With the population of the changeling race crippled by their expulsion from Canterlot, and their queen powerless to salvage it on her own, Chrysalis requires outside help from Equestria to get them back on their feet. But reaching out to Princess Celestia proves troublesome, as she cannot risk returning to Canterlot, and the one pony outside the city with a direct line to her is also the least willing to trust her. The salvation of her kingdom may rely on her making amends... and perhaps making friends as well.
Now has a sequel!
Cover art by Nocturnal Melodies (No_M), drawn at my request for this story.
Chapters (11)
This is... new, I like the concept.
Edit:
With my Samurai sword, I slash upon this fic:
FAVORITETHUMBS UPAdding it to read it later - I'm sucker for such stories
Wow, this is looking pretty good. The plot set up is great, and although there are a ton of Chrysalis comes back stories, this one is completely different and definitely worth watching.
/]
I'll see where this goes and how it sits with me when I'm done. Hard to beat "Transcend".
Huh, Fluttershy as first pony to trust changelings never fails
For now I have only one thing that buggers me: Chrysalis is too fast opening to ponies. I mean, I feel she have more hate for ponies in heart. I believe that it would be longer way for her to beg ponies or Celestia for help. But hey, it's your vision of her. I hope it'll get featured.
You get extra points for an appropriate and well-used Python reference. Chrysalis does seem to be opening a bit quickly, but it's a small issue. Unless Lightening_Zing manages to unionize the other readers and things spiral out of control.
1326804
Pretty much what he said. She goes from an evil queen that dreamed of taking control and enslaving everypony to what most people did with Nightmare Moon; trying to make a villain that wanted to enslave/kill ponies look like the victim; which makes this perfect feature material. Not to mention that Chrysalis seems a little OOC -- I say little because we don't know much about her, so there's room to speculate here.
You'd think that Fluttershy would freak out more -- she did with Princess Luna. But maybe she learned from that experience? And Twilight was, well, really out there. Whatever, it was completely within reason for her to have that reaction.
The story also seems to move a bit fast, but I'm not really bothered by that. I dislike it when fics drag on and on.
You already know how I feel about Chrysalis plan and her motives - as well as how changelings work - so there's no point in repeating it. As Lightening_Zing said,
But enough about that -- you make this seem plausible in the canon of the show with believable characterization of the cast, and that's always important in my book. I look forward to more. I really like where you're going with this. Have I mentioned that before?
Wow. I come back from my date, and I have a small flood of favorites, seventeen likes (scratch that, NINEteen), and some pretty good praise and helpful input in the comments. I'm calling this a successful maiden voyage into the world of published fics on this site.
Ultimately, Chrysalis comes off as "Oh SHIT I FUCKED UP SO BADLY AAAAAAAAA" rather than "YAY PONIES!!", so yeah.
Really really REALLY good work. Seriously. Twilight seems... more violent than usual, but then again, that one episode with the plushie....
1327393
Personally I don't see her as a villian or evil Queen. I see her more as ruler of dying nation who had to deal with all stuff happening to her subjects. Well intentioned extermist or anti-villian, your pick.
I just don't like so easy labeling of characters.
And in my personal headcanon, changelings plan for ponies was similiar to machines plan for humanity in Matrix, so it gets even less black and more in gray shades of morality.
Anyway, I just ended reading all chapter. Twilight Sparkle reaction was a bit extreme, but I was excepting something like that. She's not very stable with her emotions and reactions. I wonder about reactions of rest Mane 6. Anyway, good read, upvoted, and waiting for more.
Really looking forward to more. I like the more sympathic depiction of chrysalis, myself not being so much a fan of changelings as totally evil.
Within canon it seems suprisingly open whats made of the changelings, we have little except what chrysalis says, and from that a surising range of things can be derived.
One one hoof, desperately seeking food for her starving subjets (to the point of being willing to face down a godess), with maybe a bit of a "drunk on power" moment after overpowering celestia (she seems as suprised as everypony else that she won that).
On the other hoof, she can be seen an somepony who would gleefully destroy a peacefull, almost utopian nation for personal power. (from her coments about gaining power, and interpreting changelings as more hivemind/subversient and/or fundamentally evil)
But as i said, i prefer versions closer to the first, both because i like the changelings and would love to see them redeemed in some fashion, and the idea of an "always evil" race just seems to clash with the hopefull, love&tolerate theme of MlP:FiM. There seems to simply be few true evils in that world, even discord seemed more an embodiment of madness than malice.
Wow. Twilight's a bitch lol.
I mean, damn. I hate her more than Eric Cartman, and THAT'S saying something. But it's not a 'you like to hate him' feeling. It's more like a 'Can Leatherface have you over for dinner?' type feeling.
calitreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/chainsaw2.jpg
1331768 You know, I JUST watched that movie about a week ago. Though I wouldn't go that far, really. I actually really REALLY like Twilight, but I had a reason for writing her like this, and I'm not going to have her be like this for the entire run of the story. That's a serious injustice to her character.
By the by, writing the riff of RGP part 5 now. Be on the lookout.
...it hurts, Obelisk. It hurts so much.
1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/a/image/1346/96/1346961234895.jpg
1331768
I suppose I'll give this a read... I'll provide you my thoughts when I get through what you have so farl
Favourited and watched and very well done.
Interesting story.
As 1326804 said, I'd like to see more of is Chrysalis' opinions on the ponies as a species. For example:
Just small things like the way she refers to them to help enforce that she doesn't like them, but is asking them for help out of pure necessity. You could then subtly change the language to show some character development further along the line.
This definitely has my seal of approval. I actually think Twilight's skepticism is more than justified. She undoubtedly suffered severe emotional trauma from the events in Canterlot.
I can't help but feel the conversations and the internal dialogue sections are very... divided. There is only one going at a time, and this leads to conversations becoming information unloads, where characters spill everything, even the stuff the other characters don't need to know, to inform the reader. I think blending them together a bit more would help in making conversations more natural. For example:
Original:
Edited:
Hmm, this is a similar premise to my fic. I'll be interested to see how this develops.
1351610 1351704 Thanks for the tips. I'll see what I can do about tweaking the story to incorporate that. Might still be a little while, since I still have classes to go to and all, but I WILL look through what I have and see where it can be edited, if not today, then probably tomorrow.
That may or may not involve using the examples you gave me I mean what?
Twilight finally recognizes what she is actually doing, even if Queen Chrysalis was in wrong in the past but for right reasons.
Yay
, it updated.
Nice. Hope twilight comes around a bit, i mean shes wasting time when the changelings are in very dire straits, and its not like asking for help (and putting the whole thing in celestias hooves, were it as a matter of state arguably belongs) would mean that chrysalis gets of scot free.
Good to see Twilight finally get a full perspective on this.
Please continue.
Oh dear, twilights off to the crazy train again.
Rainbow might be the hardest to convince, but shes not gonna let sompony die. Probably. Although... ive tried to finish this sentence five times now. No, i dont know how Rainbows gonna react.
Although a thought occurs. Chrysalis does not strictly speaking need twilights help to send a message to celestia. She needs Spikes. And his sympathy she has. If twilight gets too irrational.. hmmm. Of course hijacking a mode of communication meant for twilight isnt necessarily make celestia more sympathic.
Good work with the chapter.
APPROVED!
fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/277/6/6/derpy_approved_by_ambris-d4bv8qn.png
This is why you should never confront Twilight with anything. She overreacts and becomes mental. (She could turn Hades into a quivering crying mess, with her antics.) I feel so sorry for Chrysalis. (Go Pinkie!
That's the spirit.) A party, hopefully, will help things.
1412887
Given Rainbow's nature, I would guess she will side with Twilight and likely fly off the handle. If no one is around to stop her She and Twilight may critically injure Chrysalis.
1412887Xexilf
Actualy, you raise a good point there. Chrysalis actualy needs spike's help, since only he can send and recieve letters directly to the princess. However, I am pretty sure that the "communication lines" that Spike was given can be "overided" if Twilight is not in her own mind. (Remeber when Twilight thought she would be tardy with her friendship reports with Celestia?
Yeah, Twilight, you owe Spike big time for making him both worry and send a letter to the Princess that day.)
However, if the communication lines were to be over-ridden, Spike should send his own letter first saying that "Twilight's gone insane again," but not to worry about it because "somepony else needs to talk to you, and please don't 'sick' the Royal Guards on her." Then Chrysalis can write her sob letter about the whole scenario.
If there was a sudden strike of Tragedy, Chrysalis would collapse next chapter, talking how she FEELS nothing from the other Changelings (IF the Changeling Hive mind is like I theorized it is).
BAM! Instant Drama by Mass death. But a bit dark for the current tone the story has.
1415906 That does sound like a good idea, but A. I don't know how well that would go over at this point in the story, considering their continued survival is Chrysalis' reason to keep going with this, and B. I love the headcanon of the changelings being connected by a hive mind, but I'd have to tweak the story to account for it because I never alluded to such a thing. I easily COULD, and... actually, now I'm CONSIDERING it... but I have a little bit of a plan for how the ending will go, and it doesn't really work if they're all dead.
Oh, but goddammit, you're making me want to try it... I guess we'll just see how happy I am with the story progression. If the hive-mind thing comes into play at all, it'd be a good point for chapter seven. And I would probably have to tweak the prologue (and a chapter or two) to establish the connection's existence.
Holy shit, you may have just helped the story. You've earned a cookie and a pat on the back, and if I do decide to implement the hive-mind headcanon into the story, credit for the idea. I mean, I did think of it when I first started, but you got me thinking about how it could be used to work in the story. Hell, I just came up with something brilliant regarding it while I was typing this comment, so... yeah, once I pump out chapter seven and weave that little plot point into the story (minus the total extinction thing [for now...?]), I'm putting up a blog post or author's note thanking you for the idea.
Or I could just say "thanks for the idea" right here, but that's not appreciative enough. Because it really is an awesome idea, and I have an awesome idea for how to use your awesome idea. I'd tell you WHAT that idea is, but in the immortal words of River Song, "Spoilers!"
1417412
When I read this I was surprised. And I think I squealed a bit. The Hive Mind Theory has been in my head since the original Airing of "A Canterlot Wedding" and is my headcanon, how all the soldiers just KNEW they had to stop those six, not having seen the situation when Chryssy unmasked herself.
what could possibly go wrong
this is nice.....and yet it annoys me...I was going to write a story with a somewhat similar premise...different location, but as the trigger for the wedding attack and this just makes me think of that.....will still do it but......that being said continue, you are doing a nice job-you don't need to forgive her Twilight, bu accept that she needs help for her people
Time Attack Mode Activated!
Great story.
It was so good that it made me cry.
I love the story but hate this point in it, because I do not like the two "normal" solutions that are
Oh no, those poor changelings!
Good job Twilight, you helped destroy the entire changeling race all because you wouldn't listen
A heavy truth that Twilight just realized, this is dark but good twist to this fanfic. Keep up the good work!
Oh... right in the feels.
I might be wrong, but that response sounds to me like Celestia isn't coming no help the changelings and more like a I'm coming for Chrysalis don't let her hide and/or scape...
While it looks like Twilight screwed up, I don't think anypony has any right to place blame on her for not writing sooner. She certainly could have handled it better, and blowing up on her friends is mostly, if not completely, on her, but the recent tragedy and fact that Chrysalis won over the mane six as friends can easily make one forget that the fact is that the Changelings are a foreign aggressive force. It's true they acted in desperation, but they attacked unprovoked, caused untold property damage, harmed, and maybe even killed, both civilians and guards. Even if you were to ignore the aggravating details involved, it would have been stupidly reckless to listen to the enemy, accept their word and ask Celestia for help. Twilight might have erred, but considering the situation it was better for the Equestrians to err in the side of caution, had the Changelings been acting it could have open the doors for a second invasion...
Also you have to wonder, no matter how much it makes her suffer, silencing her link to her subjects and not contacting them in 2 days is a incredibly stupid move. While it's true it hurt her to have constantly listen their cries, and that she needed concentration to plan and to try to win Twilight over, not bothering to check for two whole days was asking for trouble, especially considering a leader is supposed to reassure her subjects during hard times. Not only are they likely dead, they probably died confused, scared and alone. The worst part is I doubt any current world leader would have acted differently, and that makes it all the more believable...
While I believe you took Twilight a little to far, all the characters are completely in character, the way you wrote it it's completely believable, thought this scenario is a little to dark for the show target audience, so I don't think we will actually see something similar on the hub. A great fic so far.
1497233
>that response sounds to me like Celestia isn't coming no help
Yes, I noticed that line didn't inspire a whole lot of confidence...
>and maybe even killed
Now, that's not really a fair assessment. Killing would both serve as a detriment to their overall goal, and fly in the face of Chrysalis's actions up to that point. She'd had ample opportunity to kill Twilight and the real Cadence, but just locked them up, instead. Cadence's health would suggest she even gave her food and water.
>had the Changelings been acting it could have open the doors for a second invasion
It's entirely possible to give aid while not rolling out the red carpet for an invasion. They already know of the changelings' abilities, so as long as they had security measures in place, there's no more danger of them invading that way than any other.
>not bothering to check for two whole days was asking for trouble
Given her proclivity towards not planning ahead, thinking things through or using common sense, you have to wonder how she became queen in the first place. I mean, her first attempt at invading would have gone off without a hitch if she'd tried, I don't know, maybe not being a bitch. All in all, I think it's safe to put a modest share of the blame for this mess on her atrocious acting.
I don't mean to be a dick, but Estimate time to next Chapter? I love this story, I must have more!
1498784 I don't have a schedule for this. It's mostly just a free-time thing. I mean, I already started the next one (if you count two sentences as "starting"), but I've got my riffs to work on as well.
Basically, no promises, but I don't think it should be more than a few weeks. Probably.
1496430 when will the next chapter of OtWoA come out?
And now I feel bad.
Still, was an AWESOME Chapter. Together with the RD one, it's the best way to start the day.
Please write more!
1497233
Yeah, people seem to forget that the changelings kinda wanted to use the ponies as living batteries and control/enslave them in cocoons -- possibly trying to convert them, but most likely it was a prison. Twilight's reaction to the person that tried to use/kill her, her friends, the populace, and the princess seems really reasonable, not to mention that Chrysalis is winning over her friends pretty easily, and Chrysalis is a creature that can control minds. That alone would be suspicious.
Really, if Chrysalis wanted to feed her "starving" changelings, she should've asked in the first place, but she wanted to control and rule over pony kind since she was small, as the song dictates. Feeling sorry for Chrysalis is like feeling sorry for a tapeworm that mind controls you, or a demon succubus, or Maleficent that also wants you to be encased in a prison and to be used as fuel. Not gonna happen on my end at all.
Besides, it's kinda majorly hinted at- while not outright said on the show, the staff that work on the show and the wiki claims that's what they were going for - that the changelings "feed" of love the same way windigoes "feed" of hate - they get more powerful. It's not actual food for them. Not even actual changelings from folklore do that, so... yeah. This is kinda like how some fics try to redeem Night Mare Moon - they all seem to forget that 1000 years of night would kill everything and everyone on the planet.
But, none of that matters, since this is Fallen's vision, story and headcanon, and the characters are pretty spot on - which is what matters to me - and it's competently written.