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Description
Finally, something that’s not a commission! Lol. I think this came out really well. But if you can’t tell the black stuff in the background is the rest of the changeling swarm.
Anyways this picture depicts Queen Chrysalis shortly after she and her changelings suffered from Cadence and Shining Armor’s blast at the end of A Canterlot Wedding. I believe they landed somewhere in the far north, hence the snow. I don’t think they could have survived such a blast without a few injuries.
Also it might be worth mentioning it is my headcanon that all of the changelings are her children. I also believe that she values their lives above her own and loves them very much.
Update: And here is the story:
It all happened so fast. One big, terrifying blur. One moment she was standing there, reveling in her victory, and the next she was falling…
All her dreams had come true, she had defeated the princesses using her ingenious plan to infiltrate Canterlot and she was already in full control of the major city. And most importantly, all of her children were happy and fed. Everything was just perfect. But then, something happened. It all went wrong. Everything collapsed and her rein had ended as quick as it had begun.
And here she was, falling. A wave of panic hit the queen as the terrified cries of her children filled her ears. Chrysalis looked around to see all of her changelings sailing through the air beside her, limbs flailing. She had to think fast, she could already see a snowy mountain coming towards them at a frightening speed.
The changeling mother concentrated with all her might to release a magic green aura to envelope her children and protect them from the imminent crash and possible death. Before she could try anything else her face slammed into the snow. Their impact with the surface was significantly slighter than it would have been, but she knew their would be injuries to heal.
Chrysalis lifted her head from the snow to catch her breath. No sooner had she regained her bearings, however, had she heard a growing grumbling sound like thunder emanating from the earth. An avalanche. She realized what was happening a second too late, and they all began to fall again.
The queen felt herself being buried beneath the snow. Adrenaline was rushing through her veins as she tried to dig herself out and help her children, no doubt suffering the same fate. Kicking. Pushing.
She managed to dig her way out and collapse upon the now still snow. Once she had caught her breath she looked around frantically for her children. Many of them had already dug themselves out of the snow, but she knew many were missing as well. Summoning her magic once more, she strained to melt the snow with a heat spell. It proved to be enough and the rest of her brood scrambled out of the pile and got to their hooves, helping one another out.
Chrysalis finally relaxed, sweat was dripping down her face despite the cold mountain air. She sat down heavily, panting. Her changelings had gathered around her to see if she was alright.
An indeterminable amount of time passed in which Chrysalis checked all of her brood’s injuries. Fortunately, all were minor.
“Alright, my darlings,” She called. “assume the usual formation, we must preform a horncount.” Not needing to be told twice, the swarm obeyed.
She used her horn to elicit a spark from each individual changeling’s horn that shot in the air and touched her own. Chrysalis, like all changeling queens, could tell each of her children apart from one another, and she never forgot a single one. She could also read the signature of their magic to identify them, this was a very efficient way to make sure they were all still present.
Once she had finished counting the last of her children, she frowned.
“Where’s Rilok?” She questioned the swarm. “Rilok!” No answer.
When she realized her son was nowhere to be seen, she began to panic. A sickening fear rising in her chest. Chrysalis pounced upon the snow and began to dig frantically, and soon her children joined in to help find their missing sibling.
After what seemed an eternity to mother changeling, one of the others cried out for her. She teleported herself beside the one who spoke.
“What is it? What did you find, Siem?” She demanded. Siem said nothing but pointed her hoof to a dark mound partially covered in snow a short distance away.
Chrysalis teleported again to stand beside the mound. Her heart stopped as she recognized the face of her son. Her 209th born. Her Rilok.
“No.” She whispered, as she fell to her knees beside his lifeless form. His dark blue shell gleamed in dull light of the sun. Chrysalis had lost children before, but it never got any easier.
She felt hot tears streaming down her face as she cradled her child against her chest. She screamed out in agony at the sky. Her other sons and daughters remained respectfully silent, grieving for the loss of their brother.
The Queen just sat like that for hours, and the sun had crossed the sky when she finally put him down in the snow. She did what she always did when this happened, she whispered a blessing and began casting a slow spell to turn his remains to ash. The ashes were taken by the rough breeze of the mountain top.
It had begun to snow. The mother changeling got to her hooves, her despair had been replaced by a fierce rage. Turning to the rest of her children, she called out to them.
“We shall make them pay for this!” The swarm roared in agreement.
Anyways this picture depicts Queen Chrysalis shortly after she and her changelings suffered from Cadence and Shining Armor’s blast at the end of A Canterlot Wedding. I believe they landed somewhere in the far north, hence the snow. I don’t think they could have survived such a blast without a few injuries.
Also it might be worth mentioning it is my headcanon that all of the changelings are her children. I also believe that she values their lives above her own and loves them very much.
Update: And here is the story:
It all happened so fast. One big, terrifying blur. One moment she was standing there, reveling in her victory, and the next she was falling…
All her dreams had come true, she had defeated the princesses using her ingenious plan to infiltrate Canterlot and she was already in full control of the major city. And most importantly, all of her children were happy and fed. Everything was just perfect. But then, something happened. It all went wrong. Everything collapsed and her rein had ended as quick as it had begun.
And here she was, falling. A wave of panic hit the queen as the terrified cries of her children filled her ears. Chrysalis looked around to see all of her changelings sailing through the air beside her, limbs flailing. She had to think fast, she could already see a snowy mountain coming towards them at a frightening speed.
The changeling mother concentrated with all her might to release a magic green aura to envelope her children and protect them from the imminent crash and possible death. Before she could try anything else her face slammed into the snow. Their impact with the surface was significantly slighter than it would have been, but she knew their would be injuries to heal.
Chrysalis lifted her head from the snow to catch her breath. No sooner had she regained her bearings, however, had she heard a growing grumbling sound like thunder emanating from the earth. An avalanche. She realized what was happening a second too late, and they all began to fall again.
The queen felt herself being buried beneath the snow. Adrenaline was rushing through her veins as she tried to dig herself out and help her children, no doubt suffering the same fate. Kicking. Pushing.
She managed to dig her way out and collapse upon the now still snow. Once she had caught her breath she looked around frantically for her children. Many of them had already dug themselves out of the snow, but she knew many were missing as well. Summoning her magic once more, she strained to melt the snow with a heat spell. It proved to be enough and the rest of her brood scrambled out of the pile and got to their hooves, helping one another out.
Chrysalis finally relaxed, sweat was dripping down her face despite the cold mountain air. She sat down heavily, panting. Her changelings had gathered around her to see if she was alright.
An indeterminable amount of time passed in which Chrysalis checked all of her brood’s injuries. Fortunately, all were minor.
“Alright, my darlings,” She called. “assume the usual formation, we must preform a horncount.” Not needing to be told twice, the swarm obeyed.
She used her horn to elicit a spark from each individual changeling’s horn that shot in the air and touched her own. Chrysalis, like all changeling queens, could tell each of her children apart from one another, and she never forgot a single one. She could also read the signature of their magic to identify them, this was a very efficient way to make sure they were all still present.
Once she had finished counting the last of her children, she frowned.
“Where’s Rilok?” She questioned the swarm. “Rilok!” No answer.
When she realized her son was nowhere to be seen, she began to panic. A sickening fear rising in her chest. Chrysalis pounced upon the snow and began to dig frantically, and soon her children joined in to help find their missing sibling.
After what seemed an eternity to mother changeling, one of the others cried out for her. She teleported herself beside the one who spoke.
“What is it? What did you find, Siem?” She demanded. Siem said nothing but pointed her hoof to a dark mound partially covered in snow a short distance away.
Chrysalis teleported again to stand beside the mound. Her heart stopped as she recognized the face of her son. Her 209th born. Her Rilok.
“No.” She whispered, as she fell to her knees beside his lifeless form. His dark blue shell gleamed in dull light of the sun. Chrysalis had lost children before, but it never got any easier.
She felt hot tears streaming down her face as she cradled her child against her chest. She screamed out in agony at the sky. Her other sons and daughters remained respectfully silent, grieving for the loss of their brother.
The Queen just sat like that for hours, and the sun had crossed the sky when she finally put him down in the snow. She did what she always did when this happened, she whispered a blessing and began casting a slow spell to turn his remains to ash. The ashes were taken by the rough breeze of the mountain top.
It had begun to snow. The mother changeling got to her hooves, her despair had been replaced by a fierce rage. Turning to the rest of her children, she called out to them.
“We shall make them pay for this!” The swarm roared in agreement.
Exactly.
It isn’t that they are mindless or such, just that the majority take a part in the breeding process just not by combining chromosomes.
I don’t picture them as the kidnappers whom cocoon prey, in show they’re are cocoons but they seem to act as impromptu prisons.
I see them taking love like from Shining Armor then leaving, like bees do from flowers. Like how Shining Armor was no worse for wear after, they hypnotize them, take the love, leave once they get their fill, no dead bodies, no memories. Perhaps there are different ways, ones who kill, ones who convince.
Things only get real sticky when you deal with bad apples. Say when a hive reaches a certain size and realize that they don’t need to muss around they can just take. Just like every other sentient creatures there are morals, war or peace or infiltration or whatever.
Since they are sentient unlike wolves what they do depends on what they believe in. Like ponies there is no 100% absolute way in which they operate. Chrysalis being on the Mussolini esc side of the coin.
That is just my personal view though.
That would still invalidate this picture, at the very least. Chrysalis would probably be expending individual changelings like a card-carrying NRA guy expends bullets.
An interesting thought.
Are they created from thin air by magic, then? If that’s true, and the vast majority are automata designed with no purpose other than to ruin your day, then would it not be fair to suppose that Chrysalis is just one evil wizard, with an army of dangerous but non-sapient bio-robots?
If that’s the case, then given their nature, I’d find it hard to believe that an individual changeling’s life would have much weight compared to the creatures it attacks, and the ponies actually would be fairly justified in genociding the crap out of the little buggers.
I do not see changelings as breeding or even gendered creatures at all.
>>29501
Like the card says in calling the drones a clone army I see the standard identical changeling template as having no interaction in the breeding process except in the gathering of love energy.
When a hive gets big enough they create a second Queen and perhaps they’re are sub queens to breed more eggs.
My thoughts are that there is no such thing as male or female changelings the feminine by coincidence Queen included, only male and female facades to facilitate feeding.
The problem is too many mammalian parts. It kinda throws the “complete bug” suggestion off to me.
If she’s an egg-layer, then they prolly develop a little (already fertilized) inside the womb before she lays about 2-4 eggs. Chrysalis, as a “queen”, may be able to lay clutches of 5 or even 10, assuming that her “queen” status is somehow different than the magical nature Celestia and Luna have.
I had assumed that their vast numbers likely came from the fact that female changelings in general (I’m willing to assume there’s more than one) are just baby-making machines in general. Whether biologically or culturally, they just breed rapidly.
I personally imagine she drops a load of Ping Pong Ball-ish sized eggs, a dozen every few month or so.
Then the Drones make mini cocoons like the size of an inflated shopping bag and fill it with love filled liquid. Then they drop the eggs in one per.
If they don’t have enough love they have to toss a portion of the eggs.
I’m actually using the idea in my own fic.
@Background Pony #2FC6
It could still happen. Ant Queens are larger then their children. When they are laying their eggs, they form a sort of sac around their lower bodies. When they don’t need to lay any more or for an emergency, they shed the egg sac.
So Chrysalis could still produce children in this manner. {Yes, I’m using the idea in my own fiction.}
That’s actually very close to the headcanon I subscribe to.
I run with the theory that a queen’s love for her children is indeed capable of sustaining them, albeit at a minimal level. For a hive to grow, outside resources must be obtained. I also see the soldiers as unable to love, just simply not understanding it. They follow their queen out of respect.
@Chrysalislover
If you want some more of that side of Chryssi (and if you’d forgive me a spot of shameless self-promotion ^^;), I can get you a fic with a lot of Mommy Chrysalis.
@Eeveexpert
I really like that take on her, myself.
@Fortune
Aye. A friend and I often dabbled with more or less that same concept in her persona.
Guess Changelings can’t feed off their own love.