Prologue
Chrysalis did not want to be the Queen of Changelings.
At 16 cycles-old she did not want that responsibility or all those voices in her head. She could barely sort through her own emotions most days, so how was she supposed to handle the added weight of the hive mind? The queen was the Colony Mother and the Colony Mother lived to protect and provide for her changeling subjects.
The thing that truly upset the Changeling Princess was her title's rite of passage. A rite of passage she wanted no part in.
Tradition dictated that this transition was the price of royalty and a burden only a monarch should carry in return for her subjects' loyalty. Emotional blackmail to ensure the rite be completed and to teach the aspiring monarch the most imperative thing about their position: the hive is more important than any attachment. Only through this act could the future Queen's power reach maturation as centuries worth of knowledge was passed down once she absorbed her predecessor's magic.
Tonight, Imaga had informed her daughter of her fate as well as what she could expect once her reign was to draw to an end. The very thought of those unmentionables made her sick.
The distraught pegacorn barely missed colliding with a changeling soldier as she tore down another hall blinded by feelings of desperation and hopelessness. Her mother, Queen Imaga, was strong- is strong. She was not crazy and Chrysalis was not ready to be Queen.
Selfishly, she was not ready to sacrifice herself in the name of the changelings. Selfishly, she did not want to be responsible for the death of her mother.
Chrysalis had wasted no time fleeing from her mother's throne room. Fifteen minutes later, she found herself halted by the hive's royal guard.
"Your Princess demands that you stand down," she commanded with narrowed eyes.
The three changeling guards before her were grimly apologetic as they put their hooves down and maintained their defensive positions. "We're sorry, Princess, but the Queen demands it." The leader of the trio hovered a head above the others readying his magic to immobilize the future queen.
The adolescent could see the dark desert sky through the hive's main entryway. If she stayed here, there was no telling what she would be forced to do, or see. Chrysalis knew she was important to her mother, but she also knew the Queen's dedication to her race. What she did not understand was how her mother thought she was ready to be entrusted with such a major responsibility.
The changelings before her were experienced fighters and there was no way she would be able to take them on all by herself. One alone would be a hard-pressed victory but three was a sure path to defeat.
Studying her foe with shrewdness beyond her maturation, the changeling filly knew she had to act fast before more guards arrived. As she bared her fangs in determination and flattened her ears in a show of aggression, Chrysalis, for the moment, was glad she was a princess. It gave her an edge in the magic department that these changelings had no clue about. Launching herself at the hovering guard, the Princess let loose a bright blast of green magic that hit the floater head on blinding the others on impact. Crashing into the disoriented guard, the two were a mess of limbs as they hit the ground rolling and snarling atop of each other.
The other two guards had managed to see through spots in their vision only to see two changeling guards snapping and attacking each other.
Confused, the two nodded at each other deciding to wait for the victor.
Of the two fighting, one lunged forward with a growl knocking the other on its back with a strong stiff shoulder. Rolling with the fall the downed changeling drew its hind legs to its chest, retaliating by shooting its hooves into the other's chest when his attacker moved to follow-up.
Surprised by the force of the hit, the aggressor ignored the pain that shot through his body as he hit the hive's walls rolling onto his hooves once he touched the ground. Before he could attack, he was stunned by a blue bolt of magic that hit him right between the eyes causing his form to shift.
Green fire surrounded the recovering changeling as Chrysalis was revealed. A horrified look overcame the princess' face as her form changed. Harlequin eyes stared at her captor in a mix of shock and anger.
The changeling guard was already in an attack posture as he regarded his monarch with a smug grin. "Stand down, your Highness," he mocked to the ire of the teal haired filly.
With a scream of frustration, Chrysalis was ready to attack again, only for the other two guards to intervene taking her down like professional athletes. "Let me free!" She screamed thrashing wildly, bright eyes incensed by their nerve.
"Vadek, do something!" One grunted trying to hold down the desperate pony.
The Princess was a screaming mess as the guards tried to subdue her. The other guard known as Vadek stood tall as he used his glandular secretion sap to bind her hooves together. As an afterthought, he spat the odd colored goo to shut her mouth too. "Take her to her Majesty," he commanded with a hard gaze.
Nodding, the two used their magic to transport the still struggling filly thankful that they could at least move without her screaming despite the fight still in her. Electric blue eyes stared after the group until they disappeared around another corridor.
With a sigh, Vadek closed his eyes as green magic washed over him revealing his true form.
Chrysalis winced as her magic's energizing effects wore off causing her to stumble a bit. That Vadek had got in some hard hits and now she was feeling every one of them.
Lucky for her, changeling royalty could manipulate another's metamorphic abilities through intense concentrations of magic like that. Only no one had ever used it to change a form, just to drop one. All changelings were born of the Queen's magic, making it possible for her and her flesh to manipulate that magic. There was no way she could've beaten that guard in a straight fight as his position gave him rights to abilities she wasn't as nearly proficient in
Her heart continued to race in fear and anxiousness as she pushed herself towards the exit breaking into a gallop. The Changeling Princess knew she had to move fast as it would not be long before her spell wore off on the changeling guard as well.
She would have to watch her reserves as the manipulation spell had taken quite a lot out of her due to inexperience.
'Impressive… But you can't run forever.'
The sound of her mother's voice startled her as she leapt into the night's air finally free of the hive's winding tunnels and Emerald sapped city. Insect-like wings carried the filly off as she flew through the desert that surrounded her mountainous homeland.
*QUIERO***TU***AMOR*
Two days later, the Changeling Princess found herself an ocean away from her homeland and far enough so that she could not sense the hive's mind. Her mother's mind was quite a different story as only death could sever their connection to each other. In her haste to put distance between herself and her kind, the young filly had yet to consider what to do with herself. Where would she go? What was she going to do? Chrysalis hated not having a plan, but she knew before she decided anything she needed to find a safe place to simply breathe.
The Changeling Princess had bypassed the flashy city of Las Pegasus and followed the river further inland, firm in her belief that she needed to consider her situation before doing anything else.
Despite her outer display of determination, on the inside the changeling was reeling from an onslaught of emotions she did not know what to do with. Two days ago she was a revered princess… Now she was a renegade, dismayed by the steep price required.
Stumbling forward, the Princess' harlequin eyes had dulled with fatigue. Her magic reserves were fine for the moment, but her body needed rest. If she wanted to keep both her physical strength up as well as her magic, then she would have to stop and sleep.
Chrysalis had pushed her physical abilities about as far as she could. She had not stopped moving afraid that Imaga would dispatch the guard to bring her back. She had specifically chosen Equestria because of the continents high population of ponies. If a changeling guard did come after her, at least she would be in a place where she could easily blend in and evade if she chose.
The teal haired filly took the time to observe her surroundings: a lush green forest. The sun was setting, meaning that whatever predators lived in this forested area would soon be out in search of a meal. Despite her helplessness in regards to her predicament, Chrysalis did not feel she would find any relief in death. Magically inclined or not, one could not survive an unknown forest half-dead on their hooves. Fighting to keep her eyes open, the dark colored mare was overjoyed to find an uninhabited cave to spend the night.
Tripping towards the end of the hollow, Chrysalis managed to gather some dry vegetation to make a small fire with. Setting up the twigs and plants, she also searched around for some medium sized stones to surround the kindling. Satisfied, with her modest fireplace, she lowered her gnarled horn to the dry materials and lit the brush with a spark of green energy from her horn. With a tired sigh, the Changeling Princess lowered herself near the fire, graceful still despite her fatigue.
She was out before her head hit her forelegs.
A/N: Though "A Queen's Lament" is finished, this story has a few more chapters left. With that being said, feel free to comment on all you like and don't like!