Hatred is a Horrible Thing

During the darkness of night in the city of Manehattan, ponies were asleep in their homes. Some were still doing there night shifts, but there was one figure wrapped in a giant brown cloak walking down an empty alley way. On this figure's back, was a small white dog curled up and asleep. The figure made her way through the alleyway towards her makeshift home. There was a small building that lead to an abandoned underground area deeper than the sewers of the city.

"Home shit home." The figure grumbled with her two toned voice as she reached her home as of late. After carefully removing her dog from her back she ripped off her cloak and threw it to the side.

The figure was revealed to be none other than Chrysalis, the Queen of the Changelings. Chrysalis walked over to her bed and placed her dog down in the middle before sitting on the edge. She began to silently cry as she remembered the events that lead her to the position she found herself in.

"I'm so sorry, my children. I'm sorry." She wept. Chrysalis was the last changeling left alive. She had failed her children as a mother, and now they were all dead.

She had tried time and time again to find ways to feed her children, but such a feat wasn't easy for changelings as they survived off of love. She tried every method she could to feed her starving children, but when she couldn't obtain the food she needed, she had decided that she would take it by force from the ponies of Equestria. That plan had backfired severely. She didn't know who caused it or how it had happened, but after they were all sent flying away from Canterlot, they were all poisoned with the very strong hatred of somepony. This was killing them all. All of her children and herself were all too sick to help out each other in the hive. She watched helplessly as her children died before her one by one over time. And Thorax...sweet, innocent Thorax… he was the first to go. The poor thing was always rather frail. Pharynx killed himself not long after, the grief of losing his younger brother proving too much for him. She remembered the grizzly scene of the death of her kindest child very well. It was something she would never forget.

“Mother! Something is wrong with Thorax!” Pharynx yelled to Chrysalis as he supported his brother. The younger changeling looked even more sickly than usual.

“I don't feel so good Pharynx…” he said before collapsing, his brother catching him and putting his head in his lap.

He looked up at the Queen with tears in his eyes, “What's wrong with him mother? I tried giving him love but it didn't do anything! He's not going to die, is he?!”

Before she had a chance to respond, she was interrupted by Thorax emptying his stomach on the grass. It was an almost pure red substance, with small pockets of pink slipping through. Her eyes widened and tears started to form in the corners of her eyes.

“By the Great Mother...Its hate sickness. I'm sorry Pharynx, but its fatal. There is no known cure.” she said, causing him to cry even harder than he was.

“No! There has to be a way! He can't die!”

“Pharynx…”

“Yeah? W-what is it Thorax?”

“I just want you to know… you were the best big brother I could've asked for..." Thorax trailed off before he heaved even more of the substance out. This time, he heaved his inner organs along with it. Thorax's breathing soon stopped, forever.

Pharynx let out a scream of grief and agony as he felt his brothers presence rip away from the Hivemind.

“No! Thorax!” he screamed as Chrysalis pulled him into a hug.

“I'm sorry child. He's gone. He's with the Great Mother now.”

“No! No, no no! He can't be dead!” Pharynx sobbed as he pounded the Queen's chest, before finally going limp in her embrace. His other siblings quickly joining in both physically, and mentally.

They stayed there until Pharynx had shed as many tears as he could. “I would like dig his grave myself, mother.”

“If that's what you want, then go with my blessing.”

It took him an hour to dig a hole big enough for his purposes, but when he was done he gently laid his brother's body inside.

“Thorax...I didn't deserve brother like you. You were always there for everyling, always the first to give up your share of the love. Even if it was kind of annoying how much you liked hugs.” he said with a small chuckle.”You didn't deserve to die like this. I can't trade my life for yours, but I can't go on without you. I just can't.”

Dropping into the large grave, he bit into his own hoof as he sent one last message over the Hivemind: Forgive me Mother. Bury us together.

His message sent, he channeled every single drop of venom he had straight into his bloodstream.

The others found the grave by following the screaming.

One by one, her children died and died and died and she was powerless to help any of her children. Soon, only herself and three of her children remained. The last remaining three of her children sacrificed themselves to save her from the same fate that had befallen their brethren. Chrysalis had wanted to kill herself in grief, many, many, times, but felt that if she did, she would be throwing away the wishes of her children. That was the only thing that was keeping her pushing through life, but that she was starting to lose hope.

The Former Changeling Queen snapped out of her flashback and looked to her right as she felt something nuzzle her. She looked down to see none other than her pet dog trying his best to cheer her up. Chrysalis gave her puppy a small sad smile.

"Oh, Toby. You are the only thing that has kept me from starving. I thank you so much for that little one." She said as she picked up the dog from her side and brought him up to her face. Toby licked his owner happily with a few happy yips. Tears welled up in the changeling's eyes as she held the puppy close to her.

"I don't think I would be able to survive without you, Toby." She said as she held the small white fluffy dog close to her, rocking her body gently.

"I don't know what I would do without you at all."

After a little while, we find Chrysalis asleep on her bed with Toby by her side. Toby was awake and was thinking to himself. You see, Toby isn't your average dog, he's really smart. He knows his Master is sad, but he doesn't know exactly why. He does know it has to do with her children, as she keeps saying 'I'm sorry my children.' over and over.

"Mom is sad, how can I cheer her up? Maybe some kind of present? Yeah! That'll work! I'll get Miss Mom the best present ever so she doesn't have to be sad anymore!" Toby thought to himself before inching stealthily out of the bed.

"This is genius! Toby Fox, you are a smart doggo!" He thought to himself as he left the confines of the makeshift underground shelter in search of the perfect gift for Chrysalis.

After a rube goldberg style of events trying to find the perfect gift for his mom, the white puppy found himself stuck on a train that was headed out of Manehattan, which was were Chrysalis was...surviving. The reason he simply couldn't just leave the train was because the train he was on was a cargo train. He had climbed into an open boxcar while looking for a gift for Chrysalis, when the door closed behind him, leaving him trapped.

"This is not going as quite as well as I was hoping it would...Crap Baskets." Toby thought to himself. He had just wanted to get a present for his Mom! Was that so much to ask? Why was this so hard to do? Toby paced in the box car

"Dang it! Mom is going to be so worried! I can't believe this happened! I should have never left her like that, I hope she forgives me for this. How the heck am I gonna get back to her?!" The fluffy dog thought to himself as he paced around the boxcar that was thankfully lit up with magic light.

All Toby had wanted to do was get an amazing gift for his Mom that would cheer her up from whatever was making her so sad, why did he have to end up in this predicament!? Toby began to whine sadly at his situation.

"Please don't be mad at me, Mom. I'm sorry." He thought to himself sadly.

The former Changeling Queen had begun to stir in her sleep, she would be waking up soon. Her eyes fluttered open and she stretched her limbs, breathing a relieved sigh as she felt her joints pop. She sat up and stretched again, man was she stiff this morning.

"Good morning, Toby." She mumbled. When she did not hear the familiar yip of the small dog she had grown so accustomed to, she looked around her bed, not finding the dog anywhere.

"Toby?" She questioned, still not finding the dog anywhere. She soon became rather frantic as she did not find her precious puppy anywhere in the room.

"Toby?!" She called out with increasing worry. She ran through the entirety of her shelter and the surrounding area of the underground, calling out for her dog the entire time. She did not find him anywhere, nor did she hear any response to her cries for her dog.

"TOBY!!" She screamed out in terror and anguish. Tears streaming down her face. She ran to the exit of the underground area that she had been using as her home for the past more than a few months. Almost forgetting to disguise herself when she burst through the exit to the outside world. She looked around the alleyway and saw a few paw prints that led out of the alleyway. She followed them around as best as she could throughout the entire city of Manehattan. The tracks went throughout the entire city and she followed them. They lead to some rather strange places, they even past a dress shop that had been awhile back.

Chrysalis was soon crying tears like a waterfall once again when she reached the end of the trail of paw prints, which ended right in front of a railway.

"No, No, No, please no...." She cried in between her tears. Soon though, she was filled with hope as she caught a familiar scent. It was Toby's love. That mean the train departed recently. Thankfully the scent was still just strong enough for her to follow it, so that is exactly what she did. She followed the tracks, galloping as fast as she could in the direction of her dog's love scent.

"I'm coming, my sweet little Toby. Mama's on her way." Chrysalis said to herself.

"Oh no." Chrysalis whispered to herself in shock and horror. The scent of her precious puppy's love had lead her to Ponyville. This was the place where Princess Twilight Sparkle lives. And from the looks of things, today was Hearts and Hooves day. Which meant there was a whole lot of love around in the air. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and to look for Toby, but she soon got a whiff of the most delectable love she has ever smelled before. It was coming from the Giant Crystal Tree. Maybe just a little bit wouldn't hurt, she was starving after all.

As she approached the tree castle, she shape shifted into a slightly taller than average stallion with a uniform that had Twilight Sparkle's Cutie Mark on the flanks. Having disguised herself as a member of the Sparkle Royal Guard, she began to trot once again towards the castle. Before she could make it however, she heard a voice call to her from behind her.

"You there!" The disguised Chrysalis turned around to see none other than the Captain of the Sparkle Royal Guard, Tempest Shadow.

"What are you doing out here?" She demanded as she trotted in front of the disguised changeling. Chrysalis gulped.

"I-I was just..um..doing some last minute...stuff...?" She tried optimistically.

"Nice try. Even if you did have a convincing story, I still wouldn't believe you, because I am the only member of the Sparkle Royal Guard." Tempest told the disguised changeling, causing her to back up into the wall as Tempest advanced on her. Chrysalis, having been caught and seeing no reason to hide anymore, undid her transformation.

"You're Chrysalis, the Changeling Queen." Tempest said as she took in Chrysalis's appearance.

"Please...Please don't hurt me..." Chrysalis begged in a quiet voice. She knew full well that she couldn't beat this mare in her current state, she probably couldn't even win in a fight against a foal with how weak she was now. Having been drained for almost two years now and having exhausted herself getting here as fast as she could, she was nowhere near powerful enough to beat Tempest in fight. Tempest raised an eyebrow at Chrysalis's plea. She stared her down for a few moments before speaking up.

"You will come with me to meet my Mistress and she will decide what to do with you. You will come quietly and without resistance, or, well... you can probably guess what will happen if you resist." Tempest stated firmly. Chrysalis could only nod in obedience to the taller mare's command and began to follow her to the Crystal Tree Castle.

"You better behave to the best of your abilities, because you will be interrupting our Hearts and Hooves day." Tempest said as they reached the front gate.

"Yes Ma'am." Chrysalis responded quietly.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the wait! Hope you all enjoy it! Chrysalis is finally in the story. See you all next chapter.