In The Rough

by BlackRoseRaven

Change

Chapter Nine: Change
~BlackRoseRaven

Marina clashed against Chrysalis, every fiber of her being trembling with fear and effort as she struggled to push back against the power and authority of the Changeling Queen. It took every ounce of her will, every last bit of strength she had, and all she could do was slow the coming of an inevitable defeat.

Her mechanical legs whirred as her horn ground against Chrysalis' own, before she gasped as she was driven back by a flash of emerald hell. She barely had a chance to catch herself before Chrysalis strafed a laser of emerald energy towards her, and Marina narrowly stepped backwards, shivering in pain, unable to hide how tired, how beaten, how exhausted she already was.

Her true self was bare to the world: a Changeling drone barely standing on prosthetic limbs, her body quaking under the immense power of the Changeling Queen. But she was the only thing standing between Chrysalis and her friends, and she would be dead and damned long before she allowed a tyrant like her to get her hooves on them.

She would die before she let them feed on Moonbeam again.

Chrysalis laughed at her as she steadied herself, and then the Changeling Queen grinned and leaned forwards, taunting: “Do you really think that-”

It wasn't Marina's preferred tactic, but she leapt forwards and slammed a metal hoof as hard as she could into Chrysalis' face: and yet even her metal legs felt weak, and she felt herself pulling the punch in spite of all the anger and the determination from the years and centuries and eons of Changeling instinct that stormed back against her like a tidal wave.

But it was still enough to knock Chrysalis backwards with a gasp of shock, the Queen rolling in an ungainly mess head over hooves before she managed to catch herself, skidding painfully to a stop. She mouthed wordlessly for a moment, then reached up and wiped a trickle of blood from her nose, staring down at this in disbelief at the stain for a moment before she snarled and looked up, furious.

“Stay back.” Marina whispered. She trembled as she set herself, but she set herself all the same. She felt strength returning to her bruised and battered body: there was no way she could ever completely throw off Chrysalis' control over her, perhaps, but... enough.

Enough for what, though? There was no way she could defeat Chrysalis, and they were in the heart of the Changeling Hive. Say she did somehow get past the Queen, what then? The Queensguard would be waiting for her, and they would be ruthless and merciless.

Past them? Diamond Dogs. Past them? Tundra and forest, for miles and miles. How long could she keep going? What was she even hoping to do?

Chrysalis glared at her, and Marina glared defiantly back, bringing herself back to the present, the here and now. She would just do whatever she could, whatever she had to. That was all she could focus on right now.

“Hey, I... I got your back.” Spike said, and even though his voice trembled, he was there beside her, afraid but ready.

“You don't have to.” Marina said, and she smiled a little, keeping her eyes on Chrysalis as the Queen surveyed them both with disbelief and disgust. “This is... my problem.”

“It's all our problem until we get out of here.” Spike answered with a brief smile, and Marina gave the smallest laugh at that before she nodded once.

“A drone and a baby dragon?” Chrysalis snorted in contempt, narrowing her eyes at Marina as she gave a cruel grin, but she was more on guard now. Marina knew she wouldn't get another free punch in: the Changeling Queen wouldn't make the same mistake twice. “I'm not surprised you can't even fight on your own. But bringing in a child to fight for you? That's low even by my standards.”

“They're my friends. They're the entire reason I'm here today: the entire reason I am who I am.” Marina answered bravely, forcing herself to meet the dominating gaze of the Changeling Queen. “They've given me-”

“No. You've never been 'given' anything by them.” sneered Chrysalis as she glared balefully down at Marina. “You've only taken. You take what they offer and you manipulate them into letting you take more. That is what we are, as Changelings, that is what we do and all we can do.

“But I can see a defect like you must have been easy to manipulate. Tell me, all these 'gifts,' how many of them came with a price?” taunted Chrysalis as she pointed at Marina's prosthetic legs. “Did those come from the kindness of a pony's heart, with no strings attached? Somehow I find that hard to believe. And now here you are, saying you're going to 'rescue' your 'friends,' and all you're really doing is being their perfect little soldier.”

Marina shook her head, starting: “That's not what this-”

“Really?” Chrysalis snorted in contempt, smiling callously as she straightened and drew her eyes distastefully over the drone and her friends. “Please. I know what Equestria has been plotting. Your last attack on the Hive wasn't enough, so now they're using you rejects as an excuse to move in and destroy this last, final hope. How does it feel to be a traitor, Marina? Is it worth giving yourself a name?”

“No!” Marina burst out, shaking her head vehemently. “We were just going camping, and-”

“Camping? And you happened to wander into this territory?” Chrysalis snorted in contempt, glaring at Marina with madness and cruelty in her eyes. “No, I know what's going on here. You and the other malcontents aren't satisfied with simply escaping from my control, with... denying the very purpose you were born for! I have spent my entire life struggling to keep you and the ailing Hive alive, and I will not allow you to destroy everything I have built with these hooves!”

Chrysalis rose a hoof with a snarl, and Marina trembled before she whispered: “You built this Hive on the backs of slaves.”

“They are my children. And I have spent my lifetime nurturing, protecting, teaching each and every one of you.” Chrysalis retorted. “You're not a pony. You're no monarch, either: you're only a drone. You will never know the pain or the anguish that goes into being forced to keep all of you in line: how hard it is to direct and protect all of you. Because look at what you've become without my guidance, Marina... an upstart brat who doesn't even recognize when she's being used.”

“I want to protect the ponies. Without your... your tyranny, I've become my own person!” Marina shouted back. “Is that what you're afraid of? That we don't need you?”

Queen Chrysalis smiled icily, then replied coolly: “And is that really you talking, drone, or is that the personality of the pony you absorbed? You seem to forget yourself: who, and what, you really are. Do you need a reminder?”

Chrysalis' horn lit up with eerie green malevolence, and Marina trembled before she steadied herself and replied quietly: “I know who I am. You... you can't take that away from me.”

“We'll see about that, drone.” Chrysalis waited only a moment longer before she snapped her horn down, and Marina winced as she leapt out of the way, narrowly avoiding a green lash of energy that seared the earth. It made Marina's whole body itch to see, sent painful trembles through her form, and she knew that if that energy hit her, the physical agony was going to be the least of her problems.

The Queen wasn't just feared for her physical superiority, after all: drones, workers, soldiers, all of them obeyed out of much more than just authority and concern for corporal punishments. The Queen had a crueler and more effective way of handling Changelings that tried to shake off her control, something even worse than clipping: erasure.

Another lash of energy snapped at her, and Marina dodged backwards before she ducked behind one of her metal limbs when that energy rebounded, gasping as she felt the aftershocks of the nightmare magic sear at both her body and mind.

Chrysalis wasn't playing around: a direct blast of that mix of psionic order and dark magic would make her Changeling mind consume itself, turning her into nothing but a blank, drooling statue. Even if the clipped lost almost everything that made them them, they could still function, still work, still provide, and Marina knew that they could still think and feel and somewhere deep inside them, was a spark.

This blast would suffocate that spark. Would turn her into an empty husk, to be sent to execution, or left as a living statue as a reminder to all other Changelings why you did not cross the Queen.

Another blast shot at her, and Marina dodged it before Spike suddenly ran forwards and spat a tongue of searing flame at Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen recoiled in surprise as the flames shot past her, then she snarled and slashed her horn out, walloping Spike backwards with a surge of telekinesis.

Marina leapt forwards, but Chrysalis half-spun and smashed Marina down with another blast of magic before her horn started to glow: but before she could gather the power she needed, a spark of magic hammered into her face and exploded in a flare of light, disorienting her.

Chrysalis hissed and blinked her eyes several times, rubbing at her face before she cried out in pain when Marina slammed a mechanical hoof into her, knocking her staggering. She swung her horn up, slashing across Marina's face, but even as the drone was knocked backwards, Marina still swung her other hoof up and lashed it across the Queen's jaw. Both Chrysalis and Marina hit the ground on their sides, Chrysalis staring in shock, Marina breathing hard and trembling and afraid, and yet Marina was the first to roll to her hooves, even with the deep gash through her muzzle from the Queen's horn.

Chrysalis quickly rolled to her own hooves, backing up a step before she gritted her teeth, looking back and forth as the crowd that had gathered murmured around them. Her Queensguard were stoic and glaring, but the other Changelings were shifting uneasily, whispering amongst themselves, maybe even doubting her... “Silence!”

The crowd shrank away from them, and Chrysalis turned her furious eyes to Marina, a bit of green blood leaking down her face from her torn lip, her vain beauty marred by the bruising that the mere drone had left on the face of a Queen. “I have had enough of this nonsense! You will bow down before me or I will kill you and all your friends!”

“I will not.” Marina said quietly, trembling, but raising her head as high as she could, meeting the Queen's eyes and forcing herself to not give in, to not shrink away. “I will never bow to you.”

Chrysalis snorted in contempt, and then she visibly gathered her strength: the force of magic Marina felt was tremendous and terrifying, but she also felt her friends there, gathering beside her: Moonbeam, breathing hard and unsteady, but focusing as much magic as she could; Spike, his teeth grit, one forelimb wrapped around his chest, but ready to leap forward.

“Get her.” hissed Chrysalis, and her two bodyguards immediately leapt forwards: Marina prepared herself to meet them, even though it would be impossible to-

Apple Bloom leapt over them, a blaze of yellow that smashed into one of the Queensguard fearlessly. He stumbled with a grunt of shock before gasping at the force of her rear hooves smashing into his chest, denting his armor and knocking him back before Scootaloo vaulted Apple Bloom and brought both her hooves down on his head, knocking him down with a cry.

The other Queensguard leapt at Marina, but was intercepted by a bolt of magic from Sweetie Belle that struck him in the face and disoriented him, knocking his tackle off course so he only hit the earth. Before he could get up, Spike was on him, harrying him with his claws, the Queensguard roaring as he shoved up to his hooves, trying to shake the dragon off.

Marina saw her chance and took it, leaping past the Queensguard, barreling straight for the Queen. Chrysalis snarled at her, lashing her horn down, sizzling tentacles of green lightning ripping through the air, but Marina dodged between what she could and forced herself to barrel through the rest, green lightning ripping against her body and limbs before she leapt at Chrysalis with a roar.

Queen Chrysalis flinched backwards, her eyes widening, her jaw gaping, and for a moment they were frozen together: the drone, one metal hoof reaching, reaching, body high in the air, determined and so very afraid but in spite of that, pushing forwards against her foe; Chrysalis, leaning back, frightened, quailing, for perhaps the first time in her life forced to doubt herself and her strength and superiority.

And then Chrysalis' horn gave a hellish flash, and Marina was knocked flying backwards, hitting the ground and rolling violently to land in a crumpled heap. Her mechanical limbs sizzled and crackled, machinery screaming as they twitched before falling still and silent; as still and silent as Marina, as she smoldered faintly from the dark magic.

Chrysalis shifted almost uncertainly on her hooves as her Queensguard threw off their attackers, but fell into ready positions instead of trying to fight. The Changeling Queen chewed on her lip for a moment before she seemed to realize she had dropped her usual demeanor, hurriedly clearing her throat and raising her head as she snarled: “Do you see? That is what happens to those who challenge me! Now bring me that traitor!”

The Queensguard moved forward, but Spike leapt in front of Marina, and he was joined by the Crusaders as the little dragon said through his trembles: “No.”

Both Queensguard only sneered: they began to move forwards, but then hesitated when Spike breathed out a gust of fire and the ponies with them readied themselves. Chrysalis growled behind them, but they only hesitated more when their Queen didn't move forwards, even as she barked: “Well, get them!”

Moonbeam crawled over to Marina, trembling a bit as she hugged the Changeling, looking down at her silently before she rested her head against Marina's own. She wasn't any good with words and she didn't believe that love would win the day; she had lived a life that had marred and maimed the beliefs that so many ponies held so near and dear to their hearts.

But Marina made her believe there was a reason for it all, that maybe love couldn't always triumph, but it sure could put up one hell of a fight. Marina was someone she believed in... and even now, she believed in her, as she wrapped her forelegs around the Changeling and trembled a little, a tear running down her cheek and sliding down over the Changeling's muzzle like a caress, as she whispered: “You stupid idiot.”

She leaned down, pressing her forehead against Marina, wishing, willing her love to the Changeling. Memories ran through her mind of all the times they had together: not necessarily all the times they had enjoyed, but she had never been the kind of pony who tried very hard to enjoy life, now had she?

But she remembered every moment Marina had been there for her, how she'd always done all the little – and big! – things that she had demanded without hesitation. Moonbeam always told herself that was because of Marina's programming, but that was because she had always been so cruel and reckless with Marina's feelings.

There had been fear, sure: Moonbeam had a hard time bringing herself to trust a Changeling. That was only an excuse, though: it wasn't like, in time, she hadn't started to trust Marina all the same, no matter how many nibbles in the back of her mind asked whether or not these feelings were real, or if Marina was just manipulating her to feed off her, was just abusing the fact she had stolen her memories, eaten deep of her emotions.

What was love, though? You could say it was someone knowing you inside out, or you could say it was someone good enough to manipulate you into doing things and making you think it was your idea all along. It was something all ponies believed was good and true and perfect, but Moonbeam knew in reality love was an awful, imperfect thing that all too often attached you to precisely the wrong pony. Or Changeling, as they case might be.

She loved Marina. She hated that she loved her, almost as much as she hated that Marina so clearly loved her back.

She didn't deserve Marina. She was full of hate and bitterness and anger, and all she ever did was blame Marina for her own failings, no matter how often Marina threw herself into danger to protect her: no matter how many times Marina dragged herself across coals just for the chance to see her smile.

“You stupid idiot.” Moonbeam repeated, trembling as she squeezed Marina tightly up against her, burying her face into Marina's mane as she whispered: “Don't leave.”

“What are you waiting for?” Chrysalis growled. “Get them!”

Her Queensguard both started forwards, then paused for a moment when Spike vomited out a short blast of flame before he started to warn: “Don't take another-”

One of the Queensguard flicked his horn almost disdainfully, socking Spike in the belly with a shock of telekinetic force that knocked him backwards with a gasp of pain. He clutched at his stomach, tears forming in his eyes at both the pain and his powerlessness: some dragon he was.

The Queensguard advanced, but the Crusaders moved forward to block them, Apple Bloom shouting: “You better just back off right now before-”

The second Queensguard lashed out with his horn, then scowled when Sweetie Belle blocked the blast of force with her own magic, the unicorn gasping at the effort but then steadying herself as Scootaloo leapt forwards and growled: “We're not afraid of you!”

“They are children, can't you even handle children, or do I have to do this myself?” Chrysalis snapped in exasperation, but Spike thought there was a surprise, a nervousness in her voice: was she afraid of them? Was that it, that beneath everything else, the mighty Changelings that preyed on them were really just frightened of them?

He snorted quietly, then rose his head and asked: “Then why don't you?”

A deadly silence fell as all eyes focused on Spike, who looked past the Queensguard and directly at Chrysalis, daring to meet her toxic, furious gaze as she hissed: “What was that?”

“I asked why you don't do any of this yourself.” Spike repeated, forcing himself to meet the Changeling Queen's eyes, to not shudder and give out under the hate and anger and fury. “But that's because you can't, can you?”

Chrysalis stomped forwards, hissing furiously as her horn lit up with malicious magic: “Listen to me, you lowly worm, I am-”

“You're nothing but a coward. You make them fight for you and hide behind them!” Spike retorted, raising his head higher. He could see her anger, her frustration, and more importantly, he could see the hesitance in the milling Changelings. The lack of surety. The Queensguard were furious, sure, just waiting for the order, but Spike knew he had one chance here to play his cards right, to say the right words, do the right things.

He was no brute dragon. He could never win through strength alone. But there were other ways to win than through physical force, he knew: maybe he could still help get them out of this. All he could offer was a distraction, but he prayed that was enough.

Chrysalis opened her mouth, and Spike said, in the driest voice he could manage: “Let me guess, you're going to tell your soldiers to 'get me.' Because again, you can't do anything yourself.”

The Changeling Queen gnashed her teeth together as the Queensguard both began forwards, then winced when she snarled: “Stop!”

They looked uncertainly back at their Queen, and Chrysalis snorted as she gestured them disdainfully aside, growling: “Fine, dragon. If that's what you want, then I'll let you have the privilege of experiencing the strength of a Changeling Queen.”

Chrysalis stepped forwards, imposing and imperial, and Spike stepped out as well before he winced when Apple Bloom grabbed his shoulder and asked sharply: “What are you doing?”

“Trust me.” Spike said quietly, looking back at her pointedly, and Apple Bloom bit her lip before the dragon said in a firmer voice: “Stay back with Marina. I'll take care of her.”

“Oh, you will, will you?” Chrysalis asked in a disgusted voice, snorting loudly before she rose her head high, her eyes locked on the little dragon: but she was appraising him, he thought. She had already been forced to fight once today, and she was bruised, injured, and unsure. But she was also vain, and angry, and for perhaps the first time in her life, her crown was in danger.

They both shifted on their feet: Spike took a breath, and Chrysalis narrowed her eyes as her horn gleamed with eerie green magic. But there was a faint flickering there: Spike recognized that. Both the physical toll and the effort she'd been forced to put forth had drained much of her magical reserves: as powerful as she was, she wasn't used to fighting, either.

Spike wasn't exactly in any shape to put up much of a fight himself, though: he had his chest puffed out and his head high, but it took all his strength just to keep that farce of pride going. He was no match for Chrysalis: even if he had been at his best, he knew that he wouldn't be any match for the Queen of the Changelings.

But Chrysalis didn't know that.

The Changeling Queen eyed him coldly, but warily: Spike glared back at her gamely, puffing out a bit of fire before he asked: “What are you even trying to accomplish, anyway? If you can't fight us, then you know that Princess Celestia is going to squash you flat.”

“I beat Celestia once, as you might recall.” Chrysalis retorted, but there was a flicker of doubt: she had, yes, but that had been after feasting on almost limitless love for who-knew how long? And no one could forget-

“Yeah, and then Princess Cadance and Shining Armor flung you and your entire army sky-high.” Spike retorted with a wave of one claw. “Besides, do you really think Celestia will pull her punches this time if she catches you?”

“Celestia won't even get the chance-”

“Well, you're right about that.” Spike interrupted casually: he knew there were few things high-powered ponies hated more than being interrupted, and the less serious he was while doing it, the more it seemed to sting. “I mean, you aren't even going to get a chance to see her, that's what I mean. Equestria's soldiers will stop you long before then. Assuming you even get that far...”

“You're assuming a little too much, child.” hissed Chrysalis, glaring furiously down at the dragon as her magic sparked along her horn.

“Am I?” asked Spike, stepping forwards aggressively, and he was rewarded by Chrysalis hissing and flinching ever so slightly. “Please. You know as well as I do that you're drowning, and all you're going to accomplish is getting your own people either killed by ponies or subjugated by these Diamond Dogs who have moved right in and made this place their home.”

Chrysalis snorted in contempt at this, but she licked her lips before she shot back: “You think I don't have control over those mongrels? You think that your ponies are strong enough to defeat me, to kill me? My, you have a strange idea of your ponies and their strength, little dragon. But I suppose, having spent all your life under their hooves, you would have no real idea of true strength.”

He was stalling, but Chrysalis was stalling, too: Spike realized that, and he knew that his only real advantage here was that Chrysalis didn't seem to recognize that he was just as happy to postpone a fight as she was.

So he put on the angriest face he could and pointed a claw at her, snapping: “No, Chrysalis, you're the one who has no idea what these ponies are really capable of! Or did you forget what they did to Marina?”

He pointed back at her, at the Changeling who was being cradled by Moonbeam, the unicorn breathing slowly as she silently poured her love, her strength, into Marina's body. Chrysalis' eyes narrowed at this, and for a moment Spike feared that he had just made a mistake by drawing her attention to the Changeling before the monarch snorted disdainfully and returned her eyes to the dragon. “Oh yes, very brave, very strong of them to have captured one of my injured drones and turned her into a wind-up toy. Please. That doesn't intimidate me. And whatever you're trying to achieve, it won't work. She's been erased.”

“What do you mean?” Spike asked uneasily, frowning, and Chrysalis smiled thinly.

“Precisely what I said.” Chrysalis replied, disdainfully flicking her mane to the side. “Changelings are born into specific roles, with specific skills. Some can learn and copy anything you ponies can do. Some are strong and built for combat. Others are leaders and officers. But each and every one of my Changelings, from the lowliest drone to the highest-ranking official, all of them are genetically and mentally linked to me. They depend on me, their Queen, for everything: but just as easily as I can give them strength and life and inspiration, I can take that all away.”

“What did you do to her?” Spike shouted, and he wasn't just trying to stall her anymore.

“How many times do I have to repeat myself?” Chrysalis retorted. “That drone had forgotten who and what he was, with all this make-believe about being 'Marina,' about being some kind of pony. So I did the only thing I could: I took all those false beliefs away. He'll be happier now... or well, he'll return to his purpose now. He'll be content.”

Spike gritted his teeth, trembling for a moment before Chrysalis stepped forwards, regaining some of her old confidence at the ripple of fear that ran through the room, at the way even the Queensguard bowed their heads slightly at her strength and power, at the control she bore over each and every one of her children, her subjects, her slaves. “Maybe you ponies and baby dragons have time for happiness. But we Changelings do not. We don't have that luxury, any more than we can treat emotions as anything but what they are: food. I will do what is best for my Hive, what is in the greatest interest of my Hive, no matter what it costs me-”

“That's a lie.” Spike interrupted, gritting his teeth. “You're not interested in what's best for these Changelings, and you never pay the price for your decisions, they do! You're only interested in what you think is best for yourself!”

“I suffered more than you can imagine! I was injured as badly as any other Changeling when I was launched out of that castle!” Chrysalis shouted back, stepping forwards aggressively. “I am their Queen, and without me they'll all die! I have no choice but-”

“There's always a choice!” Spike retorted as he stepped forwards, so they were almost pressing nose-to-nose. “And they don't need you to live or guide them, they're capable of making their own decisions! Marina helped me out more times than-”

“That drone was doing nothing but manipulating you to feed off your emotions.” Chrysalis snapped. “Your pride, determination, that sniveling idea of 'friendship,' all of that and more! Of course he worked hard to make ponies like him, think he was smart, accomplished: how else are my Changelings supposed to feed? But they are nothing!”

Silence fell, and Chrysalis frowned as she felt the uneasy shift through the ranks: even the Queensguard hesitated, and that made her uneasy. She tried to hide that, knowing she couldn't afford to seem weak, like she wasn't in full control, or that- “Do you even know your own people?”

Spike looked up at her with... was that pity? She hated it. She hated the way the emotions stung her, baring her teeth at the little dragon before he said quietly: “You need them more than they will ever need you. Is that what you're afraid of them finding out? That they don't need you?”

“And who will guide them?” sneered Chrysalis, gesturing off to the side. “Who will teach them, command them, bring them together, feed them? Who will give them purpose? The ponies? Please. Do you know what other races use Changelings for? Spies, assassins, and circus freaks. I will not leave my people in the hooves of people like you, who turn them into monsters, who will abuse and twist them and fatten them on false friendships while they make them into... into war machines!”

She pointed at Marina with a trembling hoof, but Spike only asked: “So which is it? Are you afraid of them or are you afraid for them? Are they nothing to you or are they everything? Are they your children or your servants?”

Chrysalis glared, grinding her teeth together before she spat: “I don't have to answer to you. You would never understand, anyway!”

“If anyone could understand, Chrysalis, it's me! I'm not a pony, if you haven't noticed.” Spike snapped back, gesturing at himself before he said quietly: “I know ponies. I know what it's like to be pushed around by them. I know what it's like to feel like you're... beneath them, less than they are. Like they're just using you. But I also know they're good people. A people who will offer even their worst enemies shelter. A people who want to help and make friends before enemies.

“They helped Marina. They saved her life. And they let her choose what she wanted to become. Have you ever given your Changelings a choice?”

Queen Chrysalis stared at Spike for a few moments, and then she snorted in contempt before she said quietly: “It is not their place to make decisions. They aren't capable of deciding things for themselves. That is my job and my curse. You will never understand, Spike: not you, not any of your ponies, what it's like to be a mother to a hundred thousand children and to be responsible for every single one of them for the entirety of their lives. To know that without you, they would be lost and unable to cope.”

“Not every single one of them.” Spike answered, glancing back at Marina, before he gave a brief smile when Moonbeam sat back with a soft gasp, and he saw Marina shift.

“No. Some Changelings leave, or are banished. And they inevitably die, or come crawling back.” Chrysalis answered dismissively, shaking her head with a snort before her eyes narrowed as Marina shifted again. She looked up, beginning to smile thinly as Marina slowly shifted up to her hooves. “And others simply return to being empty vessels.”

Marina looked up blankly at Chrysalis for a moment, taking a few slogging steps forwards before she stumbled to a halt beside Spike. Then she suddenly shook herself before she gritted her teeth and looked up with defiance, snapping: “No, all you did was remind me who I really am!”

Chrysalis gaped in shock, staring in disbelief as Marina steadied herself: every breath hurt, every nerve of her body was on fire... but she was alive. Alive, and herself, in spite of everything she had been through. Chrysalis' toxic magic had ripped through her mind, and there had been a darkness... but Moonbeam's love had reminded her of who she was, had cut through that emptiness that had filled up her mind and brought her back.

She was awake. She knew who she was. And oh, she was still terribly afraid, but she saw Chrysalis' hesitance, and she knew that now was the only chance she might ever have to put a stop to the Changeling Queen. But this wasn't a battle she could win through physical force. She had tried that and almost gotten herself and everyone else killed.

But there was another way.

“I don't need you.” Marina said clearly, but she wasn't just speaking to the Queen: she was speaking to all the Changelings present, the crowd that was watching and whispering in the background. “I don't think any of us really do. Maybe we did once, but we're Changelings: we change, we adapt, we evolve.”

“You... how did you...” Chrysalis stared, and then she shook her head quickly before snapping: “No! That's not... that's impossible!”

She was flustered, confused, but Marina knew it wouldn't last for much longer. So she pressed her advantage while she had it, shouting: “No, I'm still standing here, aren't I? The ponies saved me, helped me... you're the one who made them our enemy! Who decided they were food, not our friends!”

“That is the way it has always been!” Chrysalis shouted angrily back, but her eyes flicked back and forth, as if she couldn't comprehend that this Changeling was still arguing with her, let alone somehow standing after the magic she had hit her with. “You... I... if they were your friends, then why did they send you-”

“They didn't send me!” Marina interrupted, and she didn't have to exaggerate her frustration. “I was just here on a camping trip! Yes, Equestria has helped me, and I've helped them in return... because you're the one who keeps attacking them who keeps kidnapping ponies, who keeps... did you ever even think that if you tried to talk to them instead of attack them, then maybe they might help you?”

“We don't need any help!” Chrysalis spat. “We are a proud race that-”

“Is going to die if you keep this up.” Marina finished, and Chrysalis flinched, which told Marina... “And you know that. You know that, and you're still... doing this. Is it worth it if we all die?”

Chrysalis snorted, but as she opened her mouth, a meek voice asked: “Are... are we all going to die?”

Chrysalis blinked slowly, then looked over her shoulder, at the drone who had asked the question. She looked at him, before her eyes shifted up, uneasily surveying the other Changelings that were milling closer now. They were anxious and afraid, and... questioning.

“No. Of course not.” scoffed Chrysalis, but that was all she could think to say.

“We could.” Marina said quietly, and all eyes turned to her, and Chrysalis spun around with a snarl, but she didn't dare to do anything. And Marina realized that this was her weakness: this was the only way she could defeat Chrysalis.

“We won't!” Chrysalis shouted, but there were murmurs, whispers, and she snarled as she spun around and shouted at the crowd: “Enough! Do not question your Queen or I will have you all clipped!”

“Yes. I can see how much you love us.” Marina said bitterly, before she added sharply: “How can you clip every Changeling here?”

“My Queensguard-”

“There's two of them. There are many more of us!” Marina said bravely, raising her head high. “And you... you have no power over us! No more power than we give you!”

Chrysalis shook her head, but her eyes betrayed her, darting back and forth even as she snapped: “I could erase all of you! This is madness, Marina, all you're going to do is get these Changelings-”

“Free. Freedom is worth any price.” Marina answered, shaking her head before she stepped forwards, and Chrysalis flinched. “Give us a chance to be free. Give us a chance to make friends with these ponies. Give us a chance to change.”

Chrysalis snarled, then she snapped: “Queensguard!”

Both Queensguard stepped forwards, but when they started towards Marina, the crowd of Changelings shifted, one of them blurting out: “No! Leave her alone!”

“Her?” Chrysalis blinked, then she snapped: “She is a he, a drone, and nothing but-”

“She's afraid of you, of all of you! She's defenseless without her Queensguard!” Spike shouted as he stepped forwards, into the path of the advancing bodyguards, and both of them snarled before one looked back in surprise as a Changeling half-stumbled out of the crowd.

Immediately, the Queensguard turned and ran in front of the Queen, glaring at the mass of Changelings, but they saw Chrysalis flinch, and the Queensguard's eyes widened slightly as several other Changelings shifted forwards.

A shift was more than any of them would dare to do in the past: on those few occasions that the Changelings had stood up to the authority that controlled them, or tried to resist, it never took more than a Queensguard or two to put them back down. But now, those Changelings weren't simply backing down once challenged. The Queensguard saw it, and Chrysalis saw it, and their hesitance bolstered the Changelings.

“We... we don't want to be your slaves!” shouted a Changeling, and others chorused in agreement.

The Queensguard both hesitated in their roles, then backed towards Chrysalis, protecting her from either side as Marina shouted: “Tell everyone! Show the Hive we don't have to be afraid!”

“The Hive... the Hive obeys me!” Chrysalis said, but she sounded almost frantic as she looked back and forth, snarling but afraid. “The Hive-”

“All Changelings hear the voice of the Hive, and the Hive says we need to do what is best for all Changelings, not just you.” responded Marina, shaking her head sharply. She could feel the Changelings getting angrier, rowdier, and Chrysalis was getting more desperate. But something made her hesitate to push them over the edge.

Of course she hesitated: if they rioted, if they turned on their Queen, it could be a disaster. Especially with the Diamond Dogs still present. She didn't want a violent uprising: she wanted... she didn't even know what she wanted, apart from her friends to be safe, to get out of here in one piece, and maybe, well...

She closed her eyes. She listened to the voice of the Hive, if only to reassure herself that she was right. And no, that voice wasn't Chrysalis, was it?

It wanted peace. It wanted the Changelings to be strong. It wanted everything Chrysalis said, but it didn't just want Changelings to serve: it wanted them to be fulfilled, happy, and to grow. To be more than they were.

It wanted Changelings to survive on their own terms, but those terms didn't have to be as predator or slave.

Marina lowered her head for a moment as the noise around her built: she heard all of them, shouting at each other, shouting over each other. And even though Chrysalis was in many ways a tyrant and a villain, she knew that she was doing what she thought was best.

The Hive told her what to say, and Marina rose her head and said it without thinking: “The only person who can stop this is you. If you want to prove we need you, then you have to be willing to let go. To show us... you can change, too.”

Chrysalis snarled, then gritted her teeth: but even though it was anger she displayed, Marina felt something else. She saw the way she trembled, the way she shifted herself, before she suddenly snapped: “Fine! If you think you know best, then...”

Queen Chrysalis rose her head, then she said finally: “Then you can take responsibility for all this, drone. If you think these ponies are so pure and good, I'll give you this one chance to prove that they are. But all you're going to bring us is misery.”

“I won't. I know I won't.” Marina replied quietly, shaking her head before she gave a brief smile. “I can prove it. I can prove it right now.”

Chrysalis frowned, and Marina took a breath, focusing herself. Her neural circuits seemed damaged, but she was still able to feel her connection to Octavia, even if it didn't feel quite as stable as usual. “Octavia, can you hear me? Overwatch?”

There was a static fizzle, and Octavia's voice came in with a sigh before she muttered: “I hope you know what you're doing, Marina.”

“I do.” Marina smiled a bit as she looked at Chrysalis, who was glaring at her balefully. All eyes in the room seemed to be on her, like they expected some kind of miracle or damnation: Marina didn't think she could actually deliver either of those, but... “You have our coordinates, right?”

“Yes...” Octavia said dubiously, clearly already not liking where this was going.

“Send a transport. Maybe a diplomat to negotiate. I... I want to show the Changelings we mean no harm to them. They need help.” Marina said.

“We don't need your help!” seethed Chrysalis, glaring at Marina, but Marina looked back fearlessly, unfazed. Now she knew what Chrysalis reminded her of: a wounded animal, afraid, lashing out at everything that came close...

“Maybe you don't. But your people do.” Marina said quietly.

“I'll dispatch a transport immediately. I'll need you to meet us out front, though: I'm sure it would be reassuring to see the hostages going free and all.” Overwatch said politely.

Marina nodded, then she looked at Chrysalis, but before she could speak, the Queen growled: “No. Don't think about it. You've done untold damage to this Hive already. I will not relinquish the little food we have left.”

Marina bit her lip, before she looked down in surprise as Spike said quietly: “That's fine. I'm sure you'll choose to give up whatever prisoners are left here willingly once the ponies supply you with love of their own free will.”

“Impossible. It's... a trick.” Chrysalis shook her head, then argued: “No, even if you were telling the truth, this is nothing but a way to... to domesticate us! To control our harvests and our food supply, to ensure that our nation can never be as great or powerful or whole as Equestria! You traitor, don't you realize that all you're doing is driving forward our own subjugation?”

She had such force, such belief, such fear in her voice, that the Changeling mob that had originally sided with Marina hesitated. But Marina smiled, shaking her head as she asked: “How many Changelings are left?”

Chrysalis was silent.

Marina looked at the Queen, and then she looked down, feeling her pain, and pain in her own heart, over what that had to mean. “I see. But the choice isn't just freedom or death. The thousand... the few hundred of us left alive don't have to choose to become the ponies' slaves, or die. I don't know what you imagine they're like, what you believe, Chrysalis, but the ponies aren't the monsters you think they are. They're not animals. We don't have to be animals, either, where it's predator versus prey and only one walks away.

“We can learn. Adapt. Grow stronger.” Marina almost pleaded, even as she smiled at Chrysalis before she silently touched her own chest. “Even a drone like me can become... something else. Something more. We're Changelings. We'll survive. We can always survive. We just have to... change.”

“Ridiculous.” Chrysalis murmured, but her eyes shifted away as she shook her head briefly. “You don't know what will happen.”

“Neither do you.” Marina countered.

Chrysalis scowled, but she seemed to recognize that she had lost this battle. So instead of arguing, she simply turned to the mob of Changelings, saying bitterly: “You'll all see soon enough. We are not made for a pony's world. But I won't stop you, if this is what you want. Marina, take your... friends, and leave. Take my babies, my family away from me. Teach the ponies all about the intricacies of the Hive and make us nothing more than pests to them instead of predators, the rulers we were supposed to be. I won't stop you. If the Hive won't obey and my own children want to rise up against me, I won't stop them from making this mistake.”

Marina remained silent, and when Spike started to argue, she reached up and touched his shoulder, quieting him. There was nothing left to say, as Chrysalis looked back over her shoulder, judging them coldly, callously, before she snorted and walked away, her Queensguard falling in uneasy step behind her.

But she wasn't afraid. She believed in ponies and their friendship. She believed their races could co-exist, could benefit each other.

She smiled briefly over her shoulder as she looked back at the Crusaders and exhausted Moonbeam, and then she took a breath before turning her eyes back ahead as a few nervous Changelings came forwards. She put on her best face and straightened up, even though she wasn't a leader, she wasn't a queen, and said: “Help me get my friends out of here, please. We have to get ready. I know you're all scared and it'll be hard at first, but...

“We can do this, together.”