Changing Ways

by Comma Typer


Don't Let Your Guard Down

A sigh. A chuckle then echoed throughout the dark room. She could not see anything—not with normal pony eyes at least. Feeling the rough yet damp rocky surface below her, Chrysalis grinned.
“At long last,” she began in a rising voice, “the day I’ve always dreamed of since my first waking moments...it is within my grasp. All these years, these centuries...they’ve been leading up to this very moment. Soon, it will be one land, nay, one world under the changelings, under me!”
She took off her little dinky black crown and held it up in the air.
“All those pathetic ponies, those pathetic griffons and their pathetic yaks and dragons and zebras and hippogriffs and...pathetic everyone! They will know, they will see that all their friendships will mean nothing against the might of our armies, against the intelligence of our spies, against us!”
She stomped her hoof to the ground, triumph swelling in her heart as she returned the crown to her head.
“Do they have us in a corner? Yes, but only for now. Those ponies outside with their flying dragons...they don’t know what’s coming. They don’t know what they’ll meet when they open this chamber and see me! They will destroy themselves and fail; they’ll be hoofing victory to me!
“And when they see our swarms covering the whole continent, they’ll see that the only sensible thing to do is surrender, to give up and become my slaves! We will feast on their love for ages!”
She chuckled again. “’We’? It’s amazing how my own kind can do so well at such low levels of love! They don’t even notice the dinner they’re having is only a drop of what's really out there. They don’t know, but do they care?” Paused, placed a hoof up to think about it. “Nah. Why would they? If they can conquer all of Equestria with measly amounts of love, then I can let them languish in poverty. They wouldn’t even know what being full is like anywa—“
A hole of light opened from the rocky walls and in poked the head of Pharynx.
The head of a furious Pharynx if his bared fangs said anything.
“Pharynx?" Chrysalis looked and sounded surprised. "What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be out there defending the town!”
He flew straight to his queen and landed there, the light revealing the ragged edges of that special stony surface. “I was defending it. I came here to ask if we could call in reinforcements from the north, but I overheard you monologuing again.”
Chrysalis growled. “It is a habit of mine and—“
“Only this time,” Pharynx interrupted, hovering level to her face, “I also overheard you taking all the love for yourself! Is that why you can’t let us have too much love? Is that why you cast that mysterious spell over our prisoners after two weeks?”
Chrysalis laughed. “I understand you are still sour over my lecture on letting your brother escape.”
“This is not about Thorax!” Pharynx shouted and shoved a hoof on the bridge of her snout, right between her pupilled eyes. “All my life, you taught me that our hunger for love could be fulfilled if we just had enough creatures to steal love from! All my life, I did my best for the hive and excelled in everything a changeling could do: I had no feelings for my victims, I took as much love as I could from them, I never thought of caring them beyond their basic needs!” He flew closer and closer, making Chrysalis walk back farther and farther. “All my life, I thought of nothing but the benefit of the hive and, more importantly, making sure you were pleased with the effort I’ve put out for my fellow changelings...and to see this is all just some ruse to...” he looked at his raised hooves, confused and muddled, “to get the world’s love and hoard it for yourself in the end...to never share it with us?!”
Chrysalis’s smile cracked.
“What are you planning for us when it’s all over?” Pharynx said, quieter, pained. “Do you have another mysterious spell, one that will wipe us all out? Do you plan to turn us into your prisoners, taking our love? Or will you take away our powers and make us useless so we can’t stop you from eating all of it and let us starve to death?”
Chrysalis blinked, backed to the wall.
Pharynx punched the stones behind her, crumbling them into pebbles. “Answer me!” as those words echoed hollow throughout the chamber.
There was silence between the two, Pharynx glowering over her.
Then, Chrysalis rolled her tongue in a cheek. “Even if that was true, what will you do about it?”
Pharynx looked up, then back at her. “I’ll protect this town and my fellow soldiers, but when I'm done, I’m going to expose you and turn the whole hive against you! Love was meant for all of us, not just for one changeling even if that changeling is our queen!”
“So,” Chrysalis continued, raising a brow, “you are offering to be their...king?”
“So be it!” Pharynx yelled, pumping his chest. “I’ll lead this hive to a victory everyone can enjoy! We’ll keep the non-changelings in place, but the rest of us? We’ll have the love to ourselves and nothing, not even you, can stop us!”
Chrysalis laughed. “How sweet. You haven’t rallied a single one to your cause and you’re acting as if you’ve overthrown me already.”
Pharynx balked. “Wait, you’re...admitting it? You’re not going to deny what you said and—“
Another bout of laughter came out of Chrysalis, her chuckles roaring through the dark room. “What’s the use of hiding it, anyway? I would...” hesitated, “do something about it before the truth gets out anyhow.”
Pharynx’s eyes opened wide. “Are you saying you plan to...silence me?”
Chrysalis’s horn glowed and she blasted a beam at him.
Pharynx screamed and fell to the floor with a limp body.
There, by the light from the hallway past the hole, she saw Pharynx lying there. Unmoving legs, closed eyes, and half-open mouth with those fangs for no one else to see.
The queen kicked his body.
It did not move. The corpse did not move.
Chrysalis made one more chuckle, a weak one. “'Head of Patrol' needed someone new anyway. Can’t let the same changeling stay there for a decade.”
Then, she looked upon the body again.
She was silent. Her evil grin melted.


Chrysalis stood on the street riddled with torn down buildings and carriages as her subjects and their pony foes fought on the ground and in the afternoon air; those high up could see the plethora of trees and mountains in the distance, although some grass patches were black and singed, smoke trailing up from once lush lands. They exchanged strikes and blows as a changeling and then a pony and then another changeling and then another pony and, this time, a dragon fell on some roof. Fire streamed from the sky, burning those shapeshifting bugs into retreat but, since these dragons were not the most accurate at lighting up their foes, two or three ponies were caught in the crossfire.
She looked upon the battle going on around her. She could hear the screams of her enemies and her lips curled upwards—to fall down soon after, back to a dazed expression with those staring, unfocused green eyes. The ground rumbled with explosions but she stood her ground, turning her eyes higher towards the sky.
“Your Majesty!” a voice cried out.
She turned around and saw Cornicle scrambling from up the street. In a flat tone: “What is it?”
“Have you seen Pharynx at all?” he asked, exhausted yet fast with his words. “He’s nowhere to be found and I’m afraid they...they got him and I want to see him and—“
A hoof on his mouth stopped Cornicle.
“He is recovering in our base,” Chrysalis said. “There is no need to be concerned for him.”
Cornicle wiped his head shiny with sweat. “But, he’s the one with—“
A dragon appeared around the corner.
Cornicle screamed and charged at the dragon.
Only for Chrysalis to take it down with a magical blast to the head, the ferocious fire-breather falling down to the concrete.
Cornicle did not notice this soon enough and, therefore, tripped on the dragon’s body and fell down, too.
The queen did not laugh at this new source of comedy. Instead, she sighed, ignoring the battle with its beams, its fires, its scuffles, its corpses.


Under the nighttime clouds, past changeling patrols on the roads and behind an empty house, Chrysalis busied herself with digging a hole in the backyard. She took care to not be too loud; multiple times, she raised her shovel in alarm when she heard rustles from the trees or the bushes. Instead of a band of pony resistance about to seize her or a horde of her own turning against their ruler, she saw a stray bunny or a badger wandering around.
When she thought the hole was deep enough, Chrysalis dropped Pharynx’s cold body into it.
She looked long at that corpse. The wind blew on her and she shivered, but she did not move from her spot. She just looked, seeing that familiar face, imprinting it on her mind. Memories of bossing him around and being met with undying loyalty via successful raids, expanded territory, brainwashed food, and a comfortable lifestyle secured for his kind...and her.
Then, Chrysalis shoveled the dirt back in and covered up the burial spot. She turned her head all ways, all directions. Hearing no more rustling and seeing no likely threat closeby, she flew over the fence and vanished into an alley.


Chrysalis walked through the corridor of prisoners locked in their cages, following her guide as she led her queen around, curving through sections and sectors of diverse hostages. Most of them were sleeping, but some kept awake by murmuring something though not to each other.
“And here’s one of the three we did get their names of,” her guide said in a nasal accent, pointing at the freckled blue Earth pony. “His name’s Star Tracker and he’s been causing massive havoc with his dragon and hippogriff pair.”
Chrysalis nodded at her. “That’s good, Gnatha.”
She looked at the captive in question, that pony shuddering in his cage.
“I don’t regret anything!” Tracker cried out of the blue. “I’m only fighting because it’s the right thing to do and I know it and I really know it very well and if I don’t fight for my friends, then what’s the use?!” He finished his brave defiance against the queen by cowering under his two forehooves, shading his eyes with his scruffy bangs.
Chrysalis approached him, her head resting on the cage’s chilling bars which made her a bit more awake. “How pathetic. Here you are, boasting about how bold you are and you’re about to cry in front of your enemies.”
“I’m not gonna cry!” yelled Tracker, voice stifled thick by the lumps in his throat.
Chrysalis kicked the cage, shook him to his knees. “You will! Do you want to see how useful you are to your ‘community’?! You’re with us now, and you can never get away from us!”
“Actually,” Gnatha spoke up, “he did get away from us once.”
Chrysalis raised a hoof to slap that thoughtful guide. Then, she restrained herself and turned to the incarcerated pony. “Then, you can never get away from us twice!”
Tracker backed to the end of his cage. He sniffed, and then...cried.
Chrysalis turned her head upwards, snooty. She did not see the tears of her prisoner though she did hear his wails.
“Is there anything else you need, your Majesty?” Gnatha asked above the sobbing.
Chrysalis jabbed her on the knee. “Will you be quiet?! I’m deep in thought!”
Gnatha winced and doubled down on her leg, bending to the floor. “S-S-S-Sorry for disturbing your...thoughts, my queen! I promise it w-won’t h-happen—ow!—again!”
The queen looked upon her, seeing her struggle to keep standing.
A few minutes later, Chrysalis was seen leaving the shapeshifting prison with an injured Gnatha on her back.


Inside one of the many dining halls in their base, Cornicle and Ocellus were busy eating the cabbages and lettuces with plenty of their comrades on the same table. True, on their own, those vegetables would not stand a chance against something as grand as a box of pizza, but when “lowly greens” were eaten with the company of close friends, one would be tempted to eat only cabbages and lettuces for the rest of their lives.
That statement could not be said for changelings, however, since they also had to eat love from their prisoners along with their cabbages and lettuces.
“I can’t believe it!” Cornicle said, surprised and holding a cup of no water. “You got promoted?”
Ocellus shrugged her shoulders. “I mean, 'Head of Patrol' is a huge responsibility, but being promoted by default is not a wonderful feeling.”
“Yeah.” Cornicle stuffed his mouth with his whole plate.
Ocellus picked her food with one of the few forks available.
“All of a sudden, he’s gone,” said Cornicle after swallowing his fifth serving of the night. “The two most famous brothers in the world are gone in one week. Thorax? Missing. Pharynx? Dead. Body’s missing, but he’s dead.”
“Nonetheless, it's very strange,” Ocellus said. “He’s always able to defend himself no matter the situation. Remember when he had to hide in a room full of security guards back in Vanhoover?”
“Chrysalis said he was in the middle of a battle when he got killed." Cornicle knocked the table with his plate. “That would’ve taken his focus off. Not good—that’s what I’m saying.”
“We’re all saying that.”
“Not after this.”
Cornicle then turned around to see the pony chained to his bench. “Hey, stumbler!”
“I have a name, you know!” his food cried out, desperate to let this changeling know that he was Type Face.
“And I choose not to use that name,” Cornicle said. “Come here, stumbler, or you’ll get hurt.”
The pony shambled to him and suffered another minute of feeding, his love taken away from him.
Ocellus did not look but, instead, picked on her food again with her fork.


Chrysalis sat cold on an abandoned couch inside a furniture shop. It had been broken in and most of the furniture had been stolen, but the couch was left untouched. It stood well as could be seen by being capable enough to handle the queen.
She stared lifelessly at the street across the shattered windows. There, changeling patrols hovered about, some equipped with armor and helmets.
The front door creaked open.
Chrysalis stood up from her couch.
The figure stepped out.
“I apologize for interrupting whatever you were doing here,” the visitor said, putting down his lancet, “and I also apologize for sounding...petty, but—“ he coughed, he mumbled, he whispered the words to himself over and over, then: “I...don’t see you th-that often.”
Chrysalis frowned. “What do you mean?”
The guard took a step forward. “It’s been hard for me. My superiors keep on dying when I’m not looking, and then it’s Pharynx who’s the next one to drop. It’s...” he lowered his head, “it’s very shameful and embarrassing to ask you to accompany me, but...y-you—“
“Embraced you when you were a grub and raised you as a loving mother should,” Chrysalis said deadpan. “I see where this is going, Hymeno.”
Hymeno cowered and slowly trotted to the door. “I-I’m sorry for bothering—“
“Wait.”
He turned around and saw his queen with a raised hoof like she was pleading. “Huh?”
Chrysalis groaned and looked at him straight in the eyes. “I may not always be there for you, Hymeno, but you must r-remember that I only want to see you be good in what you do. Despite the many losses you’ve had, you were able to fight through and give your fellow changelings victory.”
Hymeno looked up to her, dumbfounded by those words. “A-Are you...sure?”
Chrysalis nodded. “Now get out. You’re busy going around, aren’t you?”
Hymeno rushed out of the door, leaving it swinging open.
She looked upon the outside through that door. A gust of wind closed it with a slam, so she resorted to using the windows.
After standing there for a while, she returned to her couch and sat there, relaxed.
“I hope he doesn’t notice the love I’ve given him,” Chrysalis muttered. “If they are that faithful, then what is there to lose? They really do love me. They really do....”
There was silence. Chrysalis stared.
She grinned.
“It’ll all be better when I give them love; more love for them, more love for me.”