Chrysalis stared, a stunned expression written on her face. She hadn’t even considered the fact that some of her changelings might have survived. It had just never occurred to her. And now one was herein Evergreen’s cottage, watching them.
“What yer doing here?!” Evergreen demanded again, his eyes narrowing.
The pegasus rose to all fours and began to step towards his queen only for the stallion to step between them, blocking his path, lifting a hoof.
“Ah asked, what yer doing here!?” Evergreen growled, his tone growing more forceful.
Chrysalis laid a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder, trying her best to soothe him. She managed to squeeze out the words; “Evergreen... let me talk to him.”
The stallion paused slightly at that, looking back at her, before slowly relaxing from his defensive stance. After a moment, he took a step backwards to stand besides her protectively, looking no less alert.
A name. She needed a name.
“Swiftwing,” Chrysalis said, using the first name that came to mind. “Why are you here?”
“I am here to deliver a message,” the pegasus said calmly, staring into Chrysalis’ eyes. “...We are waiting.”
Having delivered his message, the pegasus turned, walked to the door, and left without a single word. Chrysalis stared after him, her ears splaying backwards. She was barely aware of Evergreen pressing against her side and nudging her cheek with his nose, asking her a question that she didn’t even comprehend.
Her changelings were still alive. More than one. Of all the possible outcomes, she hadn’t considered this. Her entire life was dedicated to her changelings; finding them a way to survive without needing to use subterfuge. Finding a way for her entire species to survive with a better quality of life. It was why she had come to Equestria in the first place.
And it had just been so much simpler when she thought they were all gone.
And now...?
Chrysalis was vaguely aware of Evergreen asking her something, and she turned towards him with a listless expression, her eyes wide.
“He... I... Used to know him,” Chrysalis murmured, dazed.
Evergreen gave a concerned sound at that. “And they’re waiting?”
Chrysalis gave a nod, trying to come to grip with the new development. “I...don’t know what to say.”
“It’s going to be fine, Cee,” the stallion said, nuzzling his cheek against her own gently for a moment. “Ah’ll not let them take yer back there.”
Chrysalis nodded dumbly for a moment, and then murmured, “I... don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”
“Ah’ll not let them,” he repeated fiercely, wrapping his hooves around her and holding her against his chest possessively. “Ah’ll not let them take yer from me so soon after I found yer.”
Chrysalis nodded slightly at that. She leaned against him and stared at the floor, lost in her own thoughts. “They’re my family, though...”
“Ah don’t care,” Evergreen said forcefully. “Yer mine. And Ah’ll fight for yer.”
“It’s not going to be that simple...” Chrysalis murmured with a shake of her head. “I can’t just turn my back... I can’t.”
The stallion’s eyes narrowed, and he lifted a hoof to pull her chin up, forcing her to look into his eyes. His tone was flat as he said, “Yer can’t just go and say that. Not now.”
“I...know. I don’t want to go,” Chrysalis whispered, her eyes starting to mist over. “But this changes everything!”
“It changes nothing,” Evergreen stated, shaking his head defiantly and holding her close. “Changes nothing at all.”
“You don’t understand!” Chrysalis protested, feeling tears starting to well up in her eyes and form trails down her cheeks. “It isn’t that simple!”
“Yer making too much fuss about this, Cee,” the stallion said gently, nuzzling against her. “Don’t cry, Cee. It’ll be okay. We’ll work something out. Promise.”
“Y-you promise?” Chrysalis asked, gazing up at him imploringly, lost. She wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t know how to handle this. She was hopelessly in love with this big oaf of a pony, but her changelings needed her guidance. She couldn’t do both... and choosing between them? She was going to end up having to give up the reason for her existence, her very species, or the only love she’d ever known.
“Ah promise,” Evergreen said.
Chrysalis didn’t believe him. Nothing was going to make this okay, nothing at all. But... just for a little while, she leaned into his embrace to enjoy the comfort of his warmth, and tried not to think about how horribly her paradise was going to be destroyed.
Evergreen was asleep, snoring faintly as Chrysalis gently disentangled herself from his form and slipped over to the door. The nights had warmed considerably in the last few days and the fire gently crackling in the fireplace was there more for comfort than warmth.
Chrysalis eased the door open gently and slipped out, closing it quietly behind her and looking into the darkness surrounding the cottaget. The pegasus was nowhere to be found, but she knew he would be close by, watching.
Chrysalis closed her eyes for a moment, and when they opened again, they were a demonic green, glowing faintly. With the night forest lit by ghostly hues of blue and green in her ‘true’ eyes, she picked her way quietly away from the cottage.
She had only ventured a little way into the forest when there was a rustle above her. The pegasus changeling dropped from the branches overhead to land in front of her, bowing low. “My Queen.”
The queen moved towards her changeling, staring for a moment and lifting his chin up with her hoof to make him meet her gaze.
“My beautiful child,” Chrysalis breathed, gazing down at him. “Tell me... how many of my children survive?”
The changeling peered up at her subserviently. “Seventeen of us yet survive, my Queen.”
Chrysalis blinked, feeling her heart flutter again. Seventeen. That was enough for them to flee into the dark lands beyond Equestria’s borders and continue the species. Enough to slowly build up their numbers into a glorious empire once more.
Looking over her shoulder, her night eyes picked up the outline of Evergreen’s cottage, hidden amongst the trees. She felt her heart breaking. It hurt. It hurt more than the magical blast that had halted her plan. It hurt more than those few days after the blast, spent wandering alone, knowing that her entire species had been wiped out.
Chrysalis had found a new life... Only for the past to rise up and ruin the new tranquility she had found.
Chrysalis nodded to her changeling, keeping her voice even as she commanded; “Show me the others. I wish to see them.”
The changelings, it turned out, had fled into the Everfree Forest as well, taking refuge near the outskirts, in a giant hollowed-out tree.
Chrysalis quickly discovered that the changelings had been hunted by the royal guard, with their guard sweeps getting ever-closer. But finally, the searches had lessened in intensity. With the pressure off, they had been able to go forth forth and find their Queen.
“I’m proud of all of you,” Chrysalis said, as she stood in front of a crowd of her beloved changelings, smiling down at them. “I am proud of you for staying together and finding me amid the chaos of our defeat.”
And as she felt her heart breaking in her chest, she added, “We will rise above this. We will be united as a glorious empire with me as your Queen.”
A rattling hiss of support rose from the crowd of Changelings. Chrysalis moved to the edge of the throng, to the Changeling she had dubbed ‘Messenger.’
“Apprise me should anything change..but do not come to the cottage again,” she ordered flatly. “My connection with the stallion remains only because he does not know of our nature and believes me to be alone.”
Messenger nodded at her words, and lifted his gaze to her. “What do we do until then, my Queen?”
Chrysalis gave a faint sigh and lifted a hoof. “For now... I grant you some of my energy.”
The changelings crowded around their queen, drinking in the energy of her love eagerly. Two weeks without love had sapped them down to nothingness, and she felt the drain on her powers as she gave to them.
“How did you all survive this long?” Chrysalis inquired. She allowed them all take some of her energy, like an attentive mother feeding her children.
“We were not as close to the blast, my Queen,” Messenger said. He seemed to have elected himself as the ‘voice’ of the changelings. “It did not affect us so drastically. We survived the damage done to us and regrouped here to await our Queen’s return.”
Chrysalis nodded at that, looking around at them all as they fed from her energy. To think; she almost hadn’t survived. And her changelings would have died here, alone, waiting for her.
Chrysalis cast her thoughts back to Evergreen, the simple woodspony that she undoubtedly loved. And then the giant wedge of her changelings that was being driven between them. She couldn’t stay with him; not when her army needed her. The needed her support, and her love, just to survive.
Withdrawing from the crowd, she raised a hoof. “I must leave. But I will return. Relay all of your needs through Messenger, and I will see to them as I am able.”
And then she turned, and was gone, slipping out of the giant hollow tree and heading back towards the cottage, her steps slow and steady.
She was sad. The first time she had managed to find a love that she reciprocated, and now, her changelings were back to get in the way. And for the first time ever, Chrysalis found herself wishing that she wasn’t a changeling.
Chrysalis didn’t stir when Evergreen awoke. The stallion chose to allow her to sleep, leaning over to kiss her forehead gently, brushing a lock of mane out of her face and smiling slightly. He rose from the bed and moved over to the fireplace, nudging a log onto it and then setting the kettle to boil.
Chrysalis woke to the shrill cry of the kettle boiling. Eyes opening slowly, she lifted her head. Feeding her changelings had let her feeling drained. She wouldn’t be able to do that again for another week at least. Evergreen’s love for her was strong, but it was not strong enough to sustain both her and her Changelings indefinitely and every time she gave energy to her army, she would, in turn, draw more energy from Evergreen.
She stared at him as he went about his morning business. Watching him setting the kettle and beginning to grind up the correct amount of ingredients to make his wonderful brew, and she felt her heart breaking further.
There was no happily ever after for them. No happy ending. She was a changeling, and changelings didn’t make good housewives. The longer he was around her, the worse it would get. It was already visible, in the faint bags under his eyes, and the strained expression he sometimes wore.
Chrysalis was doomed to be alone in the world for all her life, fleeting relationships offering brief respites from her eternal loneliness. Her mother's advice echoed in her mind; Don’t love what you eat. Well, it was too late for that. And now, she was going to pay the price.
She willed herself not to love Evergreen, to hate him. She dwelled on his shortcomings. He was an oaf, a dumb-as-a-brick woodspony who would never amount to anything more than a glorified flower seller, whose idea of a good time was sitting in front of a fire in a dinky little cottage hidden in the woods, away from everything.
Evergreen turned and blinked at her, moving over closer to brush away her tears with a hoof. “What’s wrong, Cee? Why are yer crying?”
And that stupid accent. She loathed everything about him.
Chrysalis’ bottom lip quivered and she stared up into Evergreen’s eyes for a long moment, feeling fresh tears starting to cascade down her cheeks, her tone breaking as she whispered, “I-It’s not fair.”
The stallion nodded, wrapping his hooves around her in a gentle hug, rocking her soothingly back and forth.
“Not f-fair...” Chrysalis protested against his neck, burying her face in his mane and weeping.
She tried her best to hate him, to hate everything about him. From his nose, to his hooves.
But it was impossible.
She loved him.