//------------------------------// // To Save a Race // Story: My Name is Chrysalis // by hauntu4ever //------------------------------// My name is Chrysalis, and I am the Queen of a dying race. For centuries, my race has lived among the various races that inhabit this world. We do this without their knowledge, for they do not accept us. Indeed, it would not be incorrect to say they hate us. It is not completely unjustified, I must admit; we do, after all, feed on them. But for the most part, our feeding is harmless. We simply crave their affection. Let me explain a bit more. Those who belong to my race are known as changelings, for, though we have a specific form, we do not always use it. We have the ability to morph into any creature we choose. Because we require affection to survive, but are outcast by all other races, we use this ability to take a form that will allow us to be near them and gain their love. Thus is our means of survival. And now our way of life is being threatened. This has always come as a shock to me. After centuries of honing our skills, it is rare that a changeling is ever discovered, and so those who believe us to be more than an old mare’s tale know too little to ever be considered a threat. So, the only way we could truly be threatened is by taking away our food and starving us. I am not a creature of emotion, but I have spent enough time among those who are to recognize this as disturbing. We thrive on love and affection. To starve us is to take that away from all creatures. The creature that would do this must be something truly vile, with a burning hatred for all things. He is known as Discord, and a stranger creature I have not known. He calls himself a draconequus, though I do not believe that name truly represents his form. His limbs are all mismatched - bear’s paw and eagle’s talon, dragon’s claw and goat’s hoof, deer’s horn and a horn I have never seen before - and his body is of two creatures, as well: a goat and . . . I do not know what. His serpentine shape makes it harder to place everything as it truly is. He has taken over the rule of this world, if what he does can be called ruling. He demolished the Great Court five decades ago, near as I can tell, and nothing has made any sense since. Day turns to night and back again within the span of an hour, and then I do not see the moon for nearly a full day. The ground is checkered. Buildings float upside down, and those still on the ground could fall over from a sneeze at ten paces. Worst of all, no pony stays in the same place for more than a few days. Discord makes sure of that. They fall asleep and wake up miles away from anything they know, everything they love. When this happens over and over again for decades, it makes sense how most all ponies have come to withdraw into themselves. My changelings have been hard-pressed to find any food at all, and the hive's population has dwindled alarmingly. But I will not let my race die. The last of the changelings even now search for a way to bring about the end of Discord’s reign. I hope that they find something soon, or I fear for my race - and indeed, for all the races. * * * “My Queen, I have news,” the changeling before me said. I looked up from my plans, noting him. He was a soldier drone. They were generally of a kind, and this one was little different. His only defining characteristic was the greenish tint to his eye that signified a younger member of our race. Young enough to have been born in Discord's time. I returned to studying the maps. “Impart it to us, then,” I commanded. Many of my changelings were seeking anomalies - places Discord had failed to touch often, places that had become close-knit communities where we could feed for a time and maybe even somehow utilize to stop Discord. Some were seeking artifacts and ruins I suspected would be able to provide us with aid. Others were simply keeping an eye on Discord, looking for a weakness that could be exploited. I suspected this changeling was of the first group, which was of the most immediate importance. Discord was not thorough, but a group large enough to be called a community in the first place was worth noting. He seemed to have a sense for these things, much like my own emotion sense– “I have found a pair of alicorns.” The sentence stopped my thoughts cold. I looked back up in surprise. “Alicorns? Thou art certain?” This was most fortunate news indeed! I had not met an alicorn since - possibly since the end of the First Age. They were the only equinoid creatures aside from myself to have both wings and a horn, and they were astoundingly powerful. The last pair had moved the sun and the moon across the sky singlehandedly for centuries before giving the power to the unicorn sect of the Great Court and departing the land. The return of the alicorns would be a great boon, not just for my own plans, but also for the land itself and all the races that inhabited it. “Yes my Queen,” the soldier said. “They live alone, in a secluded forest to the west. I would not have even looked there, had the forest not been as it was. The ground is . . . different, and the trees are all the same color! I have never seen anything like it.” And now I was intrigued as well. While there were small groups of ponies, even some villages, that Discord overlooked, his abstract changes covered everything. I had not gazed upon normal, uncheckered earth in far too long. To see every tree firmly rooted in the ground . . . it would be fantastic! I must see this for myself, I decided. I stood, stretching limbs that had not moved in hours. “Come,” I said. “Take us to this forest.” The changeling looked startled it was too much of a risk for me to leave the homeland often, lest I get caught in one of Discord’s schemes and be unable to find my way back, leaving the hive leaderless. This, I judged, was worth that risk. I walked down the halls of the hive with a spring in my step. Things were just beginning to look up. I knew the folly of letting my hopes get too high, but I suspected that this was the breakthrough I needed to defeat Discord. I could allow them to rise a little. * * * The journey to the forest was, as always, fraught with worry. We changed forms to a pair of pegasi to avoid the attention of the other races, but it was simply not possible to intend to avoid Discord. Either he noticed you, or he didn’t. I counted myself fortunate that he had not noticed us this time. This journey was simply too important to be waylaid by his antics, for lack of a better word. Of course, it was equally impossible to avoid all his . . . work. We almost flew headlong into a cotton candy storm front, but we managed to skirt it without getting caught in the sticky substance. Once we were past that, we didn’t have to deal with much else in the air, but there was still a fair share of odd things to see. Dancing bears, trees racing past us, a flock of birds doing stunts, a sleeping pegasus being thrown through the air. . . . If there was one thing to be said for Discord, it was that he was creative. As we flew, I quizzed my companion on the alicorns, and their home. What they looked like, what they were doing, anything that came to my mind. The changeling said he had seen them caring for animals, tending to the forest, talking and playing with each other. Simple things, none of which hinted that they even knew of the world outside theirs. It was like they lived inside a bubble, a world separate from Discord and his magic. The forest, too, was just as amazing. Everything the changeling had said was true: the checkered ground stopped abruptly at the tree-line, giving way to grass. Beautiful, healthy, normal green grass, the likes of which I had not seen since Discord had come to power. The leaves on the trees were the same color, and making me aware - blissfully, joyously aware - that it was currently summer. The trees were huge, decades-old behemoths, standing straight and tall, almost like a wall. I could only stare up at them in wonder - sure, Discord had big trees in his realm, but they were always pink, or orange with gray leaves, or some other weird coloration. These trees were brown and green, a perfectly normal color scheme. And the smells - ahh, the smells. For once, it didn’t smell like cotton candy. It smelled like pine and oak, and damp foliage. It was, in every way, a perfectly normal forest. It had been too long. Abruptly, the sun fell below the horizon and the moon rose, bringing me back to reality. I sighed, then turned to the changeling, who was looking at me in confusion. He was not old enough to know how wondrous this find was. “We thank thee for your help, but we would like to continue on alone from here.” The changeling nodded and sat down. “I shall await thine return, my Queen.” I acknowledged this with a nod. “Thou shalt be rewarded for this discovery.” Then I stepped over the threshold of the grass. And stopped, staring in shock all over again. It was daytime. Outside, in Discord’s world, it was night, but here the sun still shone.  I stared at the sky in wonder. Could it be? “My Queen!” I was interrupted from my wonder by the changeling crashing into me from behind. I turned and stared at him. He shrank back from my gaze. “I’m . . . sorry, my Queen. Bu-but you disappeared! I couldn’t see you!” I frowned at this. Perhaps another enchantment on the forest? But that could be worried about later. “Put thine mind to rest. We are still here. Instead, look at the sky. What do you see?” The changeling looked upward and gasped. He ran back outside the border, and then back in. Then, certain of what he was seeing, he sat down, shocked. “H-how . . . ?” “Didst thou know of this?” I asked. “N-no,” he replied, forgetting to address me properly in his wonder. “I entered in daytime, and I left in daytime. I just assumed it to be a long day.” I shook my head in wonder. “This is how it is supposed to be.” The changeling glanced at me as I continued. “Before Discord, the sun and moon moved in a set cycle. A few hours of sun, and a few hours of moon. They moved slowly across the sky, too, rather than just dropping. Ah, to see a sunset again . . . !” The changeling blinked, no doubt trying to imagine the idea. “A set daytime and nighttime? Slow movement?” After a pause, he simply shook his head. “I cannot imagine it. Er, my Queen,” he added hastily when I gave him a look. “Then stay inside this forest. And if we do not return by nightfall, count thyself lucky. No creature has seen a sunset in decades.” With that, I continued further into the forest. It was even more wonderful on the inside. The barrier that protected this place and repelled Discord’s enchantments, it also seemed to hide the wildlife, which explained why the changeling had lost sight of me when I crossed the barrier. I passed bluebirds and robins chirping happily in the trees; serpents slithered away through the underbrush; and once I even thought I saw a deer bounding through the trees some distance away. Such wild beauty I had not seen in too long a time. I also noted that I had reverted to my changeling self. The soldier had mentioned this, that the enchantments on the forest prevented both our abilities to morph and to sense the emotions of others. For whatever reason, it did not affect our sense of the bonds between other creatures, and I could still use most other spells, but that was little comfort. I approached what I suspected was the center of the forest much more carefully, feeling strangely naked without my ability to transform. I could only hope that the alicorns were not too hostile at my appearance. The supposed center of the forest was a large clearing, dominated by a larger castle, which should have been perfectly visible from above the treetops. It was simply built, plain gray stone with a wooden main door. I wondered how a pair of alicorns could bear to live alone in such a large building. I hesitated at the edge of the clearing. Seeing my true form made most ponies run in fear, or simply attack me. It was a hard lesson I had learned over the years. I still had to try, though. For the sake of the changeling race. Just as I was about to step forward, however, I heard a voice behind me.