//------------------------------// // Prologue: Death and Rebirth // Story: Chrysalis trial. // by Kingless knight //------------------------------// Scythe slashed through the humid jungle flora, the darkness of the night hiding him from the eyes of predators. Then one of the beasts of the forest leaped at him, then fell to the ground without its head. "Cats, sentient or not, always jump from behind, like dating an desperate mare." He looked at the head and saw it had something green stuck to its fur, and once he saw its finger paws. "An Abyssinian; this makes it the fifth." He turned to see glowing purple eyes blinking. He formed a shield around himself and pulled several long needles from his saddle bag. "What are you going to do? Knit a net around me?" a female voice with buzzing in the back of her throat spoke. He launched one of his needles at full speed, piercing multiple trees and a frog. "Ok that was impressive!" she yelled. Scythe looked around, The eye spell was his best spell work, his shield always had a small hole from which he launched his needles like knives. Scythe glared into the two glowing purple eyes in the darkness. "Are you the Formless?" The glowing eyes widened, then squinted at him and it spat a green substance that hardened instantly around his shield. She jumped onto the hardened substance and looked at the contained unicorn. She hissed. "How do you know of it?" Scythe looked around, saw that there was no opening and he had to play ball after lowering his shield. "So, tell me!" she yelled, bringing him images of his mind. He covered his ears and saw that the thing went silent. "I got the information as partial payment; once the queen of those fish ponies died, I would get the full payment of 50,000 bits and a book to lead me where I can find to the Changing Ones." She glared at him. She changed her form into a dragon. "You want to know this?" She smirked and shape-shifted into her changeling queen form. "Sorry, but you can't learn it." He raised a brow, hiding a smoldering rage about to explode and devour the jungle. "Though there is one way, but it would mean giving up your pony being and becoming a being of darkness and who can devour the emotions of lesser beings!" She grinned showing 5 rows of teeth. Scythe smirked. "I'm wanted dead or alive, but what would you get out of it?" She broke the hardened substance and walked in. "A mate for life, muscle strong enough to guard me and my larvae." His eyes widened and he blushed. "So, the black maned stallion does have some emotions." she spoke flirtatiously. He coughed. "W-why didn't you just do it to the cat?" He blushed heavily as she started spinning around him. Her legs were long and her horn the shape of a crystal carved into a dagger. Her mane color was a psychedelic purple and black carapace, and she had only one fang, on her right side. "Because I need someone willing and strong," she teased, and his blush became deeper. "They need be able to kill, and well." She looked to the headless cat man. He concentrated. 'It's either live my life on the run or become this things body guard and gain the ability to change my form to any I wish.' He looked at her. "Fine, how does this work do you-" She pushed him to the ground a released and breathed a cloud of black smoke into his mouth. "*cough* What was that?!" He stopped and felt his hoof melt. "Aaaaaah!" He screamed trying to pull his hoof back together. "What did you do to me?!" he demanded as the world darkened around him and she built a chrysalis around him. She looked into the chrysalis, smiling, as the liquid form of the pony went through his metamorphosis. Vehemence laid in a cave, taking the emotion from the metamorphosing unicorn."So much anger; where does it come from?" she asked, watching the newly forming changeling punching his chrysalis. "How do you have so much hatred in you?" a Scythe's newly formed horn ripped through the chrysalis, and the a his long scorpion like tail ripped the rest. As he fell to the ground, shaking his head, he looked through his new compound eyes, the first image he saw was the queen changeling. "Welcome. I hope you can hunt for us, since I have been watching over you for the—" He placed a hoof to her mouth. He took it out back and looked at his body and saw the holes in his hooves and his horn, which looked like a curved sword with the tip splitting into two. It felt odd, having no coat or mane. "What am I now, and why does the world look like a moving mosaic?" he said, moving his head around. Then his new wings jumped out. "Now I know how pegasi feel." He started flapping and moving faster, trying to fly, but couldn't move his wings synchronously so as to cause lift. Vehemence laughed. "You're like a fly that got hit with a scroll." Scythe glared at her, he then flapped his wings faster and flew into the wall. "Wait no, a fly knows when to stop after getting swatted." He glared at the queen, his horn stuck in the wall. "How about I tell you what you got out of our deal? You're a changeling now, you can shape shift, as promised, and you have a venomous blade on the tip of your tail that sends people into hallucinations. That way you can feed of emotions without wasting magic." His eyes widened and used said his tail to break the stone around his horn. He laid on the floor and looked at Vehemence. "Do you have any bread, or some peppers?" She chuckled and used her magic to make him stand up. She opened her mouth, releasing a pink cloud, which flew into Scythe's mouth. "That had some punch, like drinking cider! How did you make that?" He looked at his hoofs to make sure he wouldn't melt this time. Vehemence chuckled, blowing a kiss at him. He breathed the kiss in and felt a rush of intoxication. "The first cloud was pure joy; that kiss was love." He had a greedy smile; he wanted this hunger to stop. "You gain it from the emotions of others. I guess your rebirth must have melted your brain as well." He thought for a brief moment. His memories were cloudy: ponies were all faceless, voices all deep echoes. "I still remember how to fight and use my magic." His horn lit up as and every pebble in the cave floated; he moved them into a row and used it them to cut a tree in two. "Don't think I'm your puppet," she smirked, taking a boulder and transmuting it into a stone sword. He smirked as well, and tried to change his shape, and but then saw his hoof's exoskeleton crack. Yellow magic erupted, causing him immense pain. Vehemence came to Scythe, rubbing his back. "Must be a side effect; I didn't know this would happen." He panted heavily, then pointed at her. "Now! Don't start pointing fingers! That pun wasn't intended." He took a pebble from the ground and scratched into the wall: change your form now. It said the former pony glared at the changeling queen. She sighed, a spiral of magic surrounding her taking as she took on the form of an orange unicorn mare with a pink mane that had a blue stripe going through it. "Happy? Now stop getting angry; It tastes like I ate ghost peppers!" she said, waving at her tongue with her hoof trying to ease the pain. He growled. "How about you point me to the nearest pony, I can release this aggression from the fact I had to grow a claw instead of just having magic spiral around me!"He took the stone sword with his magic, walked out "I'm starving!" Vehemence smiled at the fact her investment payed off: not only did she have a mate with which to start a hive, but one who had enough power to stop anyone who could threaten her. She closed her eyes, sensing for any sentient creatures, and raised her hoof toward some explorers or grave robbers looking through some the ruins of an ancient civilization that used to live there. He started walking, then taking up speed as he ran, slashing the stone sword, destroying any and anything that got in his way. He saw the grave robbers, grinning at them because the moment they saw him, they screamed. "UNDEAD!" He screeched causing them to freeze in fear. His first taste of emotion outside of queen vehemence, was amazing, even if it tasted a bit bland. "Please, do not punish us! We didn't want to disturb your resting place!" They all bowed, by Luna it was an ego boost! He shot the five ponies with his magic, paralyzing them. He levitated them and brought them to Vehemence. She looked over the five with a smile, and encased them in a cocoon. He pierced the cocoon with the blade on his tail, filling the robbers with venom. The emotions of Joy, fear, love, anger, disgust, greed, and sadness leaked from them. "I hate greed, it tastes bitter and empty," Vehemence said, taking a cloud of magic from the pods. He nodded, trying the same before spitting it back out "It's because they're grave robbers; I bet they're imagining themselves swimming in gold!" Vehemence nodded, absorbing more emotions from them. "What will we do now?" She finished drinking and then looked at Scythe. Months later. A hollow tree with no leaves stood, smooth to the touch; not even a spider would be able to climb up the structure. Inside one of the many floors underneath the tree Scythe lay next to Vehemence. Not wanting to miss his first child hatching, he hadn't left the nest in a week. "They will be strong," she, said, rubbing his cheek. He uppercase nodded, imagining training the first generation of drones. Then an idea came to him. "Are there other hives?" She nodded and he smiled. "Could we conquer them?" Vehemence smiled, and so did Scythe. Then the first egg hatched, its horn stabbing through the shell, and it screeched. Vehemence cried looking at the little larvae and Scythe offered his hoof and the larvae climbed onto it. He breathed out a red cloud and the little changeling breathed it in and it became silent. "You're going to give him a bellyache; he will be a strong soldier." She gave the little grub a kiss and he purred, smiling. Scythe smiled and gave the grub to the queen. "Do you see any foolish adventurers?" Vehemence closed her eyes and then looked toward in the direction of the closest creatures. "After a month of disappearing grave robbers, no one thinks it's a dumb idea to go here?" he asked, his wings buzzing as he flew through the twisted pathways of the nest to his next victims.