Legends Never Die: The Return of the King

by bookhorse125


Thirst

Back in their main headquarters, in the near aftermath of the battle that had resulted in complete and utter failure, Chrysalis created an entirely new tunnel out of the cave by blasting it with her magic - though she still wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t just pure rage. Tirek and Cozy Glow were attempting to ignore the sounds of the former changeling queen carving her way out of the cave, and were so far failing to do a very good job.

Chrysalis lit up her horn, casting the small cavern she had already created in a sickly green light, and firing a massive blast at the solid stone wall in front of her with a roar. It crumbled as easily as if it had been made out of sand, but it brought her little satisfaction as she continued forward, looking for something else to destroy.

Those ponies… Even the thought was enough to make her blood boil. “They think they’re soooo smart,” she snarled, blasting a large rock to bits. “They got all these other creatures to help, thinking they could beat me, but I will return.” She spotted a few of the bits of rock off to the side, forming a star. She slammed her hoof down upon it, smashing them into further bits. Then she shot a blast of magic at the roof, blasting a hole to the sky and showering her with tiny pieces of rock, though she couldn’t care less.

“This is not the end, Sunny Starscout!” she roared, shaking a fist at the stars. “I will have my revenge on you and your pathetic friends!”

She had teamed up with a changeling. Chrysalis growled at the thought. Even after all these years, creatures that should have been her subjects continued to defy her. She blamed Thorax, she blamed Starlight Glimmer, and the worst part was that, now, she couldn’t have revenge on either of them.

But she could have revenge on that traitor of a changeling, who refused to see her as her rightful and true queen. What had they been teaching these creatures? Didn’t they remember her at all? What kind of a monster had she been painted to be?

I’m not a monster, she thought, vaporizing yet another rock. I was only doing what is best for my tribe - not that they care to see it that way. They all think that sharing love and being like ponies is what makes them happy, but it’s not. Why can’t they see that? They hardly seem like changelings anymore.

What had happened to her subjects? They had completely abandoned themselves in favor of something else - something Chrysalis didn’t see the appeal in. She had to return, had to take back what was rightfully hers, steer her kingdom and her tribe back onto the right track. They would rule over all the others, feeding off of more love than they could have ever imagined, doing what they were supposed to do.

Easier said than done. By a long shot. The only way Chrysalis could see the changelings regaining their identities was if she took them over by force - and that was exactly what she was trying to do. But they resisted every attempt.

Chrysalis thought about Sunny Starscout. The earth pony wasn’t her ancestor, not by a long shot - she was worse. She was more powerful, and she had her ancestor’s mistakes and adventures to look back on and learn from.

But she was so easy to manipulate. Cozy Glow had had her under her complete control in a matter of weeks - the spell said it would take months. Sunny Starscout had twice the power of her ancestors, but she lacked the experience to handle it. Whenever she tapped into that power, even a fraction of it, like she had demonstrated at the Crystal Empire, she became so easily susceptible.

Wait. Maybe that was it! Chrysalis wasn’t as well-versed in using the mind link with Sunny Starscout as Cozy Glow was, but she could make it work - and she hadn’t had her own mind invaded by the pathetic Sparkle.

Chrysalis had overheard Cozy Glow fretting to herself that she had been remembering things from a ‘better time’, things about friends she used to have. She felt a kind of presence in her mind sometimes, something that was pushing the bad stuff away and leaving only good things that she tried hard to forget. Chrysalis didn’t have to be a genius to know that this was Sunny Starscout’s doing. A little investigation had proved that Tirek felt the same… but Chrysalis had never experienced something like that.

So she had a leg up when it came to Sunny Starscout - something she could use.

And now that she was really thinking about it… she may not need her comrades at all. If Sunny Starscout was really as powerful as Chrysalis thought she was - and Chrysalis could smell power like she could sense love - then all she would have to do was take over the stupid little earth pony’s mind and turn her on her friends, destroying them and anyone else who dared to stand in her way. This would surely break the Sparkle once and for all, and then Chrysalis would have a powerful weapon in her grip that would do whatever she asked of it.

She wouldn’t even need her comrades, Tirek and Cozy Glow! They were still convinced of their original plan, that working together would solve all of their problems, but every day that passed made Chrysalis feel like she was sinking deeper and deeper into friendship’s trap. Every night, her dreams of single hoofedly defeating the Elements of Harmony for good and ruling all of Equestria on her own grew fainter and fainter. She had trouble imagining herself carrying out evil plans that didn’t involve the centaur or the pegasus in some way.

She was becoming… dependent on them.

And she did not like it.

But now… with Sunny Starscout under her control… a whole new plan unfolded in front of Chrysalis. As she thought about it, the more sure she became of it, and a confident smile creeped across her face.

She would continue to pretend to be the ally of Tirek and Cozy Glow, the Legion of Doom, all of them together, yaddah yah. But she would really be waiting for the exact right moment to stab them in the back and take control of this mission herself. She was done working with others - it made her too vulnerable to friendship and harmony and all that nonsense.

Friendship may make you strong, but it also makes you weak. She had seen it in her hive, and now, she was seeing it in her own partners in crime. Chrysalis snarled as she simply thought about them. They were weak, pathetic, susceptible.

But she was not.

She would get rid of this ‘working together’ scheme if it meant that she had no weaknesses. Because, right now, going along with what the others thought was best was what was slowing them down and making them - her - she had to remember that she did not work with others anymore as of today - fail at every turn, losing to these amatur ponies.

Chrysalis snorted and blasted another hole in the wall. Idiots. They could barely hold them off, and yet, they still managed to come out victorious in every encounter they had.

“I’ve had enough of this nonsense,” she snapped. “I work alone. Working together may make you more powerful together, but working alone gives you more power for yourself.” She tossed her head and carved another chunk out of her tunnel. “Besides, if you want something done right, do it yourself.”

She vowed to make that her personal motto from now on.

The changeling made the hole leading to the sky wider and flew out of it, perching on the top of the cave and staring up at the stars with a look of utter loathing on her face.

Some part of her couldn’t quite be convinced that Twilight Sparkle and her friends were really gone. And it was times like these that she felt like they were still out there, still together, and still more powerful than her, taking everything away from her.

Chrysalis’ blood began to boil once more.

“Just you wait,” she hissed. “I’ll pretend to be your ally - I’ll go along with what you want, I’ll follow the plan, I’ll stick with you - for now. But Sunny Starscout has more power than all of us combined - and once I control her, you all won’t stand a chance.”

She laughed and blasted another block to bits. “You’ll wish you had joined me sooner, had surrendered sooner - everypony will. But it’ll be too late. Because I - Chrysalis - will rule all of Equestria on my own!”

The thought gave her pleasure, and the next time she fired a beam of light at a rock, she didn’t feel anger - just a thirst for revenge.

Revenge on the ponies she blamed responsible for everything.


The world was holding its breath, waiting for the end.

Whether they knew it or not, all the creatures outside of Equestria had realized that there was a threat out there that they needed to protect themselves from - even if they had a completely wrong idea on what it was.

Fed up with hiding from the world for centuries, and now hearing that the rest of the world was done with them, these creatures would go to any lengths to get what they wanted - even if it meant destroying everything else in the process. Those who saw that, perhaps, they shouldn’t take such drastic measures, quickly lost hold on the rapidly growing group of creatures that wanted revenge.

Little did they know that others were using that thirst against them, mobilizing them for their own purposes, and in the end, the only ones who would benefit from all the chaos and hatred and anger that was about to ensue were the ones who had put it here in the first place.

Unless they were to unite, put their past behind them, and finally work together. However, in the current state of the land, the future looked bleak and uncertain.

And that was only the beginning. For another threat was coming, but it was one that the ponies and creatures of Equestria had created themselves, their stubbornness and inability to see what was right in front of them would bring their doom.

High in the northern skies, above the Crystal Empire, farther north than even Yakyakistan, yet its effects being felt across the land, swirling over the peak of Mount Everhoof, a storm was forming. Yet this was no ordinary storm. Once it began, it had no true end - it would always return in some way or another.

Furthermore, very few ponies even knew that such a storm existed. It had been erased from the history books long before, written off as a legend, a myth, a childish story that hardly anyone believed - until they forgot it entirely. And the few who knew it had existed, once, were sure that it had been dealt with and would not be returning ever again. They thought it had stopped. They thought it was contained.

They thought they were safe.

They were wrong.

Fueled by hatred and fighting, a blizzard as cold as their hearts would soon sweep the land, waking up after a century of laying doment, trapping every creature below in an endless winter created from their own hateful desires.

The final fight was coming. And when it did, the only hope was to unite a broken world - a world that would refuse every attempt.

The freezing temperatures were already being noticed, and it would not be long before the freezing storm was revealed to all, and they would sense their doom. But whatever they did would be feeble and ineffective.

One was already among them, making sure that they would never unite. He was not what he seemed, yet they knew no caution.

Equestria would be consumed by the hardened hearts and distrust and hatred and fear that it had fought so hard to escape.

An ear-piercing shriek pierced the cold winter air, and the howling wind intensified.

Because some things, even the magic of friendship cannot hold back for long.