//------------------------------// // Not Me // Story: In the Eyes of the Beholder // by FangPrincess //------------------------------// |Chapter 2| | ~ | Not Me ____________________________________________ I see that you have returned once more. Curious to see what has happened to our poor princess, now are we? Well, when Emerald left, there was a small group of ponies--unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony--that still believed her to be their one true ruler. They tried their very best to follow her, tracking her movements as best as they possibly could. It seemed as if she were running from them, but they had no idea why. One day, they found her hiding in a cave. They stood outside of it, calling for her. "Princess, why wont you come?" "Why wont you rule us?" "We alone have stayed loyal to you," Upon hearing these words, Emerald sensed something. What was it? She could taste it on her tongue, like the sweetest sugar. She could smell it, like the sweet smelling spring flowers. She could hear it in her ears, like the most beautiful tinkling of bells. She could see it through the dark of the cave, an aura of pretty colors snaking in from outside. "You will live until the end of your days, watching other ponies love, but you shall not feel any for yourself!," the words echoed cruelly in her mind, "You will be like a leech, sucking them dry to survive." She edged closer to the sweet smelling mist, inhaling it easily. She quickly became aware of her hunger, and breathed it in more greedily than she'd liked. Pausing a moment, she decided to call out to her subjects. "Why do you follow me?" "We only want you, Princess!" "I fear that you will not like what you see," she called back, her voice cool and calm. But they begged her even so, saying that nothing could ever deter them from her. She adhered to their request, and came out of the cave. Her new appearance shocked them all, few even ran away, some letting out gasps of surprise. One mare ventured to ask her what had happened. She was the first to die. No pony really knows what happened during that time, but many were killed by the mighty creature that was Emerald. Maybe the question had sparked her anger. Maybe it had been an accident. Who knows? I wasn't there. Only five were left after that. Two mares, two stallions, and one little filly. No one remembers what race they were, but after what happened, it didn't exactly matter any more. They all became the same. Not exactly knowing what she was doing, Emerald flew up in hysterics at the sight of the dead ponies. Trying to reward or even compensate the remaining five, she tried giving them some of her power. I suppose you can guess what happened from there. Five new Changelings were inadvertently created, though their form was not of as great of as magnificence as their princess. They were even less pony-like than her. Emerald and her band of new changelings went from town to town, not caring which kingdom they were from. They were all ponies to them. The bringers of sustenance. Food. They saw the ponies as weaklings, inferiors. None could fight back. The pitiful creatures could do nothing to stop them. They soon forgot what they once were. Just creatures loyal to their Princess, taking her every order with no hesitation. Thoughtless drones with no feelings. Only Emerald could remember. Every time she fed, every time she killed, every time she changed one more pony into a changeling, she remembered. It's not me! It's not me! she'd cry to herself silently. It's not me! "Oh, but it is you," a voice would whisper back. "He made it you." Now since the old kingdom that had been ruled by Rose had broken apart, the selfish couple had since stayed together. Years after the dissipation of the kingdom, another filly was born. She looked just like her older sister had, only her eyes shared her father's blue as well as her mother's green. She was given the name Crystal, and just like her sister before her, that was all she'd really received from her parents. Emerald soon heard of this, and rage sprouted forth from her very soul. She could not let the two ponies she hated most wrong yet another creature as they had her. She soon devised a plan that involved the stealthiest and most cunning of her changelings. In the silence of the night, they struck. They entered the empty unkempt castle, dust and broken items littering the halls. Up to the tallest tower, and into the royal chambers. The team of changelings had expected to arrive upon a feast of love, yet there was not a trace to be found. Not one wisp of mist, not one sound of tinkling bells, not one scent of sweet sugar... nothing. Emerald had suspected this, and did not meet the predicament with disappointment like her changelings had. But what she found in her parent's room was not something she'd expected. When she walked in, she saw her tiny new born sister, her mother, and her father. But what surprised her was that her parents were both dead. How had they died? With no one to feed them, they'd died of starvation and thirst. They couldn't keep themselves alive anymore... They were too wrapped up in their own wants, too involved in their greed. The last thing Rose had ever done was name her second born. After seeing this, Emerald quickly took up her sister, and fled from the ghastly place, not wanting to stay any longer. The drones then followed without a single word or thought. The filly was taken away to the encampment of the changelings, somewhere within the boundaries of the present-day badlands. Non of the inhabitants being ponies, therefore not being able to feed the baby, she was quickly transformed. Her older sister made sure to give her more power than the drones; she was her sister after all. She would be their new princess. Another ruler. A new changeling to respect. They didn't care. They just did as they were told, and it was done, no questions asked. Not knowing of the foal's name, Emerald named her after the beautiful creations of the butterfly, the prison they broke free of to emerge as new creatures. It symbolized her new beginning, her new life, her new name. And thus, Chrysalis came to be.