Chapter 1: Amara the Changeling
Amara wakes up to the all too familiar sound of her home. And no, she doesn’t hear birds chirping or the gentle breeze through a meadow. Amara’s typical morning comes with the sound of buzzing and busy hoofsteps. That basically describes the average day at the changeling hive. Amara is a changeling as well, but she’s a little different from her colony. She is the Princess, heir to the throne. And her mother (as you may have already guessed) is Queen Chrysalis. Of course, Amara isn’t the only royal changeling. She has an older brother, Abasi, who is bossy and very arrogant. Usually only female changelings can rule, but he is hoping his mother will change her mind.
Ha! He wishes. Amara thought.
Growing up as the heir to her mother’s throne seemed so...well….dependent. She’s been pampered and taken care of ever since she could remember. Yet, her mother never seemed to do this part. Changelings weren’t exactly supposed to “embrace” their emotions, per say. She doubted her own mother actually loved her. She merely trained her daughter and gave her lectures on why love and happiness was so terrible and weakens all who dare to feel it.
Princess Amara was quite different from many changelings. First off, she’s never posed as another pony and taken love from them before. If her mother ever tried to send her out on a hunt she somehow came up with an excuse. Even changeling who were years younger than her have been out on a hunt.
The princess stepped out of bed and slowly brushed her mane and tail. Amara was black like all changelings and had blue pony-like eyes and long green mane. She carefully placed her crown on her head and sighed. She always wondered why she had to be royalty. It wasn’t exactly a position she wanted, but who else would do it? Her mother spent so much time training her to be the Queen and her subjects all needed her or else they’d eventually go extinct. Amara considered running away before but once she learned the real reason it had to be her as the Queen she couldn’t just abandon all those changelings.
“Huh. I feel like I’m forgetting something, but what…?” Then it hit her.
“Oh No! Mother asked me to be up early for training! I completely forgot!” Amara gasped.
She quickly ran through the chambers and walls bumping into others and knocking things over.
“Excuse me! Sorry!” she yelled pushing through the crowds.
“Ugh.” groaned one of the changelings. “How can somepony so unorganized possibly rule our kingdom some day?”
“Not only is she unorganized but she’s immature. We need a strong, powerful leader. Not a childish brat.” said another.
“Who knows. Maybe Queen Chrysalis will choose her handsome son to rule instead” swooned a female changeling.
“How? He can’t reproduce on his own”
“Then he can choose a Queen to produce the next generation.”replied the female.
“But that would be breaking our tradition. We’ve never had a King and Queen before.”
“Better than a foolish, clumsy child, right?”
Amara soon arrived at her Mother’s throne room and hesitated. Was mother going to rip her to shreds? She sighed and opened the door to her mother sitting on her throne, obviously irritated. Amara gave her a nervous smile but could see it was doing no good.
She sighed. “I apologise for my ignorance, Mother.”
Chrysalis stayed quiet for a moment. “Do you understand why I do this? What this is all leading up to?”
“Of course, Mother” Amara replied.
“Then you should be able to understand my anger with you. But, that isn’t very important right now. I have developed new plans to advance our colony.” said Chrysalis.
Amara turned her head, confused. “New plans?”
Chrysalis gave a heavy sigh. “Let me tell you a story, my dear. When you were just a larva, I developed a plan to rule Equestria. Are you aware of who the Princesses are?”
Amara recalled the stories her mother had told her of their enemy. “Yes, I recall.”
“Well, one of them had planned a royal wedding. I figured it was the perfect chance for our advancement. I put Princess Cadence in the caves beneath the castle and posed as her. I gained enough power from both her lover and all her friends to even take down Celestia! But sadly, our colony was defeated by a power much stronger.”
Amara was taken aback. “Really? What power?”
“The power of love, I’m afraid.” said Chrysalis.
“But, you always taught us that love is weakness.” Amara said.
“It Is! The two were so weak I didn’t expect them to even use any spells at all! But this time, we’ll be ready.” Chrysalis stated.
“This time?”
“Yes! We will officially take Equestria this time! And you my dear will help me lead this war.”
“L-lead! I can barely remember to set my alarm before bed! How can I be expected to lead a war against the most powerful kingdom there is!” Amara cried.
“Don’t worry my child. You are strong and independant.”
Chrysalis lifted her head with her hoof. “You’re ready.”
“Mother, are you sure? I mean think about it Amara is, well, Amara! She’s just a kid!” Abasi interrupted.
“Hey, I’m 18!” cried Amara.
“Abasi, you will have your chances to prove yourself. For now, Amara still needs to train if she wants to become the Queen one day.”
“Yeah, whatever. Just remember if Amara chickens out I can be a easy replacement for anything” Abasi said glaring a his sister.
Amara rolled her eyes. “Both of you are dismissed” Chrysalis said.
When Amara exited the room, she was immediately stopped by Abasi.
“What makes you think you can lead this war, huh?” threatened Abasi.
“What makes you think I believe that?” replied Amara.
“So, you AREN’T ready to lead the war?” accused Abasi.
“I never said that. No need to put words in my mouth” Amara said walking past him.
Abasi stood in front of her. “You know, a lot of changelings have been talking and discussing the future for this hive.
“Oh, have they?”
“Many of them say that I would be a better fit as the heir.”
“How could you? You can’t even reproduce!”
“Actually, I can. I’d just have to choose a queen that’s all.”
“But, there have never ever been a Queen and a King ruling together! That’s changing customs!”
“Time’s do change, Amara” he said walking away from her.
Amara was silent with shock. He’s right. He can reproduce.
When Amara wasn’t training or being bothered by the others, she often went out into the forest. Near the edge of the Everfree Forest you could see some ponies walking around in the streets of Canterlot. After Amara first saw them for the first time as a young child, she was immediately attached. She loved their lifestyle, their happy smiles, and most of all, their harmony and love. Back at the hive, none of the changelings were very friendly. They were all serious and never took a break from working just to talk to one another. This is why Amara has never had a friend before. She had her older brother, but he hated her from the day she was born. That was most likely because of the whole “destined to be king” thing.
Now that I think of it, maybe Abasi being King wouldn’t be so bad. I mean he actually WANTS the throne, while I don’t. I don’t want to hurt the ponies as mother has taught me. Oh, what I would give to be a pony living in Equestria…
Abasi was the eldest, but he never got the special treatment Amara had gotten. In a way, the Queen neglected him to focus more on Amara’s training. After Amara’s birth, Abasi despised her and usually only made fun of her when he spoke to her.
Out here deep in the Everfree Forest (which was the forest that surrounded the Changeling forest), Amara could be alone, and somewhat happy. Here she could go into her little sanctuary where she hid all treasures that she’s found. Amara had many items that once belonged to ponies. She had dinglehoppers and many things she didn’t even know the name of. Princess Amara truly longed to be a pony. She wanted to experience the joy of friendship and learning math and biology. But, most of all,she wanted to experience love. She didn’t want to have to suck it out of a pony or break their heart, she wanted to truly love somepony, and have them love her back.
It’s too bad nopony would ever love a monster like me...
Suddenly, Amara could have swore she heard something. Something...breathing.
She was a royal changeling which means some of her magic was a little more advanced than the others. Whatever was breathing was quite a distance away but because of that magic her hearing was accelerated. Amara stealthily walked down the path towards the breathing. Whatever it was, it could be threatening. What if it was a Manticore or worse? She had to be ready to fight now matter what. She then heard a strange, unfamiliar noise. Amara yelped and immediately jumped into a bush.
Oh yeah, strong and independant the future queen is.
She sat for few moments in the bush.
What could it be? A monster? Oh no. This is it, Amara. This is how it ends. Your species will go extinct or your mother will have to do emergency measures and mate with a pony to create a royal. Good job. Killing off an Entire Species Award goes to Amara.
Amara slowly looked up from the bush while still hiding herself. There, she saw something sitting on the log.
Is that a….pony?