//------------------------------// // Chapter VIII // Story: I, Chrysalis // by Scarheart //------------------------------// Chrysalis savored her victory. It was a small victory to be sure. The spell was an annoyance, but she also understood it could serve her just as well. It was indiscriminate. While being questioned, she had figured out the intricacies and layers of the spell. As it had come from Twilight’s magic, it obviously had her touch. There was an attention to detail which Chrysalis found quite impressive, if not overdone. She intended to use it to her advantage.         Changelings adapted by observing. By observing, they learned new ways to survive. Already the Queen had gleaned useful insights into unicorn magic by allowing herself to be subjected to it.         Adapt and evolve. Plan for the future for that was the changeling way.         Oh, those sneaky, sneaky ponies! As much as she hated them, the Queen was beginning to have a little more respect from her living love donors. They were willing to do underhanded and unsavory things. Not quite to level she was used to, but enough for her to re-evaluate Twilight. Celestia and Luna she had expected to be tyrants. Twilight, on the other hand…         Well, considering under whom she had learned from, Chrysalis found she was not altogether surprised. The children do as the adults teach them.         Adjacent to her quarters was a large bath. There was nothing spectacular about it other than it had a toilet, a sink, hot and cold running water, and a tub installed especially for her. The Queen made full use of the accommodations and was especially grateful for having the luxury of a bath.         It was curious indeed how the ponies abused the changeling while keeping her in a gilded cage.. At least they were no longer trying to put Atalanta under scrutiny. Chrysalis felt she had made her point and her feelings known.         Her bathtub was filled with delightfully hot water. A liberal amount of aromatic bath salts filled her nostrils with the scent of lilacs. With a happy groan, the changeling slowly slid into the water. More moans slipped from her throat until she settled fully into the water until only her head lay above the surface. Upon her head and clinging to her horn was her daughter.         Slowly the Queen rolled until her belly faced up. Atalanta protested, not sure at all about the water. Stubby little hooves scrabbled through the mane of the Queen.         “You’re having a bath, young lady,” she said to the white lump on her head. Chrysalis held no reservations whatsoever when it came to hatchlings and water. Atalanta made a worried sound, which made her mother giggle. “We go through this every night.”         The tiny hatchling could not know any better. Her mind was still in its early stages of development. Instinct and a scent of smell was all she had with any reliability. Already the tips of her hooves were beginning to darken and the first bits of film was beginning to harden over her eyes. Chrysalis closed her eyes as her daughter crawled over her face and on to the bridge of her snout.         Oh, the scolding Princess Luna had given her! The Princess of the Night jabbed at the changeling’s pride and tore at her stubborn will, but Chrysalis was Chrysalis. She had never intended to use Luna as her representative. Pony laws did not say specifically she required one, though it was highly recommended one was used. ‘Lawyers’, they were called.         ‘The ones in the middle’, as Luna had called them as though there was a bad taste in her mouth.         Too many laws. Too much gray when it came to deciding things. Lawyers lived in that gray area like sharks, always circling, using established laws to their advantage. Far too complex and unnecessary, in the Queen’s mind. Chrysalis was a mare of simple rules and simple rewards and punishments. To her own changelings, she was harsh but fair. She held parents accountable for the actions of their nymphs. She expected all within her hive to regard each other as equals and had personally awarded or demoted her subjects as honestly as possible. The Bond made such decisions all the more easier to deal with.         “How,” Luna had asked with a strain in her voice, “could you not allow Us to aid you? We cannot step in on your behalf if you are blindly allowing magic to control your actions? The magic is specifically designed for Equestrian courts to ensure no lies can be made by either defendants or plaintiffs. It works both ways! It does not discriminate! It is a tool you allowed to expose yourself without using Us to answer for you. We went over this time and time again!” She had pounded the floor with a hoof for emphasis. The poor floor was cracked and damaged further with each blow.         Chrysalis had only shrugged, ignoring the alicorn until Luna stormed off, talking to herself darkly. Something about a prideful nag letting her bigotry control her actions. It made her slip into her old manner of speaking, which Chrysalis preferred anyways.         Still, she had mentioned the Ravagers. She was sure all three of the ponies had caught that. It was surprising they had not acted quickly. Then again, the discussion had gone towards foals and the nymphs that had replaced them.         Ata was now on her chest, firmly between her mother’s forelegs. She had plopped down, guided by Chrysalis into the water. The hatchling could not swim. Her legs were too short and too underdeveloped. She did bob in the water like a cork. Fatty tissues under her soft chitin made her remarkably buoyant.         She would molt soon, before the week was out. Chrysalis had felt her own body changing to suit the shifting needs. Soon Atalanta would no longer be a hatchling and would be considered a nymph. She would be walking and flying! And she would begin to grow her horn! She would also be getting her first taste of food other than the love Chrysalis had been feeding her. The books piling up in the small bookshelf in the corner of her room eagerly awaited a mother to begin reading stories to her daughter. Next to it was a small chest filled with all sorts of toys, courtesy of Luna. They had been donated. Ponies had a soft heart for little ones.         She took up a bottle of shampoo laying at the corner of the tub in a basket. The top was removed with telekinesis and she gave an experimental sniff. She read the label. ‘Midnight Dreams’ it said in flowery script. This was new. It smelled nice, too.         With a shrug, the changeling decided to try it. As few changelings actually grew natural hair, it was considered very important and prestigious to maintain a neat and clean appearance. An unkempt queen meant an unkempt hive, as the old saying went.         As she lathered up her mane, Chrysalis absently thought about the hearing. Celestia had mentioned changelings. The Queen replayed the moment over and over, her own mental gears turning. Celestia wanted to protect not only ponies, but changelings. Did this mean there were survivors? If there were, did the Equestrians have them in custody? They kept the Queen isolated from any news. She knew nothing of what was going on beyond her prison walls.         As she scrubbed her mane, in turn it was used to scrub her daughter. Atalanta seemed to enjoy it, sitting perfectly still with her neck stretched out. It had bothered Chrysalis she had let her hatred seep out. Surely Ata had absorbed some of it. Guilt tugged at the mother’s heart. Hurting her daughter was the last thing she would ever do. Gently she cleaned every inch of Atalanta, their snoots touching. A tiny trilling sound, like a high pitched purr came from the hatchling. Chrysalis responded with her own purring, a deeper and far more resonant sound. It came from her heart and reached for the tiny heart before her.         Celestia had said something very interesting at the end of the first day of the hearing. The Princess declared the next day Chrysalis would be allowed to ask questions of her own to any seated at the table. “In the name of fairness,” she had declared.         Twilight agreed, which surprised Chrysalis. The Queen had thought the unicorn would protest her teacher would allow a changeling to ask the questions. Celestia had told Twilight something about Equestrians not being like the Germanes. All parties involved in hearings were allowed to ask questions equal to what was asked the previous day. It would go back and forth until a consensus was agreed upon.         Pony laws were far too complicated. There was nothing particularly useful in the books Princess Luna had supplied, but it did give Chrysalis a basic understanding in how the courts worked. Her problem was her desire for simplicity was in direct conflict with the monster that was the Equestrian legal system.         Bah! Enough of such boring things!         “Overly complicated is overly complicated,” she sighed as Atalanta’s cleanliness was deemed to her standards. Her telekinesis lifted a small ball of water from the tub and brought it slowly over the hatchling’s still body. It was a strain, given the inhibitor made her work far too hard for such a simple water manipulation magic. Chrysalis willed a small series of holes to appear and rinsed off her hatchling. The purring never stopped.         After their bath, mother and daughter dried off. Chrysalis allowed herself to laugh. For once, she allowed herself a moment to forget thousands of lives were beyond her. Her responsibilities were suspended against her will. There was only her daughter. She supped to a bowl of vegetable soup, fresh bread, and baked salmon. The wine was of a middle quality, but went well with the meal. The portions were not large, but she was never hungry after.         Her attention went to her dessert. It was a ball no larger than half her head. Within it swirled pink and red love in pure form. The love tonight was of the variety collected from families and lovers, blended together with a touch of passion. there was no taste for it, but more of an explosion of soft joy jolting through her mouth and down her throat when she pierced the ball with her fangs. If a pony had asked what love tastes like, Chrysalis would not have been able to properly describe it. Taste and eating emotions were not at all similar. Nor was tasting emotions any way like eating food.         There was taste, but then there was inner taste.         One could taste the sky. Just ask a pegasus. To feel the earth simply turn to an earth pony. A unicorn could describe what it meant to feel the arcane energies of magic coursing through their veins. So too could a changeling understand emotions and how they affected the mind. The intricacies and differences were not unlike the spectrum of light. It could be argued it was a mix of everything. It was life from the inside out.         This sphere. It was different.         There was more than wonderful, sweet love in the sphere.         She fed Atalanta and ruminated on the love she had absorbed. Chrysalis was smiling by the time she prepared her daughter for bed. Her Hunger had abated. One beneficial effect of having an inhibitor on her horn limiting her magic use was how it slowed the effects of the Hunger. Oh, the Void was still there. Nothing short of the Cure would ever do anything about it. But the Hunger was controlled.         It provided a false security and the Queen was wary of it.         Tucking her hatchling into bed instead of her crib, Chrysalis knew Atalanta would fall asleep easier smelling her mother nearby. The crib was used when the Queen was awake and writing or reading. There was little else to do, really.         Having an hour outside after the hearing had done wonders.         Why such kindness after being forced to answer questions? Was it guilt? Had Chrysalis been given mercy? Pity? Such thoughts danced through her mind as she watched over the sleeping form of Atalanta. Whirring her wings gently, she tested to see if she could hover. They were still weak, but had more or less recovered from the most epic face plant never remembered.         Celestia was an enigma, as was her sister. They were the eternal symbols of Equestria in the flesh. They were to pinnacle of power and beauty. Unrivaled and reunited.         But they were far from perfect.         They wanted something from Chrysalis.                  “I doubt it has anything to do with my changelings,” she said quietly to Atalanta. “At least not directly. There is more to this. I can feel it. But what? The alicorns want something. That something eludes me and they are not planning on giving me that information.”         Unless…         “If Queen Taalia has been operating in Equestria, or near the borders, there is a slim possibility they are aware of her, but do not know what to do.”         Atalanta curled up and snuggled into one of the pillows. Chrysalis smiled softly and tucked her in with the blankets. Hatchlings produced little body heat. The changeling would have to curl into bed soon or her daughter would get too cold and let her know about it. “Then again, it could have something completely different in mind. I can’t assume they are focusing solely on changelings. A large nation like Equestria has a lot of external and internal problems to deal with.”         With a sigh the changeling set such thoughts aside. It had been a long day. She was mentally drained. Time had been missed in regards to writing for Atalanta. Chrysalis imagined the ponies were looking at the pages. Unless a pony was a part of the Bond, whatever the Queen wrote down was useless gibberish to them. Deciding her writing could wait, the weary changeling carefully pulled herself into bed, nary a jostle for her daughter. A soft motherly smile hovered in place. Atalanta had gone very still. She was not quite asleep and her ears tracked the movements and sounds Chrysalis made as she settled into the bed.         It delighted a mother to see how attentive her hatchling was to her surroundings.         A troubling thought occurred to Chrysalis. The transition from hatchling to nymph was a milestone in any changeling’s life. It was celebrated by the hive through song and gifts representing looking towards a bright future for the youngster. Chrysalis faced the simple fact she had no hive to introduce her daughter to formally. There would have been a welcome song and Atalanta would have been introduced to other nymphs who would be her friends and playmates. The day would end with her molted skin being set ablaze in green flames.         Just like that, melancholy chased away a pleasant mood in the form of a sad sigh. Of all the things to happen to her recently, realizing what her daughter was going to miss out on made Chrysalis feel like a mother who failed her offspring miserably. She encircled Atalanta slowly, searching for the perfect comfy spot before sinking into the bed and forming a living wall around the hatchling. Atalanta immediately began crawling towards her favorite spot, the crook of her mother’s neck and shoulder.         Chrysalis jerked her head up some moments later. She did not even remember drifting off to sleep. She could feel Atalanta’s breathing and sensed the beating of her little heart. The Queen’s own heart thudded as though something had frightened it.         There were whispers. Everywhere, whispers. She knew them. Some made her feel at ease, others told her a tale of unrealized dreams. Still more bore an accusatory tone. Atalanta fitfully chirped, burrowing into her mother’s neck. Mother curled herself protectively around daughter.         The voices grew louder. The dead asked why she was not with them. The living asked why she had not yet paid for her sins. One voice called her pet. That voice alone grew louder and louder still, drowning out the others.         “I am coming for you, Chrysalis. You were mine the moment I found you. You were mine when I took you under my wing. You were mine when I taught you how to be a queen. You were mine when I chased you halfway across the world. You are still mine. Soon, your daughter will be mine as well. You think the Equestrians can protect you? You think your pathetic little hive will stay hidden from my lovelies forever?”         Atalanta was gone from her place. A pale form was held up in the hoof of a tiger striped beast. Red eyes glowed from deep within the shadows. Fangs flashed briefly. The voice, that voice spoke with the sibilance of a hungering serpent.         “You have led me to the greatest source of love in the world. Too bad you could not capitalize on it. Too bad you were too pathetic and your changelings too weak to take what was practically given to you on a silver platter.”         The voice dropped and the figure disappeared as wisps of bloody smoke just as Chrysalis made a move to swipe back her daughter.         “Fear for her, Chrysalis, little queen. Fear for your changelings. Fear for yourself. Fear for the power that should have been yours, but you were too hesitant to capitalize. All of that time and effort I put into making you the Huntress in the Shadows, in my deadly image, and you failed. Perhaps you meant to gift me this land of milk and honey? This land bulging with love and emotions no changeling has even tasted through their combined ancestors…         “Oh, you led me to a paradise. I shall take this paradise and make it mine. Then I shall gorge my lovelies upon those emotions until the very earth groans beneath them. The very air will crackle and sway from a mere movement of a wing. I shall go back with this power and show all changelings what true power is. I shall have the Sun and the Moon and I shall be the Goddess.         “Oh, Chrysalis, how it could have been you! Your daughter would have been heir to an empire unimagined! But you failed, as it should be. My Ravagers are coming, Chrysalis. They will come for you and they will bring you before me.”         The shadow shifted and Chrysalis found herself standing in the middle of the sweltering Savannah. She was on a small rise overlooking a dry floodplain. Behind her stood her hive, looking up to expectantly. Atalanta was in the grasp of her enemy, who leered up at her. Behind her, the floodplain was awash with changelings.         Millions of them.         “Why us, my Queen?” asked one of her soldiers. “Why us?”         Stoically, she replied, “Because we are here, and noling else.”         “We’ll die,” said another of her beloved changelings.         “As happens to all living things in time,” she replied, readying herself.         “What of your daughter?” asked a third. It was a tall, blue changeling. A queen. She felt familiar.         “She will learn. I see the path she will follow might become the one that made me what I am.” Chrysalis felt she should be worried, should be reaching for Atalanta. But she would crumble to dust, as she had always had before. “She must make her own way, forge her own destiny.”         “Without her mother?” asked the blue queen.         “I do not think I will live to see the end of it. The chase has consumed most of my life. I am tired.” Chrysalis was resigned to her fate and was willing to fight the impossible fight. She was aware she would surely die. “My fire will flicker and fade.”         “Would that be fair to Atalanta?” asked the stranger. The vast expanse of changelings took to the air before them slowly, the air trembling beneath the thrumming of millions of wings.         The hive closed ranks around the two queens. “We are watching. We are waiting. We are at your command.” A swirling sphere of red hues replaced the moon overhead.         A tigress queen approached, carrying Atalanta like a prized trophy. The hatchling cried for her mother, but her chirpings were drowned out by the multitudes around her. The host was great, an unstoppable tide. Queen Taalia led them.         “Why do they come?” The blue changeling swept a hoof at the oncoming onslaught. “What do they want?”         Chrysalis shivered, readying her magic for killing spells. Slowly she turned and regarded the blue changeling. “All changelings would slaughter the world if it meant filling the Void. To end the Hunger would end the endless suffering. It is here! This is why I came! The answer! The hope! The dream!”         “We are ready to die,” shouted her soldiers in one voice. The Bond was strong.         “We will die.” Chrysalis held her head high.         “Hope is not found in the life blood spilt upon the ground.”         The Queen again turned to the blue changeling, her magic faltering. “But it is all I know! One cannot find the answers by hiding in the shadows. The only true answer is found in death.”         The blue queen scoffed. “Then you are an idiot.”         Day shifted to night. The horde disappeared. Atalanta was in her mother’s hooves, sleeping. The Queen looked around and found herself at the shores of a great lake. A full moon bathed the land in silver. Around the lake were thousands of little fires. It was cold and snow blanketed everything. Chrysalis could smell the smoke of burnt wood and other things.         A white alicorn emerged from the heart of the lake. Not a drop of water was on her. Celestia wore no regalia, no crown. The reflection of the moon rippled as she came up through the mirrored surface. Above her, from the moon dropped Luna. Both were as elegant and beautiful as swans.         Chrysalis turned her back to them.         “Why?” queried the blue queen. “They would help you.”         “They are corrupted by the power that made them great. One of them already fell from grace because of her supreme jealousy.”         “She was redeemed!”         “She was betrayed by her sister!”         “Her sister admitted her mistake!”         “Her sister still basks in the adoration of her subjects and puts herself above reproach!”         “Luna needs time to adjust!”         “Celestia will not give her that time.”         “How do you know?”         “How do you?”         “Mommy?” Atalanta asked, waking from her nap. Her eyes were clear and focused. She had her father’s eyes. “Don’t be an idiot.” The hatchling went back to sleep after reaching up and kissing her mother on the lips.         “Am I an idiot?”         “The ponies are idiots.”         “Nobody is perfect.”         “Bah!”         The blue queen smiled at the alicorns. “Celestia and Luna will aid you if you play your cards right.”         “They have done nothing to listen. They only hear what they want. They are no better than queens like Taalia. They simply hide their true intentions through the facade of friendship and understanding. They are tyrants.” Chrysalis stared in wonder at her daughter.         “You attacked them, remember?”         “Does that make me an idiot?”         “Which of us is speaking anymore? I’ve lost track.”         “The ponies have no manners. They have no honor. They are nothing more than a source for love.”         “Mommy, Celestia is going to throw you into a wall because you are being an idiot.”         “Taalia might do it first. Hush. I’m going to die so you can live.”         “Mommy, I would be very sad if you died like grandma died.”         “That was Taalia’s doing.”         “Then do something about it so you don’t die. I love you, Mommy.”         The blue changeling queen turned to Luna and nodded. She did the same for Celestia. She frowned. “We need to do better. She is bitter. Give her room. Give her a chance. No more strings. Ask her what she wants. You’ve squandered opportunity time and time again through ignorance and fear.”         Chrysalis stared at her. “To whom are you speaking?”         “All of us.”