An Exercise in Inter-Universal Politics

Chrysalis woke up once again. Same room, same ties, same drill. At this point, she was getting used to it. Really, it wasn't so bad. Besides the straps, the bed was comfortable, and the room's temperature felt just like her caves back home. To be honest, it was almost nice.

"Chrysalis."

Twilight being in her room was less nice.

The Queen groaned, massive fangs flashing against the lamplight. "Hello, Princess."

"I'm going to let you out of your straps."

Chrysalis's ears suddenly perked up. It would be nice to stretch her wings.

"But!" Twilight exclaimed, pausing for effect. "But, the humans have mounted one of the weapons they used to target the creature from Yesterday in the ceiling. It will target you and take you out automatically if you try anything."

"Still don't trust me?" Chrysalis smirked. "I already know I won't be leaving here. I'm hurt, Twilight. "

"Not as hurt as our scouts," Twilight muttered, just loud enough for Chrysalis to hear her. Chrysalis attempted to tilt her head, but decided it was not the right time to pursue the comment.

Chrysalis heard the familiar shimmer of magic, and found the belts slowly fell off her body. She sat up, rubbing her left front leg with her right. When she felt steady enough to do so, she fluttered her wings and hovered to the floor, gently landing on her hooves. She took a look around the room. It looked pretty much how she expected. Grey, featureless, metal floors. Walls of smooth white stone, or a good imitation. A weapon, similar to a much larger version of the one the human had, mounted to the ceiling in one corner with two bolts. It swept in a lazy arc, as if scanning the room.

"You should exercise. Stretch out your limbs. You only get a half hour."

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, wings buzzing once again. "Thirty minutes in three days? And you claim I'm the one who abuses prisoners."

"Don't give me that," Twilight replied, voice low and dark. "I saw them. Personally made the report to Celestia. Don't think you won't be punished for those crimes."

Chrysalis tried to hide her surprise, fluttering up in the air. "I don't recall you re-capturing any of the scouts we found."

Twilight grit her teeth, staring at Chrysalis. "Save it."

"I'm being serious," she responded, floating over Twilight's head. The room had a surprisingly spacious ceiling. "I recall several of your scouts sitting in pods, but none returned."

"You drained them."

Chrysalis shot Twilight a look. Her face was set and hard. Not really an expression Chrysalis imagined a Princess of Equestria to have.

"I saw it," she continued, visibly containing her rage. "I saw them. After it happened."

"Twilight," Chrysalis intoned, touching down on the ground. "Allow me to be honest with you, for a moment."

"Sure," Twilight scoffed, adjusting her posture so she appeared more casual. "Go ahead."

"I was, up until recently, willing to do almost anything to defeat you," Chrysalis began, her voice as flat as possible. "It was nothing personal. I can promise you that. I do not feel for the people I am fighting, because I cannot. All I can do is try to feed my hive as best as I can. Do you understand?"

Twilight nodded, although she still looked unconvinced.

"But I have not, nor will I ever, authorize that," Chrysalis continued. "If only for the simple reason that we can extract far more food in long-term pod containment. Where did you say you found these things?"

"Classified information—" Twilight began, before Chrysalis cut her off.

"Twilight, our world is under the control of aliens. Most of my hive is dead." Chrysalis kept her intonation as short as possible. "Do you honestly think that matters anymore?"

Twilight's eyes widened, taken aback. She quickly reset herself. "I suppose you're right. They were in the Badlands, east of your outpost."

Chrysalis nodded. "I would promise to punish them, if they weren't very likely gone already."

Chrysalis' wings buzzed as she took off again, taking another loop around the room. Hopefully, Twilight would drop the issue so she could—

"You said your hive was mostly gone?"

Dammit.

Chrysalis turned away from her.

"Yes," she replied. "I sent signals to my hive to attack when I realized those creatures had came to Equestria. They didn't like that very much. You can guess what happened."

"Oh."

Twilight, mercifully, remained silent after that. Chrysalis continued to buzz about the room, keeping her expression as neutral as possible. She waited another five minutes before speaking again.

"Your leader was more prudent. Recognized the danger, surrendered immediately. Not sure what happened to her after that—"

Chrysalis' dropped out of the sky.

* * *

When Chrysalis came too, the entire ground was soaked with black liquid. Twilight stood, shivering, in the middle, dripping with liquid herself.

Chrysalis rose uneasily to her hooves. "Are you ok?"

"Uh... Yeah. Kinda. At least, uh, I'm alright," Twilight stuttered, "Physically. I mean."

"What... happened?"

"Lots more squid-things. Ten or so. Easily dispatched, but..." Twilight attempted a grin. "Messy."

Chrysalis noticed the same metal thing in the corner, this time covered in black fluid. "I'd bet."

The doors to her room opened. Chrysalis turned to face them, hissing. Thankfully, it wasn't more squids. Just more of the humans. One was in a lab coat, looking out of place amidst the military members.

"Sixteen-hour intervals," he barked. "All messages obviously pre-recorded fill-in-the-blanks. Don't know if you heard it over the gunfire, but they said they're give us the terms of our arrangement 'tomorrow.' We're thinking that means another sixteen hours."

"And... who are you?" Chrysalis asked, confused.

"Rico Jones," he replied, holding out an arm. "At your service—"

He quickly withdrew the arm. "Not allowed to touch you. Right. But yes, I am a scientist, formally employed at—also information I can't give you. Hm. Military work is difficult."

Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," Rico continued, spinning back to face Twilight, "We're gonna need to ask you some questions. We want to figure out if they have a connection to this place, or if all of this shit is pre-recorded. So we'll discuss some methods to do that."

He tilted his head. "Wait. Aren't you supposed to be purple?"

"The, uh, creatures..." Twilight stuttered, "M-messy."

"What?"

"Sir!"

A new voice, from the back of the room.

"Sir, I believe she's saying she's covered in, uh, blood, sir."

"What?" the man asked, confused. Chrysalis saw the realization hit him in the size of his eyes. "Oh, shit! Uh, first, you gotta... get to a shower or something. Uh... You, buglady. You need one?"

Chrysalis glanced down. Hm. She was covered in the same fluid. She hadn't even really noticed.

"I suppose."

"Uh... shit. Somebody, ask Veladre if we can let her leave to wash up." the man said, turning back towards the door. "Yeah. Shit."

Chrysalis and Twilight shared a look as he exited.