//------------------------------// // Chapter Five – Mask // Story: A Study on Alicorns: Cause and Effect // by Jaelommiss //------------------------------// Chapter Five – Mask Twilight was again given a lengthy waiting period after she was left alone. She expected that Cadence was relating their conversation to the other alicorns. She resolved to remain in her seat this time. She did not want to look as though she couldn’t be patient. So there she sat. And sat. And sat some more. She could feel seconds passing. Then minutes. It felt like hours had been lost since Cadence left. Sleepiness was starting to sink in. She yawned, trying hard to stifle it, but did not move from her seat. She mentally drew an image of her friend Fluttershy’s face on the door and challenged it to a staring match. Try as she might, her chin eventually began to bob, falling as she drifted off, jerking back up when she realized she was slipping. Twilight had just pulled her eyes back up when the door swung open. It was not eased open gently, but flung open at full force. One moment Twilight saw Fluttershy’s staring face on the door, the next she saw an alicorn standing alone in the darkness beyond. Or rather, she saw a pair of green eyes and a similar mane. It was not until Chrysalis stepped out of the darkness that she could be clearly seen. Her coat and horn camouflaged well with the shadows in the chamber beyond the doorway. Twilight blinked once, both shaking the cobwebs loose from her mind and checking that she had not drifted off to sleep. Chrysalis crossed the distance between them and sat down on a dark beanbag chair that had not been there a moment before. “Much more comfortable than those old chairs,” she remarked. Twilight was not in the mood for idle chatter. She was bored and tired, and also had more important things on her mind. “So you’re not a changeling.” It was not a question. The black pony’s horn glowed for a second before spreading to the rest of her body. When it faded, Chrysalis had been replaced with her normal changeling self in all her swiss cheesed glory. “What? You mean this?” Twilight nodded. “You know transformation magic, do you not?” “That’s different. You can see what you are working with and shape the spell accordingly. It’s also entirely different to cast a spell on yourself than it is other objects.” Twilight was clearly not happy, although it was not clear if it was from being shown up at magic or having such a flaw in her teachings. “Oh, it’s much harder. Yes. But far from impossible once you get the hang of it.” Chrysalis shrugged before changing back into an alicorn. “I used a reflective puddle as a mirror when I began.” Twilight gave her a skeptical look, but said nothing. “Casting spells on oneself is one of the many benefits of an alicorn’s increased powers,” Chrysalis said, “You will come to know it in time.” Twilight was clearly not satisfied by the answer, but dropped the topic regardless. “So changelings are what? Ponies you abducted then transformed?” Her tone was not openly hostile, but certainly far from friendly. Chrysalis feigned offense. “Who, me?”  Twilight waited for a real answer. “No, youngling. I did not make them. I knew them before I Changed.” Twilight seemed to accept this. “Ponies used to know of changelings?” “Ponies used to live with changelings. They inhabited Equestria before ponies immigrated here. At first there was conflict, but we eventually learned to coexist.” “You were with the first ponies to travel to Equestria?” That would have been thousands of years ago. Twilight knew that alicorns could live forever, but even so that was a long time. Chrysalis seemed genuinely amused by the unicorn. “No, youngling. I was born a few hundred years after the exodus. Changelings were leaving Equestria, but there were still a few changeling settlements around. In my youth I went to one to learn of their ways. You see, despite living together for so long we hardly knew anything of each other.” “You lived together for centuries but knew nothing about them?” asked Twilight skeptically, “How is that possible?” “Tell me, youngling, what do you know of dragons? They too have been in Equestria longer than ponies.” Twilight opened her mouth to answer before closing it when a retort did not come out. “I thought not. I trust you will not ask any more foolish questions?”  Twilight nodded sheepishly. “As I said, I went to a changeling settlement to study their ways and learn more of their culture. Strangely, they welcomed me with open arms. I was suspicious of them, but it aided my research so I did not question it too much. For all I knew they saw me as an honoured guest.” Chrysalis shook her head, “It’s too bad there were no complete records of our first interactions. I knew little more than that they existed and we had had conflict between us in the past. How was I to know that they leeched love from their prey? As I said, they treated me kindly, kindness that I reciprocated, both out of respect and because it would aid my investigation.” “Changelings live in settlements called hives, I learned. There is one hive per settlement, and one hive queen per hive. The hive queen is the ruler and mother for the entire population. You must understand that female changelings are rare, often no more than three per hive queen’s lifetime, and as such are highly valued. One of the few daughters will eventually take over the hive and become the new queen. This is significant as a queen can lay upwards of a hundred eggs per year and can remain productive for close to a century. Of course, the number of eggs will depend on how well fed the queen is, or rather how much love she can leech from other creatures. Since ponies had come to Equestria, they had lost vast amounts of territory, and thus food. We did not understand at the time, but the changelings were going extinct, not moving away. There were at least threescore hives when ponies first came to Equestria. By the time of my investigation there were five.” “A changeling holiday occurred less than two weeks into my visit, and I was invited as a guest of honour. The festival went well at first. There was music and dancing that, although I was not accustomed to it, was strangely pleasant. There were exotic arts on display and floral exhibits decorating the walls. It was during this time that the hive queen drew me aside for ‘a matter of great importance’. She explained to me that her magics allowed her to look young, for such she did, despite her great age. She was nearing the end of her life, another year at most, less if winter was hard, and that her hive would die out when that happened. A rival tribe was encroaching on the edge of their territory and waiting to take control. Even if her daughter took control, the hive would still be destroyed: they did not have the strength to fight another, larger hive. “She asked me to help, and as a young male unicorn with an ego to feed, I accepted. Her plan was to have me create a unicorn/changeling hybrid with her daughter, bearing both their abilities in transformation and my power of magic.” She was interrupted by Twilight, “Wait, wait, wait. A male unicorn?” Chrysalis had expected that question to come up, “Yes, youngling, male. When I Changed my gender was changed. There have been female unicorns that turned into male alicorns, too. Discord was one of them, although he chooses not to appear as an alicorn. It seems to be random what gender will be produced after the Changing.” Gears ground in Twilight's head as she processed this tidbit of information. “So I might have different plumbing…” She murmured to herself. A few seconds later she looked at Chrysalis again. “Please, continue.” “As I said, I accepted the hive queen’s offer. I will admit, I was greatly excited to see if it were possible. A unicorn changeling, free of hive restraints, could save the failing changeling race and simultaneously ease prejudices between our two species. Towards the evening the activities died down for a feast. Their queen had me sit at her table to her left, her daughter to the right. I later found out that her other daughter had been slaughtered by a rival tribe’s ambush. As (I assumed) was customary, the queen rose for a speech, more or less sharing her plan with the hive. I was almost surprised at how much support they gave.” “It turns out that changelings can work extremely fast when they set their minds to something. We, myself and the queen’s daughter, were wed after traditional changeling fashion not long after. At first it was great. I lived as royalty and had access to changeling secrets that had been kept from me until that time. Despite being kept busy by my new wife and having far less time to research, I found that I was learning at a significantly greater rate. It gradually realized that the queen’s daughter was extremely active, if you know what I mean. More than I expected she would. Sure, she could transform herself to ensure that we were never bored, but eventually it got to the point where I would look forward to the couple hours each day I was given to study.” “About six months into my visit, for I originally planned to stay but a short time, I concluded my research and announced that I would be travelling away for a week to publish my findings. They knew why I was there, and so I was shocked when my request was denied. I knew that my new obligations would keep me attached to the hive, but I had not expected that I would not be permitted to leave for any amount of time. Over the next week I tried pleading with the queen, whose body was now failing fast, to be allowed to leave. At first it was little more than a five minute discussion, but after a few days we had nearly gotten to blows.” “One night I decided to simply slip out. When I had arrived, there was only a pair of sickly guards on the main doors and the odd patrol wandering the streets. I was confident that I could use my magic to deal with any guards that tried to stop me if pulling rank failed. I got to the main gate without issue, and there found an obstacle I had not thought of. My wife was there, waiting, waiting. The moment she stepped from the shadows, we both knew my escape was over.” “To be short, she raised the alarm and I was captured by the guards. In the months since the wedding the entire hive had grown strong. It had not occurred to me that they had been feeding off the love and lust that the queen’s daughter had extracted from me. I was taken and bound in the deepest cell they could find. My wife explained that I could not leave; they needed me for a food source. I was contained for years being… harvested… at regular intervals. Unlike before where she would take but a little from me, she would not drain me entirely each time, leaving just enough for me to recover between sessions. During this time her mother, the hive queen, passed away. I had hoped that I could escape while the hive changed ownership, but I was not so fortunate. My magical capabilities had been gradually drained throughout my imprisonment.” Twilight was surprised at how forthcoming the alicorn was with what must have been a traumatic event in her life. “You must have gotten out somehow. After all, you’re here, not in a dungeon.” “Eventually, youngling. Escape came in due time. I had been sending regular reports to my master, the current ruler of the land (Celestia had been overthrown by the time I was born) while I was still free. I guessed that they would be read by the queen so I was careful to leave out any details. I assume that they cleverly forged messages from me after I was captured. Otherwise the Prince – my master, I mean – would have surely extracted me sooner.” “It was three years after my foiled escape that I came up with a plan to break out, although it took longer before I managed to get away. By this time there was a significant unicorn/changeling population in the hive. I had seen enough of them to learn how they transformed themselves using magic, and was confident that I could use it on myself. Despite the new queen’s best efforts to squeeze my power from me, I had held onto a small fragment of magic. I used this scraping to transform myself into one of them. My plan worked and one of my captors lowered his guard long enough for me to incapacitate him. It was then a simple matter to walk out the main gate, transform back into a unicorn, and hitch a ride back to my master.” “Five years from when I had first arrived at the hive, I returned home to my master. We counselled for close to a week. I recounted my misadventures and how the changelings had manipulated me for their own gain. He shared what I had missed during my imprisonment. The other changeling hives had fallen to my hybrid offspring, leaving my hive free to spread. They had risen in power to the point where they challenged the pony population of Equestria for power and had secured alternate food sources to back them up. By the time of my escape, I was being farmed for torture and punishment more than a need for food. War was coming and my completed research came at a perfect time.” “For my trials I was rewarded with the same opportunity that you face today, youngling. I passed, Changed, and was appointed to lead the Equestrian forces to war against my children. It was long and bloody, but in the end I stood triumphant above the body of my broken wife, though she no longer recognized me. I sent away what remained of my children, never again to inhabit Equestria.” “I should have returned to a hero’s welcome. For a time it seemed that I did, but my master never again trusted me. Like my former hive, I had grown too powerful for him to ignore and I had influence over the hearts and minds of his subjects. He came to me while I slept, still recovering from the battles that I fought in his name, and banished me. Nothing fancy, but teleported me away with a note to never return. With nowhere else to turn, I transformed myself into a changeling and took command over what was left of my banished hive. Blessed with an alicorn’s longevity I have led them since, biding our time until we could again return to the land we originally inhabited.” Chrysalis ended the tale there. Twilight knew what happened next. She had thwarted the changeling return. Chrysalis started talking again, although noticeably less focused that before, “The changelings you saw in the Canterlot invasion were my hybrid changelings. True changelings have been extinct since before I escaped. After my master was overthrown I spent years searching the wilds for any survivors, but my hive had been thorough. I doubt you would recognize a real changeling. They were far smaller, no larger than a filly, without a horn. They still had the wings. The holes in their limbs would appear and disappear depending on how well fed they were. They would fill when nourished, but get larger if starvation was setting in. My children were starving when you fought them. It had been decades since we had a steady food source.” Twilight sat in silence, unsure of what to say. Eventually she decided on, “What happened to them? After being defeated again, I mean.” Chrysalis laughed a humourless laugh, “Most of them? Dead. They no longer had the strength to recover after being flung across the countryside. I gathered what few survivors I could find. Perhaps two dozen. They are being kept alive here in Canterlot, by Celestia, until we safely move out again. There might have been more who survived at first, but they are likely gone by now, either flown away or hunted down.” “Chrysalis, I did not –,” Twilight tried to apologize, but was interrupted by an angry alicorn. “Did not what? Did not know? How would you? How could you?” Her voice softened, “We came as aggressors, attacking a civilian city. Worse, I should have anticipated that Celestia would keep failsafes in case she was defeated. The entire plan was based on rounding up the population to show them their monarch fall. Although you do not see it, she has me bound to her. I can no more leave this city than I could save what’s left of my hive. Beware, Twilight, eternal power comes with chains heavier than any iron, walls stronger than any stone. You have my support.” Chrysalis abruptly stood and exited the room.