Quiet.
It was all quiet, it was sickening, audible, unspeakable, horrible, nothing could describe it. Along with the darkness, it produced the perfect formula to drive anyling insane, but not her. Chrysalis was better than that. She was powerful, she was prideful, she was regal and overall she was relentless in the pursuit of her goal. She would prevail, for the hive and for herself too. She had failed them twice, and she would not allow herself to fail another time. She would give all of her for them, and they would give all for her. She was their queen and their guardian, but overall, she was their mother. A mother always does everything for their young ones. And although she did not have the capacity to love, she tried her best to give them the love only a mother could share.
She may not have been the best mother, she would admit that, even if it stung her pride. She knows that she failed, and for that she must pay the cost, but all the things she did was for them. The exiles, the punishments, the invasion all of that was for them. And even if her love is harsh sometimes, a son's duty is to obey her mother. If the son puts the family in danger, the mother must guide them and teach them a lesson. If that fails, she must do what she must to keep her family safe.
'And that damned Thorax had to go side with those who shunned our kind and despised us. If only those fools understood that their way of life is not beneficial to the hive.' She thought bitterly.
It would die in some decades, or even centuries, if things were left they were. Sharing love is not the same as harvesting love, you cannot assure that the other is willing to share nor that they have enough love to give anyways. Love is dependent on the situation it's holder resides in. A myriad of ways could be used to destroy the love flow. Wars, blockades, prohibition lf immigration into countries that have love. All these and more, are ways love could be forced away from the hooves of her people, the only reason for her race's continued existence is the good will of others. If the changelings took a wrong step or made a wrong decision which is viewed negatively by the outside world, then the love would stop coming.
They have essentially made themselves into willing slaves to the pony princesses.
'And if the alicorns ever decide to turn on us… I'm sorry, my children, I won't be there to protect you. Forgive me, please' Chrysalis felt her chitin shiver with these thoughts. 'That's odd, but certainly new'
She looked around into the black nothingness, it was not actually black but it carried a sense of emptiness which it hurt to look at, as if you were to lose your eyes when you had them before. The emptiness was not always empty, true, her vision was obscured and her hearing was muted, but that didn't mean she wasn't able to feel. When she was petrified all of her senses except one were disabled:
Emotion.
A changeling at heart, she was able to sense the outside world and those who were nearby. Their emotions spoke for themselves. Occasionally the proud, jovial and sad Celestia passed by; the determined, guilty Luna brisked past. Thorax and his broodmate, Pharynx, passed twice or thrice, the former always showing some form of fake doubt and happiness, meanwhile the latter always emitted loyalty and confidence, a shame he was corrupted too. She had learned their emotions and their scent from past meetings. Occasionally turned to sometimes, sometimes to rarely, and then there were none.
Their emotions fed her, and since she wasn't using those emotions for anything besides transforming it into energy, she hibernated. Changelings are cold-blooded creatures afterall. She started hibernating once the other two… died, she supposed. That stung a little in her holey heart, only a little, she didn't exactly consider them friends, changelings didn't have friends, only broodmates. They were compatriots in a united cause and she was loyal to them and them to her, it could even be said that they were a family. She dismissed those thoughts.
The young one was the first to go, at first shocked then fearful and guilty. She could practically feel her last choking sob. She didn't think about it. She never liked remembering that. 'A child is a child, you can't condemn one so young to a destiny so foul.' If only she could tell her that she was not alone. She may not have been her family, but a mother is a mother. A mother must care for the young, atleast give them comfort in their final times. Even though a mother should never see their offspring die before her, she has seen it many times, it never hurts any less.
The other lasted far more, guilt was a common theme, although sadness and frustration took its turns too. She didn't know exactly what he was angry at but she could hazard a guess. A spike of anger and fear coursed through him and then he was gone. The severing of her last sense was so sudden and so harsh that she could basically feel pain from it. If the pain was because of the disconnection or because she was alone, she didn't know.
Her mind took some time to understand she was alone, and she is ashamed to say that she may have gone insane once or twice. But she came out of that mental struggle determined and confident, although her soul still ached for the loss of the ones she shared imprisonment with for a long time. She didn't delve in those feelings, she was stronger than that. Stronger than her thoughts and than her doubts. She would persevere, for them and for her children. A mother must always care for her children and protect her family, no matter the cost.
The abyss taunted her with visions of the past and could-bes, but she was wittier than it, she saw through its lies. She was a changeling, a creature known for its deceit and manipulation, and she was the Queen, none could beat her. With one final force of will, she looked away from the bright tunnel in the darkness, she looked away from the children, both black and colorful, and she turned away from her way out. It was lies, she knew it. Going there would only lead her to her death just as the other two, she was sure of it. 'So why do these tears disagree with me?'
She loved her children, but those she saw were not alive nor real, merely phantoms and specters. Doubts plagued her, but she lived long enough with them, and she will deal with them for much longer.
She turned away and closed her eyes, darkness engulfed the infinite enclosure. The light was gone, and so were their smiles.
She didn't know how long she hibernated, she wasn't able to control it for some reason, but she knew it was a long time. Long gone were any notions of coherent thoughts, only emptiness remained, both within her mind and without.
She woke rather harshly, something smashed against her enclosure and her soul. Perhaps the term would be left rather than the other way around, because when the tide hit, something left her and it was something important, even though she didn't know what. This prompted her to stop hibernating swiftly and open her eyes groggily.
When she opened her eyes she saw something that she had quite certainly never seen before, her enclosure was fracturing. She had never seen so many colours in one place, and never so bright. This light show practically dwarfed the light tunnel she had seen before, and it hoisted more colours than even a rainbow could hope to carry. It was mystical, beautiful and magical. But also dangerous. She had to close and cover her eyes when the cracks apathetically started spreading more and more, bringing light that literally blinded the lonely prisoner.
Then with a mighty crack and blinding light the statue broke and its remains littered the ground.
Everything ached and her stomach rumbled, the wind was biting her face, the grass tickled her chin and the flowers scented her no-
She opened her eyes.
A red ladybug with white dots on its carapace was standing in her nose, it perplexedly looked at her and she dumbfoundedly looked at it. The ladybug somehow shrugged and went flying away.
The queen looked at where the ladybug had been for a few seconds and then briefly sneezed. She stood up suddenly, looking around frantically.
She was in a forest clearing, above a small hill. She was surrounded by a few trees and bushes full of pink flowers, one of which she was just using as her head's resident space. Stone dust littered the ground and the sun was shining high above it, clouds dutifully clouding its rays. There seemed to be a trail of upturned dirth from the highest point in the hill, it led to where she was just now, perhaps she had fallen from the top?
To the south mountains and rolling hills decorated the landscape, and she could swear she saw Canterlot, although the distance may have obfuscated the details a little.
To the east, the coast closed in and brough the sea with it, a town could be seen faring off in the coastline, with paths heading out of it and fading out of view.
To the west, a dark forest loomed over the lands, it brought an eerie chill with it, but Chrysalis easily overcame that foal's fright.
And finally, to the north, vast mountains covered the view, snow falling at their top. But if one looked closely, they could see forests and steppes reaching far.
"I-I-'m… free?" Her voice was coarse and her throat was dry, swallowing didn't seem to fix that. "I'm free! Yes, yes, yesyesyes!" She was delighted and proved so by cheerfully neighing. 'Such unladylike behaviour'
She quickly turned around and headed for the top of the hill, thoughts passing through her head like lightning, a grin uncharacteristically splitting her face. Not one of predatory instinct nor superiority, but of undisputed joy.
'Finally I am free of that accursed hell, now that I am free, I can release the others and they can hel-' Her thoughts galloped to a halt, as if hitting a brick wall. There, before her, laid the remains of her comrade's statues. But unlike hers, instead of hollow, they were solid.
She couldn't differentiate between the remains from who was what. She didn't need to, the tears fell anyways. She sobbed, she teared up and she angrily stomped the ground. She didn't cry, but she mourned. She would only cry for her children, but friends deserved more than a sob. That's what they deserved, and they would get it. Her final meeting would only be witnessed by the spirits and by the bugs, no one to calm her down and give her a hug. She wouldn't cry, but she had to say goodbye.
When all was said and done, and the remains buried even though they were rock, she set off.
At first, she was scared, the magic seemed to have been drained from her, she couldn't fly nor cast magic, this isn't normal but it could happen due to a long time passing between her last uses of magic. Although the atmosphere, despite its liveliness, seemed a lot more sterile than usual, less… colorful. But no, this didn't scare her.
She couldn't access the hive mind.
Never, in all of history, has a queen been unable to access her hivemind, the dominion which permitted rulership over all living changelings. The hivemind was an irrefutable trait that all queens possessed, if you didn't have it, you were either a drone or dead. It wasn't strange for a queen needing to regenerate a hive mind gland after conquering a hive or losing it due to injuries in battle. But Chrysalis still had it, it was healthy and well, she could feel it.
Never was there any way to nullify changeling magic, it relied on ambient magic or taken mana from other beings and not their own, so it couldn't be effectively blocked. So it came as quite a shock when she wasn't able to transform, manipulate the hivemind or even detect other changelings.
"Am I… late?" She questioned herself, the only one who could talk and hear, but couldn't answer. "Dear Janus, please don't let it be true, please, I-I beg of you… Don't let this be another of my failures, not again!" She pleaded to the cloudy skies as she fell to her haunches, tears streaming down her face.
She sobbed. And this time she cried, "Was it my fault!? Should I have l-listened!? Why must you do this to me!? I have been loyal to the traditions and faithful to our task! So why must you betray me!?" Her accusations reverberated into nothingness, the thunder of the coming storm silencing her cries. Yet she still shouted, "Is it not enough for me to be cast away by those I love, that you had to take them away too!? They are innocent and you know it! Bring them back!" She accused the clouds. They retaliated by letting streams of water fall down to the ground, very similar to the ones running down the queen's cheeks and below her puffy red eyes.
"Bring them back…!" And with a muffled cry, she collapsed to the wet ground and sobbed uncontrollably into the grass. Lightning streaked across the sky, below the dark clouds, and far into the distance, illuminating the queen and the rain for a moment.
The cries continued for a while, the storm mercifully silencing the lonesome changeling's woes. Minutes after her collapse, she stood up under shaky legs, first the forelegs, then the hind legs. Gone was the face of a despairing mother, now it was replaced by the dominating look of an autarch who would fight tooth and nail for her claims, albeit with red eyes gained from her cries.
Lightning rode the storm and passed over the mountains to the north, Chrysalis following its trail with a determined gaze. She took a step forward on shaky legs, glanced over her withers into the top of the hill, then continued forwards in steady legs after a short prayer. The wind picked up its pace and made her mane flutter behind her, the wet slick given by the rain accentuated by the lightning's light. Gone was the grime on her face, her shame, fears and doubts wiped away by the rain.
A conqueror's mask placed atop her face, she had a mission and she would fulfill it. No one would stop her from taking what's hers.
'My children are out there, and I will find them, magic or not. I am Chrysalis, First of my Name, Mother of All Changelings, Uniter of the Hives, Conqueror of Love and I will reclaim what's mine. The changelings will rise once again and I will rescue the ones still out there. The Hive must be first built, the Hive to unite them all, the greatest the world has ever known. No more games, my children are mine to protect.' Queen Chrysalis changed her path to head to the north, the lightning leading the way. Far away, her destiny is calling. Far away, the gods call her. Far away, her children need her.
Far away, Empress Chrysalis is going and the whole world will remember the changelings from the foal's stories.