Long Live the Queen

by QueenChrysalisForever


Of Rituals and Pink Princesses

Dodge Junction- Spotted Blossom tavern- Queen Chrysalis


Shiny and the other stallions seemed… different somehow as they trotted over to the tavern. Lucky looked smugger than he had since I well, tried to kill him. Walking into the tavern with his tail flicking back and forth, a gleam in his eye and a smirk on his lips. Fire’s ears flicked back and forth, head lowered, and when he turned to look at me, there was concern in his eyes. His usual relaxed expression was replaced with a small frown.

Yet Shiny had changed the most, though I think he tried hard to hide it. His ears kept twitching up and down, eyes darting around taking in the tavern, his pace quicker than usual. He bit his lower lip, which was quivering a little, and couldn’t seem to make eye contact with me. What had that stallion been talking to them about? Whatever it was, it seemed to make Shiny even more nervous than I was, which didn’t help me at all.

Ever since we arrived in Dodge Junction, no, before we arrived, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that we were almost there, still with no plan. And what would we do on the train? Everypony so far had seen me disguised as Dew Song, but we hadn’t run into anypony who actually knew her yet. When we reached Canterlot, maybe even before, the likelihood would come up that somepony we saw would recognize her. I had yet to be really tested on such things, and only knew Dew through what Shiny had told me. Could I fool other ponies into thinking I was her, who knew the real her? When I hardly knew the real her myself?

“Just… calm down….we can do this!” Chrys said.

“You don’t sound so sure,” I whispered, glancing over as the others took seats at a table. “I’ve yet to do something like this.”

“Hello, new Chrysalis, and noling has been the wiser?”

“Well, I had you there to teach me! Not like Dew Song is here to teach me how to be her, and what Shiny can tell us can only bring us so far.”

“Well if we do anything, not like her, we can excuse it as a result of the fire. Usually works on those silly ponies!”

“If you say so,” I sighed. A unicorn stallion waiter, coated in a dull color for a race of brightly colored ponies, the color of dirt that has seen no rain in moons, with a mane that looked like he had just taken a scoop of whipped cream, placed it on his head and called it a mane-do, trotted up to the table Shiny and the others had sat at.

Trotting over to join them, I sat down in an empty chair next to Shiny, whose ears twitched and breathing quickened. The waiter coughed, and I turned my attention to him, to see him staring at me. “Miss Song, what will you be having?” he asked, holding up a little notebook and pencil in his magic.

“Whatever the others are having,” I said, not really hungry. With that, he nodded and trotted away to the kitchen. Turning to Shiny, he grinned at me, but something was off about it. Could he just be as nervous as I? “Everything okay, Shiny? What did that deputy have to say to you three?”

“Oh… er… nothing important, just making sure we were all okay.” His cheeks reddened just slightly.

“He’s lying. They must have learned something bad. I don’t think he has ever lied to us before,” Chrys mused and I had to agree. Why did he feel he had to lie to us? Looking to Lucky and Fire, they both stayed silent, though Lucky had a slight smirk on his face.

“Well, it was good of him to think of us.” I smiled at Shiny, hoping whatever it was, he’d feel comfortable sharing.

“Right, good,” he said and bit his lip, looking down at the table and running a hoof around an indentation in its surface. We were silent for a few minutes after that, until the unicorn stallion came back out with four plates, some strange-smelling sandwiches on all of them.

“What is this?” I asked, poking at mine as he set it in front of me.

“Well… it’s what you ordered Miss Song, our specialty, desert delight. A sandwich made with only the finest petals of the spotted desert rose. It is quite a delicacy around here.”

I nodded, lifting the top piece of bread to reveal dark red rose petals, covered in tiny pink spots. Hmm well, it looked strange, but when I looked up and everypony else had already started to eat I shrugged and took a bite. “Hmm not bad,” I said and the waiter gave a little bow.

“Then I shall leave you to your meal.” He trotted off. I continued munching on the sandwich, watching the three stallions out of the corner of my eye. Fire was looking at Shiny, nodding his head to him and pointing it toward me. But Shiny just gave him a tiny shake of his head. So there was something. Had Shiny asked the others not to mention it? Had there been news from Canterlot? I tossed the last bite of the sandwich into my mouth and leaned back. Well, whatever it was, I was sure Shiny would tell me when the time was right.


The train arrived a few minutes after two, pulling into the station with a cloud of steam and dust. The heat of the day entered the tavern as ponies started to push open the doors to either come inside off of the train or hurry outside to catch it. Shiny, Fire, Lucky, and I sat at the back of the tavern, nursing bottles of cold apple cider. I was eager to get on the train, but not so much to get back out into the heat just yet.

As one last unicorn stepped off the train, a white mare with a blonde mane and tail, I drained the last of my bottle of cider and stood up, setting it on the table. “Well, better get to buying our tickets and onto the train.” The others nodded, doing the same and following me toward the doors. Shiny still had yet to tell me what had gone on earlier, and it seemed to just be driving him crazy. His ears twitching back and forth, walking slowly, eyes looking anywhere but at me.

“You two go ahead and get our tickets,” I said to Lucky and Fire, taking out the bit purse and hoofing it to Fire as we stepped outside. “We’ll be along shortly.”

“Better not wait too long,” Lucky smirked. “The train waits for nopony.” With that, he and Fire trotted off.

I turned to look at Shiny, whose ears were down almost flat against his head, tips twitching. He grinned sheepishly over at me.

“Okay, enough of this game,” I said, stomping a hoof down. “You wouldn’t be acting this way if something wasn’t up. Is there something I need to worry about?”

He let out a sigh and nodded. “I should have told you earlier, I’m sorry.”

“Just let me know now.”

“Well, okay. News has already reached Canterlot of the fire.”

I nodded, “I kind of assumed it would.”

“And,” he gulped, nostrils flaring slightly as he breathed in heavily, closing his eyes, “they think Queen Chrysalis is responsible.”

“WHAT? Those fools! Whoever told them what happened obviously has bees for brains.” Chrys growled at the news. I took a deep breath, trying to keep calm, if only on the outside. On the inside, I was as livid as Chrys. Here we had helped keep those foals safe, sure Fire, Lucky, and Shiny had done most of the work but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t have helped if we had been there.

I closed my eyes, then opened them again and tried to smile at Shiny, but it probably came off as more of a grimace. “Thank you for telling me. Come, we better catch up to the others.” I trotted toward the train, Shiny close behind me, a slight grin on my face. This time, I had been able to control our anger. Things were certainly looking better.

The train whistle blew as we neared. Shiny and I dashed toward it, where Lucky and Fire were waiting for us, four tickets hovering in the air in Fire’s pale orange magic. Lucky had a kind of creepy smirk on his face, but we didn’t have time to ask questions. Following the two stallions, Shiny behind me, we jumped onto the platform. Fire and Lucky entered and moved down the car. Poking my head inside, I stepped on as well and froze in front of the door. My eyes widened and my heart started pounding, ears going flat against the back of my head. “Okay, we are walking to Canterlot,” I mumbled, bolting around to run into Shiny.

“Ow, what’s wrong?” he asked, rubbing his head. It was then he looked around me to see who else was in our car, and he frowned, understanding. The conductor pony came around and slammed all the doors closed, blocking our exit. At least now I understood why Lucky was smirking. I turned around at the sound of a giggle. Shiny walked up next to me. Ahead of us were the last ponies I had expected to see, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.


Changeling Castle- Apatelodes

I rubbed my eyes with one hoof later that night as I trotted down to the nursery. After all, I needed to keep an eye on our princess. If something had happened to Chrysalis, Citheronia would be in great danger. At least she had Phengaris to protect her and the others.

Nodding to the guards outside the door, I pushed it open and trotted inside. Phengaris looked over at me, her ears lowered and eyes bloodshot with green. My heart skipped into my throat and I dashed over to Citheronia’s incubator, to find she was fine. Curled up into a little ball, a bubble of drool covering her lips. If it wasn’t her, then why had Phengaris been crying?

“What’s wrong?” I asked, stepping up and putting a hoof around her.

“Oh Apatelodes, I couldn’t save him. He just wouldn’t eat. I tried everything!” She pointed a hoof over to the far incubator, where a pale blue blanket was pulled over a tiny still form, too still.

“Oh Phen,” I sighed, turning to look back at her. Fresh tears were in her eyes. With a sob she collapsed against me, wrapping her hooves around my neck. “Hey, hey, calm down Phen,” I hushed, patting her on the back. “You’ve been the hatch mother for a long time, you know we lose some from time to time.”

“But we really needed him! So few have laid eggs lately. We need more hatchlings if we are to survive!” Her shoulders quivered against me, ears pinning down to the back of her head. “What if we lose the others? What if we lose the princess? Oh, I just know this is a bad omen!” she wailed.

The hatchlings stirred around us, a few of them sitting up and glancing at us curiously, big eyes blinking slowly as they took everything in. “Shhh, you’re waking the others,” I whispered. “You are a good hatch mother Phen. The others are strong. They’ll make it.” I put a hoof under her chin and lifted her face to look at me. “Would you like me to help you with the cremation ceremony?” She nodded and stood, wiping tears from her eyes.

“Just help me get the others back to sleep first?”

“Of course.” I smiled warmly at her and trotted to the first little hatchling.


It hadn’t taken long to get the others back to sleep, with them still having full bellies a little tummy rub and soothing words had been all it took. With the little colt nestled in his blanket on my back, we had instructed one of the guards to watch over the hatchlings while we were gone.

Stepping out behind the castle, I led the way to a small one-story stone building. If we were ponies, one might have called it a church, but we didn’t worship the princesses as they did. No, it was a sacred place to us though. A few benches aligned on either side of the single room as we entered, facing a stone slab near the middle. Sticks and logs were gathered to one side wrapped in twine. Above, a skylight opened up to the sky, revealing the bright moon above us, casting its light on the tiny form on my back.

I levitated a bundle of the sticks onto the stone slab. One bundle would be more than enough. Spreading it out, I then gently placed the little foal’s body on the pile, still wrapped in his blanket. Phengaris sobbed quietly beside me and I bit my lip, doing my best not to join her. I needed a calm head to do this. Usually, it was our queen’s job to officiate these kinds of things, but with her gone and leaving me in charge, the duty had fallen to me. Noling had come to name or accept the colt as their own, so he would leave us nameless.

I led Phengaris to a seat on the bench, where her eyes just stared at the little cloth-wrapped bundle. Sighing, I stepped up next to the funeral pyre, took a deep breath, and began. “Thy end was too soon, little changeling-”

“Pachlio,” Phengaris said, and I paused looking down at her. “I’ve been calling him Pachlio. Noling deserves to die without a name.”

I nodded. “Very well then.” I looked over at the bundle again and continued. “Thy end was too soon, little Pachlio. Thou hadst a whole life ahead of thee, and now thine thread has been cut.” I paused, talking in this archaic tone was harder than I had given my queen credit for. Yet, little ‘Pachlio’ deserved a proper ceremony. “Mayhap now thou shall be at peace in the arms of our puissant mother changeling. May she protect thee, provide thee with love, and verily the life thou wilt never have upon these lands. Be thou at peace, give unto those of us still living strength to carry on in these troubled times. With this final wish, I bid thee farewell, and offer thy now-empty vessel to the flames.”

I gestured Phengaris over to the pyre. She sniffed, tears dribbling down her muzzle, but nodded and stood next to me. Each of us lit up our horns to a bright green glow and set them against the wood. It lit up with bold green fire, crackling and eating at the wood. The flames were much hotter than your normal campfire, meant to burn through bone and chitin. As the flames rippled onto the blanket, the smell of burning chitin and cloth filled the air. Before either of us could gag on the stench though, little flaps of skin hidden away in our muzzles, closed over our nostrils so we could mourn peacefully. How often I had been thankful for such a simple little mechanism, I didn’t even want to think about it.

Phengaris and I took seats back in the front row again, watching as the funeral pyre burned and the smoke floated out the skylight, blocking what moonlight had been entering and casting the room in the green glow of the flames. I truly hoped we wouldn’t be needing to come here again anytime soon.


On the Friendship Express- Shiny Whistle

Oh, colt was this bad! I could hear Chryssy’s heart beating furiously beside me as she stared over at Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. She took a step back and then was pushed against me as the train lurched forward. “Horsefeathers,” she muttered.

“Shiny Whistle? Dew Song?” Shining Armor gasped, and I smiled over at him.

“Hello, Shining,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t sound as nervous as I felt.

“Where have you two been?” Shining asked, getting up from his seat by Cadence and trotting over to us. “Your parents have been worried sick!”

“Wait, Dew is missing too?” I asked, ears standing up straight. What had happened to her? My heart rate quickened now as well.

“Not anymore,” Cadence beamed and joined Shining in front of us. “She’s right beside you after all. You two are so much alike. Your mother said Dew disappeared a few days after you. Where did you two go?”

I bit my lip and smiled sheepishly up at them. What should I tell them? Glancing at Chryssy, I could tell she wasn’t going to be much help. She was having a hard enough time not going into a panic attack. I thought for a moment, then turned to Cadence. Might as well stick with the story we have been telling everypony else. “Right, heh how could I forget?” I rubbed the back of my neck and grinned. “Well, I decided I wanted to go on a tour of Equestria, sell some of my whistles, and get some world experience. Dew happened to catch up to me and by then we were too far out for me to feel safe in sending her home alone. So she came with me.”

Chryssy shook her head, seeming to come out of some fog, and nodded. “Ri-right, I didn’t want my p-poor brother traveling all alone. He-he needed somepony to br-brighten his day!”

Shining looked down at Chryssy, a small frown on his face. “You okay Dew? You don’t seem yourself at all.”

“Indeed, what happened to the little filly who idolizes the element of laughter?” Cadence asked, and ran a hoof through Chryssy’s mane, making her flinch.

“Er well…” Chryssy began, ears going down. “It-it was the fire! Yes, that’s it.”

“Some of those smoky creatures came close to killing her,” I said, nodding slightly at Chryssy. It was a good enough cover story as any. With Chryssy disguised as my sister, I would have to treat her as such, and doing so meant explaining things when she couldn’t, or at least embellishing on her ideas. “If it hadn’t been for Lucky and Fire, none of us likely would have made it.”

“Aw, I didn’t do much,” Fire whispered, receiving an elbow in the side from Lucky. Lucky just nodded, not saying anything. At least he wasn’t trying to blow Chryssy’s cover, for that I was grateful.

“Oh my,” Cadence gasped, and brought Chryssy in for a hug, wrapping one hoof around her back and pulling her close. Chryssy just stiffened, her ears pulled back, and tried to pull away. “It’s okay, it’s okay Dew. You’re safe now.” Cadence released the hoof held around her, and Chryssy pulled back.

Chryssy shook her head and stepped back toward me. Okay, time to be the big brother here. “If you don’t mind, Shining, Princess-”

“Please Shiny, just call me Cadence.”

“Right,” I said and put a hoof around Chryssy’s back. “If you two don’t mind, I just want to get Dew to our seats so she can get some rest. Our journey has been a little more than we bargained for.”

“Of course,” Cadence said and moved aside, pulling Shining with her. “Come on Shinikins, we can ask them more after she rests.”

“Coming Cady,” he said, nuzzling her mane. “Take good care of her Shiny, we’ll be over there if you need anything.” Shining lifted a hoof and mussed it through my mane and then pointed it to their seats.

“Thanks, Shining,” I said and my heart pounding, turned to Chryssy and with my hoof already around her hugged her close. “I got this, don’t worry,” I whispered to her, feeling my heart flutter when she smiled softly up at me, nodding. Our seats were almost diagonal from Shining’s and Cadence’s. As I helped Chryssy up onto her seat, she promptly curled up and laid her head on her forehooves. I breathed a sigh of relief. So far so good. Now we just needed to get through the long train ride without them finding out the truth.

I jumped up beside Chryssy and nestled against her, running a hoof up and down her back, doing what I could as a ‘big brother’ to comfort her. She lifted her head, looking at me with one ear partially down. “Shiny, what are you doing?”

“I’m trying to comfort my sister,” I said, stressing out each word as I smiled at her. “Just get some sleep Dew. I’ll be right here if you need me.” Her sleeping would probably make the ride go that much smoother. After all, it wasn’t hard impersonating a sleeping pony right? Sleeping ponies need not know dates, or names, or events.

“Yes Shiny,” she sighed and leaned against me, moving her head to rest her chin on my leg and closing her eyes.

“You two sure are close, aren’t you?” Shining whispered from across the aisle, and I saw Chryssy’s ears twitch his way.

“Well she is my sister,” I whispered back, smiling down at her. “I’d do anything for her, as I’m sure you would for Twilight.”

“Not sure how much she needs her BBBFF anymore, now that she has become a princess,” he sighed. “Not that I’m not proud of her, I am, but what can I do for her now?”

“Be there for her of course,” I snorted, and Cadence nodded in agreement.

“I still need you, don’t I?” Cadence purred and kissed Shining on his muzzle. “Just because we are alicorns, doesn’t mean we don’t need help once in a while.” She turned to look at me, a soft smile on her face. “I think it is wonderful how much you care for her. Never stop that. I sometimes wish I had had a big brother to protect me. Don’t take your relationship for granted.”

I nodded but cringed inside. The real Dew Song was missing and it was all my fault. Had she really tried to follow me? If so, where was she now? Was she even still alive? I’m sure my face paled at the thought. If I had been the cause of my sister’s death, I’d never be able to forgive myself! Once we rescued Chryssy’s friend from the dungeons, I would have to go searching for her. I had to know what had happened to her, bring her home. Though the thought of leaving Chryssy sent a jolt of pain through my barrel.

As we continued on, I let out a huge yawn. The last few days had been exhausting! Maybe it would be good if I grabbed some sleep too. Looking down at Chryssy, I watched her barrel rising and falling with each breath, she seemed to sleep peacefully. Her right ear twitched occasionally, and she nuzzled against me in her sleep. Now I could get used to this. I lowered my head to rest against her neck and closed my eyes. Yes, sleep was a good idea. Maybe we’d even sleep until we reached our stop.


Friendship Express- Queen Chrysalis

I slowly opened my eyes, feeling pressure on my neck. Glancing up, a small smile formed on my face at seeing Shiny resting against me. The warmth of his body against mine keeping away a chill in the air. Light in the train car had darkened, casting most of it in shadow. How many hours had I been asleep? I looked over to Shining Armor and Cadence, who had spread out on their seats. Cadence's hooves hung over the edge as she cuddled with her husband, both of them breathing softly as they slept.

On the other end of the train car, Lucky and Fire slept as well. The two were snuggled close together, Fire with a hoof around Lucky’s neck, his injured flank spread out behind him and hanging partially over the side of the seat. For once, Lucky had a genuine smile on his face. He and Fire’s muzzles rested side by side on the seat.

I sighed as I watched them. They reminded me of how close my best friend and I had been back on Earth. I don’t think we ever actually slept in the same bed or anything, but there were plenty of times we would lie down together in a heap while watching movies or giggling about some cute new guy in one of our classes. My ears wilted down against the side of my head. I could remember all that, but not her name anymore!

Don’t fret, you’ll never see her again anyway so just enjoy the memories while they last. Besides, those two are far more interesting at the moment. You don’t suppose…” Chrys laughed, and I couldn’t help but smile as well. “Well I haven’t seen it as often in stallions, being there are far fewer of them than mares. How ironic that we have the exact opposite problem,” she sighed. “Of course, I could be wrong. There are more than one set of friends that are as close as they seem. Some of our changelings have reported in the past that Twilight and her friends when they have little sleepovers, would often form a big pile of blankets, pillows, and mares.”

It certainly seemed possible, but we had bigger things to worry about. Like how we would convince Celestia to let Leptostales go. If she even would. If he was even still alive.

I turned to look to the train car doors as a little pegasus mare, fur the color of creamed corn with a golden mane and tail, pushed the door open with one wing, and pushed a loaded trolley cart inside. She glanced around and seeing I was the only one awake, pasted on a smile. “Anything from the trolley Miss?”

I was about to say no when I spotted a little fruit salad in a clear plastic container, large chunks of cantaloupe sticking out of some grapes and watermelon. “Could I get that?” I whispered, pointing a hoof at the salad.

“Of course,” the mare said, and grabbing it up in her wing placed it on the seat beside me. “Anything else?” I shook my head and tossed her a few bits, which she tucked into a bag tied to the cart. She headed back toward the door. “Enjoy then,” she chirped and pushing the cart out the door closed it behind her.

My mouth watered just looking at the salad beside me and I went to open the little container with my magic when I paused. Looking back over at Shining and Cadence, I saw they had moved hardly at all since I last looked at them, both with their eyes closed as they dozed. Dare I use my magic around them? If they were to wake while I was eating, my cover would be blown. Curse the fact we couldn’t change the color of our magic!

A soft, purple glow surrounded the little container and pulled off the lid. “There you go,” Shiny whispered. He sat up next to me, stretching his legs out as he yawned.

“Thanks,” I said and pulling the salad closer to me with one hoof, dipped my muzzle inside to eat. Sure it might not be the most ‘queenly’ way to eat but at least it was safe. Shiny chuckled beside me. I looked up to see him smiling down at me as I ate. What was that look in his eye?

“Did you sleep well?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Well enough,” I said, lifting my muzzle and licking sticky juices from it. “When I have two ponies who want me dead across the aisle,” I hissed softly.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he sighed, a concerned look in his eyes. “We’ll get to Canterlot in one piece.”

“It’s after we get there I’m worried about,” I grumbled and turned back to my fruit salad.

“Still no plan huh?”

I shook my head. “No, and something… doesn’t feel right. I just hope we are not heading into a trap.”

“Well if we are, I’ll protect my little sister,” he winked at me. “I’ll do everything I can to help you get him back.”

“Foolish pony, doesn’t know what he is promising,” Chrys sighed. “I doubt he’d betray his princesses if it came down to it. Even for us.”

“Ah you both are awake,” Shining said, adjusting in his seat and turning to face us, Cadence still asleep, leaning against him.

I jolted, when had he awoken? How much of our conversation had he heard?

“So who is this pony you need to get back Dew? Aren’t you a little young still for a special somepony?”

“What? No of course not!” I harrumphed.

“Heh sorry, I always forget how fast foals grow up. You have become a beautiful young mare Dew.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“You didn’t answer my question though.”

Horseapples, I was hoping he’d forget. Now, what was the name of Leptostales disguise again? Right, that was it. “Ironhoof. He got framed for something he didn’t do and is in the dungeons now.”

Shining rubbed a hoof against his chin, “Don’t think I know of any Ironhoof. You sure he is still in the dungeons? When Cadence and I were there a few weeks ago, the only prisoner was a changeling. When did he get arrested?”

“So he is still alive! Or at least, was a few weeks ago,” Chrys sighed. “I just hope he is okay. If they’ve killed him they shall pay!”

“Not too long, I think. I only got word of it less than a week ago.”

“Well, you better hope they put him far away from that changeling. Even after all this time, he is somehow going strong. Twilight has been itching to get down there and figure out why but hasn’t had the chance.” Shining sighed, lowering his ears slightly. “I’ve been trying to convince Princess Celestia just to get rid of it, but she refuses.”

“Auntie has a good heart Shining,” Cadence mumbled, shifting against him. “Perhaps she sees some good in him?”

Shining snorted, “there’s no such thing as a good changeling.”

Shiny ran a hoof down my back at Shining’s words, and I tried my best not to growl out a retort. Taking a deep breath, I turned to face Shining. “Anything is possible.”

“Not when it comes to those monsters. Don’t you remember what their queen did to me? To Cadence? And now she is burning down towns with a new army of creatures. No, she is evil. Her changelings are evil. And whatever these new things she has on her side are evil too.” Shining stomped a hoof on the seat as he finished.

“Can we talk about something else?” Shiny asked, hugging me close as I seethed. “You’re upsetting Dew.”

“Of course dear Shiny,” Cadence said, a calm grin on her face as she looked back at her husband. “Things will be okay Shinikins. You’ll see.” She kissed him on the muzzle and nuzzled his cheek.

“How can she be so calm? Does she not still fear what we tried to do to them” Chrys asked as we watched the two. “And how DARE he call us monsters! They are the ones who killed my changelings! We killed none of their little ponies. I even gave direct orders that nopony was to be killed. Would a monster do that?”

No, she was right on that one. I sighed, leaning against Shiny. At least we had one pony on our side. Looking back down at my salad, I found only a few pieces left. Might as well finish. I brought it back over to me and lifted a slice of cantaloupe. This was going to be a long train ride.