Thief: 1/2
There were many reasons why entry into the Everfree Forest was discouraged. Most of them involved tales of horrible creatures that had never been seen or even proven to exist, the others tended to end in intruders being ripped apart and eaten alive. But more realistically, it was big.
Like, really, really, REALLY big.
The Everfree Forest stretched for miles, and became increasingly wild and overgrown the deeper one went into it. It was impossible to get your bearings without equipment or advanced navigation spells, and that alone was enough to detour most intelligent creatures from entering it.
It was here, far out in the middle of the wild, untamed wilderness, that Queen Chrysalis had landed upon being violently expelled from Canterlot several years previously. Through sheer cleverness and no small amount of luck, that idiotic teacher's pet Twilight Sparkle had managed to defeat the most powerful and highest ranking member of the Changeling Empire.
And everyone had seen.
This had not been one of those moments where one epicly failed in the privacy of one's own home and been fortunate enough to not have anyone witness it. No, Queen Chrysalis had been defeated and thrown out of Canterlot in front of the better part of the population of Canterlot, and she hated Twilight Sparkle for it. No, not even hated. LOATHED.
For the last few years, Queen Chrysalis had been slowly rebuilding her Hive, deep underground in the forgotten expanses of the Everfree Forest, forgotten and alone. There were foundations to assemble and tunnels to dig, and only a handful of Changelings who'd been fortunate enough to land nearby to help her do it.
Fast forwarding to the present day, Queen Chrysalis sat on her throne, made out of the bones of terrible, nightmarish creatures. Bones which had been found and scavenged out in the depths of the forest, and brought underground. She would never actually kill anything herself, but appearances were everything.
Now, under normal circumstances, being an insect queen, repopulating her army would have been simple, if painful and time consuming. Her methods were traditional and biological, and although the role of an insect queen will not be discussed at length here, there are many tomes that may be found in the various Equestrian Libraries should you, dear reader, choose to peruse them and educate yourself.
Repopulating her army was not the issue. She had plenty of eggs stationed around the Hive, which were being incubated until a time when it would be convenient to hatch them. More Changelings meant more rations, and there was her problem. Living underground in one of the most isolated sections of the most despised landscapes in Equestria, her primary feeding source, love, was scarce. And that was when any love could be found at all.
Two Changelings burst forward into the main chamber where she resided, a look of absolute and total distress on their face. Chrysalis frowned, knowing that they knew better to interrupt her without properly being summoned. Such intrusions were absolutely not alright, for it was a display of disobedience and insubordination. She was the Queen, after all.
"Chrysalis, Chrysalis!" The one on the left burst out, panting for breath as if he'd just run a triathalon. She narrowed her eyes at them so that barely the slits were showing, wordlessly informing them that they were on thin ice.
The metaphorical ice they were on only continued to crack the more they talked.
"Speak," she commanded.
"We were digging, expanding the Hive, stabilizing the foundation," the one on the left informed her.
"So you were doing your job," Chrysalis said. "This is not news."
"We broke through the surface to the outside, for one of our ventilation systems," the one on the right interrupted. "We surfaced right in the middle of a herd of... I don't even know. Some strange, diminutive creatures," he said.
"They swarmed us at once!" The one on the left burst in.
Crack.
Chrysalis felt her heart racing. "Swarmed?" She asked, barely containing her rage.
"Yes! Before we knew what had happened, they... they were in the tunnels. Six of them, at least."
Crack.
"We took pursuit at once, some of the other workers did as well, but they were too fast, and..."
"And what?!" Chrysalis spat.
"They... they took the eggs, My Queen."
The ice they were standing on finally broke apart, plunging the two Changelings to an icy doom.
"WHAT?!" Chrysalis roared, immediately on her hooves. She teleported from her chambers, the two higher ups would be demoted and punished later. She emerged in the egg chambers in a flash of green fire and fit of rage, in just enough time to see a mummified apparition in green cloth clutching one of her eggs in its robed arms.
"Na na na na na!" It taunted, stuck its tongue out at her, and zoomed off. Chrysalis raced after the emerald thief, roaring in rage, but to her absolute astonishment, she could not get close to it. When running failed her, she teleported in front of it, baring her fangs. The robed creature did a 180, and zoomed off in the opposite direction,
Chrysalis could not remember the last time she was this angry.
One of the lower ranking Changelings approached her, a scrap of paper floating in front of it via magic.
"WHAT?!" Chrysalis shrieked, turning on him.
"This... this was dropped, by one of the intruders," the Changeling squeaked. "We are unsure, but it appears to be part of a prophecy of some sort."
Chrysalis snatched it, turning it over, the color draining from her face as she did so. Inscribed upon it was a drawing of one of these vile things clutching an egg, racing up a hill while being chased by what appeared very much to be a purple dragon.
"It would appear," the lower ranking Changeling said, "that only a purple dragon may be able to defeat these thieves," it said.
Chrysalis felt her eye start twitching. She could think of only one solution, and was desperately, DESPERATELY seeking an alternative.
"My Queen?" the Changeling asked.
"Get out," Chrysalis hissed. "GET OUT!"
The Changeling got out, stumbling and tripping over its own legs in its hurry to get away from her.
It did not appear there was any other choice, her colony was at stake here, and the more time she wasted, the further away the thieves would get.
"Damn it," Chrysalis hissed.