"When Twilight and her friends defeated me, I chose to run away and seek revenge! You don't have to! You can be the leader your subjects deserve."
This was what I woke up to. For a split-second, I gaped. I was ready to cry out in excitement from seeing an actual unicorn in the flesh. But then, a million pictures flashed in my mind all at once. I closed my eyes in pain. When I opened them back up, I felt a huge weight of realization.
These memories belonged to Chrysalis, the changeling queen. I was in her body. I... she... had kidnapped several citizens and powerful rulers in an attempt to take over an entire kingdom. All of my... her... subjects had just turned around and accepted the idea of giving love freely instead of stealing it to survive. In doing so, they had destroyed my... her... throne and effectively won for the ponies.
The unicorn standing in front of me was Starlight Glimmer, apprentice to Princess Twilight. I felt a pit against my stomach, or whatever the changeling equivalent of a stomach was. These crimes may as well have been my own, because that was how guilty I felt.
Everyone else present looked like they were ready to punch, kick, and blast me into next year. Yet in spite of everything I recalled doing, this one unicorn wanted to give me a third chance. It seemed like a merciful offer. I mean, the fastest pegasus in the world and the embodiment of chaos were right there. Running simply wasn't an option.
Yet, there was a hint of an objection. A small voice in the back of my head insisted on living to seek revenge another day. I had spent so much time and lost so much just to try and take over the world. How could I let it all go to waste? ... I brushed the voice into an imaginary corner. That was the voice of someone using the sunk cost fallacy.
So, there I stood. Starlight Glimmer's hoof was still outreached. Her violet eyes were, for lack of a better phrase, glimmering with hope. I slowly reached the hole-ridden hoof I now possessed. But, I hesitated. I closed my eyes, turned around, and felt a drop of water pass my chin.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that."
I heard her step closer. "What do you mean? Of course you can!"
My head ached. "I've already driven my subjects to near starvation twice over. And for what? My own power and legacy, pretending it was for their own good? Pathetic." I marched over some debris.
"I've made the same mistake!" Starlight's voice insisted. "I know what it's like to lead others so far away from their best selves! But some pony found me during my state of vengeance and helped me understand that there's a better way. You can still change."
I forced out a chuckle and nearly choked on my own breath. "With speeches like that, maybe you should be queen." I held my hoof over the edge of the plateau. "You couldn't possibly do any worse than I did with the title." After that, I let the rest of myself roll forward.
"Chrysalis!"
Instinct was telling me to use my wings to slow my descent. I refused to listen. The wind seemed very strong for what was likely the rest of my life. I waited patiently to crash and lose all of my senses.
And I waited. ... And I waited.
Gee, it was taking a lot longer to reach the bottom than Chrysalis's memory told me it should have been. I risked opening my eyes a bit. The lack of wind resistance pushing up was a clue that something was off. I glanced left and right, and I was surprised to see a couple different glows of light. This was magic, if this body's memories were correct.
The ground was getting further away. I tried swimming against the magic's lift, but it was no use. Some pony was levitating me back to the roof. I sighed. I guessed they weren't satisfied with a guaranteed victory over their enemy. I was going to have to suffer for a bit longer.
When I arrived back on the plateau, I was surprised that it wasn't just Starlight Glimmer that was casting her spell. The Princess of Friendship and even Celestia were pulling me. When their respective casts faded, I was standing on all fours. I looked at my "saviors". What did they intend to do with me?
"You mustn't be so quick to throw your life away." Celestia stepped forward. "You don't have very many to lose."
I couldn't meet her eyes. "Why are you of all ponies telling me that? I've trapped you in a cocoon twice now. Shouldn't that warrant some desire for retaliation?"
She slowly motioned a hoof across her face. "An eye for an eye would leave us all blind. True, the temptation to avenge past misdeeds is constant, but we must make an effort to avoid losing ourselves to that vicious cycle."
"You're just saying that." I bit my tongue after that slip. While that statement was in-character, it also wasn't what I meant to say out loud.
Discord leaned in uncomfortably close. "Oh, believe me. I'd know if she were just spouting hot air. Her genuineness is actually suffocating right now."
Starlight's magic glow managed to shove him back a little. "What he's trying to say is that there's a better way to make up for your past than to rob yourself of a future. You're still the crowned queen, after all. They need you."
"Is that so?" I channeled some magic to my horn. "Then allow me to rectify that."
"Starlight, look out!" called out... that blue street performer unicorn.
There was a tearing noise. I felt like I was ripping out multiple hair follicles at once. Yet, I kept casting my spell. No matter how much it hurt, no matter how loudly I screamed, I kept casting. Then, with a loud shred and a splat, it was over.
I sat down, breathing heavily. My crown was laid unceremoniously on the floor. There was definitely some pus running along the bottom of it. I think I was sweating along the top of my mane. I didn't particularly care at that moment.
"Wha...? Why did you do that?!" Thorax was freaking out. "You're bleeding!"
I kept my gaze on Starlight Glimmer. "How about this?" I fired a different spell at the crown. What was left of the fleshy black ornament was reduced to a pile of dried ashes. "Do you see a crown? I don't see a crown. I'm unfit to be queen."
"Chrysalis, stop!" Mi Amore Cadenza stepped forward. "You're hurt!"
"This is nothing compared to what I've already done to you, Princess of Love." I stomped on the ashes. "I need more pain."
Luna shook her head furiously. "Punishing yourself won't resolve your feelings of guilt!"
"You should all hate me." I flew over to a nearby boulder in the debris. It must have been raining, what with the small streams running down my forehead and around my muzzle. "Get away from me or take a swing at me. I don't care which!"
Water leaked from Starlight Glimmer's horn, and she whispered, "I'm sorry."
Then, darkness shrouded my vision.
---(Third-Person POV)
After casting her "sleep" spell, Starlight levitated Chrysalis safely off the tall boulder. The spot from her missing crown was running green liquid. It was streaming along her mane and face quickly enough to alarm most of the changelings that saw it up close.
"Quick!" Thorax directed a couple nearby changeling drones. "Get her to the healing chamber!"
"Where is it?" Discord asked. "I can save you a run, now that her magic-stealing chair is gone."
Thorax tapped his head. "Um... two floors underground, and the first open hole to the left."
The draconequus snapped his fingers. His power poofed himself, Thorax, the two changeling drones, and the unconscious Chrysalis away from the plateau. Some of the other changelings took the long way down. The rest shook in place or galloped around, not sure exactly what to do.
Meanwhile, the ponies gathered around into an impromptu circle. Flurry Heart tried to lighten the mood by babbling cute nothings. But, she could tell that her parents and the others weren't exactly relieved. Shining Armor patted his foal until she burped. Cadance took her back and rocked her around.
Shining Armor scratched his mane. "Is it weird that I thought that was going to go very differently? I thought Chrysalis would've sworn revenge and flee for her life, not hurt herself."
"No, I was thinking that too." Rainbow Dash crossed her front hooves while flying in place.
"Oh, if only I had been more convincing!" Starlight rubbed her temples. "I'm not as good at Twilight speeches as the real thing."
"I don't think that's the point." Twilight raised her brow. "But... thank you?"
"Let me know when it's over." Fluttershy was covering her face. "I can't watch anymore self-inflicted pain today."
"There, there..." Applejack slowly rubbed Fluttershy's back.
"What are we going to do?" Pinkie Pie looked wildly among the other ponies.
"The other changelings will know how to treat her injuries better than we would." Luna rolled her hoof around. "We should probably head home for now to assuage the fears of our fellow ponies."
Rarity tapped her hooves together before holding them up. "But who will lead the changelings in the meantime?"
A few of the changelings, still on the plateau, stopped panicking long enough to perk up. One of them said, "We should let Thorax lead us."
Another changeling nodded. "He was the first to propose the idea of sharing love and the first one to show that we can survive without stealing it."
Celestia smiled gently at their suggestions. "I'll drop by later with an assistant to finalize the recognition of the changeling hive as its own nation, and its nominated leader."
Discord popped back up on the plateau. "Well, now that that's all tidied up, are you ready to go home, Fluttershy?" He picked her up and squeezed.
"Y-Yes. I think we all are." She strained against the sudden restriction to her windpipe.
Twilight Sparkle stood up. "Alright, every pony. Let's go home!"
Nods went around the group. Horns lit up and teleportation spells were cast.
---
Why is this done? I see it a lot, and it doesn’t make sense. If you are so insecure about your writing capabilities that you do not believe you can properly transition between points of view, remain in third person for the entire story. If you are switching from first to third you should not need to have text declaring that you are doing so. All it does is disrupt the flow of the story. A transition in sentence structure should be clear enough. You even make it clear that the narrator has lost the ability to continue her narration. Stop your nonsense.
10250338 While I agree that explicitly telling us about the change of viewpoint is un-necessary, you could have been nicer about it. This is a very well done story, and one poor stylistic choice shouldn't overshadow the things it did right.
I thought the first chapter wasn't bad. Chrysalis is not really herself right now. One sentence in particular seemed odd to me though.
I have a feeling some words got accidentally deleted otherwise it would just seem comical. As for announcing the swapping of viewpoints I am not usually a fan but I have seen it in other stories that were pretty good otherwise. Then again I have also seen people unable to stomach having the viewpoint change without it/ever. I usually don't mind it changing myself though as long as it isn't swapped too much. But that may just be me.
This is less an Isekai and more of an alternate universe story, so far.
The person who has bodyswapped into Chrysalis isn't acting in any way similarly to a person being supplanted into a new body; she's just being a slightly different Chrysalis.
If you woke up one morning as a cockroach, would you immediately turn to your cockroach wife, apologise for forgetting her anniversary and rip off one of your legs and give it to her? Or would you instead maybe wonder why you're suddenly a cockroach and what the hell's going on?
10251519
Not gonna lie, I kinda want to read the story about this person and their cockroach wife.
10251519
Well, I guess it depends on how chrysalis was replaced, was it a brain transplant? Were the neural connections rewritten or just new ones added? Nothing like this has ever occurred, so can we really say how someone should behave beyond speculation?
That beginning was just fascinating. Imagine you've been isekai-ed into Equestria, and you are inside a person who did terrible things, and you've lost your memories and acquired hers, which makes you basically her...but you retained a personality that's different from hers, and you feel so bad about what you/her did, you immediately go on to kill yourself. That's so bizzare it's almost comical.
This is... weird. They don’t behave like someone stuck into a different body. Where is the confusion? Shock? Or anything like that at the situation. I know that they have lost a lot of their memories, but they still need enough for it to be an Isekai, otherwise it’s just a bizarre AU.
I dunno, but I think that the insert having a bit of freak out as to what is going on and everyone assume Chrysalis had some sort of amnesia or hysterical episode would have made the start more interesting. You could even still have the story explore the feeling of inadequacy and dysphasia and not wanting to be the Queen anymore, or trying to learn how and people not really trusting her at the start at least. Just without the random suicide right at the start of the story.
10250338
I agree with what you say except for how you come across as though the author kicked a puppy.
I think it would have been more extreme even if there not the queen but with no memory but a sense of an outsiders perspective and an idea for complex emotions of the darker nature original memory of what happened her experience and loss is not so easy to overcome and make there own so fast probably would trigger extreme emotions and reactions between the old mindset against the "normal" civilian mindset can give sane mind stress and extreme whiplash when they attempt to meld
Why would there be any pus? Does she have some kind of serious infection on her head?
She is doing her best...
I wonder if she’s gonna tell everyone she’s not really chrysalis.
Only a human can cross the line and think of doing suicide. I guess Chrysalis had been using the tough-mare persona for longer than we knew, that her memories drove our former human to the toaster bath.
10788903
animals too. specifically animals that stressed out from living in wrong environment.
water? forehead phallus....?
10262215
It may look like puss to a red blooded pony. As hemolymph is often yellow to clear if Changlings were more bug then pony.