Chapter 7: The Night Alternia Died
“You do not lose family to death alone and there is nothing more painful than losing family.”
– Author’s Quote
The night I died was to be the day of my ascension. The dawn of my own hive became the death of everything I loved and all I ever knew.
I had just left my mother and was making my way to meet my changelings. The hive’s corridors were dim, lit only by phosphorous slime that also provided structural integrity. So I barely noticed a group chevaliers heading toward me. At first, I thought nothing of it, but I noticed something was strange about these changelings. They were armed with poleaxes, brutal weapons that were a hybrid between an axe, hammer and spear. Over their carapaces, the chevaliers wore dark purple armour, burnished to a dull sheen.
Changelings are very tough creatures and naturally armored; we generally do not go armed or armored, especially within the safety of our hive. The fact that these chevaliers were walking around in war gear was enough cause for suspicion. These chevaliers also seemed to focus on me. Their eyes were not averted in normal deference, but followed my every movement. It was like they were hunting me. Instinctively, I glanced behind me and saw five more armed changelings. Something was very wrong. I took one final step forward and was met with a bristling wall of spear points.
“What is the meaning of this?” I demanded, hastily backing away, keeping a wary eye on the chevaliers behind me.
“Please do not resist, Queen Alternia,” said one of the chevaliers, wisps of magic gathering at his horn. Biting my lip I exhaled slowly. I was caught by two groups of heavily armed and ready chevaliers. I had to separate them.
My horn flashed as I sealed the corridor in front of me with the strongest shield I knew. Spinning around, I watched as the five other chevaliers charged. Levelling my shimmering horn at the chevaliers, I let loose an inferno of emerald flames. The changelings jumped backward, but one was enveloped in the conflagration. He gave an ear-piercing shriek and collapsed. Immediately, I seized his poleaxe with my magic and turned to the remaining four. They advanced, hooves taking small, measured steps, I leapt off my rear hooves, the axehead of my weapon scything down upon the nearest of my opponents. He jumped to the side and dodged my weapon by a hairs-breadth. My teeth ground together as I saw his companions’ weapons were now whistling through the air towards me. Quickly, I pushed hard with my front hooves and flapped my wings. The heads of their weapons smashed into the ground where my hooves once stood, kicking up clouds of dust. The chevaliers were slow to bring up their weapons, though. With the hammer-head of my poleaxe, I slammed two of the changelings against the wall. While I was focusing on those two, one of my enemies galloped forward and wrapped his hooves around my rear legs. His partner, wings buzzing furiously, flew towards me, his poleaxe cradled under his hooves like a lance. I tried to step back, but my legs were pinned. Acting on instinct, I shifted my weight and twisted myself to the side as much as possible. His spear glanced off my chest, leaving a deep gouge, but not drawing blood. The chevalier’s eyes widened, and he gasped as he was surrounded by the green glimmer of my sorcery. Flicking my head to the right, I propelled the changeling into his compatriot and winced at the sickening crunch of armour and carapace. Panting from my exertions of magic, I turned to the remaining ten chevaliers. They had just broken through my shield and I groaned aloud.
“Surrender Princess!” hissed the commander of the chevaliers. Even in my exhaustion, I bared my fangs at him and snarled. Then, I blinked, grinned and gently set down my poleaxe.
The chevaliers chittered uncomprehendingly at my expression. Suddenly, the commander found himself lifted unwillingly into the air by the shimmering lime hue of my magic. Eyes lidded, I glared at my trembling opponents and swung the captain into the ranks of of his own command. With each flick of my head, I bowled another changeling over with a mass of cold metal and unyielding chitin. Despite the leader’s howls for his changelings to kill him, the chevaliers refused to do so. After many swings, I was greeted with the moans and clicks of nine unconscious changelings. Only one, the chevalier whom I had used as a club, was awake. Tossing him onto the ground, I stood over the trembling soldier.
“Why did you try to restrain me? Answer me, and I may be lenient!” I roared. The chevalier cringed, but did not respond. So I raised my hoof and placed it on his throat.
“Your sister, Chrysalis!” gasped the chevalier. I froze, staring at the changeling, hoping it was a lie. His eyes, though wet with fear, told the truth. Growling, my horn flashed and his eyes slowly closed.
“Why would Chrysalis try to restrain me now? Mother would...” I paused in my musings and gasped. Cold horror, like nothing I have ever felt filled my veins and galvanized me to action. I closed my eyes and opened a portal to the entrance hall. As I cantered through, three hundred pairs of eyes focused on me.
“Milady! What is the matter?” asked one of my chevaliers.
“My mother is in danger. Chrysalis is launching a coup. We must go to the throne room immediately,” I said. The dreaded words echoed through the cavern, their meaning slowly warping the expressions of my supporters. For a moment, my heart sank.
Then from the swarm of my allies, there was a cry. “We live to serve you, milady!” That cry was echoed by the rest of my chevaliers and drones, each male and female announcing their loyalty for me. I tried to smile, but fear only allowed me a grimace.
“Thank you. We go to the throne room!” I yelled. My changelings cheered and we emptied the hall, not toward the light at the end, but into the dimly lit corridors of the hive.
The Throne Room...
The throne hall was the biggest cavern in the hive. It was long and had a very high ceiling secured by a mat of tree roots. Although we had no foreign dignitaries to impress, it served well to remind most changelings of my mother’s might. As I entered the throne room, disguised as a normal drone, I was shocked to see it packed with five hundred Changelings. Forcing myself to breath normally, I hefted my chosen weapon, a six foot long halberd. Slowly, I pushed my way through the horde of changelings that were inside the hall and was confronted with a sight that I never dreamed of.
“What have you done, Chrysalis?” demanded Chamelia. My mother sat calmly on her throne of black obsidian, in spite of the poleaxes pointed to her throat. At the base of the throne, separated from my mother by a circle of traitorous changelings, was my sister. She had a calm expression and was carrying a long iron-shafted spear with her magic.
“I am holding you hostage,” explained Chrysalis, tone level, but eyes hard as her carapace. My mother’s eyes narrowed, and she snarled.
I blinked. Where were my mother's guards? I glanced around the foot of the throne and saw chevaliers that looked as if they had fallen asleep.
“Hypnosis is forbidden unless in a life or death situation! How dare you use it upon your own kind! Have you learnt nothing from what I taught you?” said my mother with a snarl.
“You’ve taught me plenty, mother. But I’ve realized something more important. Sometimes, certain actions must be undertaken for the greater good. Now, mother, all you have to do is give me the link to the entire hive. After that I will release you,” said Chrysalis.
Chamelia’s eyes widened at Chrysalis’s statement, “Is this about your younger sister? Alternia was going to leave! What does she have to do with this?”
“I would be lying if I said she had nothing to do with this, but the fault is yours. You’ve let your love for Alternia, for my sisters, make you soft. You want to talk to the pony princesses! Open diplomatic relations and reveal our race to the world! We live by deception mother, we were built to lie. We excel in this life, and cannot live in any other way!” declared Chrysalis.
If I had been surprised by Chrysalis’s revelation, I was far more shocked by what happened next. My mother glared back at Chrysalis, who stepped back. I think I did too, for I had never seen my mother so angry. Though Chamelia remained motionless, she suddenly towered over the changelings in the hall. Her eyes were narrowed, sharp and flashing with rage. Yet, there seemed to be a dejected tone to her curse. “Then I have failed you and doomed our hive. Your misplaced faith in the superiority of our species has blinded you to the future. One day, you will be wondering why you did not listen to me. You must forsake this path, Chrysalis, or you will be punished.”
“Punished by whom, mother? Alternia? My soldiers should have restrained her by now,” stammered Chrysalis.
As my mother replied, her words fell like hammer blows on an anvil. Each blow echoing through the space of the hall. “Mark my words, Chrysalis! If you refuse to change with this world, you will doom yourself and any changeling foolish to follow you!”
At that moment I dropped my disguise and cast a portal. In a roar of flames, I stepped out next to my mother and with a blast of magic, took out the guards who dared to point their spears at her. Chrysalis was so shocked that she barely reacted as my horn glowed and I hefted my weapon.
“Surrender, Chrysalis!” I roared.
“Never!” she screamed and drove the point of her spear toward my face. Flapping hard with my wings, I saw the weapon cut past my cheek.
“Then I will defeat you!” I brought my halberd crashing upon Chrysalis’s head. She just managed to raise her spear to stop its descent. Meanwhile, my changelings, who had been waiting in the adjacent rooms, rushed into the hall. Buzzing wings filled the air as they threw themselves upon Chrysalis’s changelings. The clang of clashing weapons and howling battle cries filled my ears, but I only had eyes for the changeling queen in front of me.
Chrysalis let her spear’s tip sway side to side, like a coiled snake ready to strike. I waited, my halberd’s shaft held diagonally. Mockingly, the spear danced forward and then flew back. I held my breath in anticipation, but dared not react to the fient.
Out of nowhere, Chrysalis lunged, her spear cutting forward, seeking blood. Stepping backwards, I deflected the strike with the haft of my weapon. I then whirled my halberd through the air in a slash at her head. Chrysalis, her lips twisted in a sneer, lowered her head and ducked under my swing. Raising her head once more, she snorted at me.
“Sister, do you really think you can beat me?” giggled Chrysalis. She charged forward once again, her spear arching toward my head. Gritting my teeth, I raised my halberd and saw sparks flying as the spear hit my weapon’s head.
“I see no sister in front of me, traitor!” I hissed. I saw Chrysalis’s eyes widen. As fast as I could, I channeled my will into my horn and released it. Flames scorched the air in front of me and a ‘crack’ filled the hall. Chrysalis bounced across the hall like a ball and smashed into the wall so hard, it collapsed upon her in a cloud of dust. I stepped forward toward the cloud and waited to see if she would come out.
She emerged, coughing and covered in debris. “Alternia, please, you have you to understand! Mother –”
“You dare call her mother? She raised us, fed us and trained us. We owe her everything. Yet, you repay her with a coup?” I roared. Infuriated, I galloped forward, swinging my halberd down like a hammer. Chrysalis’s eyes widened as she leapt to the side. A moment later, my halberd ripped through the space where she had just stood. I began to turn to follow up my attack, but found the breath knocked out of me as I was met the iron-shod butt of her spear. I gasped and staggered backward, trying to get as far away from my enemy as possible. Yet, Chrysalis didn’t attack.
Instead, she spoke, “Mother has gone mad! If she reveals our species to the ponies, there will be nowhere that we can hide! She thinks we will be welcomed openly as allies and friends, but she’s wrong! You have heard of what the ponies did to the Windigoes, Discord and Sombra! They have no love for anything that is not a pony!” I listened to my sister, eyes narrowed. When she finished, I shook my head in disbelief and sneered at her.
“And you honestly think this will solve the problem? Don’t try to deceive me, Chrysalis. All you want is mother’s throne!” I lunged on the last word of my rebuttal, and the spear tip of my halberd lanced toward her. She managed to parry the blow, but I continued to charge, head held low and horn tip pointed to her carapace. Dropping her head down, Chrsyalis slammed her horn against mine, sending vibrations through my vision. Eye-to-eye, horns locked, weapons pressed together, we strained against each other, struggling to find additional purchase on the floor. I could hear her gasping breaths and see the dust and sweat on her carapace.
“Of course I want her throne. I want to show her I can lead this hive better than her. I want her to be proud of me!” rasped Chrysalis. I blinked, shocked at her declaration and suddenly felt the pressure at my forehead building up. I found myself sliding, my hooves unable to grip the earthen floor as Chrysalis slowly stepped forward. I strained against her, forcing my hooves against the ground, but I continued to be pushed toward the looming wall. With every muscle in my neck I wrenched my head away, breaking the lock. As I scurried away, Chrysalis immediately sent her spear chasing after me. With great effort, I raised a shield of magic, hoping for some respite.
To my horror, the spear gave off a turquoise glow and passed through the shield like it never existed. Panic lent speed to my retreat, but to no avail. I saw the spear nearing my chest and felt the cold pinpoint of the weapon touch my chest. Desperate, I opened a portal and disappeared. My vision briefly turned black as I went through the darkness of the doorway and relaxed.
When I stepped out, I froze with terror as I saw the spear flying towards me. Chrysalis had anticipated where I was going to escape and thrown her weapon to the location. I raised my halberd, but my weapon, once so light, now weighed like a boulder. I held my breath and closed my eyes, bracing myself for whatever death had in store for me.
The expected pain, the impact, it never came. I felt nothing. I heard nothing as well. The sounds of battle had suddenly grown silent.
“No!” screamed a voice filled with anguish and disbelief, emotions I had rarely seen from Chrysalis. But why was she screaming? Wasn’t I dead? Hesitantly, I relaxed my cheeks and eyelids and opened my eyes. A tall, slender, dark form stood in front of me. A crown antenna sat regally on her head. It was my mother, her transparent wings lifted like protective walls. Protruding from the chitin of her chest was the shaft of Chrysalis’s spear.
At that moment, I could not breathe. It seemed like time had stopped. Chrysalis’s cry had been muffled to buzzing, incoherent, static. My vision blurred, as my mother collapsed to the ground. I raced forward, hooves clattering against the floor and threw myself to her side, an effort that seemed to take forever. I knew it was futile, but I cast a healing spell anyway. My mother did not say a single word. Her eyes creased and the corners of her mouth turned upwards in a smile. It was a wide smile, but one that would not banish my tears. Then she closed her eyes and sighed.
With that sigh, all of my warmth left my body. I felt, numb, cold. There was nothing I could hear or feel. Everything I saw was my mother’s still expression and her final smile. I do not know how long I sat. What I do know was that something began to burn within me. The hot fury of anger coursed in my veins. I felt it lash at myself for making my mother save me, for the events that brought about this tragedy. Part of me was wracked in the limbo of denial. But it was grief that weighed down on my chest like an unstoppable force and gripped my throat like a vice. All that pressure, all of my pent up emotions, I had to release it. I knew who I would direct it to.
I turned and saw Chrysalis, staring at me and my mother, her eyes filled with tears, yet they were sharp and narrowed. Those pinpricks were filled with hate and jealousy. We both knew what was going to happen next.
“Murderer!” I charged, slashing my weapon wildly, aiming at my enemy’s neck. Chrysalis rolled under my weapon, but cried out as my halberd cut off the tip of her ear. Standing tall, her horn glowed and I felt myself rising into the air and then propelled into the ground. Blinking away the pain, I struggled back up, blinking tears away from my eyes and growled. Chrysalis had retrieved her spear from my mother’s corpse and was hurtling towards me. I grimaced and met her spear with my weapon’s hilt. “Are you happy now, Chrysalis? Mother’s dead! The throne is yours!”
My once-sister let out a wail of anguish and flung her spear at my neck. I dodged it, but winced as the spear cut across my cheek.
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! This wasn’t supposed to happen!” wailed Chrysalis.
“Of course it wasn’t!” I sobbed. I swung my halberd and sank it into her shoulder, causing a spew of green blood. She retaliated with a stab to my hoof that made me wince. I returned with a cut to her face. She slammed me into the wall of the hall, and we grappled with one another, hoof and fang. We whirled, punched and bucked each other, cracking our carapaces and drawing each other’s blood. It was like a brawl between young changelings, uncontrolled, uncoordinated. Like how she and I used to fight. But that was when we fought for fun, not for the throne.
“Why did mother love you so much? What did you do to make mother love you so much? Why did you kill her?” screamed Chrysalis. My only response was a snarl and to pounce forward, seizing her throat with my jaws. Screaming, Chrysalis pounded my back and mauled my wings with her hooves and fangs. They ached, but they could not quell my desire for revenge, nor compare to the loss of my mother. Desperate, Chrysalis ripped me from her throat with her magic, sending me flying away from her.
That was when she got lucky.
I was slammed into the ground, face-first, and rolled several times before coming to a rest on my side. Shaking my head, I moved my legs and gasped as a wave of pain shot up my front hooves. I looked down and to my dismay and revulsion, saw both my front hooves bent where they should not be bent. The carapace was shattered and cracked. My blood coursed from these new springs of pain like sickening rivers.
I looked up. Chrysalis was standing unsteadily, a hoof prodding experimentally at the ripped and torn chitin of her throat. “What’s the matter, Alternia? Having trouble getting up?” rasped Chrysalis. As I gazed up toward Chrysalis, panic filled my heart. My rear hooves scrabbled uselessly at the ground in a futile attempt to rise. All of my earlier rage was replaced by fear, which grew with every step of Chrysalis’s advance. I had to get away, but my strength had left with my anger and Chrysalis was too close.
That was when Chrysalis was tackled by four changeling drones. Their combined weight threw her to the ground and pinned her. Two chevaliers suddenly appeared beside me. Both were covered in scrapes and their carapaces was scored with wounds, but they lifted me up on their shoulders. “Milady, can you still teleport?” asked one of them. I shook my head and they nodded. “Alright, we’ll teleport you to the pony castle. You can disguise yourself as a pony and they’ll heal you up in no time.”
At that, my eyes widened. “No! I can’t abandon you!”
Despite my plea, the two changelings ignored me and their horns began to glow. “Goodbye, milady,” said one of them. Emerald flames rose around me. Through the curtain of fire, I saw that Chrysalis had gotten free. She had shaken off the four drones and was charging at us, her spear gripped awkwardly in her hooves. I knew she was too far away to do anything and then my heart sank when she threw her spear.
I shouted a cry, but my two chevaliers were too busy with the spell. I could do nothing else, but stare in alarm at the plunging spear-tip. As my vision turned into shimmering green, I felt the spear pierce my chitin, slice into my flesh and tear into my stomach.
Agony blossomed in my midsection, along with the despair that I was going to die.