20. The Black Queen
She had wanted to rush out to the colt and snatch him up. The years of not having him at her side had eaten at her heart constantly. Every time she reassured herself the decision had been the correct one, self loathing would spark. Abandoning her only son to the likes of the very alicorn whom she had impersonated and the unwitting sire had felt so very wrong.
Still, she observed the group, hidden in the crowd of other changelings. He was so close! Her eye welled up and a hitch caught in her voice, should she dare speak. Around her were her guards. They were scattered every bit as much as Cadence’s own guards. Neither were aware of each other’s physical location, yet there was a sense of unease experienced soldiers got from the sensation of being watched.
The Black Queen, she was called. Her true name was spoken mostly with the undertones of fear and respect. The ponies called her Chrysalis. Among them, she would allow this, even if the name did not fit. Her generals were mopping up operations following the last and desperate battle initiated by her enemies. Those queens were either dead or had surrendered their crowns to her. Very few remained to challenge her directly. Some would no doubt follow her in an attempt to catch her unawares.
Possible. It was very possible. The changeling queen known as Chrysalis by the Equestrians was well aware of the possibilities. She had learned to not assume and had grown into her role as queen. She had eyes and ears set for any pulse of the remnants of her enemies making any sort of move. There was a vengeful daughter who no doubt throw caution to the wind and do something stupid. Somehow, she had discovered the existence of Reign Cloud and would no doubt make an attempt on him for leverage and/or revenge.
She watched as the colt snuggled under his adoptive mother’s wing, a bit overwhelmed with the antics of the nymphs. Chrysalis noted their mother was an impressive specimen of a broodmother, one that bore the colors of her kingdom. A refugee? A victim of the civil war that erupted shortly after her son’s birth? She did not know.
Her disguise was that of the common every day changeling. It made sense, considering the park was crawling with changelings and their families. Such a social event was heartening to the queen and she smiled at the droves of nymphs at play under the watchful eyes of parents. There was a healthy community of broodmares, much like the one who was clearly friends with Mi Amore Cadenza, but nowhere near as imposing.
“I want my Pale Shadow,” she whispered.
“My queen?” Asked one of her disguised guards. He was Fury, the only other survivor from that desperate night ten years ago.
“Shatterback would have been his father,” she went on, ignoring the question. “He loved my little one as though he was his own. He did not hesitate when I commanded him to stay. A good mate.” Her voice was monotone and low.
Fury knew better. “He was my brother.”
“I miss him.”
“Yet you still hold a candle for another.”
“I do, my faithful warrior.” She smirked wryly, giving him a sidelong glance before shifting back to her son. So close, yet so very far! “He would have made a fine changeling, had he been born one. I will admit I lied when I said there was no room.”
“Your plan in approaching this issue is confusing, my queen.” Fury sat up and looked down at the picnic basket he had brought with him. They had to play the part. The sun felt nice on his back and he buzzed his wings.
“I am dividing my resources for this. I move to entice while at the same time give myself superior positioning for negotiations. Shining Armor and Cadenza are not greedy ponies. They are dutiful. I must also prepare to take what is mine if my initial plan bears no fruit. I am tired of the fighting, Fury. I have a shattered kingdom to rebuild. We have been away from home for too long. Thousands suffer because of this war and I am weary of it. Equestria is not a threat to us. I have the griffons to act as buffers.” She accepted a cucumber sandwich offered to her from the basket. The disguised queen took a bite and munched thoughtfully.
“How will you reconnect with your son?” asked Fury with curiosity.
“Very carefully,” she replied with a hint of resolve in her voice. “If he is like me, he will have a temper. A very vocal one.” The queen smirked, taking note of the changeling nymph with the large and poofy mane. “What do you make of that one?”
“Zeala’s spawn? Not like her mother. I doubt she is even aware.”
“But Zeala is all too aware. I was a fool to trust her, but I cannot yet move on the priestess. She has a plan and I want to know what it is. It involves my only son, my only child, and the heir to our kingdom’s future.” The Black Queen narrowed her gaze balefully as she thought of the thin, beautiful and very vain changeling priestess. “She seeks power. She has reached out to my enemies, but she has not told them of my son.”
“What purpose could Zeala have for the prince?” Fury asked. His anger was concealed well, but his queen knew of it. Fury was completely devoted to her and her family line. Absolute and unwavering.
“We must ascertain what it is, at all cost. He is our future. He is his kingdom’s future. I will not live forever.”
“You will have decades yet, my queen.” The changeling glared at his lady. “If you were to pass too soon, then your rule would have been wasted on war instead of prosperity, as you should have had from the day you were crowned.”
She laughed, her eyes roaming over the common changelings enjoying the day. “Ah, my loyal minion, how you lap at my hooves like the loyal dog you are.”
Fury was unruffled by her comment. Their bantering was years in refining. “I am the wolf that keeps the other wolves at bay.”
“Indeed you are.” She sighed, settling down on her stomach and shifting her legs more comfortably beneath her. “Are the stones placed in their proper locations?”
“We observe the pebble,” replied her companion with a nod. He fished a second sandwich from the basket and took a bite. He paused in his chewing to add, “It is always the most boring part of the job that yields the most promising rewards. I fear we may need to move faster than the client wishes.”
“The client,” she snorted derisively. “We must play the waiting game to find out what her game is. Zeala is dangerous. Perhaps more dangerous than Cadence suspects. She should be warned. I imagine she has been warned. That priestess has a hold over her and her husband. It is not changeling magic or they would have detected it by now.”
“Do you suspect dark arts?”
She nodded silently. Her eye had once again fallen upon the pale Halfling not fifty yards from where she picnicked. He had risen from beneath the alicorn’s wings and slowly walked towards the massive broodmother. They were conversing. There was simply too many changelings making too much of a din for the observing queen to make out what the conversation was about. A tiny nymph crawled out from beneath the mare and crawled up to Reign Cloud. He nosed her once, sniffing before she clamped herself to his muzzle with her hooves and her mouth. With a yelp, he fell backwards, the laughter of the group erupting around him.
“Not funny!” he yelled, careful to extract the nymph from his nose before retreating from the group in a sulk. Cadence frowned and reprimanded him.
“Ah, to be young again,” swooned the queen to her companion. Her complexion became sad. “I missed so much of it. I want to hold him again. I want him to call me Mother.” The mask forged from years of war cracked and a moment of matronly weakness overcame her. She recovered and noted a glass of wine being offered to her.
Appearances were one thing, showing genuine concern and affection for his lady was another. Such devotion was coveted by all queens in their royal guards. It also served as a convenient show of affection between courting changelings. “All in good time, my queen,” he assured her as she quaffed the glass in one gulp.
“We have twelve days to make a decision. We must keep an eye out for threats from beyond. Our primary concern is Zeala.” She sniffled, quickly regaining her composure. A napkin was hoofed over and she used it to dab her eyes. “No doubt General Silent has given over my proposal for consideration. I wonder how long before I receive an answer.”
“Princess Cadence has proven herself to be a capable ruler. She is still growing into her role, but she is competent. If it were not for that priestess, I should think her development will usher an era of growth and prosperity for the Crystal Empire. Her subjects adore her and are very protective of her and her family.” Fury refilled her glass without pause. “Believe it or not, they absolutely love their grumpy young prince.”
“I know. I am glad for that.” The glass was gone as quickly as it had been filled. Fury knew his queen well. The glass was again brimming the moment she set it down. “It will make things all the more difficult later on.”
“There will be a difficult choice you will have to make.”
“I pray it is not made for me. I desire peace, Fury. I am weary of war. I want little ones at my hooves. I want a stable kingdom. I want content subjects. I want a bright future.” She sighed heavily and sipped her third glass. Of those things she truly desired, one would never come to pass and that was perhaps the most regrettable of them all.
‘My queen, I bring news,’ came a voice in her mind respectfully.
‘Silent Wing? What news do you bring?’ Using the warling had been a gamble. He might have not been the best choice as an ambassador, but the queen wanted to present a figure Shining Armor could relate to and even feel at ease with.
‘The Prince Consort has met with me. Seeadler was with him and the priestess joined us.’ The giant changeling’s thoughts reflected his ire. ‘Her word carries weight with the Royals of this nation. It is as you suspected. I know not how deeply she has sunk her hooks into them.’
The queen grimaced, noting mildly the wine was slowly beginning to affect her. It was not an unpleasant feeling. ‘Anything else? How did Shining respond to my personal letter?’
‘Unnerved, if I were to put one word to it,’ he rumbled hesitantly. ‘I don’t know what I was to expect, my queen. You were not explicit and simply asked me to observe and keep my thoughts to myself.’
‘Did he suspect anything amiss from you?’
‘Only that I was lactose intolerant,’ came the amused reply.
The queen known as Chrysalis chuckled. ‘Having a bit of fun, were you?’
‘Equestrians are amusing when they try to remain polite in the face of unexpected revelations. Shining Armor was quite understanding. He may have broken a blood vessel when I ate the tea cup he gave me. It was quite tasty.’
Rolling her eyes, she sipped more wine and had another bite of her sandwich. ‘So long as you did not go to great lengths to antagonize him. So the message was delivered? Was there any interference from Zeala?’
‘None, my queen. She wears her mask well if she found the news of your coming to be unexpected. I might have been mistaken, but I think she is frightened at the prospect of meeting you. She may have had an inkling, which would explain why she felt the need to call in the assassin.’
‘Indeed. Too bad she did not pay much attention to what was happening to the assassin guilds within her reach.’ They were, for all intents and purposes, rendered useless. She had seen to it after the death of Shatterback. Some deaths were taken personally. The loss had affected the queen greatly. The infiltrator had been one of the best, yet he had been betrayed. The queen had been betrayed.
Zeala had betrayed. But was she working for someling else? A member of the Religious caste? Or was she scheming on her own? The evidence suggested she was using outside resources through empty promises while she consolidated her power base, but to what end? What was her game?
“What information do we have on my son’s Intended?” she asked Fury quietly. As her question found its voice, she mentally dismissed Silent Wing, quite pleased with his work. “What is the girl’s name?”
A file appeared in the changeling’s hooves from a saddlebag leaning against the picnic basket. He skimmed through it openly, as it was an unmarked and unremarkable folder. “Her name is Maggie. Odd name. She will be a broodmother when she matures,” he began as he sifted through the papers. “Her mother is unknown, but we suspect she is one of the acolytes at the Temple of Love. Perhaps even a neophyte. Potential converts to the Order of Love cannot have nymphs. Shortly after hatching, she was given over to Wilda, but only after being blessed with the mark of Servus Defensor, the Intended for Reign Cloud. She is intelligent, has a positive outlook, and always seems to want those around her to be happy.”
“The Order of Life might be interested in her,” mused the queen as her attention fixated on the bubbly nymph. “Her build is good. Her genes are older, of course. Clearly her blood is of the changelings who were trapped in this place for a thousand years.” Her gaze narrowed for a moment before relaxing. “They seem inseparable. Were they bonded?”
“The ceremony was done on Reign Cloud’s third birthday, my lady,” responded Fury.
The queen sighed as she nursed her wine. “Yet another milestone I missed. War is a terrible thing.” Bitterness gnawed at her heart. “I missed his first flight, his first words, his first tooth...oh, my Pale Shadow.”
“My Queen, do not cry. You did what you thought was the best course of action those years ago. Your heir lives because of your actions.” Fury blinked and was uncomfortable with his ruler showing her inner turmoil. “You are here now. That is what matters. Reunion is possible because of a decision you made.”
The Black Queen huffed, unable to contain the small smile that squeaked through her sorrow. She banished that sorrow, regarding Fury through a watery haze. “I have regrets. I cannot help it. I am his mother. I have missed him, Fury. And now I find there are more dangers around him than I could have imagined. I feel as though I still managed to fail him, even as his protector if not his mother.”
Fury nodded, not sure what to tell his queen. He knew her, yet he also did not know her. The queen who had nearly toppled Equestria still kept much to herself. Any subject regarding her son was a touchy one. Quite a few of her officers had met untimely ends upon any unkind utterances in the direction of the Halfling. It was easy to forget at times through her savagery and unforgiving relentlessness as a warring queen, his queen always kept her only child close to her heart. Yet, she knew nothing of nymphs, save for the passing moments she had when meeting refugees fleeing war. If she could, an awkward moment of holding a hatchling took her back to the days before the castes had stripped her of her crown as she refused to give up her Pale Shadow. How proud a mother she had been in the days following his birth! Shamelessly she showed off the foal—a foal!—cooing and fussing over him in a manner that would do an experienced broodmother proud!
Fury remembered how much she had radiated. The public announcement and recognition of the half breed as her heir had been the proudest moment since ascending to the throne. The kingdom embraced the birth and many had thought the queen would embrace openness to the outside world.
But...the Religious Caste and the Royal Caste saw the Halfling as an abomination and gave the ultimatum: either give over her newborn or have her crown stripped from her.
Ten years later, the echos of the queen’s decision had changed the landscape of changeling society, shaking it to its very foundations. Those who had sought to revoke her were either dead or had fled before her wrath. The war had changed her, scarred her. The Black Queen became spiteful towards the castes which had tried to destroy her and her son. Whispers of what she did to some of her influential prisoners had resonated deeply. She was feared by her peers. Those who were once queens and had survived were now her slaves. There were many now who wore iron collars, their horns broken off at their base. No queen, no infiltrator, no warling could match her prowess in battle, forged from her unbridled rage.
The changeling the ponies called Chrysalis clawed her way back to the top. Many crowns were now her trophies. Her vengeance was nearly complete. Her kingdom had grown into an empire, but one still teetering on the brink. The war had sapped much from the changeling race. It would take decades to rebuild. Whole communities had been wiped out. Those who were able had fled, hiding in other nations in small hives. Others, the few and perhaps the most fortunate found havens like the Crystal Empire where they could live openly and freely.
There was still much to do. It was perhaps the most difficult trial for the queen. She was still considered young and the burden of war would soon shift to the burden of reconstruction. Those bits she had promised to the Crystal Empire could have been used to help rebuild her own shattered nation. Still, the queen knew she would need to establish diplomatic relations with other nations and negotiate several treaties. Everything and anything was in a shambles.
War tended to make a mess of things.
“Keep an eye on her,” she said quietly. Mentally, she informed her guards to treat the nymph known as Maggie as though she were a member of the family. All acknowledged her command. “Also..,” she hummed through another frown, “follow that crippled lapdog of Zeala’s. Minions like him can lead to secrets. He is a key to those secrets about her. I want to know where he goes, what he does, and what information that mare entrusts him with.” Her thoughts echoed her words and again. She was obeyed without question.
For a long while, she sat in silence, feeling the wine go to her head and in a good way. She found herself humming as she watched her son interact with other changelings. Not surprisingly, Cadence rose to her hooves and joined the little ones in play, joy in every step she took and laughter chasing the tails of the nymphs. Reign seemed reluctant to play, but a ghost of a smile could be seen even as he hung back, physically unable to keep up with those far more vigorous than he. The want and need was there plainly. Luckily for him, Maggie made sure to hang back with the sickly prince to keep him involved in the games. From the queen’s perspective, the other youngsters took note of this and were surprisingly patient with him despite his frustrations. Cadence was constantly returning to check in on her adopted son, giving him an encouraging smile and the occasional (and embarrassing) nuzzle.
The more she observed Cadence, the more irrationally the queen thought of how dare the alicorn assume herself to be the mother of the queen’s heir! The Princess of Love had accepted Pale Shadow with nary a bat of the eye nor a hesitation in her heart, as intended, yet jealousy reared its ugly head. Fighting this monster was proving to be difficult.
There was a cracking of glass and a wet splash. The Black Queen looked down upon her disguise and found wine upon her forelegs and chest, staining the blanket as it mingled with shards of the now shattered wine glass. Fury tried not to stare at her, but his discomfort at her display of anger left a bitter aftertaste in the air.
“Soon, my queen,” he urged with a calm he clearly did not feel. “Soon there will an end to this charade. Please be patient for a little while longer.”
She did not answer him right away. Instead, she gathered up the shattered bits of glass and piled them neatly before setting them aside. The queen glared at the stains upon her and the blanket.
Fury was right. Patience was the key that would unlock everything.
And then she would deal with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza personally. The foalsitter would know her place. One way or another, she would have her son back.
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Darn you cliffhanger.
7063969 Sorry...but I must transition before the action begins!
7063972 I know. I just want to get into the meat of story when Reign and Chrysalis meet. It's going to be full of drama. I can feel it in my bones.
I dig it. I dig it reeeeeal good. Awesome chapter, Scar.
Probably it is jealousy, but instead of being grateful to Princes Cadence for adopting & taking care of her son. She wants to castigate her, put her in "her place". And she's still probably bitter after her expulsion from Canterlot, after all, Princess Cadence is power is what fueled Shining Armor's magical shield that expelled all the Changeling from Equestria.
Queen Chrysalis wants peace & stability to rebuild her kingdom, if she lets her petty jealousy get the better of her & someway hurt Cadence. This may agonizing the Equestrian & the two alicorn sisters to no end. Would that even spark a war?
Not only that, if she expects that her son is going to lover her, all she's going to end up is have a very angry little foal at her hooves. Angry against Chrysalis that she hurt his adoptive mother; they'll' tear each other apart. Something Chrysalis' enemies will exploit to bring down the black queen.
Those are my thoughts to the chapter, which by the way it i love the reveal. I was waiting when you would have Chrysalis return to the story. It is a good chapter.
P.S. When will you update the story I, Chrysalis, how naive the ponies that compose the equestrian army, some officers bringing their family with them.
They're going to be routed...
Curses, I've run out of fingernails!
This is certainly different. On one side, she is perhaps fitting here. She still is in the nature of of the warrior queen. You see for brief moments she lowers the armor. How this will go, is certainly going to be interesting.
i love this chapter
7064592 40.media.tumblr.com/6d76a8f4ff559aa5ab7de53770fce0d9/tumblr_npi0ywB6dA1s0b3e7o1_540.jpg
Have a feeling Chrissy really underestimate Cadance and how much she really is Reign's Mother, I don't think she'll lose either but doubt she has any idea how fearsome Cadance can be.
7064606
What?
7065540 To say anything about it would reveal too much. Soon!
7065876
Ok
"Pale Shadow" is an interesting nickname. Does Chrysalis think of Reign Cloud as a poor copy of herself?
7069148 It is a pet name changeling mothers give their offspring until they find their true name. Chrysalis chose this name because she thought it sounded both cute and mysterious.
well done Chrissie, You double bluffed Zelda hiring on to be the assassin to steal reign thus mother and son are reunited and Zelda deals with angry alicorns .
7064592
Maybe this?
pre08.deviantart.net/b3d8/th/pre/f/2016/028/b/c/flurry_heart_by_xebck-d9pn4bo.png
How has this story gotten my attention only recently and not sooner? It's amazing!
I'm absolutely loving it - the characterizations, the situations... it's all just written so well.
Though the jealousy of Chrysalis is not pretty - that won't end well. There will be a very difficult decision to do later on, won't there?
Either way, I absolutely can't wait for more of this story
Really like this story so far, do you have plans to continue with this?
7616618 Yes.
Wow, so Chryssie faked Zeala out, nice.
I still kinda hope Chryssie and Cadance manage to Bury the hatchet.
8061816
and then dig it up and bury it in Zeala's skull.