The Rise Of An Empire

Chapter 4

Thorax gave a grunt of frustration. Hours of searching, and he still couldn't find anything!

I haven't even found one single book on how to disconnect myself from the hive mind! I found a way to get disconnected, but it takes a year! I'm only partly disconnected from the hive mind! Thorax started to put the books back. All of these are useless! Just as he was putting the last book away, the changeling got a feeling that he should hide.

Trusting it, he began to look for a place to hide. If anyling or the Queen herself found him here in Chrysalis's chambers... He didn't even want to think about what would happen.

He ran under the bed and curled into a ball just as a portal opened, and Queen Chrysalis fell out of it, collapsing onto her bed. The Queen looked terrible. She was a mess, with blood all over her. She was without her crown, and had a look of pain on her face.

Queen Chrysalis sighed as she lay on her bed, unable to move due to both the numerous injuries she had received, and the fact that she had used all her power to create the portal.

"I was so close to taking over Canterlot! I would have, if it weren't for that mare, Twilight Sparkle. I underestimated her. The dark magic she possessed was almost as powerful as King Sombra's!"

The bug Queen gasped as she realized something. "With that much power," she said, "that mare could destroy the whole hive! I wouldn't be able to do anything, and because the changelings were unable to get the love they needed, they- We all are doomed!"

"Maybe if I sent someling to learn of her weaknesses, we would stand a chance against her. But to find Sparkle, I would need to cast a tracking spell. And I can't even do so much as move now..."

Suddenly her eyes lit up. "One changeling may not be able to cast the spell, but a couple of changelings would. But I can't let anyling see me like this! How would I be able to get them to do it?" She paused for a few seconds, thinking.

Then she raised an eyebrow. "Thorax? Why are you in my room?" Beads of sweat rolled down Thorax's forehead. "Thorax? I know you're there. Even in this state I can smell you. You forgot to wash your armpits. Come out and I won't punish you."

Thorax slowly came out from under Chrysalis's bed. He was shaking as Chrysalis asked, "Why were you under my bed?"

"Um..." he tried to come up with an excuse. "It was my turn to clean today!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Then where are your cleaning supplies?"

"...I forgot them."

"Thorax, you are the worst liar that I've ever seen. You're really bad at telling lies, you know." Thorax closed his eyes and hoped that the Queen wouldn't punish him. "...But I won't punish you. Instead, I have a task for you..."

Thorax sighed as he flew to the Crystal Empire. Why does this Twilight Sparkle have to be all the way here, at the borders of Equestria?! He shivered. It's so cold...

After smashing the Crystal Heart, the door opened and millions of umbrums exited. Twilight thought, These are the umbrums? They don't look anything like what I thought they would! They look kinda like...zombies. I wasn't expecting them to look like fairies or anything like that...

The last thing that the cutie mark crusaders saw before collapsing was a castle made of crystal.

Minutes after they collapsed, Spike came out and saw them. He scratched his head in confusion. "What are Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo doing here? I better tell Twilight."