Unchangeable

by TAW

Untold

Unchangeable

Chrysalis soared through the open sky on two gossamer wings. Her previous disguise fell away, compartmentalised and remembered in the back of her mind should she ever need it again. Her eyes grew sharper as her body adjusted, reshaping itself to her needs. Her torso grew thinner and more aerodynamic, her legs strained against the winds, and her ears began to hear the tiny changes in airflow that could turn her flight from an ugly glide to an agile dance. Chrysalis was the definitive Changeling, and everything about her reflected that.

As she flew, Chrysalis turned her mind towards her children, and the Changeling hivemind. They were close—no more than a few miles away by her best estimation—and getting closer all the time. Soon she would be reunited with her people and their assault on Equestria could begin again. They had been beaten back, not beaten.

Behind her lay Longest Pine's farm, quickly vanishing off into the distance. She didn't expect to ever need to return, but she took one last look anyway just to cement it in her mind. No sentiment involved, she told herself, she just wanted to know for the tactical advantages. So she told herself.

With that done, Chrysalis turned and put all of her effort into flight. The ground beneath her blurred as she sped over it, and her eyes began to water as the wind whipped across them. She closed her eyes. Her eyelids grew transparent, and then the wind was no longer a problem.

Chrysalis had hated being stuck with the limitations of a weak pony body, and relished her newly regained abilities. Ruffled mane met ruffled mind as the wind and anticipation spun each into a web, respectively. Her nose, sensitive to the point she could pick up a scent on the breeze a kilometre off, began to smell the acrid, stinging smell of smoke, wood fires, and burning hopes and dreams.

Beating her wings and flying a little faster, Chrysalis spotted a settlement just over the crest of a nearby hill. In typical earth pony style, the buildings were simple and wooden. The main town hall rose only a few stories above the smallest houses, and the entire village was surrounded by farmlands and empty fields, likely used for hedonistic frolicking and carefree grazing. In typical Changeling style, every square foot of the settlement burned.

The bakery was ablaze, fires fed with tasty treats and sugar-filled snacks. The side of the town hall had caved in under the pressure, exposing itself as hollow and mostly for show, just like the lives of the Changeling swarm's prey. In the middle of the fire-storm stood the single spared structure—the town library. Ponies were prey, buildings were worthless, but knowledge was something to savour. Every fresh book in that building could shed light on new information or create new possibilities. The library of each town was always the last thing to burn.

Chrysalis began her descent. Her wings hardened to aid her gliding and her legs began to extend to help her hit the ground running. Her eyes darted from place to place under her glassy eyelids, taking in the scene before her and mentally marking the dozens of changelings and ponies scurrying through the wreckage like rats fighting for the shell of a sinking ship.

As she fell, she opened her mind. The familiar warmth of the hivemind rose from a blurry sensation in the back of her head to the all-consuming monolith she remembered. It would have been so easy for her to surrender herself and sink into the groupthink, letting the shared conciousness dictate her actions for the good of the swarm. It would have been so easy to let go of her individual concerns and concentrate on the needs of the many. However, every group needs a leader if it hopes for more than wanton destruction and mindless continuation. Chrysalis was that leader, and for that reason alone she elected to retain her mind as her own.

Her hooves hit the ground on the tattered remains of a market road. Wooden stands and stalls lay shattered around her, leaving fruits, vegetables, and detritus strewn over the dirt like a blood splatter splashing against razor-sharp teeth. It was wasteful and showy, the actions of a dying race desperately trying to prove their relevance through decadence and power. It worked here, on the weak and helpless, but it wouldn't work anywhere that could defend itself.

Chrysalis opened her eyes, and then she opened them again. She gazed out from every changeling in the area as naturally as she would from herself, and looked upon the smouldering wreck with a fresh pair of eyes—or a hundred pairs. One of the scouts high above was looking straight at her, and she could see why: one of the remaining villagers still left free was attempting to sneak up behind her with a block of wood in his mouth.

He swung, aiming for the base of her neck with enough force to kill most creatures. Had Chrysalis not been prepared, the attack may even have dazed her, but with foreknowledge came preparation, and the block glanced uselessly from the newly thickened exo-skeleton covering her body.

"Chrysalis, my queen," a familiar voice spoke directly into her mind, "I feared you were lost."

A figure appeared in Chrysalis's mind. Her mental landscape was reminiscent of the forests they had all grown up in, filled with creeping ivy, air thick with insects, and the crushing air of danger. The imagined sun beat down upon them, tinging the conversation with simulated sweat and a sense of urgancy, though the entire talk would take place in the blink of an eye.

"I?" Chrysalis asked, turning to face the creature before her. She recognised him as one of the stronger members of her army and wasn't surprised to see he'd survived the battle of Canterlot. Interesting that he contacted her directly, and that he spoke with a singular pronoun, however. It wasn't often that flies crawling over a rotting corpse took much care of their personal identity.

"Yes. In your absence I took command of our people. You can see the results all around you—this pathetic collection is ours now," he snarled, lacing his voice with bitter anger. Chrysalis could indeed see the result of his actions. There were ponies running free, providing counter-attacks that were getting worryingly close to being effective. The library was home to a small band of equines that had realised its significance and were defending it. Almost every scrap of usable material in the town was damaged or destroyed, and yet the army required supplies—Canterlot had not been kind to them.

"No matter," he replied to Chrysalis' unspoken concerns. She hadn't meant to broadcast them through the hive, but clearly she was out of practise. "I shall soon take care of them personally. I realise you may want to take back command—Sorry, do want to take back command, judging by your thoughts—but that will be impossible. We are currently embroiled in combat, changing leaders now would be inadvisable."

Chrysalis took great care to ensure her irritation was kept purely internal. He was lying to her face—she knew everything he knew, and near or near enough vice versa. Switching leaders in a hivemind was trivial and painless, and both of them knew it. He was challenging her to disagree. Usually she would, by ripping his mind from his body in an instant, but Chrysalis was still weak and he was anything but, empowered by hasty conquests and blood-stained love.

"Of course," she replied, nodding her head. "We can exchange once this conflict is resolved."

With that, the figure faded.

The attacking earth pony looked on in horror as Chrysalis turned. His impromptu weapon lay broken at his side, the thick wood splintered against her near-impenetrable hide. She stared into his deep brown, quivering eyes and batted him to the side with a single swipe of her leg. Even relatively weak, Chrysalis was more than a match for any resistance the broken town might be able to muster.

Yet, the assailant's chocolate brown coat—now stained red with undeserved blood—made her uncomfortable. Something about seeing the helpless and struggling form before her evoked memories of both her own incapacitation, and the one who had healed her. Chrysalis shook her head to clear the thoughts, and quickly spat a thick layer of goo onto the now-entombed attacker, ensuring he wouldn't be able to escape and could be of use later.

The main thing left to do now was deal with the library. So far, only small and lower-ranked changelings had been appointed to the task, but Chrysalis wanted to make her arrival very very known. She stepped through the burning rubble of a former home, kicking down walls and doors alike as she made her way towards the town centre and the public library.

Inside the library, the hivemind informed her, were four ponies. Two of them were unicorns, and the others pegasi. The unicorns were doing a good job defending their position, especially as one of them seemed to know a lot of fire magic, making it a far more formidable threat than most of the rest of the local population.

The first fireball bounced harmlessly from Chrysalis' shell as she slowly, almost disinterestedly, walked towards the treehouse deflecting attacks both directly magical and from physical items thrown around. Were it any easier she may have wondered whether it was a trap.

The instant she was close enough, Chrysalis kicked out with a leg and sent the fire-wielding pony flying to land in a crumpled heap against a bookshelf. The flames surrounding his hooves petered out, extinguished just as completely and effectively as his hopes and dreams. One of the pegasi made a run for it, but a quick burst of magic lead to it crashing down onto the hard floor with a sickening crack.

With such an embarrassing threat dealt with, Chrysalis felt sure the hive would call for her immediate re-appointment as leader, and she could begin to more properly lead her army instead of watching it march to destruction at the hooves of an unskilled, overconfident fool.

Chrysalis turned to face the two remaining combatants, raising one hoof and sharpening it into a blade, ready to make an example of the two remaining. Fighting back lead to death, or worse, and compliance may at least let you keep your life.

The unicorn cowered before her, shielding the other pegasus—as if it would make a difference. Its eyes told a different story, though; there was no fear in those eyes, just determination. The pegasus was terrified, and by all rights the unicorn should be, so why wasn't it?

Love hung in the air—literally. Chrysalis could smell it, radiating from the couple before her like a bad smell from a rotting fruit. The bond they shared made her salivate with its potency and energy, and her hoof slowly lowered to the ground.

"Yeah! Yeah, leave her alone!" the unicorn shouted, flaring his horn as if there was anything he could do against her.

"Her? Not yourself?" Chrysalis asked, almost too seriously. She should have struck him down where he stood, so why hadn't she?

"Y- yeah! There are too many of you things for us both to get out, but if I can give her a chance then I don't mind going out fighting."

"Stupid pony, you cannot harm me. I am beyond your comprehension."

"Shut up! I know that, I know I can't beat you—but maybe I can buy her a few seconds!"

Chrysalis stood silently. The bond between the two was so strong the entire hivemind could smell it, even as far away as the scouts watching the battle miles above. Love—true love—was powerful and plentiful. Why were the changelings subsisting on stolen affection and false energy when they could have so much more? More power than they could dream of.

Chrysalis walked away, leaving the two terrified ponies unharmed. Love could find a way, and they could be the perfect example of changelingkind's future.

The love vanished in an instant as the changeling from Chrysalis' earlier vision drove a stake through their hearts, the brutal killing providing a suitable metaphor for itself. Chrysalis saw red.

"What are you doing, you fool?!" she shouted.

"What you should have," he replied, returning to the imagined forest. "We are not here to spare them."

"I spared them for a reason. You would do well to remember who your queen is, subject. There is a reason only I have taken a name."

"Well," Pupa replied, letting the knowledge of his new name flow into Chrysalis's head through the hivemind, "I think we should change that. You're weak, Chrysalis. I don't know what happened to you and you don't seem inclined to share it with us, but whatever happened has left you unsuitable for rule. Your idealistic plans of finding true love are sickening, you would bastardise everything it means to be a changeling."

"That is a lie. Think very carefully before challenging me, your current path will lead to our destruction."

"I have thought," Pupa replied, with one razor-sharp leg driven through Chrysalis's body. "And while I kept you distracted, dear queen, I moved into position to strike, thus proving my point."

Chrysalis fell to the ground, gasping for a breath that wasn't coming, while Pupa pulled his leg out of her body, pushing her to the side in disgust. "You're weak," he spat, "and you rule no longer. I don't know what happened to you, and I don't care, but we don't need you any more. Your plan of infiltration failed, and now it's time for Equestria to crumble under my hoof. Goodbye, queen." He turned around and began to walk away. The rest of the swarm mirrored his actions, silently moving on and leaving Chrysalis helplessly gasping through punctured lungs and shattered bones.

Within a few minutes, Chrysalis was alone, lying in the shadow of a smouldering hut surrounded by bodies. Pupa didn't care about extracting the strength from his prey, he was just mindlessly killing without rhyme or reason. In some ways, he was right—Chrysalis was weak. Still, he had underestimated her: she was not so weak that a simple impalement would kill her. She had already grown new lungs and reknit most of her bones, though it had drained most of her remaining energy and left her almost powerless.

Chrysalis struggled to her hooves and stumbled over to the nearest building, falling against it in an attempt to find her balance. Much as it pained her to admit, she may actually be dying and needed food badly. There wasn't a pony left alive in town, and as far as she knew there wasn't another village for miles. Not that she was in any condition to steal love now anyway. There was only one destination left for her now, and she just hoped he could forgive her.

Comments

[Rainbow Scout]

*Sees this*
OH MY GOD ANOTHER FEATURED CHRYSALIS FIC? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!???

[KMCA]

so much for escaping him

[Tricondon]

I'm angry I can only favourite this once. Because, really, this is one of my favourite fics on the site right now.

I'm not sure if this is Ponyville they're burning. I think it isn't, if only because you've made no mention of Twilight protecting her library. However, I've been wrong before, so I'm probably wrong here.

I'm looking forward to Pupa getting his comeuppance. Or, failing that, some karmic retribution.

-Tricondon

[Number_2]

Man...

[TAW]

738527
The last two dots are reserved for updated stories and don't run on the same current-popularity based algorithm, but rather just a general popularity one. This story was quite popular at first, thus straight into there.

[Melancholy]

[guilmon182]

So far, sir or madam, all I can say is this:
files.chesscomfiles.com/images_users/tiny_mce/burnsielaxplayer/applause.gif

[Zephyr]

Well, I can't find words to describe my reaction, I better show it.
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw2348_small.jpg

[kingtwelvesixteen]

Pupa is an idiot. He is going to get all the changelings killed.

[worldwar2freak]

738527
Actually, this was one of the two original Chrysalis fanfics on this site.

[Moonmist]

I'm sick with delight.

[Captain Snark]

738554

Well given that the last paragraph all but outright states that the changelings just slaughtered EVERYONE in town I certainly hope it's not Ponyville.

[Tricondon]

739662

Yes, that is true.

It would be a fascinating twist though, wouldn't it?

-Tricondon

[Hecatia]

Pupa? Did you steal the name from the fic The Three Sisters? Or is it just a coincidence?

[Between Lines]

Well, with "three sisters" we now have two "Pupa"s. We need more entomologists up in here.

[Split Lighting]

MoAR!!!!

[TAW]

739703>>739717
Goddamnit. No, I haven't read that one, though it really is a very lazy name so it doesn't surprise me.

[suijin228]

great job! loved the changing of the changeling's ruler, it will close up any plot holes that may develop. Keep goin and stay golden^^

[trufla]

Well, I see that Chrysalis is finding that little things can make for big problems. She went back to the Swarm, but it's not exactly her Swarm now, is it? Pupa's gained some independence, but if his plan is straight smash and grab, he's just one tiny step up from a mindless locust, and that type of guidance is likely to be the end of any group he leads. On the other hoof, Chrysalis obviously wasn't ready to try and take back control, though I'm sure she'll argue that it was the confusion from dealing with Lonesome that caused her to make the mistakes she did in confronting her upstart successor. (That's what you get for running out on the lessons before you finished learning them, my dear Regent.)

Looks like at the moment she's got one choice if she wants to regain her energy and health, and it's going to involve a serving of crow. I'll be interested to see how you handle that in the next chapter.

[cuck]

this chapter

butterbeliever.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/mind-blown-thumb-300x300.jpg

this is perfect, absolutely perfect

[Karrakaz]

Perfect? I liked it way better when it wasn't about killing and all that...

Also begs the question as to why this still has an 'everyone' rating...

[TAW]

772194
Death happens to everyone eventually.

But don't worry, this chapter doesn't represent a branching point in terms of content, I just needed the contrast between the slow, sedate earlier chapters and this rather more violent one to hammer the point home. If you didn't like it, that's good--it's not meant to be nice.

[Karrakaz]

772204

The change in perspective it brings on the nature of changelings is what set me off, up till now it fit with their canon depiction... but this was just 'she came to a town and about a hundred ponies got killed by changelings'

[TAW]

772257
Well, that's the point. They're not acting as they did in the show, it's base and violent and pointless and you're meant to be disgusted by it, just like Chrysalis is. It's very intentionally not matching up to canon because that's the best way I could think of to drive home the point that they're no longer acting the same way or doing the same things.

[Karrakaz]

772416

Fair enough.... Now show me what she does about it.... and bring those poor ponies back to life!

[ScadianArcadium]

My only thought is, when are you going to run out of "un" words that have relevance to the story for your titles?

[TAW]

773910
According to my local dictionary, there are one hundred and seventy three words that match the expression "^un.*able$"

I think I'll be okay.

[chartreusephlox]

This story just got off of my read it later list. I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to see how things progress with Chris and Pine. Did you do that on purpose? Because if that's a reference to Chris Pine, the new Captain Kirk, you are officially awesome. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Twilight_Sparkle_lolface.png

[kits]

I don't know why you're so down on this. It's pretty fun to see a changeling fic where the changeling is exactly the kind of asshole you'd expect her to be. Chrysalis's character is just as much of a bitch as she should be, so I'm actually enjoying this. Not just to spite you, but it's fun.

It ain't WBHW, but it's hardly Wubsy.

[Lateinshowing]

Update to this?

[TAW]

1216616
Yeah, sorry. I'm getting behind on everything, unfortunately. This will be updated, hopefully soon.

[Lateinshowing]

1217427
No problem. Life can get quite time consuming.

[Wild Zontars]

Aww, just dug this out of my read-later list now. Good stuff, TAW, wouldn't mind seeing more.

[FashionablyHospitable]

A cliffhanger, and updated so long ago. It was good.

[Morphy]

I do hope TAW is doing well, such as graduating college, wherever he (or she?) is...