blue. Even though they looked almost like ponies, I saw them for what they were. I had been captured by Changelings.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, my heart and mind both began racing, my breathing became fast and shallow, and I struggled to think of some way to escape from these predatory creatures. But slowly, logic kicked back in, overpowering the fight or flight reflex, and I realized I had no hope to get away, not from this many of them. I didn’t even know where I was, never mind how to get out of here. Where realizing I could consider Twilight a true friend had been the best I’d felt, this was the worst, far worse even than realizing I was stuck in Equestria with no chance of returning home.

Then, all at once, the chittering and hissing noises they had made stopped, and they all turned to one side. I felt a partial hoof, a hole taken out of one side of it, press into my back and force me into a bow, my hands still behind my back. The room was almost completely silent, save for the odd flittering of one of their wings, or the shuffling of their hooves. The silence let me hear each step of a newcomer from one side of the room. Clip, clop, clip, clop, it came closer and closer. I hadn’t felt this scared since the nightmares I’d had as a small child. I was powerless to save myself from whatever fate was in store...

Then I was pulled back up, and found myself looking into a menacing pair of dark green eyes. Their pupils were slitted, ringed by a deep blue-green, itself ringed by a gradient green, almost toxic in colour. It didn’t take me more than a few seconds to piece together what I was looking at. I had just been granted an audience with this hive’s queen. She stepped back, showing her form, as tall as Celestia, with much the same stature. As all Changelings, her limbs had holes in them. Her wings were much larger than most of the Changelings, and her horn was an impressive, jagged affair. Atop her ragged blue mane, she had a small growth that looked almost like a tiny crown.

She focused on me, and I cringed. I was terrified to the point where I was frozen as I was, watching her observe me, like a spider examining a fly it was about to wrap up and devour. I knew that Changelings fed on emotion, but I’d had thoughts that they probably ate substantial food as well. Looking at her fangs, I could only imagine what that food was, and tried to keep myself off of the list my mind was making of them. After her appraisal of me, she gave a grin, and narrowed her gaze at me. “I was hoping to have the chance to meet you, human,” she said, her voice distorted by a slight buzzing sound, almost duplicating it at a slightly different pitch. It was an unnerving effect. I found myself at a loss for words, so she continued. “I’ve heard much about you, Kaerea. That you know much about Canterlot, the princesses, and those so-called ‘Elements of Harmony’.” Great, she knew my name.

She stooped down towards me, chuckling, and said “Ah, but it would be rude not to introduce myself, wouldn’t it? Especially with how much I know about you.” She stepped back, put a hoof to her chest and proclaimed “I am Chrysalis, the queen of this Changeling hive, and future ruler of Equestria,” her horn began to glow as she worked her magics, lifting me to my feet before her. She pulled me close to her, forcing me to kneel once more, and continued “and you are all mine.”