Fear and panic pulse through Seirbigh and Ceann as they board onto a galleon in the harbour of the Pearl Kingdom. Although Seirbigh was incredibly weak when the queen bit him, his energy returned fairly quick when they were running to the ship. Immediately, the two command the crewmembers on the ship to depart immediately, ordering each to do a task. The two then rush out to the stern and see an army of a hundred Changelings flying over the kingdom’s castle and quickly catching up to them. In the front lead Chrysalis, with rage flaming from her eyes. Adrenaline pumps in the veins in both parties as the pursuers grow closer and the vessel grows faster. The prince and lady flap their wings into the sails with all of their might.

“Hahaha,” the queen chuckles loudly, “seeing your attempts to flee are just adorable! Might as well give up you traitors, it’s no use.”

“Never!” Seirbigh barks back. With a mighty flap of his wings, a gush of wind pelts the wave of disfigured ponies, sending a quarter of the mob of them flailing backwards and crashing into the shore.

“Don’t let some measly wind stop you, go!” The buzzing of the insectoid wings grew louder as the minions approach the ship. Seirbigh performs another gust attack, sending another quarter, and well as Chrysalis, out of control. However, the queen quickly recovers and dives into the rolling wake of the ship unbeknown to everypony on board. Holding her breath, she quickly swims along the keel of the long galleon and emerges from underneath the bowsprit, hiding herself from the crew.

“Back off!” The prince grunts as he kicks a Changeling in the face on deck and launches him into the water below.

“Seirbigh,” Ceann yelps from above, “they’re hopping on board,”

“How many are there?”

“Forty two at most.”

“Don’t worry my love, they won’t get you, just keep pushing the sails!”

Meanwhile, Chrysalis continues to wait below until she sees a guard looking over the edge of the bow, navigating as it seems. Quickly she teleports right underneath his outstretched head and bites him in the neck. In a single heave, she tosses him overboard and into the rolling waves below, leaving a small puddle of red as he disappears.

“Walter!” A stallion on deck screams, catching Chrysalis’ ear. She then uses her magic to take the form of the screamer’s who she just launched off and slowly climbs over the edge and onto the ship, acting as if she was the stallion. “Walter, are you alright?” The disguised queen watches another white guard approach her, this one being slightly taller.

“I’m fine, I just slipped.” She replies in her latest victim’s voice.

“Good, come, we need your help. The prince is fighting off the monster while the lady is providing winds to the sail, both at the stern, we need to-” His statement was cut short by his supposed partner quickly biting him in the neck. Choking gags exit the stallion’s throat as he watches the pony biting him return to her original form of Chrysalis. Upon releasing her fangs, the white guard falls over onto his side with his body twitching and his eyes gaping open. She then leans over the pony’s face and looks into his eyes, giving a smirking smile as Chrysalis watches the stallion die before her.

“Oh, poor thing,” she talks in a sympathetic voice as she transforms into Ceann, “if only you didn’t talk so much.” The guard’s pupils shrink and his body begins to slow down to a halt. “Don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon. You’ll become a Changeling in a matter of seconds. But for now, I have some business to do.” Now in the form of her former friend, the Changeling queen walks past the running crewmembers scattering around the galleon and makes her way to the stern. Her eyes peak up as the queen sees the true Ceann, vigorously flapping her wings against the sails and oblivious to her surroundings. She then looks down sees Seirbigh fighting off the ten Changelings that were still able to battle at the edge of the boat. Chrysalis takes a moment and looks her backside, seeing how clean and pristine Ceann’s wedding dress is. The queen then bites into the silky white dress and begins to tear at it, making it appear as if she was attacked. After finishing her mess, the disguised Chrysalis prepares herself and slowly hovers above the prince. In one swift motion, she flops onto the neck with her belly facing up, causing Seirbigh to jump back in shock of the sight before him.

“Ceann!” He gasps, “What happened!”

“The-the creatures…” the queen exclaims, sounding as if she was out of breath, “they… they attacked m-me…”

“Are you okay?”

“No… Seirbigh… take me down into a bedroom… K-keep me safe…”

“I shall my love.” The fake Ceann cringes for a split-second as the green pegasus picks her up onto his back and runs down into the ship interior, leaving the real Ceann alone.

“Seirbigh,”

“Yes, we are nearly at the bedroom.”

“I have a question?”

“Not the best of times, but what is it?”

“Why did you betray her?”

“Betray Crystal? What do you mean?”

“After she died, why did you marry Ce-I mean me?”

“You must be suffering from amnesia, you clearly don’t remember, best you not speak.”

“But why? Remind me once more.”

“Later, things are becoming too hectic. We’re here.” Chrysalis turns her head forwards around Seirbigh’s head and sees a pair of wooden doors before her. Seirbigh nudges the doors open and gently lays her onto the silky bed inside.

“Close the doors if you will, it’s cold.” The prince follows the faker’s orders and closes the doors behind him, leaving Seirbigh and Chrysalis alone in a private bedroom. “Hopefully the crew on board can take care of the rest of those monsters. Right now, let me tend to your wounds, where are they?”

“Check my bosom, that’s where the struck the hardest.” Seirbigh hops onto the bed and leans into the queen’s blue chest, thoroughly examining it for bruises. With the pegasus’ head right below her, Chrysalis uses one of her wings to brush the red mane off of Seirbigh’s back, revealing a pair of clotted bite marks on his neck.

“I don’t see anything yet…”

“It hurts though, please, make sure you didn’t miss a spot. I’ll check your neck to see if that bite has infected you.”

“I feel fine, just a little, empty I guess.” As the stallion continues to examine the fraud, the queen begins to slowly lean her jaw above his neck. Inching closer and closer, Chrysalis’ mouth begins to drool for the taste of the prince’s flesh and love. Her pupils dilate and deform into those similar of a cat’s as the green fur and pink flesh beneath pump with the warm blood of his veins making themselves ever more present to her sight.

Suddenly, the bedroom’s doors swing open as a voice from outside screams, “STOP!”

“Ceann?” Chrysalis snaps her head towards the doorway and sees the true Lady Ceann standing there.

“That’s Crystal that’s with you, run!” Immediately, the prince leaps from his spot and feels the drool as the top of his mane brushes the imposter’s chin.

“It is her!” In a split second, Seirbigh dashes from the bed and next to Ceann and both begin to staring aggressively at the Changeling. Blasting with fury over her interruption, Chrysalis leaps from the bed, still in the form of Ceann, and tackles the real one. “Let go of her!” The prince then turns his back on the pair of mares, lifts up his hind legs, and delivers a powerful buck at Chrysalis on top, sending her into the wooden wall behind. The queen, now resting against the wall, pants in exhaustion as her body soon transforms back to its original Changeling form. “Give it up!”

“Why should I?” Chrysalis snaps back, “You took away everything from me. My kingdom, my life, my family, my love, you took it all. It only fits that I return the favour.”

“What happened to you Crystal?”

“My name is Queen Chrysalis!”

“Crystal, you were not a monster!”

“Chrysalis!”

“Crystal, my close friend, please, don’t become the monster they fear you’ve become.”

“Me, the monster? You were the one whom stolen the heart of what was truly mine. You knew very well of that, and yet, you managed to gather the audacity and succeeded in ruining my life.”

“It was not my fault you died. It was no pony’s fault for believe you’d come back. It was not Seirbigh’s fault for being a pony that needed a companion, a mare after just having his before love swiped away by the seas in a matter of moments. I beg of thee, as a friend that still loves you, don’t become a monster.” Chrysalis looks at her front hooves as her gnarled horn begins to glow and sees them transform into the graceful pink hooves she once had.

“I have taken on the form of the friend you love. I see that you still have hope in me, even if it ‘tis blind sighted.” A small smile grows on Ceann’s face. “…However, your trust is completely idiotic. How can I forgive you for this, after all that thou has done? If not being a monster means for me to have faith in your friendship, a friendship that you have destroyed with you and Seirbigh’s actions, then who am I? Am I a pony, an idiot who still believes in fairy tale garbage? Or am I a monster, a greater being of endless abilities and the power to right the wrongs? I have my own ponies, my own army, my own kingdom at my disposal, and you say that I should throw it all away, just because we were once ‘friends?’” The pink mare picks herself up from the floor and begins to approach the two pegasi in front of her.

Ceann, though cowering in fright of the approaching creatures, tries to hide her fear and warmly replies, “We are still friends Crystal. Please, although I can’t force you in what you want your future to be, I can still make you think about what will come from your choices. Your friends, your family, Trihearth, the life that you’ve built yourself up to, think about all of that.” Silence took place over the next couple of minutes, as the Changeling queen ponders at the options placed before her. Memories of her family and the fun times she had as a filly flash in her head. Finally, Chrysalis takes a couple more steps towards the two and extends a hoof out towards the young lady. However, as Ceann attempts to reach out a hold it, Chrysalis pulls her hoof back and immediately backslaps her in the cheek, sending her hurdling into a support pole, smashing the small head against the middle of the wooden beam and knocking the small mare unconscious.

“Fine! If what I am is a monster to you, then so be it! I don’t care about you anymore!” Seirbigh then jumps onto the queen and knocks her back to the wall with a powerful dropkick. The mask of Crystal fades away as the Changeling is met eye to eye with the fiery blue eyes of her once love.

“Leave her alone!” The prince barks. This surprised the queen at first, seeing the full rage of the pony she knew all of her life released upon her. “You are a monster! A hideous, disrespectful, abomination of all life you are!”

“Seirbigh,” she whimpers, feeling the harsh words pierce her heart for the first time, “you surely don’t mean these things…”

“I mean what I say with all of my heart. You’ve struck Ceann though she hast done nothing with any intention to harm you. You are not my friend, thou hast become my enemy.”

“No,” the queen begins to tear, “I didn’t mean to do it! Please stop with these hurtful statements, I never intended for this.”

“I now am even starting to question myself as of why I even loved you in the first place, if all this time, you were just a ravenous beast. A vile serpent that has the nerve to insult the innocent with a mighty voice, yet tremble when confronted by your own actions, that ‘tis what you’ve become. That ‘tis who you are. That ‘tis the choice you’ve made. Get off of my ship, take your imps and leave, may you parish in Tartarus.” Furious, the queen rises once more and slowly backs towards the stairway to above, but not before delivering a final threat and her mind of Seirbigh’s words.

“Some mighty selection of words you will regret to have spoken!” Chrysalis blubbers in between the weeps being held back inside her black body, “You’ll pay for this! Both you and Ceann! You two shall rue the day you condemned me, Queen Chrysalis. Whether it be your foals, your future descendants, or even their friends, some day, I will have my revenge! May these words forever curse your peace wherever you retreat to!” In a flash of green light, the Changeling disappears from the chamber, leaving Seirbigh, Ceann, and whoever else still alive on the lone galleon to escape.

Back at the harbour of the Pearl Kingdom, the queen of the Changeling sits at the edge of the wooden dock and watches the ship in the distance disappear into the sunset upon the horizon. Her body twitches and tears pour from the creature’s eyes as Chrysalis sees the last of her once love leave. “Why?” She cries, “Why, despite being betrayed by him, despite that I should fell angry at the stallion, why does it still hurt so much? Is it the love that I hunger for, or is it something more?”

A small thud rocks the deck with Chrysalis on it, prompting her to look down to see what it is. She sees one of her minions, a small Changeling, face down on the water surface, motionless. With a flick of her horn, she lifts the being from the water and cradles it in her hooves. The Changeling soon begins to gag out water that was in his lungs for so long. His big blue eyes open to see Chrysalis looking at him. “Once a pony, an innocent citizen of the kingdoms of Trihearth, now a lifeless minion that nearly drowned, all because of me. I truly am a monster, and I forever will be…” Chrysalis’ attention then returns back to the horizon where the sun is setting. A deep familiar voice soon echoes into her ears as she gazes out to sea.

It speaks, “Chrysalis, you have seen what love and friendship truly mean. You have completed your task that I have demanded from you. You shall have your revenge one day, and it will be the greatest day of your existence. Now go, go out across the world, create your army of Changelings. Liberate the ponies oppressed by the very love that you and your followers feed upon, and raise your kingdom in your perfect image. No matter what they call you, monster and beast alike, know that they are wrong…”

“Yes my master… Like a mother raising her foals, I shall watch over the Changelings. I may not be able to get over my loss of Seirbigh, but I will never let myself love another once more, nor subject myself to the weak words of friendship. I will no longer suffer from the folly I was raised with, and neither will the ponies I shall liberate” She then looks back down at the Changeling in her arms, seeing it cuddle into her torso. “Don’t worry my child, I shall keep you fed, I shall teach you what the real world is like, and I shall never make you suffer as I have…”