First and Final

Author's Note:

I really wanted a sort of backstory for Chrysalis, and I had this wonderful idea about a filly who so craved love that she began to have a need to feed upon it... And from there this story sprouted and changed, presenting a name for itself and the filly, and a finality for everything about her.

Everything has a beginning, and many have pondered over where exactly Chrysalis and the Changelings came from.Well, please. Sit here by my fire and let me tell you, and as I do I wish that you shall remember my words and tell them too, so that all may know the folly of that town so long ago, and the beginnings of that Queen we so fear. Because she wasn't always a terrible sight to behold. Nay, in the beginning she was a pony like you and I, and a filly like our children. But some people change for reasons we could all prevent...

In the older days when the lands of Equestria were less populated, being the very last filly in your class was something nopony wanted to be. Crystal Chalice, unfortunately, was the very last blank flank in her class even after a year. In these days all the colts and fillies often joined in the ridicule, and it wasn't just one or two out of an entire class. For Crystal Chalice, our protagonist and perhaps antagonist, this was the most dreadful thing ever.

Her parents had always taught her that if she loved others, they would love her too, so she loved all those bullies ever so much without any sign of their loving her back. It tore her little heart to pieces that they seemed to hate her so much. In fact, her loving them became a source of ridicule in and of itself. She was constantly bullied and tousled and tripped, all those things the bullies do to belittle their targets.

A day came though when the worst of the bullies offered her a way out though. They whispered to her that if she could go into the Everfree Forest and return with some awe-inspiring item that all the little fillies and colts in her class would love her as much as she loved them. Seeing an easy way to finally have her dream come true, she readily agreed.

She walked and walked through that terrible forest, fright her only emotion. She walked until the light from above no longer broke the top, and shadows danced like skeletons at the edges of her vision. She almost turned tail and ran, but one last step brought her upon a most magnificent place. A shrine of a sorts sat nestled beside a bubbling brook in the most serene and peaceful way she could behold...

No sounds of the forest touched this place, and a mysterious light illuminated it all. So she could clearly see the lichen-covered idol resting upon a near stone... She took it in her mouth and began the journey home, certain that she'd found something that would win over all those silly fillies and cocky colts.

She failed to notice that as she left the brook dried up, and the place became just like everything else within that forest... But the glow persisted, instead around her. She failed to see that with each step she changed... She knew none of this even as she stepped into the dusk of the town she had left from.

There the bullies had waited to ridicule her if she failed, but what they saw emerge from the forest brought fear to their evil little hearts and the fled in a panic the word monster upon their lips. Wondering what about her could have caused such a reaction, Crystal Chalice walked to a nearby puddle to look upon herself. What she saw baffled her... Tattered wings extended from her side, but she clearly was not a Pegasus. A strange horn protruded from her forehead, but she was most cerainly not a Unicorn. She seemed like an Alicorn, but... Far from the beautiful figures that she so oft seen in the books about Canterlot and the Princesses.

As she beheld herself a strange uncontrollable hunger began to fill her. She dropped the idol from her mouth and ran towards the town to seek a food to sate the hunger tearing at her insides. The idol fell, rotted and glow gone...

In town she took many foods and frightened many ponies, but nothing could sate the clawing within. That is, until she beheld a young stallion and his mare locked in an embrace. As she looked upon them the hunger fled, and they seemed to fade. This was when Crystal Chalice beheld what she now hungered for, and a realisation over-came her.

She finally had the love she had so craved. She could taste it, feel it nourishing her like the healthiest of foods, and she realised too that her name no longer fit her. A change had over-come that little Earth Pony who ventured within Everfree earlier that day. Like a chrysalis, she had become different. So too like a Chrysalis she would be named, and she would be loved by all forever and ever. Even if it wasn't the way they expected...

In the end she fed like there was no tomorrow, taking the love she had craved from that entire town. As more and more succumbed to becoming food for her, the forest grew and consumed the town. With it came change upon all who there resided. The first Hive was born of those who had hated that little pony, and now they all loved her unconditionally. But one always knows that hunger returns. So Chrysalis set her eyes upon the land, and she with the help of her new children raided and fed time and time again, becoming one of the most feared forces in all of Equestria.

Eventually her eyes fell upon a place with love to spare, and the Changelings set forth to conquer Canterlot, and with it all of Equestria. There they failed, but as long as there is hate there is love, and as long as there is love there is Chrysalis. So keep watch young ponies, love those who need love the most, lest you see them change. Anypony can become something terrible, and many ponies do.

608 views