Edited by Chapter 13 and TuxOKC.
It was a difficult feat to accomplish when one’s throat feels as though it had been in a steel vice, but Chrysalis was rather proud of that statement and the volume behind it. The punch felt good, too.
If she had time and the mental awareness at the moment to discern what was in her mind compared to the waking world, she would have taken a swing at Celestia, too. As it was, it dawned upon her that she was on her side with her head laying on what felt like a pillow. As the awareness manifested to wakefulness, the queen’s ears could pick up the sound of muffled conversation. The voices were vaguely familiar. Cracking one eye open, she found a blue face peering down upon her.
Luna appeared perturbed.
“Something vexes you?” Chrysalis asked with a croak. She was not amused the princess had barged into her head and played at being a goddess claiming a realm for herself. The changeling was also now aware her head was not on a pillow.
“I was trying to help you,” Luna retorted, her features creasing in angry wrinkles.
Chrysalis sat up, fighting a dizzying wave of nausea as she did so. “My mind is not your plaything!” Her voice carried her waspish demeanor to perfection.
“What happened? Were you successful?” Celestia appeared in Chrysalis’ field of vision. She had been conversing with one of her idiot generals. Concern was her mask, though the changeling suspected it was for her sister.
“Yes.” Luna rubbed her jaw and glowered. “But, she punched me!”
“Who? Taalia?”
“No! Her!” An accusing hoof jabbed and shook with barely concealed fury at Chrysalis.
“You ambushed me!” the changeling shot back, now on her hooves. An angry hiss followed. “You played me for a fool! Both of you! You knew and you did nothing until now! My daughter’s life is in danger because you opportunistic idiots put your own safety over hers!”
“Now see here!” Celestia flared her wings, her eyes narrowing slightly. “The safety of your daughter is paramount. Your accusations are as blind as your dismissal of ponykind. What we did was out of necessity. We had to draw Taalia out. Luna suspected months ago when you first were brought to us and she has spent what time she could spare to examine your dreams.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” snapped Chrysalis, her eyes flaring crimson. “You have all these bumbling fools who lack sense to run a proper military. I have the utmost confidence in their abilities to look down upon any who are not of pony nobility.”
“They played their roles to perfection if that is what you believe.” Luna morphed a smug expression. “We felt if you believed our commanders were inept, then so would Taalia.”
“A calculated risk, I assure you,” Celestia added. “Now, if you would calm yourself down, I would be more than happy to explain this to you on the way to your daughter’s chambers.”
Chrysalis glared at the two alicorns, switching between the two with birdlike movement.
“Highnesses, we are engaged.” The voice echoed through the vast chamber. The domed ceiling carried with it a haunting echo.
“Let us get to where we need to be,” Celestia said with a nod.
“Where are we?” Chrysalis asked, finally taking a closer look at her surroundings.
“This is a teleportation chamber. It is used to move large amounts of troops quickly and can be used as a supply line if this keep is ever besieged,” Luna answered like a tour guide. “It has stood since I first commissioned it long ago.”
“It is the oldest castle in Equestria that is still fully operational,” added Celestia as her hooves struck the stone floor with each step. “Follow me, Chrysalis. The others are waiting for us. Twilight was good enough to respond to my request. I am still upset at you for what you did to her, Chrysalis. She resigned as my student, in case you were wondering.”
“I wasn’t,” Chrysalis lied. A part of her felt bad hearing that. Twilight, for all her flaws, was a powerful unicorn. With the proper guidance, she would eventually become a force to be reckoned with. As it was, the pony was nothing more than a sheltered librarian. “What is Twilight doing here?”
“Visiting her niece.”
“Oh?” Chrysalis had to pause in her thinking as she followed the alicorns. “Oh! Why?”
“Like it or not, Atalanta is now a part of the Sparkle family. Twilight came at Cadence’s request.”
The group went up the stairs, the guards falling in step behind them. Chrysalis could hear more of them up ahead. She had considered the ramifications of her daughter being related to Twilight Sparkle, but she had not considered the ramifications. “Wonderful,” she grunted sourly.
The trip to the surface was thankfully short. There were guards everywhere and almost all of them carried fear about them. Chrysalis could feel it, but also could make out their determination. They were soldiers, after all. This is what they trained for.
As they moved, reports were voiced to the alicorns. Their pace was quick.
“Vanhoover went silent this morning.”
“Citizens of Appleloosa have fled the town. Reports of monsters attacking everypony. Casualties are high.”
“Manehatten was struck by a series of explosions. Thousands are fleeing! The police were overwhelmed and the mayor is calling for help!”
“Outposts along the border with the Badlands have reported movement. We have several that have gone dark.”
Chrysalis listened, her frown growing more and more pronounced. What was Taalia doing? This was not how she worked. Stealth and surprise was her preferred method of attack. Consolidated attacks on single targets of opportunity, for that matter. Why was she waging open war on a nation? She lacked the power for something so bold!
“They’re… Majesties… they’re—” Terrible words followed.
Chrysalis jerked from her thoughts, her head coming up high as her ears flicked, swiveled and focused on the owner of the voice. “What?” Images of screaming foals filled her thoughts. The blurted report welled forth images of crunching jaws and fangs coated with blood.
If possible, Celestia’s face was even paler than her normal alabaster color. Luna had closed her eyes, her anger suddenly spiking along with her sorrow. Both alicorns were shocked to hear this news, even though they had expected atrocities.
“Where are you hearing this, Private Flash Sentry?” One of the officers barked at the pegasus who had delivered this horrid news.
“Neighagra reports monsters almost as big as manticores attacking the city, killing everything! I saw it! I saw what they were doing!” It was a battered and bloodied pegasus, Chrysalis noted. She flicked her tongue over her fangs, her mouth suddenly going dry. “I saw one of them pick up a filly. She couldn’t have been more than five years old! She screamed and that monster ate her! Ate her alive!” He burst into tears and collapsed.
“It was a Ravager,” Chrysalis said in a numb voice. “They like eating the young of their enemies. The fear they project is intoxicating to them. Taalia knows this and encourages them to act this way. I am not surprised.” She felt… what was this feeling?
“The Third and Ninth Divisions are moving in as we speak,” said one of the generals. When had they appeared? She wished she had paid more attention. Her head was still swimming from the combination of teleporting and having a battle happen in her mind. “Private, collect yourself and report to the infirmary. Thank you for doing your duty.”
A noble, Chrysalis surmised. One she had met. One that had spurned her words just days ago, along with his snobby compatriots. His name slipped her mind, but she looked at him. Gone was the arrogance. Gone was the indifference.
“Majesties, they move much faster than anticipated.”
“Preliminary reports of skirmishes are coming through the channels.”
The waves of information kept coming. These flighty ponies… these foolish prey animals… they behaved with detached calm and conviction. These generals, these fools.
Chrysalis was staggered by this sudden shift. It was then she realized she had been played, just as Taalia had played her for years. They had used her as a tool of misinformation and without her notice.
The changeling queen felt used.
“Is that all I am to you?” she whispered, turning her eyes to first Celestia, then Luna.
“I beg your pardon?” Celestia blinked, her attention torn from one of her officers debriefing her and her sister.
Chrysalis repeated herself, slowly and with a syllabant hiss. “Is. That. All. I. Am. To. You? A tool? Something to use to root out your enemies? To do with as you please for your end results?”
Celestia adjusted her wings. “For the moment, yes.” She was unabashed. “I should caution you about casting stones, changeling. You are still considered an enemy of the state. Our treaty remains unsigned. You have remained uncooperative and resistant. Had you complied with the wishes of Equestria, then perhaps you might have been brought into the fold. There are consequences, Queen Chrysalis. You may have thought yourself the maestro of your own concierto, but here, I choose what music is played. You would do well to remember this and remember it well.”
Her voice was cold and calculating, completely unlike the creature whom Chrysalis thought her to be. “My ponies are in danger. My cities are under attack. A monster runs amok and her minions bloody their fangs with the blood of what is most precious to me. This is war, Chrysalis, and I intend to see it to an ending of my choosing and on my terms.”
“In short,” Luna added, her features unreadable until her muzzle scrunched as she recollected something, “How do the colts and fillies say it these days? Ah, yes: Equestria, buck yeah.”
Chrysalis hissed at her.
“Do not be so angry,” the blue alicorn told her with a hint of steel in her voice. “I have offered my friendship to you time and time again, yet you cannot seem to grasp the idea that you need friends. Equestria could be a powerful ally to you and your hive, Chrysalis.”
“Enough,” Celestia said in a gentle tone. “Luna, we need to get moving. I intend to go where the enemy has her greatest numbers gathered. As we discussed.” Chrysalis could have sworn she heard a hitch in the elder sister’s voice.
Luna nodded once. “Indeed. There is a good chance this is all just a diversion. Are we agreed the little one is the primary target of our enemy?”
“Logic would suggest she is obsessed with Chrysalis and her child.” Celestia turned to her officers. “Gentlecolts. You have your duties to attend to. Good luck and good hunting.”
They saluted and parted ways, the sounds of their hooves striking stone echoing into Chrysalis’ ears.
“This is where I part, sister.” Celestia walked through an archway and into the banquet hall. Chrysalis recognized it. Armed and armored ponies were everywhere. It had been converted into a command center. Guards stood at the windows. They were pegasi and they hovered in silent overwatch. Celestia swept her eyes over her ponies and flared out her wings. “Commander Shepard, is my vanguard ready to depart?”
A dusky brown pegasus with a short mane of bleached yellow snapped to attention. His helmet was under his left wing and he was lightly armored. “Yes, Princess. We only await your word.”
“Let us see to it, then,” she said crisply. Celestia looked at her sister. “Luna. Be safe.”
“You as well.” Both sisters nuzzled and entwined their necks for a brief moment.
Orders were called out and suddenly the room exploded with activity as ponies made their way out the main door and into the courtyard. Cheers and thundering hooves drowned out the apprehension and fear of impending battle.
Chrysalis watched, in awe.
They were willing to fight? They were not cowed by Taalia?
“They’re all going to die,” she whispered, not believing for a moment a mere pony could stand against a Ravager. They were immortal demons given mortal form. They were death given single minded purpose. She looked at Luna, afraid for the ponies though she could not understand why. “They’re all going to die,” she repeated to the alicorn, not sure if her words could be heard over the din of departing soldiers.
The Princess of the Night cast her own eyes at the departing soldiers, then at the ones still at their posts. “Some will, certainly. It is what they are there for. They will die and their sacrifice will keep those who cannot fight for themselves safe from harm. The training they received will give them a chance to survive. It also teaches them to work together and as one to defeat their enemy and the enemies of Equestria. Come, I wish to see my sister off.”
Chrysalis followed the alicorn outside. She watched as Luna bade her sister farewell. The contingent of pegasi launched themselves into the air and circled in layered patterns over the keep. Celestia followed, keeping herself in the center until she pointed the group in a direction. They went northwest, the sun glinting off steel.
“Mama!” cried a familiar little voice.
Chrysalis spun on a heel and felt a little form barrel into her chest. She embraced Atalanta, her mane falling over to one side like a cascading waterfall. Muzzle met muzzle and mother nuzzled daughter. The queen sat down where she was and brought her forelegs up to hug the little pale princess.
“She has teeth,” growled Cadence as she approached. Twilight was with her, ears splayed out as she glared at the changeling queen. “I’m sore, Chrysalis. Very, very sore.”
The changeling paid Twilight no mind. “So, you did nurse her.”
“I did. It wasn’t bad until she drank me dry and started trying to force more milk from me.” Cadence had her wings partially raised. “And before you ask, Shining does not know. Not yet. I have kept my promise. You will have to tell him at some point. Twilight already knows and wanted to tell him. Her friends want to tell him.”
“Her friends?” Chrysalis blinked and looked at Twilight.
“Yes, Chrysalis, the same friends you spent time and effort in trying to separate from me,” Twilight said. It was evident she was unhappy with meeting the changeling again. “They had to come and see my niece for themselves.” A smug smile, small as it was, appeared on her muzzle. It was an annoying smile.
Chrysalis glared at Cadence. The pink alicorn held up her front hooves in a placating manner. “There was no agreement past keeping my husband from his own flesh and blood,” she told the queen.
“I’ll not have a quarrel on the eve of battle,” Luna interjected. “Twilight’s friends are here on Celestia’s request. They have the Elements with them. They could prove useful against a creature like Taalia. They are invaluable assets to have and have proven they can handle themselves against changelings. They are also my friends as well. You would do well to remember that.”
Chrysalis buzzed her wings and glared at the lunar princess. “Threatening me?”
“No. Simply stating facts for you to consider carefully. You will have a part in protecting your daughter, I should assume.”
“Fine. Just keep them away from me. I’m drowning in all of this warm sentiment.” Chrysalis snorted and flicked an ear. She huffed. “Do I make myself perfectly clear?” Glaring eyes bored with meaning into Twilight’s skull. The unicorn flinched and looked away, but nodded.
“That won’t be a problem.” Twilight looked at Cadence. “I’m going to join my friends.”
“Seek shelter,” Luna told them, her eyes scanning the parapets. “Battle will be coming. The enemy is making feints all along our border, striking at our cities and inciting fear in the hearts of Our ponies. They are distractions. Thousands are suffering because we have something a monster wants.”
“Something she won’t get!” Chrysalis held her daughter close.
The alicorn turned her attention to the mother and her child. “I should tell you to join the others in safety. Stay with your daughter. She will need you.”
Chrysalis stared at Luna as though the princess had grown a third eye. “I intend to fight.”
“Facing your fears?” Luna smirked.
“No more so than you are yours.”
Twilight and Cadence shared looks. Chrysalis pried her snuffling daughter over to the pink alicorn. Atalanta did not want to let go of her mother. She began to cry, looking up at the queen with pleading, tearful eyes. “No go, mama! Stay!”
The unicorn paused mid step and peered curiously over her shoulder at the queen. She shifted her stare from Chrysalis to the little pale weeping child desperately clinging to her mother. Her eyes lifted and locked upon the changeling and she said, “I find it hard for anything to love somepony like you.” There was no malice in her voice. To Twilight, this was a fact as presented through her own experience with the queen. There was also the information gathered from questioning her friends and reading transcripts gathered during the changeling queen’s confinement. “But, I guess the love of a mother is universal, no matter how much of a monster they are.”
Chrysalis gave a half hearted chuckle. “You should try it sometime, Twilight Sparkle, if you can convince a book to father your foals.”
The unicorn sputtered in anger. Cadence stepped between the two, glaring at Chrysalis. “This is hardly the time for that!” she said in even tones. The alicorn was trying to put her best face on. “We need to work together.”
Chrysalis conceded with a smile. “Of course, of course. You’re quite correct. My apologies, Twilight Sparkle.” She was gently stroking her daughter’s mane as the little changeling chirped and burrowed the side of her face into her mother’s chest.
Cadence then smirked. “Of course, families should always stick together.” Her Cheshire grin was a faux one, masking the unease and contempt she held for the changeling.
Chrysalis stared at the alicorn, her mulish ears sweeping back and flat before perking forward. Her gaze fell upon Atalanta, who adamantly refused to let go of her mother. Misery and want came from her little throat and her longing look was filled with free falling tears.
“Just a little while longer, my little morsel,” she said to Atalanta, leaning in with a tender expression. “Take her, Cadenza. Take her now before I change my mind and leave this place to its fate. She needs her nap.” Her horn flared and she released the spell. Atalanta was her mother’s daughter, but her eyes grew heavy and sleep overcame her. Her tiny pale form shimmered in her mother’s aura as she was lifted and given over to Cadence.
A cry came down from a tower. “Smoke in the town! There’s smoke!”
Chrysalis lifted her head and stared up at the pony peeking over the wall of the tower. She noted Luna clenching and unclenching her jaw. The alicorn had remained silent. Luna was an observant mare, still adjusting to this new world after a thousand years of isolation. It was a wonder the powerful alicorn had not gone insane from the loneliness. Chrysalis could see the calculating eye of a commander out of place and trying to adjust to modern warfare.
“You’ll find her tactics more like what you remember,” Chrysalis told her. “I’ve read up on military theory and am more or less familiar with how warfare is practiced.” She paused, considering the alicorn as she matched the changeling’s stare. “This is a test for you, isn’t it? You insisted you stand before Taalia and prove yourself, haven’t you?” Her voice had dropped so it only carried to Luna’s attentive ears.
“We fought,” Luna said. “I argued with her. I have done nothing since my return. I must prove myself. She told me there was no need. The guilt still plagues her. My own guilt plagues me. I must atone in my own way, just as you must in yours.”
“So, we face a common enemy, cast her down before us, and shag in victory until the break of dawn?” Chrysalis smirked as Luna let out a weak laugh. Her eyes roamed. “I want a big stallion with muscles. I want his lust. I want him to stab me repeatedly until I scream.” She fluttered her eyelashes at the now wide-eyed alicorn. “You can watch. If you’re a good girl, maybe you can join in as well. I don’t discriminate when it comes to lust and animalistic urges.”
“Oh my,” Cadence murmured before hurrying off to join Twilight. She was sporting a furious blush for some reason. Fiddling with the sleeping changeling in her charge was suddenly top priority.
The Queen of the Changelings laughed uproariously, her cackling mirth the closest thing to genuine humor she had felt in a long while. Luna joined in with reluctance, taking a step or two away from the changeling.
“Is there a place where we can see them advancing?” Chrysalis asked at the end of her laughter. Her grin flashed her fangs like eager daggers.
“Follow me,” Luna said with a nod. She took off with bounding grace, the great strokes of her massive wings lifting her into the air. Chrysalis followed, allowing her buzzing wings the only movement of her body. Her legs dangled beneath her as she followed the spiraling alicorn.
The pair landed on top of the gates. A winding road coming up a rocky slope between the jagged cliffs opened at the bottom to a town. It existed to keep the keep itself maintained with resources and food stockpiles. Businesses existed because of the military within its walls. It was not a large town, somewhere between a village and a hamlet. A scant few hundred souls called it home and it was a very old settlement.
It was on fire.
Ponies could be seen fleeing the dying buildings, streaming towards the keep in a bid to seek safety. Chrysalis squinted and could see soldiers assisting the populace. Sending out a pulse of subtle magic, she tried to locate her own changelings. There was a very good chance they were already out there, watching Taalia’s minions as they moved.
“Can you check them?” The question was sudden as Luna addressed her.
“Check them?”
“The refugees. Is there a way you can discern changelings from ponies? There is a strong likelihood Taalia would use this opportunity to put one of her infiltrators within these walls.”
“I can. I should go ahead and root out what is already here.”
Luna frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Remember what I said before? About your detection methods?”
“I do, yes.”
“That was a day ago. Do you really think anything has changed since then?”
Chrysalis held a steady and neutral expression as Luna stared at her. “I see your point. How do we do it?” the alicorn queried.
“One of these days, you ponies will have a grasp of pheromones. Until then, you will all be easy pickings.” The changeling shook her head. “Poor little prey animals.”
“All they need is love,” chirped Chrysalis as she put on a maniacal, predatory grin. Her horn glowed and she continued to stare out over the wall and down at the village. The black smoke rising was thickening and she could faintly hear the cries of the fleeing ponies. “All they need is just a little love.”
Green fire erupted from her horn and missiles shot from the tip, twisting and turning in the air as they went hunting. Chrysalis laughed and laughed as she unleashed her unfettered power to seek, to hunt her prey. It was a spell to discern friend from foe, as she had spent many years fighting her own kind. Each individual seeker in her spell was filled with love derived from greed, for Chrysalis was selfish in her love. What she gave was green and poisoned in return.
Love borne from hatred. Hatred she had sworn never to expose her daughter to. So, Chrysalis purged it, purged the taint Taalia had sown into her soul. Oh, there would be the scars. They would always be there. The bitterness, the abuse, oh how Chrysalis hated those feelings! They made her weak. They made her pitiful.
And now she unleashed her despair. She was free of the witch!
“Luna. Luna, you must listen carefully. Your soldiers. Your ponies, they must act without hesitation.” Her laughter died as suddenly as it came, but the gleam was still in her eyes and her fangs hungered for blood. “Kill the infiltrators. Kill those I expose. Show them no leniency. They willingly serve her. They cast aside their queen and are traitors to their hives. Taalia killed their queens and instead of fleeing or fighting to the death, they chose to serve. They must be punished and the punishment must be in blood. Kill them or we are defeated from within!”
Luna nodded. She knew the cruelty of war. “I will do what must be done.”
“Good. Good!” Chrysalis nodded, then tilted her head to one side. Her magic seemed to stop in midair, as if in a hover. The queen’s eyes darted about in their sockets and she shuddered in a deep breath. “I can see them.” She rose on her hind legs and buzzed her wings.
She let loose her seeking magic. They fell towards their targets at terrifying speed. There were so many of them! They struck ponies at their posts, attending their duties. They cried out as they were suddenly engulfed in familiar green changeling fire, exposing the infiltrators beneath. They stood, stupefied as cries of shock and outrage rose up from the ranks of ponies.
“No mercy,” Chrysalis hissed. She never looked behind her. She did not have to. Her senses told her everything she needed to know. The magic had drained her, the effort of seeking out the hidden threats leaving her as weak as a foal. “No mercy, Luna. They are no longer changelings, but monsters.”
“To arms, my ponies!” Luna cried, taking to the air. She could see the confused and shocked changelings within her walls, having gotten past the defenses. They were exposed and already they moved to strike.
But Luna was now angry and filled with a terrible resolve.
“Woe to them that hath understanding the wrath of the Moon,” Chrysalis whispered to herself. “For she is an unforgiving hostess.” The rage she felt made her knees buckle and she slumped to the floor, gasping in awe at what she was feeling from Princess Luna.
She was also beginning to sense the approach of another form of rage.
The old fears were returning and Chrysalis was not sure if she could face her.