//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6. That is none of your concern. 
// Story: Rage of a Queen, wrath of a Mother 
// by Askre 
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Chapter 6
 
Deep within a dark forest, a lone figure shuffled along, muttering and cursing softly to herself. Her black legs were full of holes, she had bluish-green back, transparent bluish wings. Her long mane and tail were a sickly greenish color and producing from her forehead was a jagged-looking horn. It was Queen Chrysalis, the former leader of the Changeling Kingdom.
 
“Oh, I will get them, I will make them pay,” she muttered and continued her aimless walk. Her last plan had been a bit of a disaster. The constructs she had made to try and steal the Elements of Harmony had turned on her and then the Tree itself had dispelled them just like that.
 
The former queen refused to admit it, but she really didn’t know what to do now. She just needed something, an idea - anything. It didn’t help much that the one person she might have been able to seek help with was now locked up in Tartarus. She had really cursed her luck when learning that.
 
Maybe I should spring him out. He would be indebted to me. He’s powerful enough to help me regain my kingdom, she mused and rubbed her muzzle. Chrysalis then sneered, realizing she wasn’t powerful enough to enter Tartarus, let alone free someone from there.
 
As she continued onwards, a sound caught her attention. The changeling tilted her head, then turned her attention towards it. Soon she could see a small clearing with three large rocks. There was someone by them.
 
Chrysalis ducked behind a tree and peeked out from behind it. She saw a tall unicorn mare standing by the large rocks using her magic to write strange runes on them. The changeling furrowed her brow.
 
It cannot be! Queen Rabia lives? she thought, recognizing the former queen of the long-gone empire.
 
Queen Rabia stopped for a moment, placed a hoof on the runes and laid her head up against the rocks. Her expression was sad, a tear was slowly trickling down her cheek.
 
“You will be safe here, my little dark foal,” she whispered and smiled a broken smile. “When I have destroyed our enemies, I’ll come back for you, give you a proper burial in our home.”
 
The Dark Pony then stepped back again and resumed writing the runes, still oblivious to the changeling queen watching her. Chrysalis scowled a little, having not quite understood Rabia’s words. The changeling took a step back, accidentally snapping a twig.
 

Rabia immediately looked over with a suspicious frown. The changeling quickly changed herself into a similar-looking tree as the unicorn turned and walked closer. Chrysalis waited as Rabia got nearer, inspecting the area around her.
 
“I know you are here,” Rabia said, shifting her eyes left and right. She took another step forward. “I would hate to torch this area and you in the process to find you.”
 
There was no response, Rabia narrowed her eyes, then she blasted a nearby tree with her dark magic. Chrysalis silently cringed. It had been the tree on her right.
 
“I’m not bluffing,” the dark mare said coldly and blasted another tree.
 
Chrysalis returned to her normal form, glancing between the two destroyed trees on either side of her, then shifted her attention to the Dark Pony staring right back at her. The changeling hid her alarm, frowning heavily.
 
“Huh, I missed,” Rabia snorted and turned around and headed back to the rocks. “I take it you have a reason to be spying on me?”
 
“I was passing by when I saw you,” Chrysalis walked closer, but kept a respectable distance. “I was not expecting to see you.”
 
“And I should know you how?” Rabia resumed writing runes on the rocks. She smirked when hearing the indignant snort.
 
“I am Queen Chrysalis, the rightful queen of the Changelings,” the changeling snapped and stalked closer. “Don’t you dare mock me.”
 
“My apologies, I have only been recently brought back to life. I’m still not quite up to date,” Rabia glanced back at her, changing the smirk to a smile. “The last queen of the Changelings I remember was Queen Maxilla.”
 
“That was my mother,” the changeling queen stepped back then frowned. “She told me about you, Queen Rabia.”
 
“Then you know I care very little for changelings,” Rabia claimed and returned to the rocks. “Especially ones who spy on me.”
 
“I’m very aware of your reputation. What are you doing here?” the changeling decided to take another step back just to be safe.
 
“That is none of your concern,” the Dark Pony stated and just continued her work.
 
“Huh, you remind me of your son,” Chrysalis snorted but became mildly concerned when she saw purple mist rise from the front of Rabia’s head. The mare slowly turned her head so one eye glared at her. It was glowing green and red.
 
“If you do not have business with me, changeling, I strongly advise you to depart!” Rabia’s voice was unearthly and echoing.
 
“What, did I hit a raw nerve?” Chrysalis chuckled, but the mocking smirk vanished and her eyes bugged out when Rabia suddenly disintegrated into a towering shadow form, much larger than she had ever seen King Sombra do. The Dark Pony’s head that formed on it looked demonic and full of rage. A powerful unearthly roar almost flung the changeling into the trees.
 
Chrysalis took to the air and booked with panic in her eyes. Looking back, she gasped when seeing the huge shadow was chasing her. The changeling queen increased her speed, fluttering her wings as fast as she could.
 
Wait, why am I fleeing? She scowled and stopped her flight. She turned around, glaring at the incoming monstrosity.
 
“You think you can scare me!?” She boasted and fired up her horn and sent several blasts of magic at the advancing wall. Any triumph she felt was quickly gone when watching the magic energy pass harmlessly through and Rabia continued, her huge mouth wide open, only a black abyss beyond it. From it came the most horrible, rage-filled roar.
 
“Oh right, shadow and smoke,” the changeling grunted, seeing she must change her tactics.
 
Chrysalis engulfed herself in green flame, transforming into a huge, bug-like monster. With a roar, she charged for Rabia, weaving past shadow tendrils that came at her. The changeling tried to ram herself at the point where the smoke looked the most solid.
 
The former queen hit something, and it seemed like the huge form of the Dark Pony seemed to shift. Chrysalis dropped to the ground, briefly changed back to her own form before changing into a huge hydra, just as Rabia shifted in her shadow form and came at her again.
 
Chrysalis snarled and started ramming the heads her new form had at Rabia. Some were struck by tendrils while others passed into the smoke and got stuck. Suddenly her entire body was lifted and tossed aside. A terrifying, rage-filled roar came from Rabia.
 
Alright, she is tough, Chrysalis groaned, having transformed back into her original form. The changeling quickly jumped back to her legs and took back to the air. But so am I!
 
Sneering, the changeling queen began firing energy beams again, ducking and dodging tendrils. Her magic did seem to strike something and there was a snarl from the smoke. Chrysalis grinned, figuring she had scored a hit. Then she heard a rumble.
 
Ooof! Chrysalis saw it too late, suddenly a huge block of crystals came shooting out of the ground and struck her hard, sending her straight upwards. The changeling didn’t manage to correct her flight in the rapid ascension, so after a short while began plummeting down.
 
Her eyes bugged out. Rabia had shifted below Chrysalis and waited with her monstrous-looking head right up at the falling changeling, the mouth wide open, showing nothing but inky darkness.
 
Chrysalis roared and started beating her wings hard. She just barely managed to swing upwards again before falling straight into Rabia’s waiting maw. The changeling was enraged now.
 
“I will show you what happens when you cross Queen Chrysalis!” the changeling snarled and after ascending a bit, dove back down, her horn glowing with power. She was so angry that she didn’t notice that the demonic head of Rabia was smiling, the smoke form was beginning to grow bigger, the green in the eyes was glowing brighter.
 
With a bellowing scream, Chrysalis fired off her most powerful shots. Rabia quickly shifted her form so the shots didn’t hit. There was still a huge, demonic grin on her face. The changeling sneered and stopped in midair when seeing that her shots had missed. Only now did she notice that the Dark Pony was no longer roaring in rage.
 
Chrysalis blinked. The shadow and smoke below her almost enveloped the entire area, stretched towards the horizon. Rabia looked much bigger now than previously.
 
How is it possible? What’s feeding her power? The changeling thought. She didn’t get much chance to ponder this mystery. Rabia’s smile disappeared and her mouth opened wide again, the screaming rage returned and suddenly the Dark Queen lunged upwards.
 
“Feed! Me! Your! Rage! Changeling!” came the demonic-sounding voice of the Dark Pony Queen.
 
Chrysalis cringed and quickly tried to fly away, then something struck her and she was sent straight into the blackness below her. The last thing she heard before losing consciousness was the demonic sounding laughter of Queen Rabia.
 



 
Chrysalis woke up with a painful groan. Her transparent wings were bent and broken. Her eyes greeted bars all around her. She was in a cage. Growling, she stood swiftly up and prepared to blast it with her magic, but nothing came. There was a manacle on her horn.
 
“What is the meaning of this?” She demanded and finally noticed the ponies gathered around the cage. In the forefront was Twilight Sparkle and towering behind the crowd was her castle.
 
“You crash-landed just outside the Everfree forest. The cage and the magic block are a precaution while we determine why you suddenly appeared here,” Twilight said gravely.
 
“Twilight Sparkle!” the changeling growled, but since her magic didn’t work and she was locked up, she couldn’t do much but glare hatefully at her enemy.
 
“What happened, Chrysalis?” Twilight asked firmly.
 
The changeling glared around. Some of the ponies backed away when she laid her eyes on them, but the former queen knew it was just instinctive reactions. Right now, she was really at the mercy of her hated enemy. Despite that, she started to laugh quietly.
 
“You want to know what happened?” she asked and swiftly turned to look back at the alicorn. She was smiling madly. “Oh, I can tell you what happened.
 
“Queen Rabia is what happened,” Chrysalis snapped. The bars were wide enough she could push her head through and stare right at Twilight, who didn’t even flinch, just continued to watch the changeling with a scowl. The queen started to laugh again as she pulled her head back.
 
“I can’t wait for you to meet her, and have you torn limb from limb by her rage,” she started to howl in mad laughter, looking at the ponies around her with a mad glint in her eyes. “Beware little ponies. The Queen of Rage and Wrath is coming! Her rage will consume you all. AHAHAHAHAHA!”
 
Twilight sighed and used a spell to transport the cage into the basement of her castle. It would keep the queen for now. She looked at the crowd of unsure and frightened ponies.
 
“It’s alright everypony. Don’t listen to her. I have it on good authority that Queen Rabia is not coming here,” she assured them. The princess glanced at Spike who stood nearby. “I think we better send a letter to Celestia.”
 
“Ya think?” the dragon arched his brow, already producing a quill and a scroll to write on.
 



 
Chrysalis growled and tried once more to fire up her magic. Still nothing happened. The changeling sat down and tried to push the manacle off with her hooves. It didn’t budge. She snarled in frustration and proceeded to bang her horn against the bars of her cage.
 
“I swear, when I get my hooves on that so-called queen!” she snapped and fell to her haunches. She glared around; the room her cage was in was made of crystals but was empty. The changeling figured it was a dungeon of some sort.
 
“Guess I’m going to Tartarus since they haven’t destroyed me,” the former queen grunted and relented to lay down, huffing and grumbling. She sneered, showing her sharp teeth. “I’m going to suck the love out of that Dark Pony and leave her a withering husk for delivering me to my enemies.”
 
“I would be careful with that. The love of the Dark Ponies is dearly bought,” a soft voice addressed her.
 
Chrysalis raised her head with a frown, then she scowled heavily when from a shadow Queen Rabia emerged, smirking down at the caged changeling.
 
“You! What are you doing here? Come to finish the job!?” Chrysalis snarled and rose up. “You will find that Queen Chrysalis does not go down easily!”
 
“My, my, emotional, aren’t you?” Rabia chuckled. She placed a hoof on her chest and bowed her head. “I came here to apologize.”
 
“Apologize?” Chrysalis dropped her sneer a little, glaring now a little unsure at the Dark Pony.
 
Rabia glanced around, then she fired up her horn and produced a soundproof magic bubble around her and the cage. The queen then looked at the caged one, a more friendly smile on her muzzle.
 
“Yes, I must confess you caught me in my own emotional moment. My son is a sore topic for me right now. We are having slight difficulties between us,” Rabia explained and walked closer to the cage.
 
Chrysalis frowned, already seeing that the dark mare was up to something. The question was, what was she up to? First, she had attacked her and now was here while the changeling was at her weakest, apologizing for it.
 
“I understand you and my son were allies?” Queen Rabia raised her brow, waving a hoof in Chrysalis’s direction.
 
“We were when he ruled the Crystal Empire. He supplied my hive with slaves to feed off of and I allowed him to borrow drones as spies,” the changeling queen confirmed, still not hiding her suspicion.
 
“And now both of you just rule a cage,” Rabia chuckled, smirking when receiving a scowl from the other queen.
 
“Just you wait. I will regain my kingdom; I will destroy Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Then you’ll see what I rule!” Chrysalis shouted and hammered both front hooves on the bars.
 
“Want some help?” the Dark Pony asked, stumping the changeling for a moment.
 
“You wish to help me?” Chrysalis frowned heavily, suspicion crawling all over her again. “You just attacked me and caused me to be captured by my enemies.”
 
“The capture was unintentional. I can rectify that,” Rabia said. Her horn began to glow and suddenly the cage disappeared.
 
Chrysalis looked around confused. Nothing was between her now and the Dark Queen. However, she still had the manacle on and Rabia’s rage form was still fresh in her mind. It had been easier to be brave when there was a cage to at least moderately protect her.
 
“How about this - you assist me and when I have torn Saddle Arabia asunder, I will help you regain what you lost,” Queen Rabia offered and started to walk in circles around the changeling, smiling wickedly. “Think about it. You alone? You stand no chance, but with me at your side, the Queen of Rage and Wrath? That pathetic Thorax won’t stand a chance.”
 
“You make a tempting offer,” Chrysalis kept glancing at the circling pony, still not quite sold on the idea.
 
“I will even deliver to you the broken and battered body of Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer,” the dark unicorn added into her offer.
 
Chrysalis almost licked her lips at the mental image of the two ponies she hated the most, broken beneath her. She had seen Rabia’s rage form, had a personal experience of how terrifying it was. The changeling queen was almost picturing it engulfing that hideous colorful abomination the changelings had converted the hive into.
 
“So how about it, my dear Queen Chrysalis, daughter of Queen Maxilla?” Rabia stopped close to her, leaning forward as she whispered this into her ear. “If you so choose, I can even let it be you who crush your enemies, tear them apart, suck every last bit of that sweet love I know you crave to eat.”
 
Rabia’s horn glowed again. The manacle around Chrysalis’s horn fell down to the floor with a clang. The changeling reached up to feel for the jagged horn sticking out of her forehead. She grinned, tried to change, choosing a random pony form before reverting back to her normal one.
 
“Yes, at last I can have my revenge!” She laughed, raising a hoof high into the air.
 
“First things first. You help me then I help you,” Queen Rabia reminded her sternly but then smiled.
 
“Of course. It is only fitting,” Chrysalis agreed and glanced at the dark mare. “What do you need me to do?”
 
“First I need to locate my son. I have a suspicion he won’t remain in Tartarus much longer; I want to know where they will relocate him,” Rabia told her and dispelled the magic bubble around them.
 
“And I take it that’s where I come in, given that I’m the one who can change forms?” the changeling asked, not surprised that the other queen nodded. Chrysalis shrugged, seeing no problem with that.
 
“I take it then that we have a deal?” Rabia offered a hoof. Chrysalis stared at it for a moment, then smirked and raised her own to lightly touch it and they shook.
 
Queen Rabia smiled deviously, shadows reached out and went under both of them and the two queens began sinking into them. As they were beginning to vanish, something suddenly occurred to Chrysalis.
 
“But wait, they know I’ve been captured. They will know I have escaped,” she cried.
 
“Let me worry about that,” Rabia assured her, inwardly grinning maliciously. After all, if Equestria is panicking over your escape, less attention will be on me.
 
End chapter 6