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// 2 The Unbreathing Queen 
// Story: Alternate Beginnings: Year Five 
// by Doug Graves 
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January 10th, 997

Queen Chrysalis looks over the many reports in front of her. She has been quite productive over the last few years. After all, a hive does not breed itself into existence, and she has been very busy gathering love, in both senses of the word. Years ago, her early scouts reported a great many ponies in the land, easily many thousands. And each pony, given the right conditions, would serve her well, recurring sources of love that could then make more sources of love.

She has refined her techniques, over the years. Back when she started you could barely make out that the husk of remaining material used to be organic, much less a creature. Then, after a few iterations and refinements the shriveled remains became identifiable, and they could more easily fake the cause of death. And now, while they can drain and drain and drain until nothing remains, there are two issues. One, why kill off a perfectly good food source? And two, the alicorn Celestia, the tyrant of this fertile land, will deal with her harshly when she finds out that they have spread here. Much more so if anything bad has already happened to her precious ponies. Their past encounters had been smaller, mere skirmishes in comparison to the conquest Queen Chrysalis plans for this land.

And she will find out, Queen Chrysalis knows. Ever since the Invictus Solaris thwarted her earlier takeover of Emperor Incitatus, she may be wise to her methods. In that far off land, those years ago, she had merely impersonated the Emperor's fiance. Now, she has a new host of changeling drones, specially trained to impersonate and integrate. Her goal, to spread her integrators far and wide, even into the ranks of Solaris' guard, has been progressing very nicely, nearly fifty spread across the various towns and cities of Equestria. Their love gathering may be far less than a normal infiltrator, but it is sustained, to say nothing of the information they gather. Even if they were to gather no love, they prove themselves valuable; and yet they are, at the barest minimum, self sustaining! It is the final spurt of a stallion's passion on the delectable cake that is this fecund population. And, even better, they serve as an insurance policy for when she decides to strike. Or is discovered.

Her dedicated love collectors, on the other hoof, have been a bit more aggressive in their gathering in the last few months. The hundreds of eggs that her hive has lain will certainly need that love in order to flourish. It will be difficult to continue her current campaign of integration, as too many ponies turning up from Trottingham or some other far off city will get suspicious. And she won't be able to just have infiltrators take the place of ponies, as too many ponies suddenly turning up with memory loss would be too obvious. Even if it is a convenient and potent source of love, for the time that it lasts.

So, she'll just need to surprise the so-called Princess of the Sun. Queen Chrysalis smirks; all of her intelligence on the alicorn points to a pony who cares deeply about the fate of her subjects. So deeply that she would surrender to Queen Chrysalis' might rather than allow her ponies to be harmed. And, of course, they would not be harmed; merely subject to her whims and desires, their power devoured to form more changelings, who would be able to join with more ponies. Truly, a virtuous cycle.

And, it is almost as if their society is tailor made for her changelings: she can merely integrate one changeling into a herd, and bask in the glow of the ponies' love for each other, and it barely even impacts the ponies whose love is being gathered. Well, maybe just a nibble here and there. Remaining undetected forever, though, would be a near impossibility. Word would quickly spread if just one changeling is found, and then every pony held suspect, and tested. Though, if she manages to integrate a changeling into every herd Celestia would have no choice but to allow her to continue. The threat of missing even one integrator and potentially allowing an innocent herd to perish being too great. And the ponies themselves would be unable to band together, as their distrust for each other would be too great, and the vast power of their harmony would crumble.

But, how to get there, and where to go from there...

Queen Chrysalis looks over the reports of the different creatures in Equestria. Ponies are here, obviously; Queen Chrysalis does a quick transformation to an earth pony, a pegasus, a unicorn, an alicorn, then back to her changeling form. Power levels remarkably similar on the first three, a bit of a boost on the alicorn transformation but also more of a drain. She won't be able to swap between that and other forms very often; better find a way to stay transformed for an extended time to make the transformation cost worth the power boost.

She looks at the next report, finally getting to the creatures she isn't familiar with. Or at least were so rare back in the south, and even in most of the towns here in Equestria that she has already infiltrated, to not be worth the increased attention they would garner should they show up in a pony village. First off, a griffon. She reads through the description, glancing at the pictures; a quick burst of magic later and a female griffon is standing in front of the table. Another burst and a male griffon, and then back to her changeling form. Hmm, flight similar to a pegasus. Claws; may need to train with those, as the reports indicate they use them for grasping.

Next up, dragons. She looks at the pages, grimacing; a mature dragon might be too taxing. She could do it, probably, but it would burn far too much energy to convert to such a high mass. Not worth the cost just for a demonstration, a proof of concept. The teenage dragon, though... they look far more manageable. And better for scouting, as it would be more likely to find a teenage dragon off in the middle of the woods than a mature one.

One green pulse later and a teal female dragon is hunched over, clutching her chest. Chrysalis quickly morphs back; that was far more draining than she thought! The fire resistance, fire breath, organs to support those abilities, the different fluids coursing through her body. She looks down, a few of the holes in her legs growing slightly larger. She shrugs, moving to one of the holding cells to get a quick recharge.

Queen Chrysalis strides down the dark hallways, her two guards moving to the side as she comes to the holding cells. The green liquid covers the two ponies they have captured, keeping them euphoric and incapacitated. Queen Chrysalis closes her eyes, basking in the love she withdraws from the two as they continue their dream. She considers; does she need another egg? Eh, might as well get some more use out of one of them, though she will need to wait to complete the process until she is done testing the transformations.

Their tryst complete, Chrysalis signals to the guards. These two ponies have served their purpose, and would be sent back to where they had been captured. Though, the orange coated male seems to have suffered a small amount, his colorful mane turning a prismatic gray. Oh well; the ponies would probably find some mysterious swamp disease to blame it on. She will need to find a way to correct that in the future. Nonetheless, by keeping the captures short - these two merely spent the night, no inkling they had ever left their camp in the Hayseed Swamp - their presence could go undetected for even longer. It isn't like keeping them inside the cocoons is an option. Ponies do not regenerate love through the enforced dreams of the pods, requiring interaction with each other. Even keeping them in cages makes their love stale and powerless, almost as if ponies require actualization and meaning in their pathetic little lives. Should her plan work, she would need to tread carefully, as becoming too tyrannical and dominating could kill off the usefulness of this population as effectively as a claw to the neck. Not that the Tyrant of the Sun would suffer her doing such a thing.

She quickly bottles the excess love, levitating the container to the guard for storage and distribution. Maybe she had drained a little too much from the stallion. Back to her experiments, to see if any of the other creatures in this or the surrounding countries would be worth infiltrating. Well, of course they are all worth infiltrating, if just to get an idea of how much of a threat they would pose to her once she has taken over Equestria. More to see if they are worth subjugating, incorporating their species under her hoof. Or if she would be better served by turning their land into more pony land and, by extension, more changeling land.

Hmm, Yaks. The description seems very similar to earth ponies, if larger and more brutish, less reliant on magic and more on physical strength. Maybe just a young version, to keep from burning more energy than necessary. She doesn't have a spare battery around this time. A burst of green leaves Queen Chrysalis scowling as she looks down at the unfamiliar body; far too much hair. It is thick, itchy, and hot, even with her being accustomed to the heat of the Badlands. Let's see, the Buffalo; basically the same, but more adjusted for living in the Badlands. Looks similar, but likely not worth the effort; according to the report their society is too small to effectively infiltrate. Maybe a full impersonation would be required. An easy transformation back, and she looks at the next creature on the list.

Hmm. She flips the page over; surely there is more information than this? For a creature that lives with the ponies, in an area with a dedicated integrator? Just two reports, and barely any information at that? A rough sketch, likely from over a hundred yards away. A brief description. One newspaper clipping. Oh, the full report is in a different folder, she was looking at the appendix.

Compiled below are the reports on the creature, designated Terra.

'On February 19th, 993, an unusual creature, later termed human, was observed walking through Ponyville. After a confirmation check, Integrator PV was directed to tail the target. Designation Terra was given, because he emits as much magical energy as the surrounding dirt. Other physical characteristics include a thin bipedal build, estimating six feet tall and one hundred fifty pounds, similar in stature to a minotaur with a much smaller upper body. Appendages (later termed hands) on the end of upper limbs, allowing for grasping approximately double that of an adult earth pony. Lower limb appendages (feet) act as shock absorbers, allowing for efficient movement in an upright position, but low top speed.

Terra was observed moving to the residence of Gem Finder, leaving later that night with Tri-Apple. Infiltrator was too far away to observe the conversation directly, but showed familiarity. Due to weak projected physical strength and low - if any - magic, Terra was given a low priority. On later days, Terra was observed at the Apple farm, working as a farm hand or possible consort, given their friendly and more intimate interactions.

Over the course of late April and early May, Gem Finder and Rainbow Mane observed spending increased amounts of time at Apple Farm. Terra begins twice a week visits to Gem Finder, otherwise rarely observed coming to or going from Ponyville.

Starting in 994, Terra takes additional duties as foalsitter, often appearing with Gem Finder, Rainbow Mane, and Tri-Apple foals. Schedule varies, now occasionally visiting Sugarcube and Carousel. No other changes noted, priority unchanged.

Update from 994; Terra appears to be the sire of the foals. No other changes noted.'

Report from August 12th, 995:

'Gem Finder and Terra, along with three diamond dogs presumably serving as scouts and diggers, observed coming within five miles of main hive location. Defensive countermeasures put in place and readied, though proved unnecessary as the two were ambushed by a quad essence golem. They defeated the golem, one of the diamond dogs sustaining an injury. Afterwards changed course, stand down issued at hive. Followed for several miles, later observed leaving the Badlands.

Appended to the reports is a rough drawing of the bipedal creature, physical description, and known aliases and connections.'

Queen Chrysalis shakes her head. She remembers reports of the security incident, she had been infiltrating at the time, but this was part of the cause? A solitary specimen? No magic? Well, apparently it could sire foals with the ponies; had it been accepted into their society because of that? Despite it? But, what other use could it have? What purpose, why was it there? The ponies generally were occasionally xenophobic, leading to many border skirmishes with other races. Why was this one different?

A smile slowly creeps over Chrysalis' face; maybe it could conceal its magic. Or, it had some sort of mind control. If she could replicate that? If the ability to ingratiate yourself to a population could be used concurrently to her current power, her ability to subjugate one pony and slowly bend them to her will utterly and completely? And then replicated among her changelings? This could change everything! Imagine! The ponies would never even need to know of the changeling's existence, instead using this power to integrate themselves into pony society. Much less resentment, less resources needing to be devoted to enforcing their oppression. And it would be easier to continue on to other countries, as they would not be prepared for the changeling advances.

Hmm, a male specimen. Well, maybe she can extrapolate to a female version after her first transformation is complete. At least there is a very thorough drawing of Terra, as well as a photograph from a distance, her keen eye noticing small details she would incorporate into her transformation.

One burst of green magic later and a tall human is standing at the table. She takes one look at her hand, her face screwing up in terror, and bellows, "Guards! To me! It is an emergency!" She grabs the emergency bottle she keeps in her study, opening it, the form unable to quaff the stored energy.

They come running, of course. Even without her projection this form could be loud, if she needs it, though her hearing is lacking. But her magic! She can barely sense it, but it is inaccessible, as if locked inside one of her vaults. The form lacks strength, barely able to carry her own weight! And now she is stuck as one!

Her guards round the corner, opening the door to her study. The interrogative, "Honey?" comes from one, the other readying its horn.

"Bramble," comes her hurried answer, the guards relaxing at the correct response. She stands, "Quick, rally those off duty; I need help with a transformation gone wrong."

One guard quickly nods, rushing off while the other asks, "What else can be done, Queen?"

Queen Chrysalis glares at her hand, making a fist and smacking it into the table. She winces, shaking at the unexpected pain. Chrysalis looks up as ten more changelings enter the room. "Good. Now, I need ideas. This form is far weaker than I imagined, when I transformed into it. No magic, barely any strength. How can I change back to my changeling form?" 

"Love infusion?" one of them tentatively offers.

Queen Chrysalis points at the opened bottle, "Tried it. What else?"

The changelings look among each other, most of them hiding their shrugs and dismayed looks. One of them ventures, "Queen, what if the worst? If you are unable to change back?"

"Nothing? No ideas, from any of you?" Queen Chrysalis shakes her head, pointing at the first changeling that spoke up, "You. We may need to utilize our emergency stores, to keep everyling topped off. Start working on a plan that distributes the stores. You," she points at the second changeling, "Work on a crash course to increase the number of seducers we have. We may need to drastically increase our love intake, and quickly, should I be unable to continue in that fashion."

She stands, looking at the rest of the expectant changelings, "The rest of you, I need ideas on how to reverse this transformation. Anything. Oh, except for you," she points a hand at one changeling who, to her credit, stands up straighter, "I need a plan to go to Ponyville."