This Coup is Going to be Perfect

by Akouma

Every Changeling Will Gather 'Round, Say I Look Lovely With My Crown

Chrysalis looked to her son Pharynx as their forces stormed through the halls of the hive. Their army filled every available space, making it nearly impossible to see ahead. For her part, she moved at a calm pace as they talked. “Excellent job. I think this is the fastest I've ever seen my armies muster. My pathetic sister won't even know what hit her.”

Pharynx swelled with pride. “Thank you, mother.”

“You've earned your reward today, just as I've earned mine.” Chrysalis gestured to the chambers around them. “This will all be yours one day. Unlike my father, I won't make a mistake in naming my heir.”

“I can't wait to send my first captives back to the hive,” Pharynx said without any attempt to hide his enthusiasm. “It's about time we had fresh food for the drones and grubs. I’m sick of the infiltrators just sending back children’s undying admiration for their parents. Maybe it’s good fresh, but crystallized it’s just absolutely horrible! Why can’t they just occasionally send back lust?”

Chrysalis chuckled. “It's not like the royalty eat any better. I haven't had a good meal since my sibling took over."

As they walked and talked, the halls around them steadily grew wider and eventually opened out into a massive chamber. They had arrived at the throne room. Pharynx gave the order to charge, and quickly disappeared into a sea of violence.

Pupa's honor guard fought fiercely against Chrysalis's army, but both sides knew the would-be usurper had an advantage that couldn't be overcome: sheer massive numbers. Chrysalis had gathered a force that contained most of the hive's able-bodied warriors, including much of her rivals' armies. The defenders had no hope of winning today.

Which was why Chrysalis couldn't for the life of her understand why her sister was grinning at her from the throne.

"My dear sister, did you really think this would work? That you'd what, storm the chamber and catch me by surprise so badly that I'd be dead before I realized what was happening?" Pupa laughed to herself, the sound barely carrying past the echoes of her shouts across the chamber.

"I assumed this would be a fight, but I was so hoping you would kindly roll over and die," Chrysalis said as she released a blast of pure force from her horn, which Pupa ducked under.

While the spots from her own attack were still clearing from Chrysalis's eyes, she felt something descend over and around her horn, followed by a sharp yank backwards. The sudden burst of pain blurred her vision, but Chrysalis couldn’t mistake her sister’s sneering face looking back at her. As the pain receded and thought returned, Chrysalis realized that Pupa had slipped the hole at the bottom of her leg around her horn and simply pulled. Crude technique, but it certainly hurt.

“You always were the worst at infiltration, Chryssi,” Pupa jeered. “I’ve known this little attempt was coming for ages.” Another sharp yank accented Pupa’s words. “Your first recruit to this little cause? Little Adenoid, desperate to prove himself to you? That was me.” One of Pupa’s knees found Chrysalis’s ribcage. “Honestly, you could say I’ve known about your coup plans for longer than you have.

“Any idiot could have seen the jealousy all over your face when Father named me heir. You were obviously going to betray me, and you’ve had a grand total of perhaps three hours since I saw that look on your face where you weren’t being observed in some way.” Pupa released her hold on her sister’s horn before roughly shoving Chrysalis to the ground. “And you only got those three hours because you left my coronation early and I couldn’t exactly give my agents orders while I was celebrating.”

Chrysalis retook the offensive as she sprang back to her hooves. As she swung to punch Pupa across the jaw, a flash of green swept over her. The punch landed as a rake of claws across the muzzle instead.

Chrysalis's war form was a bugbear. She had favored the strength and power it gave her ever since she had first seen one. As Pupa began to bleed from the fresh wound, she darted backwards before the next swipe could land. As the blow after that came down, Chrysalis was caught by the shimmering blue scales of a giant serpent. It wrapped around first her descending left arm, then her right, then constricted its hold to cinch them together.

“Chrysalis! Drones are going to get crushed under us if we both use war forms,” the serpent spoke in a rumbling voice, craning its neck so its head was at eye level with Chrysalis. “And we might break the throne! Fight me in your natural form!”

Since she couldn’t speak as a bugbear, she responded by attempting to bite Pupa’s face off. When her sister dodged, Chrysalis resorted to straining against the coils around her wrists. To the surprise of both combatants, Pupa began to stretch from the force. It was either release Chrysalis, or be torn in two.

Pupa uncoiled from her position, darted behind Chrysalis’s back, and bit down as hard as she could on delicate wings.

Chrysalis roared in pain as her back arched involuntarily, throwing her sister to the floor behind her and crushing a hapless drone in the process. She turned to face her sister, and leapt to attack. Before the first blow could land, she was intercepted by her opponent’s claws locking with her own. Chrysalis began forcefully pressing down on Pupa, but was stopped by a sharp kick to her already aching midsection. Almost immediately, she felt blood begin to flow from the new wound.

She released her hold on Pupa and took a few steps backward to readjust. This simply wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Pupa was supposed to be a pushover.

Chrysalis was snapped out of her stupor by a massive purple and black striped insect leaving the fray of drones below and pinning Pupa. She couldn’t help but laugh as she recognized Pharynx’s own war form.

With her foe unable to stop her, Chrysalis got into position behind her sister’s head and lined up her claw with a now very vulnerable throat. Before finishing Pupa off, Chrysalis reverted her head back into its normal shape.

“Tell me, sister, do you surrender now?”

Pupa grunted with exertion before responding, trying to break Pharynx’s hold on her. “Better to die here than be quietly assassinated in a cell.”

“Well, at least we agree on something,” Chrysalis said, and ended her with the flick of a claw.

Comments

[PonyDragon]

“You've earned your reward today, just as I've earned mine.” Chrysalis gestured to the chambers around them. “This will all be yours one day. Unlike my father, I won't make a mistake in naming my heir.”

Pharynx: "Wait, not even me?"
Chrysalis: "Of course not! And I'm sure there is no chance this could cause important allies to fall me in the back later."

As the pain receded and thought returned, Chrysalis realized that Pupa had slipped the hole at the bottom of her leg around her horn and simply pulled. Crude technique, but it certainly hurt.

So that's what those holes are made for. Neat.

She released her hold on Pupa and took a few steps backward to readjust. This simply wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Pupa was supposed to be a pushover.

Maybe that's why she was elected and not you?