//------------------------------//
// Issue #5: Mystery of the Scarab 
// Story: The Blue Queen 
// by TheLegendaryBillCipher 
//------------------------------//

The scarab’s armor disintegrated away the moment Chrysalis set hoof into her Hive and she let out an exhale. With a frown on her muzzle, she made her way into her throne room. The buzz of her changelings was close behind her.

Pharynx and Thorax glanced at one another as they landed and quickly followed Chrysalis into the throne room.

“Your Majesty?” Thorax asked. “Why did we retreat?”

“We had the upper hoof!” agreed Pharynx. “Canterlot was ours.”

Chrysalis growled, glancing down at the scarab buried into her chest. She set a hoof on the glowing blue surface and whirled around on her changelings. “Because it wasn’t what I wanted!” she snapped.

Pharynx and Thorax shrunk back as Chrysalis huffed, looking off to the side. “I had wanted vengeance on Celestia for years now and when I finally had it in my clutches… it didn’t feel right.” She grunted. “We won, that’s all that matters.”

“…Very well, Your Majesty,” Thorax muttered, glancing at Pharynx. His brother shrugged.

Chrysalis cleared her throat. “We have more pressing concerns,” she said. “I want to know where this… scarab came from.”

Thorax cleared his throat. “Well, I don’t know if it’ll help, Your Majesty, but you mentioned a ‘Khaji Da’ at the end of your battle. The words don’t sound familiar to me.”

“Or me,” Pharynx grunted. “It was like a… name. Someone you were commanding.”

Chrysalis worked her jaw. “Yes, that. I’m not entirely sure where it came from. Perhaps it did not come from me.” She glanced down. “Leave me. I must concentrate. Tell my changelings they may celebrate, but I must not be disturbed.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” her changelings said in unison, giving a bow to her before parting. 

As her throne room sealed, Chrysalis walked over and sat upon her throne. Shutting her eyes, she focused on her breathing and drowning out the faint buzzing hum of her Hive around her. She reached deep into her thoughts, feeling around blindly.

“Khaji Da… Khaji Da... Speak to me, bug. Answer me!”

“Acknowledging, Queen Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis’s shut eyes widened at the response—in honesty, she hadn’t expected one. Perhaps there was a way to get answers directly from the source.

"Who is ‘Khaji Da?’”

  “I am Khaji Da.”

At least it has a name. I can work with that.

  “What are you, Khaji Da?”

“I am known as the Scarab.”

  “Yes, but what are you?”

  Khaji didn’t reply. Chrysalis grit her teeth as her mind began to ache. 

“Speak to me, Khaji Da! I command you!”

  Silence.

Chrysalis opened her eyes with a snarl. For whatever reason, this Scarab was tight-lipped—and considering it was attached to her, that would never do. If she was going to play host to this thing, she was going to find out what it was.

She rose from her throne and marched out of the throne room to find the Hive abuzz with celebration. Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at the jubilation, a small smile slipping across her muzzle in spite of her mood.

“Queen Chrysalis! I apologize, we hoped not to disturb you,” Thorax said, hurrying over to her and bowing profusely. 

“It is alright, Thorax. I need to know where Antenna was sent in the Dragon Lands. The location of the dragon's cave,” Chrysalis replied.

“Of course, Your Majesty. Are you… leaving?” Thorax asked, walking alongside her.

“Yes. I need answers and this little bug isn’t talking. Might as well ask the dragon who found it,” Chrysalis replied, her sour frown returning.

“Will you need help, Your Majesty?”

Chrysalis gave a small chuckle and set a hoof on Thorax’s shoulder. “I handled this dragon once, I can handle him again. If I need you and the Hive, I will send a signal.”

Thorax blushed and nodded. “Yes, of course. Let’s see what the intelligence drones have…”





“Dragon!” Chrysalis bellowed into the entrance of the cave, voice reverberating around inside. “Answer me if you’re in there!”

She snorted as she glanced around the area. Her arrival in the Dragon Lands was open and uncontested—either word had spread about what she had done to Korg, or the dragons considered her not worth their time. She was satisfied with either one.

Her ears flicked towards the cave, listening for any sound other than the rumble of distant volcanoes. With a roll of her eyes and a huff, Chrysalis marched into the cave. The scarab wasn’t responding to her, but she was confident if there was a threat, it would spring to her defense again.

A glittering light soon illuminated the way, and she stepped into the cavern that held her goal. Down a steep slope lay a large cavern, with a pile of gold and jewels that nearly touched the stalactites on the ceiling. Korg was pressed up against the wall. His wings had barely healed and his scales were still bruised.

“Get out of my cave!” he snarled, but he remained pressed against the wall. He threateningly snorted out jets of smoke, but nothing further. “You’ll not get any of my gold!”

“I’m not here to attack you or steal your treasure—I want answers,” Chrysalis said, eyeing the dragon up and down.

“What sort of answers?” Korg narrowed his eyes.

“This scarab, where did you find it?” Chrysalis demanded. “For such a memorable treasure, you must remember that much.”

Korg grunted, easing down into a seating position. “It was a long time ago,” he grumbled, rubbing his bruised chin. “I didn’t find it around here, it was in Equestria.”

“Where in Equestria? Canterlot? Ponyville?” Chrysalis demanded.

“I’m trying to remember!” Korg barked, before quieting into rumination. “I’m not good with pony landmarks… do you know of the howling gorge full of eels?”

“Ghastly Gorge, yes?” Chrysalis nodded.

“South of that. I remember rolling hills. The glint of something caught my eye while I was flying and I landed. Ponies were setting up a town nearby, but I ignored them. The scarab was in a… sort of hole. Shallow. That’s where I found it,” Korg explained.

“That’s all?” Chrysalis huffed. “Nothing else? No one around it?”

“No,” Korg grunted, exhaling a snort of smoke. “Now leave me. You’ve done enough to me, bug.”

Chrysalis frowned as she eyed the dragon, but she was satisfied in knowing he seemed to be telling the truth. He could’ve told her anywhere from Saddle Arabia to Yakyakistan, but he had been too specific.

“Thank you,” she curtly said, turning and marching out of the cave. Korg grunted in response, turning back to his treasure.

As she stepped back out into the arid air of the Dragon Lands, she pondered her next destination. From what Equestria geography she did know, she knew the closest town south of Ghastly Gorge was Palmera Plains.

“Alright, bug,” Chrysalis grunted to the scarab in her chest. “If you won’t give me answers, then at least get me to where I need to go.”

“Acknowledged.”

Blue encased her transparent wings and they buzzed to life on their own, taking flight.





The villagers were up in alarm as soon as she was visible over the town, but like the dragon who had come before her she paid them no heed. 

There were indeed great, rolling hills as far as her eyes could see. The large shadows of clouds lazily passed over the rippling sea of green, but other than the occasional tree, she couldn’t make anything out high up.

With a huff, she angled lower, skimming across the rolling plains a story above the ground. The terrain seemed relatively even, hills aside, but she soon found a curious mark that stuck out to her.

There was a small cluster of grey rocks that were mostly covered in grass, but seemed very out of place in the plains. They surrounded a divot in the ground, almost perfectly circular and nearly ten feet across. It too was mostly filled with grass, but the dip was noticeable close up. She touched down in the center of it.

“A crater,” Chrysalis surmised, looking around it. She pawed at the ground, but when she hit dirt, there was nothing notable.

With a growl, she quickly realized she was at another dead end. The scarab could’ve come anywhere—buried for thousands of years, fell from the heavens, discarded in the hole. Who knows how long it had been there when Korg had found it?

As she marched out of the crater, she was met with an unexpected visitor: Princess Celestia.

Chrysalis took a step back, wide-eyed at her sudden appearance. Her coat was still marred from their battle, but she was back to her regal stature otherwise. She looked down at Chrysalis with a neutral expression.

“Threat detected, significantly weakened. Advising termination.”

“Quiet,” Chrysalis hissed, frowning at Celestia as she looked to address her. “Didn’t expect to see you out here.”

“The villagers sent word to Canterlot,” Celestia replied. “I arrived alone.”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

A small smile crept across Celestia’s muzzle. “That is the very question I had for you, Queen Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis grunted, adverting her eyes. “If you mean at Canterlot, well… I won, that’s enough for me,” she said quickly, not meeting the princess’s gaze.

“I see. And… why are you out here?” Celestia asked, taking a step forward. “Are you seeking something?”

Chrysalis worked her jaw. On one hoof, Celestia was still her adversary, and the princess knew what to expect now. Whether or not she could do anything against the scarab’s might was another question entirely. On the other hoof, Celestia was here alone. She didn’t appear to be looking for another battle, and her inquiries seemed genuine…

“Answers,” Chrysalis finally grunted, finally meeting Celestia’s eyes with a bitter frown. 

“About the new power you possess,” Celestia concluded, and Chrysalis nodded. “You seem to be able to communicate with it.”

“It… speaks to me, in my mind,” Chrysalis admitted. “I can talk to it, and it obeys my commands. Except now, when I need answers about its origin.”

Celestia hummed, nodding thoughtfully. “I may have a way to help you,” she said. “If you will trust me.”

“Trust you?” Chrysalis’s muzzle wrinkled.

Celestia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her eyes stared into Chrysalis’s as a serious look entered them. “Chrysalis, I apologize, for what I had to do to you when we first met. I would say after our last encounter we are even. And the fact that you spared my life tells me you are no bloodthirsty war monger. You’re a leader, a mother, as I am a princess to my little ponies.”

Celestia offered a gold-clad hoof out to Chrysalis. “So please, let me help you. Let’s step away from our conflict, our past.”

Chrysalis blinked in surprise, eyes searching for any hint of betrayal, any subterfuge in Celestia’s gaze. But she only saw a warm, welcoming gaze. 

She vaguely wondered if her changelings often saw that in herself.

Swallowing, Chrysalis nodded, setting her hoof on Celestia’s. “Very well. We’re even.”

Celestia’s smile broadened. “Then come, we must return to Canterlot.”


To Be Continued…