Queen Chrysalis

The Changeling Queen Chrysalis is the main antagonist featured in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 and 2. She is a shapeshifter who took on the form of Princess Cadance in order to invade Canterlot by taking Cadence's place and render her husband-to-be, Shining Armor, unable to perform his duties as Captain of the Royal Guard.

Physical appearance
Queen Chrysalis is a changeling and thus a shapeshifter capable of taking many forms. She spends the entirety of A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 and the beginning of A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2 in the form of Princess Cadance. Only the occasional flashes of her own green eyes and the color of her magic differ from that of Cadance's own.

Her true form looks like a pony with a twisted unicorn horn, a pair of insectoid wings and stands as tall as Princess Celestia herself. Unlike a pony however, she has coal black skin, a sharp pair of predatory fangs, dark green eyes with dragon-like pupils and no visible cutie mark. Interestingly, her eyes have a double pupil, a dragon-like one within a normal round one. She has both a teal mane and tail, and also seems to have a greenish saddle, blue-green rib plate, and a small, black crown tipped with blue circles. Her voice has a doubled quality, as if two people were speaking in sync, and her hooves apparently have holes in them, even though she can stand firm on them.

Personality
Chrysalis is shown to be a talented trickster and master of deceit. She fools Twilight's friends, Shining Armor, and even Cadance's aunt, Princess Celestia to believe that she was the real Princess Cadance. She only cares about getting what she wants and not who she hurts to get it, as demonstrated when she manipulates everyone to believe that she is the victim of Twilight not accepting her as her brother's future wife.

While capable to mimic Cadance well enough to fool most, she was unable to fool Twilight Sparkle for long due to her demanding and insincere behavior. When Twilight attempts to do a special handshake of her and Cadance's, she doesn't recognize Twilight at all, alerting her of "Cadance's" changed nature. She also acted rude and demanding toward Twilight's friends, in stark contrast to the real Cadance who Twilight describes as "caring" and "kind". Queen Chrysalis, on the other hand, is cruel, uncaring and manipulative.

Her motivation for trying to take over Equestria stems from changelings' source of nourishment being true love and that Equestria has "more love than [she has] ever encountered [before]" and plans to have her minions and herself devour it to make themselves more powerful than they could dream of.

History
When Princess Cadance was going to marry Shining Armor, Queen Chrysalis imprisoned Cadance and took her form, becoming more powerful by feeding off his love for her, and making him unable to perform his duties as a royal guard. She showed disinterest in Twilight as well as everything the Mane 6 set up for the wedding. When Twilight figured out that she was evil, she imprisoned Twilight in the caves below. Twilight and the real Cadance were able to escape, and Chrysalis revealed her true form.

Princess Celestia fought Chrysalis, but was defeated and imprisoned in a cocoon. Her minions, the changelings, were able to break through the barrier (which Shining Armor projected due to Chrysalis's earlier threats) and invade Canterlot, with plans to invade the rest of Equestria afterward. Twilight and her friends tried to get to the Elements of Harmony, but were captured by the changelings. However, Shining Armor and Cadance's love for each other enabled them to unleash an energy explosion that sent all the changelings, including Chrysalis, flying into the distance.

Gallery

 * Queen Chrysalis image gallery