Chrysalis’s mind slowly rose from the deep darkness it had fallen into, her eyes clearing and revealing to her that she was in a hospital room, wrapped in clean linen sheets and, from what she could see, several bloody bandages surrounding her horn.
“Ye nearly died ye ken,” said a voice near her bed, and before she could even speak, she was immediately surrounded by a shimmering field, one which began to sooth some of the aches in her body.
“You have always been a stubborn wee lassie,” chided her mother, “but this is going too far, ye know ye canno’ suppress the voices my wee bairn, it only leads to more pain.”
“I know that mother,” said Chrysalis with a groan, “but I could not handle the memories of their last moments, you know what has been happening to them of late.”
“I do ken,” said her mother, “but repressing their memories only speeds up the mental degradation of the hive mind my bairn, and ye have reached the point of no return, which means its time…”
“NO!” cried Chrysalis, who tried to get out of her bed, only to be pinned down by her mother’s magic.
“Chrysalis plea…”
“YOU CANNOT MAKE ME DO IT!” roared Chrysalis, struggling against her mother’s hold as she tried to escape. “YOU CANNOT MAKE ME KILL THEM, NOT WHEN WE ARE SO CLOSE!”
“So close to wha’,” asked her mother in exasperation, “Even when the child is born she will have a hive mind o’ her own, one with its own voices which will be unwilling to share their mother with ye. I ken ye have fought hard to keep your children alive my wee bairn, but there time has come and gone…so ye must let them go.”
Chrysalis began to sob, tugging at the magic holding her, but now there was barely any force behind her tugs. She knew her mother was right, but she still didn’t want to, for it meant giving up what made her important to the hive.
“What about my remaining children,” asked Chrysalis in between sobs, “…wha…what will happen to them?”
“They will grow old and die, as all things do, but when they die, they will no’ return to ye, they will instead take the next step on the great journey…to the great beyond.”
Chrysalis simply stared at her a long moment, then nodded her head with a final sigh, closing her eyes and falling within herself. After a long while, she found the core of the hive mind, nestled deep within her consciousness.
She took it gently within her hooves, and then, like a great ball of yarn, she began to unravel it, crying as she did so.
On the outside, the shimmering field that was her mother’s current form watched as her daughter’s form began to glow, and then watched as her mouth opened, and thousands of lights began to flood from her body, passing through her mother before disappearing with little cries of joy.
When it was finally over, Chrysalis opened her eyes, tears falling from them as she looked into the shimmering mist which was her mother and spoke. “So…so what happens now, I assume the court has made it decision on what to do with me.”
“Yes they have,” said the mist, “but luckily for ye, your fainting spell seems to have swayed the court in your favor, for they have decided to clear ye o’ all charges.”
“What, but why?”
The mist chuckled at that, “well ye see, when ye passed out from the pain ye were in, the voices of your hive started speaking through ye, and wha’ they said caused many in the court room to change their minds about ye, saying it must have been madness which drove ye to attack them.”
“I…I see,” said Chrysalis, still trying to keep from simply balling due to the lack of the familiar song she was so used to hearing in the back of her mind. “Is…is there any other news…anything about Twilight?”
“We have had news,” said the mist, “but it is no’ something ye should be hearing right now…”
“Why,” said Chrysalis, starting to look concerned, “what is happening that you do not want to tell me?”
The mist seemed to hesitate, and then it sighed, before finally working up the nerve to speak. “It seems that news of wha’ is going on here has reached the ears of the young prince o’ the Crystal Empire, and he has moved a force o’ raiders to attack the town o’ Ponyville, which is now under siege by him and his raiders.”
Chrysalis immediately sat up in her bed, her eyes wide as panic began to set in. “What…when did this happen?!”
“Shortly after ye passed out…and it has continued for a full day, for nopony has been able to get past the mighty barrier that has been erected there, no' even the princesses.”
Chrysalis stared for a long moment, and then got out of bed, her horn beginning to glow as she conjured armor from thin air.
“And where do ye think ye are going?”
“I am going to help Twilight mother, I will not leave her in the hands of her brother when he is so determined to slaughter us…who knows what he might do.”
With that she took wing and left out a window, leaving her mother to sigh as she began solidifying her form. “I guess this confrontation was inevitable…let’s just hope ye see the true cause of this problem…before it be too late for the good stallion.”
So Chryssy's hallucinating her mother, and Shining's apparently gone off the deep end. Strange how even the princesses can't get through; yeah yeah, Shining's a prodigy with shields, but don't they have centuries of magical knowledge?
I am a bit confused right now, what did Chrysalis want to do?
Wouldn't her children die anyway? Or did she want to pass the "souls" of her changeling to her daughter?
5187949 I still dont know if thats a hallucination. It appears not to be one... And the unborn voices of changeling... Where have they gone?
Possible nitpicks (or requests for clarification):
I am not familiar with this word and was unable to find its definition on the internet. Forgive me, but is it possible you mean "ken"? If "kne" is correct, what does it mean?
Do you mean "balling" or "bawling"?
Remember what they were saying about the relationship of the drones, Queen, and hive-mind a few chapters back? Those were the minds of the changelings in Chrysalis's hive-mind that died, and she finally let go and let them pass on. Let's hope things can be resolved without too much trouble.
Remember what they were saying about the relationship of the drones, Queen, and hive-mind a few chapters back? Apparently those were the minds of the changelings in Chrysalis's hive-mind that died, and she finally let go and let them pass on. Let's hope things can be resolved without too much trouble.
looks like shining armor go to get his flanked kicked
5187949
Rage can make one do incredible things, and no Chrysalis is not hallucinating her mother, her mother just happens to be able to change into things other then ponies.
5187961
Think of it this way, as long as a queen controls her own hive mind, her children live forever, being reborn through her time and time again. However, when she lets go of that hive mind, those that were dead and waiting for new bodies get released into the after life, while those that remain lose there connection to their queen, becoming independent thinking creatures.
This chapter could've been a bit clearer to be honest.
I was a bit confused most of the time.
5187949 exactly and I would think he'd want to do it stealthy. His assault makes no sense.
I think you need to redo this chapter.
5188073
It's gaelic I believe for "know" or "known"
5188432
His behavior will be explained, I promise.
5188305 Ah Okay, so that means that she wants to wait for the ones killed at the Crysal Empire (I guess) to be reborn?
5187949
his talent with shields includes plot armor
I sure hope shining gets maimed. a leg or two.
5188442 It's Dutch (and, by extension, Afrikaans).
Though it might be Gaelic also (like you said). I wouldn't 'ken'...
5188764 There wouldn't be much of a story if the princesses just stopped everything in the blink of an eye, now would there...
Besides. Didn't Twilight (a normal unicorn) save Princess Celestia at least twice before becoming a princess (She had help, sure, but still)... Celestia isn't as all powerful as you believe...
5188792
5188972
it was just a pun
5188981 Oops, sorry.
5188680
Not exactly, due to the fact that she cant produce drones anymore, the voices linked to her hive mind have nowhere to go, and are in essence trapped within her. She was hoping that when her daughter was born and fully grown, she could begin a process of "Gifting" the voices of her hive mind to her daughter, thus allowing them to continue. However, due to how long she has been repressing the memory intake from the voices trapped within her, she reached a point where if she didn't let them go, she would eventually die a very horrible death.
Ugh... can't understand most of the weird accent. Oh and missing comma.
Can't wait for fight... Go Chrysalis!!!
5189979
um, as far as I know a comma is not needed there.
5189979
as for the words, yeah I know its hard to understand, but I promise you it is English.
I hope there is more soon love this
Love the chapter, keep it up.
5192287 Love the profile pic, care to send a link over a PM?
5191318 I am not so sure myself... I am not that good with grammar myself...
5191322 IT IS?!?!
5193487
yes it is, I believe it is Gaelic in origin, but I cant be two sure.
5192576 How do I do that
5196213 hover the mouse over their name, click on the icon that looks like an envelope, then copy and past the link to the picture in the message box and then hit send.
5196223 Cool thanks
when is the next chapter coming out?
will there be a sequel to the story?
5188660 Or he created the barrier to prevent any changelings from escaping and keep the princesses from interfering. That's the only thing that makes sense because if he was trapped outside with a small group of raiders, the other princesses (Celestia, Luna, and worst of all his wife Cadence) would have beat his genocidal ass till love and tolerance came out.
5188530 Please don't say he was being influenced by Sombra, dark magic or some other BS this entire time. Can't the guy just be an asshole. If you do decide to go down this route (it is your story and I respect that) of outside influence, please at least make him somewhat responceable for his actions. Like he really is homosidal enough towards changelings to have his radiers hunt them but wouldn't have gone as far as attacking Ponyville without the outside influence. This would create a nice lasting conflict for the story. The only reason I bring this up is because alot of stories where "there is a reason for his behavior", end up where the evil is destroyed and the "victim" is not accountable for his behavior at all.
5196213 Find the source of the image and copy the link from the url bar and paste it to a PM to send to me.
I can't wait for the next chapter! when is it coming?!
P.S maybe say twilight said you are not my brother until you come to your senses to try to get the real shining armor( her big brother) to come back . or you could have the mane six use the elements of harmony and get some help from discord
I like the mom's speaking style, fresh and new.
5187961 She was trying to continue the hive. A new queen, in her mind, would mean new vessels for her children. In the authors version of the hive-mind, changelings don't pass on when they die, they return to the hive-mind through their queen. Since she is now sterile, they will never be reborn, but she refuses to let them go. Losing them terrifies her. However, the new queen will not continue her hive, she'll start her own. Chrysalis is desperate. This illusion is the only thing she has left to cling to, the hope that her children will survive to see another day. That hope is gone now, and thus I'm kind of worried about what she'll be willing to do to Shining. My prediction? She dies by the end of this, offering herself as a martyr to those who hate changelings. "direct your hatred to me" kinda thing.
5207240
Aye, I was actually reading it in a Scottish accent. Which was kind of easy, considering I am at least *part* Scottish, and it can be heard in my accent at times.
5188305
So where the hell do the minds in the bodies born from other drones come from? Because until you said that the logical explanation was that they came from the same hivemind as their queenborn parents... but you just 'Word of God-ed' that the Voices in Chrysalis's hivemind can't use those bodies.
5198186 His forces have Ponyville under siege.
From your comment it is clear you don't understand what the word 'siege' means. If he is creating the defenses and is inside those defenses then he is 'sacking' Ponyville. Besieging someplace is where you and your forces are set up outside of their defenses and are attacking while preventing anyone else from getting in or out. Though you might still be right since it is entirely possible that Fuedra also doesn't understand what a siege is, or he could have put a second shield around Twilight's shield and the Princesses are besieging him while he besieges Ponyville. I guess I'll just have to hit the 'next' button and see.
Poor Chryssie... But it had to be done, she had to let them go, lest they'd remain trapped in the give mind until she herself died.
Dammit, Shining...
Hey there
Quick question
When i tried visualize Chrysalis with armor a thought came up
·Would the be oriental themed since Japony was beought up when dealing with the changelings?
DAMN IT SHINING!!!
6829873
Hey, I know this answer is late, but I felt I needed to answer.
The biggest problem with the others breeding is there are only fifty changelings left, and the maximum capacity for a single changeling queen’s hive mind is ten thousand individual voices(not counting hers), which Chrysalis had actually hit well before the crystal empire’s disappearance. Chrysalis would most likely die long before they could even get close to that number, as the only changelings who are born with no genetic relation to each other are the ones born from changeling queens. A drone born from another drone is genetically related to the previous drone, and to any other drones which come from that same drone, which would eventually lead to inbreeding later down the line as the parings got more and more restricted.
And before you try to say they could breed with ponies or other races, that makes hyrbids, which are born with their own voice, thus not needing one from the hive mind.