Requiem of Equestria

by TheBlox


Curse of the Changelings

With Fluttershy in tow, Scootaloo returned to the others. With Chrysalis now involved in their group, she sighed with relief that nopony had gone anywhere—the Queen may actually be here to help without any tricks up her sleeves. Landing on the ground, she set Fluttershy down, and trot toward them.

“I-I’m gonna stay here…” Fluttershy murmured.

Scootaloo turned to see that she was still afraid of confronting the changelings. “Fluttershy, it’s alright.”

“I just… I don’t know.”

Understanding the frightened mare, Scootaloo nodded. “Just stay close enough that you don’t lose sight of us.”

“O-okay…”

With that, Scootaloo turned back and returned to the others. They acknowledged that Fluttershy wasn’t following her, and they looked to Scootaloo in question. When Scootaloo met up with the others, she sighed and nodded. “She needs a bit of time to take in what’s going on.”

“Well I don’t blame her,” Rarity exclaimed. Taking the initiative, she trot back to see Fluttershy. “I’ll go talk to her so she isn’t way over there by herself. Somepony should.”

“Right.”

That settled, Scootaloo turned to look down to the cocooned pegasus on the ground. Her ears folded back and she sighed before looking back up to Chrysalis. Chrysalis looked back at her in silence.

“So, this cocoon spell of yours,” she questioned the Queen, “How long is it going to take to fully recover Rainbow Dash?”

Chrysalis took a glance at Rainbow Dash, giving her a short examination. “Based on how bad the wound is… four, maybe five hours.”

Scootaloo sighed and sat on her flank impatiently.

“Could be worse,” Twilight said, trying to ease the tension.

“Indeed, she could be dead,” Chrysalis exclaimed. “As a matter of fact, she should be. She is very lucky… The spell hit her mere inches from her heart.”

Scootaloo lowered her head briefly and nodded, understanding the situation at hand. She turned her neck to look back to Fluttershy and Rarity, who were still talking. From where she was, it looked like Fluttershy was slowly beginning to warm up, but she did still look scared. Turning back to face Chrysalis, she cleared her throat before she spoke.

“So, since we’ve got some time to kill… Why don’t you start by explaining to us what’s going on?” She turned to Twilight and pointed at her. “Why did you free Twilight?” She put her hoof down and looked to her cocooned friend, sighing. “Why are you healing Rainbow Dash?” Looking back up to Chrysalis, her ears fell back. “This isn’t making sense… You first try to trap us all, but now here you are, helping us. Why, Chrysalis?” Her eyes widened and she eyed Twilight. “The fact you’re presenting the Queen of the Changelings with good intentions isn’t making sense at all either! Did you even retaliate when the first thing you saw opening your eyes was the changeling Queen?!”

A short pause, and Twilight responded with a simple and quiet answer. “No.”

Scootaloo was then silent. She couldn’t think of any words to say to that. Her expression of sheer disbelief said everything.

“When I opened my eyes, yes, I was at first frightened,” Twilight explained herself calmly. “But the eyes looking into mine… I’ve seen those eyes before.” She looked to Chrysalis. “The sadness, the aching heart, the tears… She looked just as frightened as I was. Because she knew that freeing me could have been a very big mistake. I am an alicorn Princess after all. Though… no, she didn’t tell me why, only that she wanted to help us, and that she needed help. So, I chose not to attack, and learn to understand her intentions, as time was short.”

“True, you could have retaliated,” Flake said. “So… what were her intentions?” He looked back to Chrysalis. “Why did you do it?”

Chrysalis exhaled a long sigh, and she sat on her flank, lowering her head. “You will think me selfish. But you three particularly should know the truth.” The others waited patiently for her to continue. Even Twilight was now giving her funny looks. “Somewhere within these caves is a monster… A large, king changeling, too powerful for me nor my hive to defeat.” She gestured to Twilight. “I’ve resorted to freeing the Elements of Harmony, in hopes that they would be able to stop him before he destroys us first.”

“Now, hold on… You’re just using us to protect your own hide?” Scootaloo bluntly went to the point. “And when he’s vanquished, what next? Huh? You going to just cocoon us again once the threat’s gone and all is well?!”

Chrysalis squinted and felt the anger in Scootaloo’s voice. “If I didn’t do this, my hive would be at risk for a merciless doom. I will free all of your ponies when this is all done… and I will leave Equestria. And I won’t come back to bother you again… Nothing is worth losing my little changelings. They’re like my children. And feeding off of love is the only way to keep them alive.” She turned away and lowered her head. “I just can’t say I know where I will go, nor where I will find another source of love to feed them. You wouldn’t understand. This… this is the only way for them to stay alive.” She shook her head in self-disgust. “No, I don’t like this way of life. But this is the way we are. We need love, or we die. And the only way to get it, is to take it like this… In the beginning of our invasion, I never wanted to trap the ponies. I was doing what I felt was right to save my children from extinction.”

Scootaloo was still expressing a frown. She pointed behind her to emphasize what she has all gone through, and uncontrollably began shrieking. “You still have a lot of blood on your hooves! Have you not seen the pony graveyard in the river?!” Stomping her hoof, she cringed at the thought of the deceased. “I don’t know what you plan on doing once we round up the Elements of Harmony and take down this threat you speak of, but how could I ever trust you or forgive you for all that you’ve done?!”

Slowly exhaling through her nostrils, the Queen lowered her head and murmured, “I don’t. I’ve lived for more than a millennia, and to this day, I still don’t know what our purpose as changelings even is. All we do is cause desolation, and it is very hard to accept such a life. When we feed the love off of our victims, if they run dry, they just die. Just like we do if we are to run out.”

“So you dump them in the river and say good riddance.”

“What else are we to do?” the sorrowful Queen solemnly asked. “Ponies would never simply allow us to consume their love so we can live. No, we have to take it, because it’s the only way. And when the ponies die as a result of consuming their essence of love, we don’t know how to feel about it. They become empty souls; their purpose justified.” She shrugged. “We throw the ponies into the river because we don’t feel we should keep them anywhere else. What good is a soulless body? What do you do with such? When somepony dies, they are empty. They become nothing, and need nothing.”

“...Nothing?” Scootaloo’s frown intensified. “Of course you of all changelings would say that. You can’t decide how to feel about death because you don’t know what it means to die. You’ve been alive for over a thousand years! So you can’t even relate to a dying creature, and you don’t even consider what it may be like after death!” She shook her head in disgust. “It’s selfish! You’re no different than any of the other changelings; empty and cold! You have no appreciation for the deceased!”

The cave fell silent apart from the rapids. Chrysalis slowly nodded, trying to find words to say. Twilight was even giving Chrysalis funny looks now, only just finding out about the pony graveyard.

“If you did die, Chrysalis, what would you want from others to do with your body?”

Chrysalis squinted and turned away. “It wouldn’t matter. I’d become nothing.”

“Why in the heck would you even believe something so absurd?”

“Or maybe I deserve nothing!” Chrysalis finally snapped a shriek back at Scootaloo. Scootaloo’s eyes widened, and she took a step back from the Queen’s intimidating hollar. “I don’t care, okay?! Dump me in a ditch if I die! After all the lives I’ve clearly taken away, then maybe I should be dead!” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. “I hate this life; this burden! Day in, day out, I just want it to end. But I don’t let that happen, because without me, my children will starve to death! So for their sake, I continue this cursed lifestyle and consume other lives so theirs can go on!” Trying to calm her tone down, she sighed and continued, “We live like arachnids. We hide and we feed, or we die.”

Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel at least a little sympathy for the Queen after a response like that.

“When this is all over, I will command my changelings to free all of the other cocooned ponies and leave them alone.”

“Chrysalis.” Flake stepped up to her, and she looked back down to him in question. “Scootaloo has taught me a lot since I’ve met her.”

“Taught you?” She sighed and sat on her flank. “Taught you what?”

“First of all, have you not noticed anything different about me?”

Exhaling through her nose, the Queen looked closely at him. It didn’t take her long, and she stepped back with widened eyes. She was dumbfounded that she didn’t notice it sooner—he wasn’t black like a changeling should be; his coat was olive. Memories of her past began to echo in the back of her mind from a millennia ago. Back in a day when all changelings had colour, before she was Queen, when her kind did not require the consumption of love to survive.

“How…?” she murmured quietly.

“Scootaloo taught me that love is something that can only be given; not taken. She showed me what it means, what it represents, and why consuming it is only making us a weaker race.”

A pause. Chrysalis tried to understand. “So… Are you saying there is another way?”

“She saved my life, in more ways than one,” Flake exclaimed. “Chitin had cast Red Death upon me, and Scootaloo gave me an antidote so I could heal.”

“What?” Chrysalis looked to Scootaloo in question. “During our pursuit in capturing you, you took the time to save one of us?” Her eyes expressed deep gratitude. She didn’t know how to respond to that. “...But, why?”

“Originally, I was the changeling who had captured her. Yet, despite that, she still chose to save my life.” Flake shook his head and silently cackled a breath. “I couldn’t understand. A changeling would never do that. Not even for our own.” He paused. “At least… not until recently, I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

Chrysalis waited for an explanation as to what he meant by that. “Who?”

“Trek…”

The Queen’s ears twitched when he spoke of that name. “Trek?”

“He chose to join us after we showed him Scootaloo’s ways, giving it a chance.” He chewed his bottom lip as he tried to process his words. “And in the end… he sacrificed his life to save ours.”

“He… what?” Chrysalis’ eyes wandered, and she became very quiet.

Flake nodded. “We are changing. Thanks to this pony that has escaped our hive, we are all changing. And this change is for the better.” He noticed that Chrysalis was zoning out, as if this was too hard for her to believe. “Uh, Queen?”

“Huh?” Chrysalis snapped back into reality, and a tear was found rolling down her cheek. “I’m sorry. I’ve just… I’ve never…”

Scootaloo blinked, waiting for an explanation.

“I’ve never seen our species act this way before. Not since before Luna’s banishment…” Her eyes wandered some more, and she was deep in thought about it. “We’re healing. From our curse, we are healing.”

Flake raised a brow. “Uh, curse? What?”

“We should all be colourful…” Chrysalis revealed to Flake. “All of the changelings. We once had no holes in our bodies, and pure, colourful coats, just like the ponies… You are slowly gaining yours back.” She tilted her head, expressing her sadness. “A long time ago, we were pure. But as a result of a selfish act, we became what we are, and the consequences ate us alive, resorting to feed off of love from others to survive. We became colourless, and our bodies ate away, leaving these holes that today represent the lacking love we are doomed to die without.” She leaned forward and pointed closely at him. “...And it looks like your irises are starting to come in nicely, too, Flake.”

“Irises?” Flake’s ears twitched, and he became curious. He trot to the stream, and looked down into the water. At the sight of himself, his ears curved back, and his jaw dropped. He sat on his flank, and stared at himself for a long moment. Many mixed feelings were rushing through him, and he found it hard to say anything else.

“So, a long time ago, you used to be like us,” Twilight murmured.

Chrysalis nodded, still gently crying. “It was a long time ago. But the memories are still there. I never truly appreciated what we had in those days until it was all taken by our own greed.”

Flake finally stepped away from the river and looked to Scootaloo, who then noticed the irises herself. They were very hidden beneath all the turquoise in his eyes, but as the turquoise was fading, his irises were slowly revealing beneath it. It was at a state that it was too difficult to tell what colour they were, but they were there. Scootaloo smiled, welcoming his new look.

Rarity then stepped up to the others. “Alright, I think Fluttershy has calmed down now. She’s taking her time, but she will come with us.” She looked to Scootaloo. “So, what’s the situation with Chrysalis? Can we trust her?”

Scootaloo looked to Chrysalis, then back to Rarity. “Yes, Rarity, we can.” Chrysalis’ ears twitched, and she smiled in response to Scootaloo’s declaration. “We should really continue our search for the other ponies. We are running short on time as we speak.”

Rarity nodded, and pointed to Rainbow Dash cocooned on the ground. “I realize that, but we can’t just leave her here. What do we do then?”

“We split up,” Twilight declared.

“What?” Scootaloo looked to her and raised a brow. “We’re not doing that.”

“Why not?” the alicorn questioned her. “I suggest that Chrysalis and maybe a couple others go search for another pony.” She looked down to Rainbow Dash. “While you are searching, the rest of us will stay here with Rainbow Dash until she is awake.”

Scootaloo and Flake exchanged looks, thinking about the idea.

“I know where all of the ponies are hidden, after all,” Chrysalis exclaimed. “We can’t move Rainbow Dash, or the healing won’t work properly, and she could die. So, yes, a few of us should stay behind and watch her.”

Flake turned to Fluttershy, who was still having a difficult time wanting to join with them. She was keeping her distance, slowly pacing toward them with idle waiting periods. “Perhaps I should go with you,” he suggested, turning back to Chrysalis. “Fluttershy is obviously uncomfortable being around changelings at this time. So she can stay here.”

Rarity nodded. “I’ll stay behind with her, then.”

Scootaloo sighed. “Alright, fine. We’ll do it your way. I’ll admit, your plan is better than no plan.” She stepped up, nodding willingly. “I’ll go with you and Flake.” She looked to the alicorn Princess. “Twilight, I suggest that you stay behind with Rarity and Fluttershy.” She tilted her head, looking to Rarity. “You will need her here if there is any trouble. There should be somepony stronger in your group to defend you while we’re away—no offense.”

“None taken,” Rarity exclaimed, nodding. “I would have to agree to your terms.”

“Right. So are we settled?” Scootaloo asked the others, turning to look to each of them.

“Well, we’d better get started,” Chrysalis declared, eager to help.

“Ready when the rest of you are,” Flake exclaimed. “Lead the way, Chrysalis. You know these tunnels better than the rest of us.”

Chrysalis nodded, and with a thrust, she lifted off with her flapping wings. “The closest hidden pony from where we are is Applejack. We’ll go for her first.”

With that, Flake and Scootaloo lifted off the ground, and followed the Queen.

“Be safe,” Scootaloo said to Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight before they left.

“You too,” Fluttershy murmured, expressing her nervous concerns.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Everything was a blur. His vision was fuzzy, and all that was heard was a constant high toned ring. He was weakened from exhaustion, and deep inside he felt the rage from it all.

As his consciousness slowly returned, he began to hear an irritating voice calling upon his name. His vision was also gradually coming back, and he found himself to be lying on his back, looking skyward. Above him, there was somepony else looking down to him—his visual perception was still mostly a blur, and all he could make out was the black body and turquoise eyes.

“Chitin!” the voice rang down to him, and the name echoed into his ear with a ringing aftershock. “Chitin, you okay? Wake up!”

Finally a burst of renewed strength, and he jumped up from his back, returning to his haunches. Then he stood up, and without a warning, he gripped onto the other changeling’s neck, and threw him down to the ground onto his back. He held him there, pinning the suddenly terrified changeling.

“Chitin, relax!” the changeling under his hoof shouted up to him. “I-it’s me, Buzz!”

Chitin just squinted down at him, gritting his teeth. Then after a brief moment of growls, he released the panicking changeling and stepped aside. “DAMN PONIES!!” he shrieked to the shadowy skies of green clouds.

“Chitin, you okay?”

“I am fine!” he quickly replied, marching back toward the mountain. He spread his wings in the attempt to fly, but he collapsed from exhaustion. “AAAAGH!!”

“Uh, Captain, you should probably rest, you kinda fell from the mountain’s waterfall.”

Chitin raised a brow and turned to Buzz. He frowned, and then looked up the side of the mountain that was spewing the waterfall down into the river below. In the river, he could see all of the pony skeletons on the shores and on the floor of the stream. With a wince, he stepped up to the river and looked around, examining all of the dead bodies.

“I’ve never seen so many corpses,” Buzz exclaimed. “I haven’t been outside of the hive since we moved in; this is the first time I went out into the wasteland. This is where all of the ponies have been dumped?”

Chitin rolled his eyes and pointed a hoof into the water. “These are examples of the weak souls.” He turned back to Buzz and squinted at him. “What the heck are you doing out here anyway?”

“I think Chrysalis may have gone looking for you,” he replied, still recollecting himself from Chitin’s sudden retaliation. “I don’t know where she has gone looking, but I took the initiative to assist in her search, and came out here to look for myself.” He gestured to Chitin, tilting his head as he squinted. “And during my search, I saw you fall from the top of the waterfall, and you dropped into the river. I pulled you to shore—you were unconscious.”

“Uh, huh.” Chitin grumbled and trot toward the mountain. “I’m going back to find that bloody pony.”

“Wait, Chitin.” Buzz stepped in front of him. “Why are you in such a hurry? You can barely fly off the ground.”

Chitin grit his teeth and raised his snarling voice. “I am going to find Scootaloo, even if it kills me!” He leaned forward, glaring at Buzz with his piercing eyes. “Now stay out of my way!”

“Scootaloo?” Buzz questioned him, giving him a look. “Hold on, you’re talking about the pony that escaped? Daring Do, right?”

“Ugh…” Chitin pushed Buzz aside and continued walking. “Yes, I mean Daring Do.”

“Huh. Scootaloo… Strange.”

As Chitin marched away from the suspicious changeling, he briefly paused. Raising a brow, he turned back to Buzz and questioned him, “You make it sound like that’s a shock. So she faked her identity, what of it?”

Buzz just shrugged. “Eh, I just remember Chrysalis mentioning that name before. But it’s probably nothing.”

Chitin’s ears twitched, and his eyes furrowed. “You mean Chrysalis knew this pony?”

“Meh, barely. This was from the Canterlot Wedding.”

“And what does Chrysalis know about Scootaloo?”

“Don’t really know. She never really said anything important.”

Chitin began to grow irritated. “This information might actually be useful to capturing this pony,” he clarified through his teeth. “That is something our Queen desires, is that not correct?”

“Er… Well, yeah?”

“So…” Chitin creepily stepped closer to him, making him feel uncomfortable. “What did Chrysalis know about this pony?”

“Um…” Buzz put that to thought, and he sat on his flank, placing a hoof to his chin. “She never really said much about Scootaloo. Only that there were three flower fillies at the wedding ceremony. All she really said was that Scootaloo was the most annoying to her among the three fillies.”

“Uh, huh… And that is all?”

Buzz nodded, giving Chitin an uneasy expression. “Why?”

“Buzz…” Chitin cringed and grit his teeth. “Who were the other two fillies?”

“Uhhh… I know one of their names was Sweetie Belle. The other was, um… Apple Bloom, I think.”

“I see…” Chitin expressed a psychotic grin. “And do you know where their cocoons are in the dome?”

He wasn’t sure why Chitin was so interested to know this information. However, after a long and frightening face to face glare in silence, Buzz finally nodded.