Chapter One: Four Years Forgotten

Queen Chrysalis, the most powerful and the ruler of the changelings. With the stomp of a hoof and some careful planning, her power could crush entire kingdoms if executed just perfectly. But even one slip could result in the fall of an entire race of beings. A plan that had gone so perfectly for the changelings set a flame and thrown out the window because of one foolish mistake. However, this was not the end for the changelings. Though her army had been decimated and spread throughout the world, Chrysalis managed to survive in the outskirts of Equestria. Feeding on the love of the various animals that inhabited the dense forests, jungles, and large plains surrounding the kingdom of ponies, Chrysalis relied on her desperate lust for revenge to keep her alive. She would need a starting point, something that she could use in order to raise her army again and take her place as ruler of Equestria. No matter how big or how small, anything would aid in her goal to provide food and life for her subjects. Even if it were just two simple ponies.

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The dense forest slowly emerged from the darkness of night, the sun crawling its way over the towering mountains in the distance. The sound of birds chirping filled the air as they flew through the sky and in the canopy of the forest, gently awaking anything that was still resting in the woods. Small bears, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, all of the creatures that inhabited the forest slowly awoke, yawning and stretching as the daylight warmed them. A small river split the forest in two parts, schools of fish following the current and making their way to the lake at the end of the waterway. At the edge of the lake stood the animals of the forest, most of them bending their heads down to get a refreshing drink of water. The sky was clear over the peaceful forest, only a few clouds crawling across the blue heavens above. However, the blissful nature of the forest was soon broken.

Through the general quiet of the forest came the sound of hoofsteps, loud and heavy as they pounded against the dirt. The ears on the animals lining the lake pricked up at the sudden sound, most of them staring in the direction in which the hoofsteps were coming from. After a moment of waiting, the hoofsteps came clear as they emerged from the line of bushes around the lake. A black coated pony stepped out from the vegetation around the lake, the animals scattering at the sight of the ghastly figure. Holes were strewn about the ends of the ponies limbs, mane, tail, and wings. The creature’s horn was jagged and sharp at the edges, gleaming with a green aura as the pony used a telekinesis spell on the bushes to push them out of the way. Her mane and tail were littered with pine cones and leaves, the queen of the changelings beginning to care less about how she appeared. Queen Chrysalis stepped away from the bushes and walked over to the edge of the lake, the woodland creatures that had been there before long gone into the forest.

“Ah, here we are. At last I can finally get some sort of cleanliness feeling again.” Chrysalis said as she stepped into the lake. The queen of the changelings made her way further into the lake, sitting down and submerging her body in the cold water. Chrysalis let out a small sigh of pleasure as she sat in the lake, only her head sticking out of the body of water in the middle of the forest. Chrysalis slowly put her head down in the water, the debris of the forest that had been in her mane coming loose and floating in the clear water. After a moment, Chrysalis let her head back out of the water, letting out another sigh as she ran her hooves down her mane and tail. The changeling queen stood up and flapped her wings, the sap on the trees that had rubbed off on them soaring far from the mare in the water.

“Oh... this is nice.” Chrysalis said as she sat back down in the water. She lifted her hooves out of the lake and examined the holes in them, water droplets dripping out of them and falling back to their home. Chrysalis let her hooves fall limp in the water and she put her head back, closing her eyes and listening to the wind blow the trees lightly. She chuckled lightly to herself, moving her hooves back and forth through the lake around her.

“Why can’t I have this everyday? Those little ponies... I could have had everything. Food for my children, a land to conquer... all of it.” Chrysalis said quietly to herself, the smile on her face disappearing. The changeling sighed and she sat in silence again, fluttering her wings underwater. Chrysalis’s ears pricked up as she heard something over head. Her eyes snapped open and she stood up in the lake, looking up towards the sky at the origin of the noise. Chrysalis squinted to see against the sunlight, putting her hoof up to aid her further. A figure began to emerge from the sun’s light, a sort of balloon strapped to a basket beneath it. Inside of the basket were two ponies, a mare and a stallion looking over the side of the basket at the forest.

“Ponies? This far out of Equestria?” Chrysalis said quietly, putting her hoof down as the balloon moved out of the way of the sun. The changeling quickly ran out of the lake into a small bunch of bushes next to the water’s edge, peeking her head out to see the balloon. The two ponies slowly lowered the large balloon onto a clearing next to the lake, stepping out of the basket and walking to the shore. Chrysalis moved along the forest outline to get closer to the two ponies, settling back into another bush on the edge of the clearing next to the lake. The changeling stayed low in the bush, listening and watching the two ponies as they waded in the shallow part of the lake. The stallion was average size for his age, a light grey coat and red-orange eyes. His mane was black, medium length that parted down the middle and rested on each side of his face, laying flat in the back. The mare was a little smaller than him, lavender coat and a dark purple mane. She wore a head band to hold her mane back, her mane flowing down the back of her neck and the end of her mane resting at her body. Her dark cyan eyes gleamed in the sunlight as she looked up towards the sky, watching a cloud slowly make its way in front of the sun.

“This is a nice spot to settle down. The water isn’t all that bad.” The stallion said, hitting his hoof against the water to splash at the mare.

“Hey! I don’t want to get my mane wet yet! You know it gets all frizzy.” The mare said, splashing back at the stallion.

“Alright, alright! Come on, we can swim later. Let’s just get the picnic set up.”

The stallion and the mare stepped out of the lake and walked back to the balloon, Chrysalis keeping a close eye on them. The two ponies came out of the basket, the stallion levitating a picnic basket with him and the mare carrying a white and red plaid blanket in the air with a telekinesis spell.

“Is right here good?” The mare asked, pointing at a spot in the clearing.

“Yeah, that’s fine Tranquility. Hey, where are the cups?” The stallion asked as he looked inside of the picnic basket.

“Salvation! I told you to bring them!” Tranquility said, stomping her hoof on the ground as she straightened the picnic blanket.

“No you- Oh wait... I left them in the hotel. I knew I was forgetting something!” Salvation said, bringing his hoof up to his face.

“I told you not to forget them!”

“Sorry! They just slipped my mind, is all. We can go back to get them if we need to.”

“Oh it’s fine. I packed a few straws, we can just use those to drink out of the pitcher.”

Chrysalis gagged a little. “Salvation and Tranquility, huh? I wonder why they had to choose here to set down.” Chrysalis said, rolling her eyes at the two ponies’ bickering. She shook her head and continued to watch Salvation and Tranquility set up the picnic, both of them settling down on the blanket and unpacking the picnic basket.

“Cabbage, bread, tomatoes, looks like everything else is here. Shall we eat?” Salvation asked as he lifted all of the food out of the basket, setting it down on a small plate.

“Yeah. Hey, honey?” Tranquility asked, cutely tilting her head and crossing her hooves.

“Hmm?”

“Could you make mine for me?”

“Oh come on, you’re able to make a sandwich yourself. Just take the stuff you want in it and stack it on a piece of bread, then put another piece of bread on top. It’s simple!”

“But they don’t taste the same when I make them. Pllleeeaaasseee?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll make it. Just this once, next stop we make you’re making me one.”

“Yay!”

Chrysalis continued to watch the ponies, resting her head on her hoof as Salvation and Tranquility ate.

“Salvation?” Tranquility asked.

“What?”

“Do you ever think about going back?”

“Where? We’ve been practically all across Equestria.”

“You know what I mean.”

Salvation sighed. “We left Ponyville for a reason, remember? You were starting to lose the connection between the foals at school and I was sick of all the pressure at the hospital. It has been a month and I can still feel the heartbreaking feeling when I had to break the news to that one family before we left.”

“Yeah... I know, but I miss our friends. I miss the foals too. They treated me like I was Cherilee when I was substituting, it was cute.”

“Is that why you came home every afternoon complaining about how they wouldn’t do any of the activities in class?”

“Well... I guess you’re right. It is nice out here, isn’t it? The forest all to ourselves, the nice view, a good meal. But... when should we go back? We can’t keep traveling around forever.”

“I don’t know. We’ll head back when we get bored of going around sight seeing and traveling, I guess.”

“When do you think that will be?”

“I have no idea. But as long as I get to spend time with you, I’ll be as happy as I’ll ever be.” Salvation said, leaning forward and rubbing his nose against Tranquility’s.

Chrysalis put her hoof up to her face and let out a small sigh. “It’s just on and on with these ponies.” The changeling looked up from her hoof back at the two ponies. They were packing up the picnic and putting all the supplies back in the balloon basket, readying to leave. Chrysalis whispered a small ‘yes’ to herself and she started to stand up, but not without making any noise. As she rearranged her hooves around, Chrysalis stepped on a twig beneath her, making a loud snap. Salvation turned his head from the basket over to the bush Chrysalis was in, the changeling sinking down and hoping not to have been seen.

“What was that?” Salvation asked, stepping out of the balloon and beginning to walk over to the bush.

“What was what?” Tranquility asked as she began to step into the balloon basket. Salvation continued to walk towards the bush, Chrysalis starting to scurry out of it.

“Hey, wait a minute! Who are you? Are you lost?” Salvation shouted as he saw Chrysalis running out of the bush, not noticing her as a changeling. Chrysalis, not looking where she was going, rammed straight into a tree as she kicked off of the ground, making a loud ‘thunk’ as the impact of her head against the trunk shook the tree. Salvation walked around the trees Chrysalis had passed and came to a halt at the changeling on the ground.

“Are you alright? That was a pretty nasty hit you- What the-!?” Salvation asked as he began to reach out towards Chrysalis, but pulled his hoof back at the sight of her wings. At further inspection, Salvation noticed the holes in her and her fangs, Chrysalis dazed as she laid on the forest floor.

“What is it, Salvatio- Oh!” Tranquility said, sliding to a stop as she saw the changeling on the ground. Chrysalis shook her head and she lifted a hoof up to it, rocking back and forth slightly as she sat up.

“Is that... a changeling?” Tranquility asked, scooting closer to Salvation.

“It... looks like it. The pictures from Canterlot weren’t exactly the clearest, but that isn’t just a normal pony.” Salvation said. Chrysalis put her hoof down and stared up at the two ponies, her brow bent at an angry angle.

“What? Never seen a changeling before?” Chrysalis asked, putting her hoof up to show the holes in it.

“Yeah, you’re Queen Chrysalis, aren’t you? The changeling that tried to take over Equestria. I thought they got rid of you.” Salvation said, giving Chrysalis a stern look.

“Let’s get out of here, Salvation, she’s dangerous!” Tranquility whispered to her coltfriend, keeping her gaze on Chrysalis.

“She’s no harm to anypony now. Not after what happened in Canterlot. Why are you all the way out here? Looking for something to feed on?” Salvation asked the changeling sitting in front of him.

“Oh, just relaxing in this lake. That is, until you two showed up. Don’t you have something better to do than stick around here?” Chrysalis said, pointing her hoof at the balloon in the clearing.

“We don’t have anywhere else to be at the moment.” Salvation said.

“Come on, she isn’t anything we should be concerned about. Let’s go!” Tranquility said, tugging at Salvation’s tail as she started to walk away.

“Hang on a second. I want to learn more about this... changeling.” Salvation said, sitting down and staring at Chrysalis.

“Salvation!” Tranquility said frustratingly.

“She has no power, Tranquility. She’s nothing without her army or somepony’s love to feed on.” Salvation said. Tranquility stared at Chrysalis for a second, the changeling staring at her back. Tranquility sighed and she walked over to Salvation, sitting down next to him.

“So what are you doing all the way out here in the outskirts of Equestria? Even a being such as you must have somewhere to go.” Salvation said to Chrysalis.

“You’re really doing this?” Chrysalis asked, lifting an eyebrow. Salvation only sat and stared at her, Chrysalis letting out a sigh.

“Wandering. There has been nothing for me to do since the invasion in Canterlot. My army is gone and I’m left with only myself. Really nothing I can do with that.” Chrysalis said.

“Have you ever thought about asking for forgiveness?” Salvation asked.

“You’re kidding, right? Changelings are beings that feed on love, do you really think that anypony would want that as a friend or an ally?”

“There’s always a chance.”

“Yeah, good luck with that. For now, I’m good on just sitting out here and minding my own busine-” Chrysalis said as she examined her hoof, but cut herself off. The changeling looked past her hoof at the ground beneath her, a slight devious smile growing on her face.

“You know... I’ve been contemplating something for a while. I’m starting to get a little lonely out here, with my subjects gone and all. Maybe you would want to... stay?” Chrysalis said, giving the two ponies in front of her a malicious look. Her horn glowed with a green aura and Salvation suddenly felt a strange sensation come over him.

“Salvation? What’s wrong?” Tranquility asked, leaning forward to look at her coltfriend. Soon enough, Tranquility also started to feel drowsy along with Salvation, swaying back and forth slightly as she slowly slipped from consciousness. Salvation fought to keep his eyes open, but ultimately found himself giving and falling gently on his side next to Tranquility.

“I’m going to need an army. You two will make an excellent starting point.” Chrysalis said, laughing to herself quietly as both of the ponies on the ground laid helpless. Next Chapter: [2] Only The Beginning Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 4 Minutes