Come Alone
If Twilight wasn't looking for it, she was sure she would have never noticed. An opening between two rocks on the side of a hill, just barely large enough for a pony to fit through. It really didn't look out of place on the featureless landscape. But even though it seemed like the gap ended just a little way in, upon closer inspection one could go much deeper.
Her wings shuffled nervously at her sides. Despite the time that had passed since becoming an Alicorn and a Princess, she hadn't quite gotten a feel for how to keep them from giving up her feelings. Unless she focused on them they would shuffle or twitch depending on the situation. She resolved to just press them into herself tightly as she lit her horn and took her first steps into the darkness.
By the faint glow of her horn she levitated out part of a letter she'd reread countless times now. The second page of the letter contained a detailed map, one she now glanced at to confirm her position. Within the underground structure, going in every direction, were tunnels branching off of tunnels branching off of tunnels. And though they were minimal in appearance, they were far from crude. Not far down into the structure the natural look of the cave walls was replaced with finely cut passages. The floor was flat, the walls were square, and every branching tunnel she passed seemed to come at very regular intervals. She began counting them as she went, referencing the map as she proceeded.
Consulting the map was a largely compulsive act at this point, she had long since memorized every detail. What she was on her way to was a big deal, so it deserved nothing less than her full attention as a Princess of Equestria. Reflexively she turned back to the first page and played the words over in her mind yet again.
'Her Royal Highness, The Living Swarm, and Ruler of all Changelings, Queen Chrysalis, does hereby request the audience of the Equestrian Princess of Friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle. This meeting will be diplomatic in nature and if The Princess of Friendship agrees, it shall take place two weeks hence. Full instructions are to follow and must be met in their entirety. Most notably, due to the monumental importance of the nature of this meeting, Queen Chrysalis requires one stipulation above all others:
Princess Twilight Sparkle must come alone.'
Reading this again made her wings twitch unconsciously. It was hard to believe with how quiet it seemed, but the realization that she was actually in a changeling hive was a fact that made her pulse quicken. She only had the word of the letter that she would be safe within the structure. She of course had her reasons to doubt. The path through was unintuitive, seeming to have many directions that led to dead ends. Instructions in the letter made note not to end up down any of them as they were purpose built ambush points.
'It is by no fault of Her Royal Highness Queen Chrysalis if you are injured by changeling guards doing their duty to protect the hive.' Twilight had come here knowing full well that she was walking into a literal death trap. This was a huge leap of faith she hoped wouldn't backfire on her.
She felt the potential danger increase as she took one last turn. The first light she'd seen since entering came into view. The narrow halls opened wider here. Down the long corridor she could see a single glowing green orb set in the wall above large double doors. They were hugely grand, and clearly not for show. It was a fortress inside a death trap. From the impressive size and build of them it seemed like it would take a very strong force to open either by magic or physical strength.
And that physical strength seemed to be there. The first signs of life she'd seen since she'd come to the badlands. Standing in front of the double doors were the largest changelings Twilight had ever seen. Well not as tall as she remembered the changeling queen that had summoned her to be, they embodied the word stocky. Almost as wide as they were tall, and they stood almost a full head taller than the mare.
With one last flicker from her horn, Twilight stowed away the letter below her wing before extinguishing her magic light. She marched forward, trying like she'd been practicing for some time now to exude the same regal confidence the other princesses seemed to do so effortlessly. She remembered the last instruction on the letter as she came before the massive guardlings. She mustered her confidence once again and spoke the words as she was instructed.
"By the order of The Queen of the Changelings, I demand entrance." She forced herself not to hold her breath. She even managed to not twitch as the proclamation seemed all too effective. The hulking bugs seemed to move almost without thought, their massive chitinous hooves drummed heavily on the ground as they stepped aside. Even for their size they had to brace themselves as they reached out to pull the massive doors open.
Twilight was definitely fighting to keep her breathing even, but she still strode forward as the opening became wide enough.
If anypony told Twilight that the room she now entered was constructed entirely of volcanic glass, she would believe them. The blackness of the room was truly ominous. The fact that it was larger than the throne room in Canterlot, yet almost completely empty, only exemplified that feeling. Her hoofsteps reverberated off of the hard surface as she walked into the large room. Dark green torch light came from fixtures along the side walls, making visible the only occupants of the chamber.
At the center, set off the back wall of the room was a large throne that seemed to have been grown from the obsidian like substance. Flanking either side were more changeling guards. They were no bigger than the ones who had attacked Canterlot, but seemed much more solidly built. Between them, sitting on the throne, looking more ominous than even the first time Twilight had ever seen her, sat The Changeling Queen she remembered.
Chrysalis betrayed no acknowledgment of Twilight's entrance. While her stare was locked on the Alicorn Princess, it seemed like she had already been watching the spot when she entered. The changelings on either side of her were equally still. There was no indication of where Twilight should stop, so she naturally came to rest at the center of the room. She stood still a fair distance from the throne. She managed to not make a panicked gasp as the doors behind her closed with a massive thud.
Twilight had never known true silence until that moment. The only sound that came to her was her own breathing which she was trying to force to be steady, and her own heartbeat she was desperately trying to fight to slow. In the dim light of the room it was honestly hard to tell how much time was passing. Every muscle in Twilight's body tensed as a multifaceted voice finally came to her ears.
"Welcome, Your Highness."
Twilight managed to keep the shudder from her voice. "Queen Chrysalis, thank you for the invitation."
"You were instructed to come alone."
"And I did." Twilight surprised herself at the firmness in her voice.
The Queen's voice dripped with contempt as she spoke, some reverberation entering the tone. "Then why have I received Intel that says otherwise." It was less a question and more a statement. Twilight steeled herself.
"The royal guards were not my doing, they were sent after us by Princess Celestia. I wouldn't have even known about them if I hadn't been using detection magic during the entire trip here. The other Element Bearers did come with me, but you wouldn't begrudge me some sort of protection." She glanced to the guards on either side of the throne.
Though her face didn't change in the least, Twilight could practically feel the sneer and rage in the queen's next words. "They will not bother us. Changeling biology is quite rigid. They have not been given any orders outside of maintaining their positions for the sake of protecting their Queen. And they will not waver from that without either a credible threat or an order from their Queen."
"That's reasonable. My friends are at the edge of the badlands and will only make a move if I haven't returned in a day. They are also distracting the guards, so they should stay at a distance as well. We won't be bothered."
"...... Good."
The encompassing silence swallowed Twilight again. She was surprised to notice her breathing and heart rate had slowed. She actually felt confident as she looked up to the towering figure atop the black throne.
"You're scared."
Twilight's instinct was to deny the statement, but she figured a creature who literally lived off of emotions could tell that sort of thing. "But I'm still here."
A scowl finally broke on the Queen's face. The intake of air she took then felt like it drained what little light the torches on the walls provided. Though rage still burned below her indistinct voice, her words still came out steady.
"Very well. Have you any inclination as to what I have summoned you here today for m..." Chrysalis paused, taking another breath that seemed to darken the room. "Princess Sparkle?"
Twilight was too focused to try to figure out the reason for Chrysalis' hesitation. Though she was desperately trying to figure out the reasoning of the changeling leader, anger was the only thing that seemed to come from her. Even if she wasn't showing any of that anger, Twilight could practically feel it. Was that possible when dealing with a changeling? No time for that.
"My hope was that we could establish some kind of dialog. Little is known about Changeling society, but I'd like to believe that there is a road to peace between our species. I don't think I'd be standing here if that wasn't the case."
Silence swallowed the room again, pierced only by another intake of air from the obviously furious Queen.
Twilight waited, but eventually decided she wanted to be the one to push the subject. "Queen Chrysalis, I want there to be peace between ponies and..."
A chitin hoof slammed into the floor below the throne. Cracks webbed out from the spot, being added to as the statuesque mare stood and stomped forward. She cut the distance between them in half in just a few moments before her alien voice boomed through the room. "Peace! Peace is a concept for ponies, a concept for prey! We are predators! We are Changelings! We are Queens! You need to learn your place and the place of the rest of those insignificant tribes!"
Twilight was more than a little taken aback at the outburst. Though she pulled away at the approach, she didn't back down. It took her a moment to process the words, and although she didn't quite understand the anger she knew she had to persist.
"If you didn't bring me here for peace talks then what am I doing here Chrysalis? I think you're smart enough for this to not be an assassination attempt." Twilight had only tried this a few times, but she felt like she needed to match the show of force. She'd been working with her friends to develop the new magic she'd gained as an Alicorn, and it was time to see how the training was going. She channeled earth pony magic into her leg as she took a step forward. It came down with enough force to blast the glassy surface aside, leaving a crater where she stepped. "Stop making vague threats and tell me what you've brought me here for!"
It was clear that none of the anger faded from the changeling as she glared down at the pony. Twilight saw the muscles in her throat work as if she desperately wished to retaliate, but whatever it was seemed to literally die on her lips.
"Very well my...." Chrysalis sneered openly as she took a breath. "Princess Sparkle." She turned away, striding back to her thrown but not taking the seat. "You are here because I dema...." the word seemed to die on her lips again. "I, am trying, to secure a future for this hive and the continuation of the changeling species." Twilight was once again taken aback, but Chrysalis didn't give her a chance to recover. "A Changeling Queen has a responsibility to her hive. And this hive is the most important of them all. Without it, without a Queen to lead it properly, the species will perish. So it is imperative that my..." The sneer she made at that moment looked nearly painful. "That the changelings of this hive are given the chance to survive. Whatever fate that befalls them as part of pony society, m.... my....... my changelings will survive."
The pain in her voice was obvious now, as if she'd literally had to rip the words from her throat.
Twilight stared, mouth agape. Her mind scrambled to make sense of all of what the Changeling Queen had said. "Chrysalis, why would you think for a second that you or your changelings would be in danger? I already told you, I came here hoping for peace."
"I already told you to not speak of peace to me!" The Queen bellowed as if through multiple voices. "Stop speaking like a pony! There is no peace to speak of, no war to be had! The battle is fought, the victor decided! As a Changeling Queen, the fate of the race is in your hooves!”
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Doesn't say anything about keeping this meeting a secret, it just says to come alone. Twilight talked this out with Celestia first, right?
Oh good, so she did tell Celestia.
There is a lot of hesitation. My...? My what? I believe it has something to do with the romance tag.
... Ok well that changes everything. Is it some kind of law? Whenever a war is fought between Changelings, the victor is the new ruler of the Changelings or what?
This is an interesting story, I already enjoyed reading. I hope to see more of this story. I haven't seen a story like this be published for 1 or 2 years, it's also very rare to see any Twilight X Chrysalis romance stories.
Is this another “this character is actually a changeling” story?
12029858
I’m more hopeful that Twilight is still a pony but she won the right to become queen’ from her victory over Chrissy.
12029866
That's my guess.
interesting story reminds me of my own oc's back story and another story I read that has twilight being a changeling and hiding it from the others but I do wonder what will happen next
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I second that. But I'll also add that I think Twilight's victory over Chrysalis triggered some ancient custom whereby the losing queen must marry the winner, whether Chrysalis likes it or not... at least that's the only guess I can make regarding the "romance" tag.
12029913
So it's not.... Willing? If what you say does happen then I hope Chrysalis does eventually develop feelings for Twilight.
12029915
Well, I made this assumption because there are already similar stories.
One of them: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/299781/changeling-courtship-rituals
And yes, I also hope that Chrysalis will develop feelings for Twilight if the story goes the way described earlier.
12029922
Them getting married would be great too.
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12029913
Thank you all for so much enthusiasm. I love seeing your comments and finding out what you think about how the story might go. Thanks also for including my story on so many of your shelves. As far as your inquiries and guesses as to where the story is going, sorry no spoilers. One thing I will say, is that this story will not include any rainbow changelings. I really didn't like that idea on a fundamental level. If changelings are going to be accepted by ponies, it'll be as changelings.
I'd also like to let you all know that I have a few chapters of this story nearly completed, so it'll have a regular release schedule. At least for the next month. I'll try to release them every week, as early as possible for all of you. Again, thanks so much.
12029968
i thank you for not adding what I call the fake changelings
Definetly an interesting ending to the first chapter. I have to wonder if she has always been one or if there is going to be some form of tradition or similar that in besting Chrysalis she took the title. Looking forward to finding out either way.
12030061
Hey buddy, good hearing from you again. You'll find out in a week how things ended up this way. Glad to hear you're liking it so far.
12030172
Glad to see a new story from you.
"And the battlefield shall be... My bed!"
"... Wait, WHAT?!"
Or.
"We shall now commence duel by snu-snu!"
Found one error:
'concept for pray' - prey
12137693
Got it, good catch. Glad to see you getting into it, you won't have to wait for me chapters. Unfortunately, it'll be a bit of a shower burn.