"You know what, I like her. She doesn't take bull from anybody. I guess it's no wonder how even you were able to pick up a thing or two from her, Thorax."

Thorax stretched his legs until his joints gave a satisfying crack. The sharp rocks littering the dragon lands had left his hooves aching, and now the alpha changeling could barely take a step without wincing - but, through the soreness, the cool evening breeze and enticing smell of pine needles had begun to fill his senses.

The southwest woods bordering Ember's domain were vast, and a welcome sight, for they promised not only relief, but the fast approaching coast. The Elysian Strait - separating the hive from the dragon lands - was daunting, but it was a trip Thorax's hooves would not have to suffer.

"She has to be tough, leading a species like the dragons," Thorax finally replied, turning to grab his brother's attention. "I've really come to respect not only her tenacity, but also her wisdom. There's a lot more to her than meets the eye."

"Yeah, I take back what I said this morning - I think we could be really good allies with the dragons," Pharynx said with a smirk. "I completely identify with their whole, 'don't touch my stuff, because I will end you' attitude."

Thorax chuckled. "I had a feeling you'd hit it off with the dragons really well. That's why I'm glad you came along with me; I've been wanting to introduce you to Ember for quite a while, anyway."

Pharynx tempered a smirk. "Still can't believe how friendly she is with you. You could scarcely make friends with changelings before you left the hive, and now you're befriending dragons? Did you conveniently leave out your alias as 'King Cuddlebug, His Lordship of Touchy Feely Nonsense?'"

The grin escalated at the sight of his little brother's taught brow.

"I mean, that's what I'd have done. I hear that guy took all the fun out of feeding and replaced hunting with cuddle parties and sharing feelings. What a dork."

The brow signaled an exaggerated roll of his violet eyes, and Thorax huffed a sigh. "Boy, you really will get along with the dragons. You've got the juvenile teasing down and everything."

Thorax's thought was punctuated by a mocking mimic of his own voice. A benign growl accompanied a snort.

"I know you're just trying to get me to react, and it won't work."

"Quite the late hatcher, aren't you. I think the kitten meow deserves an honorable mention alongside the defiant proclamation."

"...sometimes I wonder if you rolled into my clutch on purpose as an egg just to make me miserable."

A dry laugh cracked the air.

"Why hello, Pharynx's brother, I'm Pharynx. Let me explain to you what my purpose in life is."

Thorax pressed a hoof to his forehead. If he was lucky, a magical portal would open up from it and send him to his bed burrow. "Can we please just focus on reaching the coast and then getting over the strait? At this rate we won't even get back till morning. You might enjoy the dragons' rowdiness, but it tires me out, and you know I'm going to get woken up at the crack of dawn by nymphs."

"Oh, that's right. Poor Thorax has to get up in the morning and then take naps through the afternoon with all of the hive's nym-"

"You have to be up early, too, you know." Thorax's brow raised, pulling the corner of his lip up with it. "You have a training regiment with the drones tomorrow."

Pharynx promptly closed his mouth. "...you know what, we should probably focus on getting home."

As evening crept into night, the dim light of the moon reached the forest floor in serrated patches, casting ghoulish shadows across the brothers' backs as they walked. Even the evening breeze had become a chilled wind, howling through the branches overhead and causing them to sway. Thorax could see his brother's pace picking up, and every so often, something seemed to move just outside the moonlight's field.

"Um, Pharynx, did you see that?"

Pharynx didn't respond. The teasing and sass a distant memory, the blue changeling's violet eyes darted around, scanning the near-impenetrable darkness behind each tree. As Pharynx's hard look set, Thorax's grew anxious - the green changeling also looked around, but could still only find trunks.

"What is it?"

"..."

"Pharynx?"

"Thorax, stop walking."

At his brother's tone, a rush of adrenaline jolted Thorax to attention. Rooted to his spot, he peered into the dark once again, and this time, something in the dark peered back.

"...what could two young changelings be doing out this late, I wonder?"

A pair of glowing eyes floated among the trees, but they needed no introduction. When a sickly green light lit from a jagged horn, Pharynx's body moved like lightning - leaping in front of Thorax, his antlers came to life with a magic of their own. An echoing cackle tore through the forest, and with it, the green magic dissipated.

"You're as quick as ever, Captain. Still protecting Thorax from his bullies, I see."

Pharynx's hooves dug into the earth, his magic a storm of electricity between two curved conduits. "That's 'prince' to you, now, witch. Step out where we can see you."

"A witch now, am I? Such insolence, and from my former second-in-command, no less. How far the changelings have fallen."

Uncloaked by rays of moonlight, Chrysalis stepped out into the narrow clearing, her body lithe like that of a charcoal skeleton. Decayed wings stretched from her carapace, catching the light in a macabre fashion, as did her eyes glow an ethereal white under the moon.

"What are you doing here, Chrysalis?", Thorax asked sternly, all fear drained from his face. "You're on the border of Princess Ember's territory. If you leave this forest, I won't hesitate to-"

"Won't hesitate to do what, 'your highness'?", Chrysalis interjected, venom dripping from her tone. "Sic the Dragon Lord on me? Well now, that would fit your habit of letting others come to your rescue, wouldn't it?"

Thorax's ears fell, as did his eyes.

"You didn't answer the question," Pharynx picked up, his antlers crackling incessantly. "What are you doing here?"

Chrysalis tossed back her mangled mane, unperturbed by the heated energy aimed for her throat. "Nothing of importance to you or the dragons, I assure you," she said callously. "Just on a bit of a nightly stroll. These woods are lovely by moonlight, aren't they? As of late they're my favorite place to come and think."

"You mean 'scheme'," Pharynx grumbled, relaxing his position, but not his magic. "I know you better than anyone, so quit the act. Your mind never had a thought it couldn't use to better yourself at the expense of others."

Chrysalis let off an amused huff, inspecting the beta changeling up and down. "Well, fair's fair, I suppose - you may look ridiculous now, but you're still the shrewd changeling I once proudly put as my head of patrol, aren't you? Nothing gets by you, Pharynx."

The former queen turned her attention to Thorax, and the two shared a long glance.

"Are you having fun playing castle with your big brother, Thorax?"

Thorax glowered. "Tons of fun. What I'm most enjoying is watching the changelings blossom into something more than your personal army."

Chrysalis's cat-like irises glinted again in the light. With a devilish smile she began to pace around the pair of changelings, never once breaking eye contact with her successor.

"Sounds like you're all enjoying quite the little renaissance."

"Everyling has adapted to sharing love, and now we're closer and stronger than ever."

"Yes, being able to self-sustain yourselves must be quite the feeling."

"You'd know that, yourself, if you had accepted Starlight's offer-"

"Starlight Glimmer will pay for what she lost me!", Chrysalis barked, her expression tensing in an instant. "She had no right to encroach on changeling matters!"

Thorax's composure began to fray. "Starlight was only trying to help me confront you, for the sake of our friends, and the hive!"

"I was the hive!"

Three sets of colored magic lit the dim forest like torches, as another gust of wind howled through the trees. Faced with Chrysalis's blind rage, Thorax bit his lip, his own rush of anger giving way to frustration. The three-way deadlock lasted several moments, before Chrysalis withdrew her horn, brushing off her outburst with another laugh.

"Precious little Thorax, so kind and full of love," she spat. "I knew you'd return to be a thorn in my side, but to come back with your own little squad of sympathizing ponies? Clearly I should have tracked you down far sooner, and kept you from gaining such troublesome allies."

Thorax watched her like a hawk, his stomach beginning to churn as his curiosity grew. "How could you have known I'd come back? For the longest time even I didn't know if I'd ever come back. Were you that paranoid of being overthrown?"

Chrysalis's sneer widened. "Not at all. I knew you'd return, Thorax, because this routine has happened before. Do you honestly believe you're the first changeling in history to ever dabble with friendship magic?"

His eyes widening, Thorax stared, unblinking at the dark changeling circling him like a wolf. "...what are you talking about?"

"I ruled for centuries, Thorax," Chrysalis cackled, the grip of insanity beginning to mold her face. "There have been dozens of drones throughout the ages who discovered that friendship was able to sustain them. You were simply the only one that got away, the only one able to fully transform using that magic, and then successfully infect the rest of the hive with it."

Thorax choked, his face filling with dread. "There were others? There were other changelings that discovered friendship for themselves? What...Chrysalis, what did you do to them?"

"Thorax, stop." Pharynx lightly shook his brother with a hoof. "What good is that going to do? Don't let her in, she's goading you."

But Thorax remained transfixed, mesmerized by the former queen's delighted grin. Like a deer frozen in fear before a vicious predator, he waited for an answer, his brother's voice lost to him entirely.

"They were exterminated, of course," Chrysalis breathed. "Every one of them undermined my authority with thier discoveries, and betrayed the hive in the process. I eliminated them before they could spread their toxic ideas to the rest of the swarm."

Thorax's lip quivered, his legs becoming weights. The corners of his eyes began to sting, as a heat took seed in his belly. "You knew all along that there was a better way? And still, you..."

"There is nothing more important to a hive than strength, Thorax," Chrysalis stated calmly, coming to a pause before the sunken changeling. "The hive must remain strong, vigilant and focused - those who jeopardize that are traitors. You should know my stance on that better than anyone."

"You...how could you be so heartless!?", Thorax lashed out, his tears blurring Chrysalis's fanged smile. "Changelings lived for you, fought for you, starved for you! You had us attack innocent creatures, dressing it up as 'finding food for our kind', but we never even had to! You're saying you never even cared that there was a better way for us out there? If it didn't benefit your lust for power, it was worthless to you!?"

His composure crumbling apart, Thorax lowered his head, staining the grass with his tears and filling the air with uncontrollable sobs. His legs shook, his chest now burning with a heat like nothing he had ever felt, but mere words couldn't hope to alleviate his frustration.

Chrysalis tilted her head, gazing down at the distraught changeling with a glint of concern. "Oh, Thorax, you poor thing. I think I finally understand. Now I see why you fled the hive - you just couldn't bare to see your fellow changelings live that way, could you? You always were an unusually sympathetic drone...one who never did find his place in the hive."

Her facade decayed, and Chrysalis's face glowed with satisfaction. She raised her hoof to pick up Thorax's chin, but a flare of magic sailed by, singeing the tip.

"You've done enough," Pharynx hissed. "I think it's about time you took your leave."

Chrysalis's attention flickered from one changeling to the other, and she retreated her hoof. "Please, spare me the bravado. If you were going to attack me you'd have done it by now. You can't risk leaving yourself open by making the first move, not when you have your dear little brother to protect, as well."

Pharynx scowled. "Mistake my caution for hesitation and watch it be your end, Chrysalis. Give me the incentive, and make no mistake, even if it meant going down with you, I'd love to be the one to turn you to ash."

The forest rang with demonic laughter. "Tempting as that may be, I'm afraid I'm not looking for a fight, either. As wonderful as it's been to see my benevolent usurpers again, I have a greater purpose, these days. With or without the changelings, I will exact my revenge on those who cost me everything."

Leaving Thorax alone in the center of the glade, Chrysalis walked to the forest's edge, a curtain of shade falling across her back and shrouding her completely. She paused, turning to face the brothers one final time as her horn ignited in the dark.

"After I put Starlight Glimmer and her friends in their place, maybe I can give you that challenge, Pharynx. And then, who knows, perhaps it isn't too late for the rightful queen of the changelings to reestablish her place, as well."

Just as the words left her tongue, a blinding flash filled the clearing, and Chrysalis was blown off her hooves. Slamming into a far tree, the changeling slumped to the ground like a mangled spider, her mane obscuring her face. Toppled from her head, her crown laid by a pile of fallen leaves.

"I will never let you near them, ever again!", Thorax shouted, shaking violently, but resolute in the display of power contained between his antlers. Even with tears trailing down his cheeks, his raw emotion had Pharynx at a loss for words. "That crown is no longer yours, Chrysalis, and neither are the changelings! You have no right to them!"

The forest grew still. A single eye opened through the veil of her hair, and Chrysalis slowly picked herself back up - for once, no sneer or smirk crossed her face, and no glint shone in her eyes. She stared at Thorax with a sliver of shock, his silent fury weighing on the air, itself.

"...you continue to surprise me, Thorax," she uttered at last, egregiously snapping a neck joint back into place before reigniting her horn. "It looks to me like your little transformation did more for you than simply disgrace your heritage. To think that same fragile, little drone would actually manage to hurt me...I dare say, I'm impressed."

The fallen crown was seized by green magic, and the grass beneath Chrysalis's hooves erupted into even brighter green flames, hazing her body from view, and projecting ghoulish shadows across the surrounding trees. Wiping his face of hot tears, Thorax glanced at Pharynx, and together the brothers watched as their former queen was consumed by a raging inferno.

"I'm more eager than ever to see where the future takes us, boys. For the time being though, it's late, and I have plans that need tending to."

Fading like a dying candle, the lapping emerald flames starved into a burned patch of dirt. Chrysalis had vanished, as did her voice escape with the wind. The forest grew calm and serene, just as it had been not even ten minutes, prior. All that remained was Thorax, quietly sitting alone, and Pharynx, recovering from what had just transpired.

"...Thorax, that was amazing!", Pharynx exclaimed, examining the Chrysalis-sized dent in the far tree with a massive grin, and feeling pride well up inside him. "You completely bodied her, and did you see her take off? She was a tossed rag doll! You absolutely-"

Pharynx's train of thought came to a screeching halt, his memory catching up with his excitement. Sitting back on his haunches, Thorax was staring at the grass by his hooves, silent tears still flowing strong. Every now and again he gave a weak sniff, rubbing his face with a hoof. With a soft exhale, Pharynx sat down by his side, and without a word, encouraged the bigger changeling to lean against him.

Thorax's shed tears now ran down his brother's chitin, glistening as they dropped to the ground.

"Pharynx, I feel so much resentment for her, it's frustrating."

"It's called 'hate', Thorax. It's alright, you can say it. She deserves every ounce of it."

"If she was telling the truth, then...changelings lost their lives, just for wanting to make friends with other changelings."

"I'd never assume she tells the truth about anything, but, I know. That wasn't easy to hear."

"That could have been me, Pharynx, if I hadn't fled the hive when I did."

Pharynx rested his snout against his brother's head. "Don't be ridiculous. I'd have turned traitor, built a resistance and overthrown her, myself, if she so much as tried to hurt you, and you know it."

Through his gloom, Thorax forced a weak smile. "Did you know anything about this? Did she ever mention anything to you?"

Pharynx's eyes ventured to the burnt mound of dirt, a stain in an otherwise immaculate forest. "I knew about her attitude towards those who betrayed her, but I never heard about this, before. Assuming she wasn't just trying to mess with you, I'm guessing the last time a changeling got glittery wings from sharing friendship magic was before you or I were even born."

"I don't want to believe her, you know," Thorax began, his words mumbled by Pharynx's shoulder. "You're right, I shouldn't let her get to me. It just seems like every time I try to forget about her, try to move on from our past, she comes back and shows me how things could have been so much worse than I thought."

"She's nothing if not determined. But Thorax, honestly, what does it really matter?", Pharynx countered, waiting for his little brother to meet his gaze before continuing. "Whatever Chrysalis did or didn't do is behind us, now. You said it yourself, that crown is no longer hers, and you'll do everything in your power to keep her from claiming it again. That is what you said, right?"

Thorax nodded and propped himself back up. The alpha changeling drank in the cold night air, and in doing so, calmed himself. "Yeah, I did. I care about the changelings more than anything - I never want to see them go through something like Chrysalis, again."

Pharynx grinned. "Then use her atrocities as motivation to build a better kingdom, but don't let yourself fall to her will, even after she's lost the throne. No matter what she says or does, no matter how she may use the past to try and haunt you, nothing will change the fact that the changelings chose you, Thorax. Let's prosper, and show her just how irrelevant she really is."

The scattered clouds overhead parted, and now the moon's light illuminated every part of the forest, including Thorax's newfound smile. His tears now ceased, the alpha changeling hugged his brother tight, much to Pharynx's immediate disapproval.

"Thank you, Pharynx, really. Thank you so much."

Pharynx grumbled under his breath, pulling his neck from the awkward moment and patting a half-invested hoof on his brother's back. "...yeah, yeah, you're welcome, I care about you too, so on and so forth. Now, if you're sure your tear ducts have run dry, can we get going, please? Even I'm suffering from bed withdrawal, at this point."

Thorax chuckled and let go, giving the sour changeling a playful smile. "Hold on, now you're tired? You seemed ready to stay up all night and hang out with the dragons not too long ago."

Pharynx cocked a brow. "Let's recap, shall we? On top of negotiations with the dragons and sassing you, I threatened Chrysalis twice, sassed her, had my mind blown from you going full out, and then had to come off that trip to cheer you up. I'm a warrior, Thorax, but I'm not a masochist - I'm utterly exhausted, and I'm ready for bed, now."

Together the royal changelings drew their wings and took to the air, layering it with wit and laughter as they did. The dull, filtered light from overhead branches was quickly replaced by open sky, and the hushed water reflecting it, below.

"Just so you know, I'm going to send Princess Twilight a letter before bed, and tell her what happened," Thorax said, leveling off with his brother. "She'll be able to inform her friends quicker than I can. As much as I wish it wasn't the case, Chrysalis is as much their problem as she is ours."

"You should send Ember a letter, too," Pharynx added, casting a glance over his shoulder at the distant volcanic mountain. "I'm pretty sure she'd like to know about our psychopathic ex-queen taking 'nightly walks' in her border forest. Heck, maybe she'll even be up for a trade."

Thorax cocked his head. "A trade?"

"Yeah, maybe if we find and take Incognito Changeling off her hands, she'll deal with Chrysalis for us. Maybe all she needs is a good dip in a volcano."

Thorax stifled a chuckle. "I think your fierce tendencies are showing again, Pharynx."

Pharynx's teeth gleamed. "You're right, too much. I'm sure scalding water would be just as effective."

Author's Notes:

For ya'll who've been wanting to see a Chrysalis cameo in The King of Love Bugs, here's the next best thing - a oneshot entirely dedicated to her.

With the help of certain emotionally-charged songs I had playing in the background, I literally cried writing certain parts of this story. This is a piece I've had festering in the back of my head for a while, and I've finally gotten it down on digital paper.

Pharynx's unflinching loyalty to the (current) hive, Thorax's polar opposite nature to that of Chrysalis...the levels of tension that would exist between these three in a mere conversation is astronomical, and it's something I've wanted to see more than anything.

I've always envisioned that Thorax would be deeply upset by Chrysalis's cruelty towards his kind. He's such a caring individual - it must be almost impossible for him to comprehend how someone could ever do what she did. His feelings would be amplified ten-fold after he became king and grew close with the changelings, like he'd always wanted to.

Even if the show does end up reforming her, this will always be the character I saw, the character Chrysalis was written to be, in my eyes - a heartless tyrant who used her kind to attain power.