She Was Guilty
She was guilty.
Queen Chrysalis simply sat on her throne of charred stone, her one thousand children surrounding her. The changelings were all gathered deep inisde their hive, their hive that had now become a prison. Following their disastrous defeat at the hooves of Shining Armor and Cadence, the changelings had been eternally banished inside their hive. Celestia, Luna, and all of the greatest unicorn magicians in Equestria had magically sealed all exits with unbreakable spells. The changelings were trapped forever. Their home was now their prison, they would now all suffer and die within it's deep, dark chambers.
It was all because of her. She was guilty.
The guilt was like a poison that filled her heart the more she dwelt on it. Chrysalis couldn't even remember how long it had been since the invasion of Canterlot.
'Long enough for us to suffer,' she thought to herself.
Suffering. Suffering was pure torture.
Chrysalis was helpless to save her beloved children from the suffering they were now subjected to. They could only fly and trot around, performing their hive duties, it was all they had left; all they had left until they would die. Sharing a hive mind with all of her children, Chrysalis could hear the thoughts of her children and could read the emotions in their big blue eyes. All she could see was sorrow and pain, and all she could hear were thoughts of despair and hopelessness. It pained Chrysalis to no end to see her children like this.
Pain. Pain was unrelenting.
... And it was all because of her. She was guilty.
How could she allow this? How could Chrysalis have her precious children subjected to this horrible pain. This torturous, sorrowful state of being that slowly ate away at them like parasites. What kind of mother was she? HOW COULD SHE LET THIS HAPPEN!!?
She was guilty.
Chrysalis took a deep breath to calm herself down, panicking would only increase the pain. Her children near her could clearly see the pain written on her face, as she could see the same on their faces. All hope was lost for them, it was only a matter of time before they died, they might as well kill themselves now while they had the chance. END IT ALL NOW!
Chrysalis quickly shook those thoughts out of her head, she couldn't allow herself to lose her sanity now. Her children needed her... or did they? What could she possibly do for them now? It was her fault, anyhow. This had all come to pass because of the critical error in leadership she had made in Canterlot.
Leadership. Leadership had failed.
She was guilty.
The plan was perfect, Chrysalis would disguise herself as Shining Armor's love so she could leech the love from him to weaken the shield around Canterlot. Meanwhile, the real Cadence was trapped in the underground crystal mines in the mountain where nopony could find her. The changelings would swarm the city completely off guard and detain all ponies. They would've had enough food to last for generations. But no. It wasn't to be. Chrysalis failed to lead. The invasion failed all because she made one crucial mistake. In retrospect, she should have left well enough alone. She should have left Twilight Sparkle to weep as she was, there was nothing she could do to stop the changelings. Instead, Chrysalis trapped Twilight in the crystal mines with Cadence. The worst mistake she had ever made. Ever. Because of Chrysalis' mistake, Twilight was able to rescue Cadence and get her to the ceremony room right as the wedding was commencing, compromising Chrysalis. Chrysalis should have ended Cadence right then and there, instead she simply carried out the original plan and wounded Celestia instead. Chrysalis was easily more powerful than all three of the Princesses, she could have very well killed Celestia and Cadence as they were. Instead, Chyrsalis chose to let them live, more food for her children. This proved to be the changelings' downfall as Cadence and Shining Armor were able to unleash a phenomenal spell that banished the changelings back to their hive, where the Princesses and their greatest magicians permanently locked them away.
She was guilty.
The more Chrysalis recalled that day, the greater her guilt grew, and the more she recalled more and more mistakes she made.
Mistakes. Mistakes were like parasprites.
One mistake would lead to another, and another, and another, and another...
What gnawed at Chrysalis' mind the most about that day was the fact that they had been defeated... with love.
Love. Love was the one thing that could feed her children...
... And the enemy had converted the proverbial medicine into poison. The spell Armor and Cadence had conjured was created by love. How. How could that have happened? Something such as that should have benefited the changelings, not bring about their downfall! Not only that, but how could Armor and Cadence have defeat her with such ease when she was powerful enough to end both their lives? HOW!!? How...
Chrysalis sighed in despair as she leaned back into her throne. This was all on her head, she was guilty. Her children were suffering because of her. But then... she felt something... and she saw something. Several of her children dropped dead. Chrysalis struggled to hold back tears that were already building up in her eyes. Her hive mind allowed her to know exaclty when and how her children would die. She had forced to see and feel as her children slowly died of starvation in the immeasureable amount of time they had been trapped in the hive. They always seemed to die in masses after drawn out periods of time. There were twenty thousand of them when they had been banished... there was scarcely a thousand of them left.
A thousand of them would die... and then their would be nothing. The rest would continue to live for a long period of time. Then a thousand more would die... and a thousand more... and a thousand more... it was a terrible time interval...
... And now... the final thousand were dying... their time was up.
... All because of Chrysalis. She was guilty.
The pain and sorrow had been building up in Chrysalis... and now... it was finally released. Chrysalis collapsed from her throne and unto the floor as she wept like never before. She cried. She wailed. She mourned. She was guilty. How could this happen? She could feel and hear her children weeping all around her as the countdown to extiction began. Their time was up. Chrysalis could sense the life sparks of her children being snuffed out by the numbers. Their lives were all connected to her, she could feel every single one of their deaths. She felt their pain. She felt their sorrow. She felt their agony. She heard their weeps.
Her children slowly began to move towards her as they starved to death. They wanted to be close to their mother in their final moments of life. Chrysalis barely managed to look up as continued crying. Through her tears, she could barely see the faces of her children as they cried with her. She felt their pain. She felt their suffering. She felt their starvation. Then... she saw as several of the ones close to her slowly collapsed to the floor... and withered away.
Chrysalis wailed out in agony.
To a pony, a changeling was a disgusting, horrifying monster. To Chrysalis, they were beautiful, precious creatures. They were her children.
She loved them... she loved them with all her heart. Thinking of that made Chrysalis remember, why couldn't she feed them her love? They all knew she loved them, she knew she love them... why couldn't she feed them? She had tried countless time to feed her children her own love... but it never worked. It had haunted her since the beginning her motherhood.
Chrysalis' heart and soul imploded on themselves as she wept with her dying children. Why? Why did this have to happen? Why couldn't she give them the love they desperately needed? They only attacked Canterlot to harvest love that Chryalis was unable to feed them, and it all failed because of her. What kind of mother was she?
Her mistakes. Her failed leadership.
Her children's pain. Their suffering. Their agony. Their starvation. Their death.
... All on her head. This was her fault. She was guilty.
Why?
Why did this have to happen? Even before the attack on Canerlot, no pony had the compassion to give them love.
Compassion. Something the ponies lacked.
Chrysalis despised them. They preached of love and tolerance, but did they show any to their neighbors? All they cared about was their own species. They thought the whole planet belonged to them. They ingorantly thought they were the only species on the planet. They hardly ever went outside their own nation, and they often treated other races that came with racism and distrust. They dared to think they were morally superior to changelings? They were no different!
Chrysalis' sorrow and guilt was now converting to pure anger. She hated the ponies. She hated all of them. Thoughts of hatred an contempt for the ponies continued to shoot through her mind as she clenched her eyes shut.
'Monsters.
They think they're so innocent?
They are not innocent!
Have they no souls?
THEY DESERVE NOTHING LESS TO SUFFER IN TARTARUS!!!!
Why does Faust favor them?
Curse her.
Curse Faust and her wretched ponies.
CURSE THEM ALL!
MAY THEY ALL FIND ETERNAL DAMNATION IN THE DARKEST PITS OF TARTARUS!!!
Chrysalis' sanity was rapidly slipping away. However, her eyelids slowly peeled open... and one sight healed it all. Her children were gathered all around her, many of them dying. They were all dying at alarming rates, it would now only be a few minutes.
... And yet... Chrysalis felt as if she was healed. She had forgotten her hive mind, which allowed all of them to hear her thoughts. They had felt all of her anger and guilt with her... but they forgave her. Chrysalis didn't need to read their minds to know that, their faces spoke everything. Suddenly, Chrysalis began to feel her guilt wash off of her. Her children had forgiven her... they would be with her forever. She didn't understand, how could they forgive her? This was all her fault! Why? They continued smiling, understanding her confusion. Sowly and weakly, they began transfering their thoughts to her. The toughts were mostly weak, short, and composed of gibberish, but the general message was clear to Chrysalis.
They forgave her. It didn't matter how many mistakes she made. The leadership she had failed to carry out. The pain she had brought. The sorrow. The agony. The suffering. The starvation. The death. The extiction. She was their mother, she birthed them, she raised them, she fed them. They would always forgive her.
"I... I love you... my children," Chrysalis laid her body back down on the floor as her children huddled all around her.
Half of them were alread dead, only a few hundred were left. The final countdown to extinction was nearing its end. Chrysalis and her children began to feel a uncanny sense of peace. Soon, it would all be over. The starvation would be gone. The pain would be gone. The sorrow would be gone. The suffering would be gone...
... And the guilt... the guilt was already gone, cured by the medicine of her children's forgiveness.
The poison in her heart was gone. Chrysalis had been guilty, but her children had forgiven her.
She loved them with all her heart.
That was the only thought going through all of their minds as the changeling race came to an end.
She was guilty... not anymore.