Realms of Isceld: Book One: Hunt For Chrysalis

by AkumaKami64

Kevin Crustlar

Kevin grinned as he ate his slice of wedding cake. While changelings could live on love, among other things, nothing quite replaced the sweet taste of a good cake. Though, the ponies giving him suspicious looks, if not outright glares, was a bit disconcerting. Then again, that was kind of why he was here.

"Glad you could make it Kevin," A voice greeted behind him, prompting him to turn and smile at his donkey friend.

"Pfft, a war couldn't keep me from this!" He replied, giving the groom a hug, who returned it with a playful eye roll, "Congrats again, old friend. You finally found that jelly of yours! Shame I couldn't bring some of my friends, but...well, that didn't seem like a good idea from what I've heard," He mused awkwardly, smirking to change the subject, "So, WHAT was all of that? I arrive in town, nearly late might I add and next thing I know a...Bassmobile almost runs me over!" He declared in amusement.

Cranky hummed in amusement as well, "I told you, these ponies are crazy," He answered.

"We're not the one that invited a Changeling," Someone muttered in the observing crowd.

Kevin frowned in annoyance at that, not seeing who made the comment, "Hey! Friends talking here!" Cranky snapped, glaring at a few random ponies in the general direction of the voice, making them flinch.

"It's fine, Crank. Thanks for the meals, but I have a meeting to get to and you should get back to your Jelly before you strain that underused good-mood-organ of yours," Kevin joked, patting the groom on the back.

"True. Besides, I promised her I'd try dancing," Cranky said with a grimace, "Take care of yourself, Kev," He added with a smile as the Changeling walked off, getting a large berth to the Donkey's annoyance.

The Changeling rolled his eyes, not that any of them could tell, as he headed to the exit, sighing as he closed the door behind him.

"Kevin, I take it?"

No one of any species would really blame the shape-shifter for nearly jumping out of his exoskeleton.

Especially since he turned to find himself stared down by four Alicorns and a unicorn stallion.

He blinked as he processed who he was looking at, "Umm, wow, well, I was hoping to speak with one or two of the Princesses, your highnesses, but I didn't expect to meet all four, plus a prince," He commented in shock, looking them over, "You two are obviously Princesses Luna and Celestia," He noted idly, looking between the other two curiously, "You two I'm less sure about, but with how the colt is standing so close to you and glaring at me, I believe you are Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince-Consort Shining Armor," He deduced, unphased by the large male's look, "And you...Twilight Sparkle?" He tried, cocking his head.

"That would be me, yes," Twilight answered, looking openly curious about the changeling, "Despite Cranky vouching on your behalf, you can probably guess we'd like to know why you're here."

"With the way ponies look at me, it looks like this is a little overdue," Kevin said he cleared his throat and bowed in greeting, "My name is Kevin Crustlar, or Kevlar Incrust, Your Graces. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I was sent here by Lord Battle Shift, Ruler of the Entomian Hills, for...well, many reasons, to be honest," He introduced with a sigh as he raised his head.

"Then we are to believe you are not a servant of Chrysalis?" Luna asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know if you can call what she has servants," Kevin answered with a scowl as he opened the protective covering over his wings and pulled out a small folder with his hoof.

"What is that?" Luna asked suspiciously, already casting detection spells on it for traps.

"Some very, VERY old files that we had translated for you, with dates edited to fit your calendar system," Kevin answered with a scowl as Celestia took it with her magic, floating the papers to her face to read them.

What she read made her scowl.

"Sister?" Luna asked with a frown of her own.

"Chrysalis is no queen, it seems," Celestia answered bluntly.

"What?" Shining Armor, Twilight, and Cadence asked in sync before Celestia passed the folder to the royal couple, deciding they needed to see this.

"Chrysalis of Joch, Skibt. Born on the twenty-third day of Equum, thirty-five years post the founding of Equestria. Banished by the Skibtol Hive Mind for..." Cadence started before going pale.

"Cadence?" Twilight asked in worry.

Shining, reading over his wife's shoulder, bit his lip briefly before continuing for her, "For the creation and use of mind control magic resulting in the...the mental destruction and enslavement of no less than f-five changelings," Shining finished solemnly.

"M-Mental destruction?" Twilight repeated with pinprick eyes, looking at the scowling Shining Armor in growing fear.

"At a later date, if you're willing, I'll send a request for one of our mind healers to come take a look at you, Prince Shining Armor," Kevin offered in sympathy.

"But...but he hasn't shown any signs of...," Cadence said numbly, only for Shining to put a hoof on her shoulder.

The stallion sighed deeply, "I...I think I'd appreciate that, Kevlar," Shining admitted.

Luna cleared her throat before Twilight could lunge at the topic in panic, "Not that we don't appreciate this information but…why are you offering this now?" She inquired evenly.

Kevin nodded to that point, "Chrysalis has been assumed dead twice since her banishment. Several decades after her original banishment, then again after she was dealt with here," He explained.

"Why would she have been assumed dead?" Twilight asked curiously.

"The average changeling is not immortal, even if the royal caste is long lived," Kevin answered, humming as he put his thoughts into words, "Due to the nature of her crimes and her potential as an international threat, she was tracked by several nations, including mine. But she fell off the map entirely for a while, until she suddenly remerged in Equestria a little under a thousand years ago," He elaborated.

Luna glanced to her sister, who nodded, "Yes, I remember that incident well. It was the first true national crisis I had to deal with after you were sealed, Sister," Celestia confirmed.

Luna raised an eyebrow, "Suspicious timing. Do you think she was waiting for such an opportunity?" She mused.

"Wait, if Chrysalis isn't immortal...?" Cadence asked in confusion.

"We're not sure anymore on that," Kevin answered apologetically, "She was off the radar so long that she might have found something to keep her immortal or found her own immortality."

"Found her own?" Twilight asked with a scowl.

"Another time, Princess, that's too big a side-step from this topic," Kevin informed, getting a slightly sheepish look, "To my understanding, Lord Shift never contacted Equestria about her at that point because...well, we were a bit misinformed. We thought you had killed her, Princess Celestia," He explained, idly curious about that.

Celestia cleared her throat awkwardly as the others gave her confused looks, "Considering what I did, I can see how that was misinterpreted," She acknowledged vaguely.

"...Riiiight," Kevin said slowly, "Anyway, I heard about the Wedding/Invasion thing from Cranky a while after the fact. Back then, I didn't even know who Chrysalis was," Kevin explained with a shrug, "After that, Lord Shift had the old records dug up and decided to fill you in on what you're up against. He thought that it would be fitting to do this meeting at my friend's wedding," Kevin summed up.

"...Your Lord has an odd sense of humor," Luna commented dryly.

"Trust me, I know," Kevin admitted dryly, looking professional again, "In the back of that folder, you'll find a letter from my lord."

"Oh? A letter about what?' Celestia asked in interest.

"Simple: He wants to help," Kevin answered with a smile.

"He does?" Twilight asked, just a bit surprised, "But why? I mean, we deeply appreciate the offer, but I doubt it's for entirely selfless reasons," She commented cautiously.

"Well, partially to make it clear to you ponies that Chrysalis is NOT the representative of Changekind," Kevin answered pointedly, getting a nod from most of them, "But also because Chrysalis is now a confirmed threat on a potentially international scale. If she had taken your kingdom, she could have begun raising an army under her thrall by now. So, you know, nice work with that," He congratulated with a chuckle.

"Could Chrysalis become a threat that quickly?" Luna asked with a frown.

"Possibly. We don't know what she was doing for the time from her disappearance up to her meeting with the Sun Princess, so we're assuming the worst for now, that her magic has been enhanced and refined," Kevin explained, "I shall leave you to make of this what you will, Your Highnesses. I intend to stay in Ponyville for the time being, so I hope I receive a reply from you to my lord before I depart," He finished with a brief bow before walking away, never even bothering to transform.

"...Can we trust him?" Shining Armor asked evenly.

"Equestria has never had much contact with lands much farther away from it," Celestia started neutrally, "It is entirely possible he is telling the truth. For now, we work with the assumption he isn't deceiving us and prepare for the possibility that he is," She advised, looking to her niece and nephew-in-law, "Are you two okay with this?"

"I hate Chrysalis," Cadence admitted with a sigh, "Even before this. Changelings? I was never sure. Now, if this is true? I can only pity them."

Shining put a hoof around her with a small smile before turning to the tallest alicorn, "If Chrysalis is a criminal even among changelings, than its easier for me to disassociate her with the rest of her kind," He assured, grimacing afterwards, "I'm going to have mixed feeling about one of them poking in my head though..."

"Entomian Hills...I wonder where that would be?" Luna mused to herself, looking out towards the setting sun, "It must be far if we have never had contact at all with them."

"Twily? What do you think of all this?" Cadence asked to the mostly silent princess.

Twilight blinked and smiled awkwardly, "W-well...for many reasons, I hope he is telling the truth. Not only will that make dealing with Chrysalis easier, but this'll be a wonderful start of opening up an international relationship. Something that we never could do much of due to the terrain," She mused, more textbook than she meant.

"That's what we get for settling in windigo territory," Luna murmured to Celestia, who rolled her eyes, but agreed nonetheless.

"Not to mention all we can learn from them! If Chrysalis invented this magic, than they obviously have other types as well! And if they have records going back all that way, than...then the amount we can learn about the outside world from them would be monumental!" Twilight declared, her enthusiasm rising as it started to set in.

"Crystal Library all over again," Cadence whispered to Shining, who smiled weakly for a moment.

Author's Note:

Beta: Dragon Wizard91
And there we have it. Yes, I'm already planning multiple books of this.

Anyway, we've gotten our first sneakpeak at the world through Kevin Crustlar or Kevlar Incrust- his dual naming thing will be explained later, at Twilight's likely insistence. Here we learn that Chrysalis was a criminal even among changelings and her "subjects" are likely little more than puppets.

For the record, some of these chapters will be short- I'm considering writing a chapter that is just what that folder has on Chysalis, plus the letter- but they'll come quicker on the upside.

Still, yes, each chapter will be dedicated mostly to adding a bit more to the world that Equestria is part of, and the history of it. Next chapter(or after that if I do the folder) we'll have the Princesses, Shining, and others going over the information and offer of assistance.

PS The Equestrian calendar works exactly like the real world calendar, only with different names for the months and possibly a different starting month.

Comments

[Cross Lament]

I assume the griffons are after Chrysalis after they heard she'd be delicious boiled and dipped in garlic butter.

[Mitch H]

"Jelly" - do you mean jenny? It's the proper term for a female donkey, but they never use it in the show - Ponyville is a very pony-centric place, after all.

[shinigamisparda]

Large opportunity for world-building. Eagerly looking forwards to where this goes.

[shinigamisparda]

7563404 Maybe auto-correct?

[AkumaKami64]

7563404
Hm? Did I mishear something? I watched the Slice of Life episode several times and I always heard the mayor say "I pronounce you Jack and Jelly!" I assumed that those were both terms for donkeys of the respective genders

[Mitch H]

7563855 Huh. I forgot they said that, my mistake. But it would definitely have been "jack and jenny", which are the two common-English terms for a male and female donkey. The actor for the Mayor may have mumbled the line. Modern Canadians and Americans don't tend to have a lot of contact with donkeys, so the terms are increasingly obscure.

[Zenith Sparkle]

This looks cool. I'd recommend some editing to the description (just grammar stuff) but I'm definitely watching this.

[Bronzedragon]

Mitch H is quite correct. Wikipedia; A male donkey or ass is called a jack, a female a jenny or jennet;
I thought that what was said was jenny. However being the old dragon on the site that is what I expected to hear. People not familiar with the right word may have heard jelly, many times we hear what we expect not what was said.