//------------------------------//
// Part 1: The Monolith 
// Story: Queen of the Empire 
// by Cardinal Dan Productions 
//------------------------------//


***A Patriot Pony Production***


Chrysalis kept her head down, her jagged horn pointing forward. She couldn’t risk looking up without facing the full force of the blizzard that consumed her. With the snow topping off just below her chest, she trudged forward, each consecutive step becoming just a little harder than the last. Though she was tired, hungry, miserable, and very cold, she did feel a sense of relief.

Chrysalis was far away from the prying eyes of any ponies and the Crystal Empire in a place known only as the Frozen North. It was a desolate landscape broken up by tall mountains, great plains, and shrouded in an eternal blizzard. Out in the open, she could be herself, free of any responsibility. With nowhere to sleep, however, Chrysalis traveled from cave to cave to find even a brief moment of respite from the snow.

That wasn’t without its dangers, though. The Frozen North was home to a variety of creatures, many of whom were far more vicious and hungry than herself. Several times already, Chrysalis had accidentally stumbled into a cave that had already been occupied, only to be driven out by a feral beast that wasn’t interested in sharing. Her last encounter left the banished queen with a scar on her left flank, where a yeti had swatted at her as she tried to escape its shelter. As the memory resurfaced, her rear began to tingle where the beast had left its mark, and Chrysalis muttered incoherently about not wanting to share a space with such an unruly creature anyway.

With no sun to guide her, she followed her internal compass to put as much distance between her and the Crystal Empire as possible. After all that had happened between her and the ponies, she wanted nothing to do with them. She told herself over and over again to ‘forget them’. She didn’t need their love, and she most certainly didn’t want it.

Despite her hunger, she reminded herself that she was strong, that she was a queen. She was a queen without her subjects, but a queen nonetheless. Chrysalis pushed all of her enemies to the back of her mind where she wouldn’t be tempted to think about them, about Thorax and the rest of her traitorous children. She didn’t need them.

Yet, the thought of being banished by her own kind left her chest heavy with grief. That was a feeling she had never experienced, though she knew exactly what it was the moment it washed over her. Chrysalis suddenly became very aware of the cold that was enveloping her body. Her movements had slowed so much to the point where she practically stationary, having not moved in several minutes. She quickly shook her head, snapping herself out of her saddened trance and bolted forward, leaping out of the snow that had begun to pile on top of her.

Like the outcast she was, Chrysalis ran blindly into the blizzard head first as it lead her deeper and deeper into the Frozen North. She tried to outrun her thoughts and feelings, but they kept catching up with her. For the first time, Chrysalis began to regret some of her actions. Had she done things differently, she might still be on her throne, and her hunger might be sated.

Over great mountains and across endless planes of snow and ice, she ran blindly. Though her chest ached with a new sensation of grief, she couldn’t bring herself to cry. Any tears she blinked from her eyes were frozen instantly against her cheeks by the blizzard. She needed shelter, even if she had to forcefully evict anything that was already inhabiting it. A cave would do nicely, but in the great snow dunes, there was no rocks to shield her.

There was, however, a giant monolith.

Chrysalis peered through the snow, I sure if what she was looking at was real or an illusion conjured by her hunger. As the changeling trudged towards the massive structure, it got closer and more intimidating as a result. What stood before her was no illusion. It was real, but whatever it was eluded her. It looked foreign in nature, alien, like it wasn’t from her world.

Upon closer inspection, she concluded that the monolith was metal, definitely not made by ponies. Under constant bombardment from the wind and ice, the monolith creaked and groaned in a sinister way. Because of the obvious destruction and the state of disarray, it was clear the thing had fallen from the sky and broken upon impacting the Frozen North. This made no difference to Chrysalis. Shelter was shelter, and the monolith was now hers.

Spreading her tattered wings, she flew into the ruins of the alien structure through a gaping hole she found. Inside, she was met by instant relief. Out of the wind and snow, she felt a thousand times better. Granted, she was still freezing cold, but she didn’t have to worry about being buried alive.

The inner workings of the monolith were dark and void of life. Black corridors stretched endlessly in all directions, winding back and forth. The place actually reminded the queen of her previous hive, the one she ruled before being kicked out by Thorax. Through the wreckage of the foreign vessel, she climbed. Chrysalis desired to explore the entirety of her new home before completely settling down.

At the top, she entered a long corridor that opened into a larger room. The far side held what once was a wide window, now broken and open to the outside elements. She was surrounded by technologies completely unknown to her, and even scarier, frozen bodies. Several were sprawled across the floor.

They had white bodies and white faces with a skeletal-like expression. One of them, however, was not like the others. As he lay slumped over a terminal, Chrysalis observed his blue form. Her curiosity spiked, she let out a hot breath onto his face, and his limbs began to twitch. “It’s still alive...” Chrysalis mustered whatever strength she could and hoisted the creature onto her back. “Perhaps you can answer some of my questions when you awaken, my new subject...”

Then, she carried him out of the room and back down the corridor she came from. “We have much to discuss...”


***Up Next: The Grand Admiral***