//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Rise, Lady Chrysalis 
// Story: In Place Of A Princess, You Shall Have A Queen! 
// by Seahorn 
//------------------------------//

17th of the fourth moon, 1519 A.E.(After Equestria) 06:30 p.m.

Pillar galloped away as fast as equinely possible. She didn't have a destination in mind. Just away from this wretched city of Canterlot, where her every attempt at happiness failed. Now that she was a wanted criminal, her only option was to bolt, anyway.
And so she ran, resting every once in a while to keep her stamina, eating from bushes and drinking from streams. She kept a wary eye on the new town of Ponyville, making sure the guards stationed there wouldn't see her. after a few hours, however, her leg muscles finally gave out. Her training to become a princess had involved a significant amount of physical exercise for strength and endurance, but the disastrous examination had taken a huge toll on her. She collapsed into a pile of leaves, and finally took the time to look around her.
The area around her was heavily forested, and judging that she had passed Ponyville on her way from Canterlot, she was at the heart of the great Everfree forest, home to many dangers, monsters, and dangerous monsters. However, she simply couldn't force herself to take another step, and began looking for shelter.
A loud growl from her back raised all the hairs on her body. She turned around to see a timber wolf inching closer towards her. She tried to point her prosthetics toward the wolf, yet it was out of charge after her disastrous attempt to move the moon. Ah, great, she thought to herself, at least things couldn't get any worse...
Just when the timber wolf was about to pounce, two figures sweeped in from the sky, one shouting, "Oh no, mister, that's OUR prize!" The confused timber wolf was knocked down into the ground before it could react in a cloud of dust. When it cleared, the timber wolf was limping away, and she was face-to-face with her rescuers.
Normally, as a matter of common sense, Pillar would have immediately said thanks, but she could only gape at what she saw. The two figures were equine in nature, but with a jet-black, chitinous body, holes in their hooves, and dead blue eyes without pupils, showing no emotion at all. It was something Pillar would have heard as a bedtime story from Celestia on Nightmare Night. Then again, she didn't have the energy to either run or hide, so she continued to stare, not quite knowing what to say. 
The awkward silence was broken by one of the figures. "No love," he said in a disappointed tone. "No love, only sadness, anger... regret? This is interesting, but still no love. What kind of pony are you?" 
Pillar didn't know what he was saying (assuming the figure was a male), but his talking finally snapped her out of her shocked daze. "Hello, I'm... just an earth pony who just went out of town and just happened to step into the forest. Thank you for helping me out, but I've never seen ponies like you, though. Who are you?"
The other figure spoke up, in a softer tone, "Well, since you have seen us like this, anyway... my name is Thorax, and he is my brother, Pharynx. We call ourselves Changelings, and we were just searching for some food-"
He was quickly cut off by his brother, "And you don't have to thank us, because you are the food he's talking about. Or, at least we thought you were before we discovered you didn't have any love. Now, since my brother had the idiocy to tell a pony confidential information, we'll be the ones apologizing, since we have to get rid of you now." 
Before Pillar could let that sink in, Thorax frantically grabbed his brother. "Wait, wait! Shouldn't we take her to the hive, then?"
"You know the rules, Thorax," Pharynx replied coldly as he lit up his jagged, hole-filled horn. "A pony who has discovered our undisguised form must be purged. Sorry, pony. I'll make it quick."
"Wait, Pharynx... maybe we shouldn't do that." Thorax shrunk a little under his brother's glare, but he pointed at Pillar's prosthetics, which had five mechanical 'fingers' on it. "You see this? When I went to Ponyville disguised this morning, I saw the newspaper about the oncoming examination of would-be princess Cater Pillar, a-and the pony here matches her description perfectly. If we do kill her, princess Celestia would be seething mad, and our hive might have to face a war."
Seeing Pharynx become a little hesitant, Pillar was relieved. Note to self: Never disclose that you're actually a convicted criminal now.
"So what do we do then?" asked Pharynx, in a visibly less hostile manner. "First get our queen's permission, and then send her unharmed, back to Canterlot?"
Scratch that note, she thought to herself. She would rather die at the hands of two strangers than go back to that wretched city. She had to speak up. 
"Well, Thorax, you're half right. I probably was the one mentioned in that article, and I did take the examinations today. To give you a brief version, I failed spectacularly, and killed a stallion in the process, so I ran away. You can either kill me or take me to your hive, if you're worried about your hive's security. Just...just don't send me back to Canterlot." She said that last sentence with particular emphasis.
There was a long silence after that, and Pharynx was the one who broke it. "I suppose... this is beyond our judgement, so I'll agree with you on this one, Thorax. We'll take her to the hive, and see it from there."
Pillar began to panic. "Does that mean I'll get sent back to Canterlot?"
"I give no promises, and that goes for you too, Thorax. Just because of the fact that you had better observation than me in this case, doesn't mean that you're good at sentinel duty."
Pillar could have sworn she heard light snickering behind her.





They went deeper and deeper into the Everfree forest. Pillar had been to its outskirts many times when she was testing out her train, and she had learned from school to know most of its dangers. Apparently, however, she hadn't learned about the most dangerous ones. Timber wolves, parasprites and cockatrices would come close, but upon seeing the changeling brothers, they would scamper away into a hasty retreat. Although her apprehension grew, this made the journey to the hive in the center of the forest, considerably easier.
After about an hour of trotting, they arrived at a forest clearing, with a large hole in the center. Pharynx spoke up, "Now, just to ensure a pony never sees the inner workings of the hive, you will be blindfolded and I'll lead you from the front. Thorax will be behind you, so you won't fall over and injure yourself. We will take you straight to the queen. Do you understand?" Pillar nodded.
As they entered the tunnel, Pillar could feel the air get damper and cooler, much more so than a typical day of the fourth moon. She could hear some chittering and hissing, presumably some changelings getting worked up about a pony being in the hive, but nothing touched her except for Pharynx at the front of her leading her on with his magic. It was strange, without any of the heat that normal pony magic would emanate. 
They went down narrow corridors, large chambers and what felt like thousands of changelings before they stopped. Pharynx said to somepony (probably a guard), "Can I make an appointment to see the queen now?" The guard said yes, and Pillar walked into the room nervously.
When she entered the room, she couldn't hear a thing, and an eerie silence overtook her. She couldn't hear anything except her own hoofsteps. Unlike the tunnels she had went through before, this throne room seemed to have hard floors, carved from stone. Her blindfolds were lifted, and she could finally see... nothing. There was no light, in this pitch-black room underground. She tried to take a step forward, but she lost balance and fell down with a painful thud.
A voice in front of her chuckled. "So, who are you two, state your occupation and why you brought this particular pony to my interest."
Pharynx's voice spoke up from behind her. "Your majesty, I am Pharynx, class sentinel, and this is Thorax, class forager. He is my brother, so I was taking him on the normal patrol route as part of the routine inter-class exchange program, and this pony came across our undisguised form. We tried to feed from her, yet curiously she didn't have any love. Another particular point was that she had these prosthetics, so we strongly suspected that she was the princess-in-training that the local pony population was talking about."
After a moment of silence, the same voice in front of her seemed to take it all in. "Thank you for brining this matter to my attention. Normally not following guidelines is a reason for punishment, but I'll look over those in this particular instance. You are dismissed for tonight." The sound of hooves clopping away and a heavy door shutting signaled the brothers leaving the room.
Once they had left, Pillar saw a horn lighting up in front of her, and she could see the queen herself, her long jagged horn pointing straight at her, her pupilless blue eyes glaring straight into her own emerald ones. "Why did you come here?" she asked. "You are celestia's personal student and princess-in-training, and today you are supposed to be in Canterlot castle, getting congratulated by everyone for becoming a princess. What were you doing in the Everfree?"
Pillar repeated what she had said to Thorax and Pharynx, but the changeling queen only snorted. "I think it's a much more plausible theory that you're actually a spy from Celestia, to investigate the peculiar cases of disappearances around the Everfree forest. Maybe it's a test from her, to prove your worth as a princess, but one certain thing is that spies, in my underground realm, must be purged."
Pillar bit her lip. She was caught in a trap. The queen's distrust of a princess showing up out of nowhere made perfect sense. Pillar stood strong, however. If she was going to die anyway, she would die standing. Even as she was trembling inside, she took a step forward, and locked eyes with the queen. "Your majesty, the story that I told you is fully true, and anyhow, I would rather die than return to Canterlot. So, if you are still suspicious of me, than kill away."
After what felt like an eternity, the queen withdrew her horn, and broke out into loud, haughty laughter. After it died down, she held Pillar's chin up in her hooves. "I have scried you since you entered my room, little princess, and everything you said showed no sign of treachery. However, your display of bravery in standing up to me was truly impressive, so unlike most intruders, I give you a choice."
"I can give you a clean, quick death. As you have demonstrated your bravery, it will be painless, and you can get away from your miserable life. On the other hand... I can turn you into one of us."
Pillar didn't want to say anything, but her inquisitive mind betrayed her. "What? but I'm a pony. How's that even..."
The queen scoffed, "How do you think the first changelings were made? Ponies like you, ponies who were miserable, having very little love or hope, with a little more drain, can be pushed over the 'edge'. After that, they transformed into changelings. They were shunned from pony society because of their predatory appearance, and went underground."
She went on, "So, I can push you over that 'edge' of your misery, or you can simply 'leave' it altogether. I would recommend the second option, but honestly, I cannot tell for you."
Pillar almost agreed with her. Maybe she did come here to die. On the day they first met, Celestia had told her she didn't deserve to, and that is what held her firm during all her hardships. Without that firm anchor holding her on, what was the point of living through this hell, anyway? The world would continue on without her, probably a happier place, too.
She closed her eyes, and thought about Equestria after she was gone. A happy place, ever the same. There would be a new princess, probably one that was much more lovely and caring than her scrawny, angry self. Ponies would soon forget about her, laughing and dancing, as always. Celestia would continue to raise the sun and moon, and keep her warm smile on her face. Everything would, and should, return to normal.
She should be happy about that. Celestia always told her that it was the princess's duty to bring joy to other ponies, whatever the circumstances. It was the right, proper feeling, yet her stomach was revolting at the thought of it.
Perhaps it was her destiny, after all. When she first met Celestia, she wanted to make Cadance's parents suffer. When she discovered Cadance had been hiding the terrible truth, she had slammed her into a wall. On that day, she received her cutie mark of a bloody gauze. Finally, last evening, although she didn't mean it, she killed Cadance's father.
Although Celestia had suppressed it for so long, everything was clear now. From the moment her parents died, she wanted revenge, payback, hardship, and misery for those who hurt her. And to fulfill that destiny, she had to stay breathing.
"No, your majesty. I wish to be part of this hive, and my decision is final."
The queen looked amused at Pillar's statement. "Very well, then. I shall begin," she said as she lit up her horn.
Pillar felt whatever energy she had leave her as an icy chill took its place. She began to shiver from the cold, and it soon began to ache. Her entire body felt like it was on fire and ice at the same time. A sinister green hue surrounded her, as she began to see the physical changes. Starting from her hooves, It was turning black, and a chitinous hardness overtook it. Holes began to form on the legs as the black skin moved upwards.
"Do you pledge allegiance to the changeling hive, and will you work towards its prosperity?"
"I do."
The black, chitinous texture was spreading up her torso and into her back and tail. Her ribs were replaced with a sturdy thorax, and a tattered, holed film began to emerge from the side, which she realized to be wings. Her black-colored mane bleached into a dark turquoise one, and similar holes began to form inside her hair. 
"Do you place faith in your new comrades, and risk your life to protect them?"
"I do."
Her face was saved for last. As the hard black skin reached her cheeks and eyelids, she took in her last sight as a pony, and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, even through the darkness, she could make out the room with perfect clarity. Finally, four of her teeth began to elongate, forming sharp, pointed fangs, ready to cut at a moment's notice.
"Lastly, do you sever all ties with your previous role as a princess, and accept yourself as a changeling?"
This was the last straw on a burning bridge to her previous life, and Pillar burnt it without hesitation. "I do."
Her transformation was complete. She was a changeling.
After the green hue of the magic subsided, both changelings fell to the floor, but it was the queen who came to first. "There is still one more thing left to do. Your pony name will easily gather suspicion among the others."
Cater Pillar was her name. Her parents gave it so that she would be caring and healthy. However, when she lived up to that name, the world only saw a weak caterpillar, and ridiculed, mocked, and squashed it multiple times. Now, she had acquired a coarse, ugly, yet strong second skin, one that would never be complete without her prize of vengeance. 
"Your majesty, there is no pony name, there is only... Chrysalis."