//------------------------------// // Bonus Chapter 3: The Madness of Queen Chrysalis // Story: The Power of Two // by Locomotion //------------------------------// Chrysalis' eyes bulged with rage. “What do you mean you've lost contact with them?!” “I'm afraid it's true, Your Majesty,” affirmed the messenger standing before her throne. “Our telepathic link with CH001MD38964587233 and his platoon was fine when we last communicated with him, and now we can't reach him – or any of the rest of the platoon.” “You imbeciles!” growled Chrysalis accusingly. “You're just not trying hard enough!” “We've tried our very best, o' mighty one,” insisted the messenger, “and there's not a peep from any of them.” Chrysalis scowled angrily as she gazed out at the darkening sky, trying to think of a solution. In the back of her mind, she had been fearing something like this might happen, even with her best attempts to assert her influence on her minions. But could it really be the Brainwashing spell wearing off – or had the accursed ponies caught them? “Right!” she announced. “I'm giving them three days to make contact – and if they don't get back to us by then, they're to be eliminated with the Crawler!” “Understood. But if I might make a suggestion, Your Majesty, wouldn't it...” “No you might not!!” thundered Chrysalis, causing the messenger to cower slightly. “I've already told you – I am the queen, and I make the decisions! Do I make myself clear?!” The messenger looked down at his hooves. “I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I thought that...” “YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO THINK, YOU MAGGOT! OUT!” “Yes, Your Excellency, I'll certainly do that...” Rambling nervously, the messenger scurried out of the throne room. With a frustrated growl, Chrysalis settled back down on her throne, grumbling under her breath. “Insolent worms! Contradicting me – me, the all-powerful Queen Chrysalis! I need to refine that Brainwashing spell still further!” “Refine it all you want,” said a mysterious voice from somewhere close by, “but if you really consider yourself 'all-powerful'...I'd love to see you prove it.” 00:00-04:32 Chrysalis sprang to her hooves and looked around, suddenly alert. The voice seemed to echo through the hive, yet none of the other changelings in the room seemed to react. It sounded so familiar, almost as if someone from her distant past had just returned – and yet, for who she thought it was, it sounded so uncharacteristically sinister and foreboding. “Where are you?!” she hissed. “Close enough to see the fear and guilt in your eyes,” taunted the voice ominously. “But you alone among changelings, Chrysalis the Ruthless, are obviously too far away to see the pain you have been inflicting on my subjects.” “What do I care about your precious subjects?! What do you even want with me?!” “You should. We, the Royal Family, have as much of a responsibility to our kind as they unto us. As to what I want...well...I want to warn you, Chrysalis.” The voice was heavy with calculating irony. “I want to let you know that cold-blooded murder never goes unpunished, especially against your own blood.” Before Chrysalis' very eyes, one of the many statues that had been erected in her honour seemed to glow menacingly. Its gnarled horn took on a much smoother appearance, the holes in its legs shifted about, and its mane became much straighter and neater. The glow intensified, and the statue seemed to distort as a shadowy figure stepped forth from within, whereupon the statue quickly reverted back to its old form. The spectre wandered almost aimlessly up to the throne, its blue and green eyes distant and emotionless. Chrysalis stared in horrified disbelief. No...surely this couldn't be...her! “It's no use trying to fight it, Chrysalis.” The ghost stared back with a small, knowing smirk. “You can kill your own sister, but you can't kill her spirit.” Chrysalis snarled, but was ultimately unable to hide her fear. “You're wrong!!” she burst out. “I have no sister!” “Not anymore,” replied the ghost. “I'm all that's left of Crown Princess Nymphia, the rightful Queen of the Changelings. I've seen what you did to my subjects, and it disgusts me to see that you have devolved our kind into a race of savages. Our ambition was to find allies among other nations, not to debase our own – nor to rob them of their love. Just look at them, Chrysalis, and all the wrongs you have wrought upon them. You starved them, you abused them, and when they disobeyed your commands like the sensible, good-natured creatures they were, you murdered them in cold blood. Hardly the work of a 'beloved' queen, don't you think?” “Why should I take advice from someone who doesn't exist?!” demanded Chrysalis defiantly. The smirk on the ghost's face faded, and her eyes narrowed analytically. “You took my existence away from me,” she retorted. “I know you far too well, Chrysalis, and your hatred of me. I tried to make you understand; to help you see the error of your ways. But no – you clung onto them like a limpet, and manipulated one of our guards into striking me down. But be warned, for I never was your worst enemy.” “Then who is?!” “None other than yourself,” continued the ghost, smirking again as if she was enjoying Chrysalis' terror. “You chose the path of tyranny, and for you, that can only lead to one destination. The hour is nigh, Chrysalis – justice will prevail, the resistance you have fought so hard to suppress will strike back, and any further attempt to crush them will only delay the inevitable!” “Inevitable nothing!!” screamed Chrysalis. “No pathetic resistance movement will be enough to overthrow me! I – am – invincible!” “That's what all the great tyrants of history like to believe,” jeered the ghost. “But be warned, Chrysalis – your hubris will be your ultimate undoing.” “Never! Away with you, you spiteful spook!” The apparition laughed coldly as she faded away. “As you wish, sister – but your arrogance and deceit will change only the manner of your dethroning, not the fact.” “GET OUT! GET OUT!!!!” Chrysalis' voice echoed throughout the throne room as the last traces of Nymphia's ghost vanished into the shadows. Her eyes blazed with fear, fury and anguish, glowering into the void where the phantom had been standing, her fangs bared as if trying in vain to scare the ghost away. After what felt like an age of staring and hyperventilating, her nerves began to settle – and only then did she notice her guards begin to shuffle away. “Where do you think you're going?!” she snapped. “You said 'get out',” answered one of the guards blankly. “We assumed you meant us.” “Not you, you morons! I was talking to...” Chrysalis broke off. How these clueless ants she had for guards couldn't hear that treacherous intruder was beyond her, but somehow the notion of it being a ghost seemed too good to be true. None of them would believe her, she thought grudgingly, even if she told them. “...someone else,” she finished under her breath. “What do you mean?” puzzled another guard. “There's no-one else in this room.” Chrysalis leered at him. “Are you insinuating that I, your glorious queen, am unbalanced?!” “No, Your Majesty, I...” “Then get back to your posts before I have you eliminated!!” bellowed Chrysalis, sitting down again as the guards obediently lined up around the perimeter of the room. Truth be told, she didn't understand what was going on any more than they did. But one thing was for certain, she told herself grimly – she was not going crazy! That thing, whatever it was, was not just a figment of her imagination, and if it dared to intrude on her again...well, she'd be ready for it. “Be warned, Chrysalis – I will be avenged!” Or would she? Chrysalis glared into the void once again, trying to find the ghost of her long dead sister – but to no avail. Only the guards populated the otherwise empty throne room, silent and unwary, yet still her sister's voice continued to echo all around...