Queen Chrysalis was quickly strapped and restrained in a position that wouldn’t let her lay down. Metal clamps securely fastened to her hind hooves spread them apart, making it impossible for her to lower her frame. The scar in which the arrow from before was removed faced the commander. She had just finished locking a pair of metal clamps attached to the floor along her front hooves, the cold metal sending shivers down the changeling’s spine.

To complete the bondage was a metal ring fitted around her neck with a chain going up to the ceiling, forcing her to stand upright or else she’d choke herself. As the commander stepped back to gaze at her work, she huffed with satisfaction.

“Look at you, Chrysalis...” She shook her head and chuckled at the sight. “Once a proud and sinful leader of a great race... Now you’ve been reduced to this.” The commander’s smug smile never left her face, a predatory glint in her eyes, the very same that stared at her in triumph at the moment Chrysalis was captured. The queen continued to stick with her vigil of silence, her head hung low so the mare couldn’t see the tear streaks on her cheeks.

“Still not talking?” the commander laughed, circling around her captive like a lion with its prey. “Well, the silent treatment won’t give you much mercy down here. Just makes my job a little interesting.”

Her magic glow snatched the chain attached to the cuff around the changeling’s neck and dragging it towards the mare so Chrysalis was forced to look her in the eyes as the cuff tightened against her throat. “You see, I like finding out how far I can push a pony until they start begging for mercy,” the commander whispered, pulling the chain closer so that Chrysalis’s face was only a few inches from hers. “I wonder how long you’ll last?”

Chrysalis didn’t answer, just staring blankly ahead as if the commander wasn’t even there. Huffing in annoyance, the commander shoved her face away in disgust. “Listen, I’ll make this easy for you. Tell us where the rest of your kind are, and we don’t need to continue this.” Out of the sheath on her side appeared a wickedly sharp dagger held by her aura. “But hold your tongue refusing to talk, and... Well, my only order was to keep you alive.” The blade caressed her neck slowly, not drawing a drop of blood as it pricked under her chin, forcing Chrysalis to lift her head resiliently. “That leaves me a lot of middle ground.”

The changeling queen just furrowed her brow, not daring to draw a breath or even gulp in fear of her throat being sliced. She didn’t trust this mare to keep her alive. After a few seconds of silence, the commander growled, drew the dagger back and focused more on her side. More specifically, the scar from that arrow wound. Grinning deviously, the mare moved the dagger’s tip to the still fresh scar.

“Our doctors managed to heal you up pretty good. Shame that their work will go to waste.” Without a moment’s hesitation, she drove the dagger point forward, the very summit digging into the flesh like butter. Chrysalis flinched and gritted her teeth hard, a groan rising in her throat she forced herself to hold back. The mare noticed her pained expression, pushing the blade in more to her reopened wound.

“Hurts a lot, doesn’t it?” the commander asked, twisting the knife handle in a quick motion. This time, Chrysalis’s eyes opened wide. Her tears gathering once again, burning her vision. Drool hung down her mouth as her body begged to just break forth and scream in agony, but she didn’t want her captor to get the satisfaction. She refused to let her win so easily.

“This can all end, if you just tell us where the brats are,” the commander said, twisting the dagger in deeper with slow speed, making each living second never ending torment. Building pain poured from her quickly bleeding wound, almost making Chrysalis woozy. “Not that it matter much, anyways. They’re probably dead by now. Just like the rest of your pathetic kind.”

Chrysalis drew in breaths through her nose, not trusting to open her mouth in case a scream broke forth. She glared at the commander with pure hatred for her and the rest of Canterlot's ponies that tortured her kind to the near extinction it had reached. The mare noticed her enraged look, glad to see she was finally getting some type of reaction from her majesty.

“They’re probably lost and abandoned in some dark cave, all alone without their precious queen,” the commander chuckled, twisting the dagger once more so that another tiny inch of the blade became embedded in Chrysalis. “Seconds tick by as their stomachs slowly eat themselves, their muscles too weak to move, their bodies rotting from the inside out. Can you imagine it? One of the slowest, most painful ways to die, really. Isn’t that how most of your race died, actually? Starvation is a hard way to go. Especially if you have to see the process repeated thousands upon thousands of times.”

The drips of blood and tears on the stone floor was the only sound heard, Chrysalis’s vision waning as the blood loss started to affect her mind. Her body slowly swayed in rhythm with the chains that rattling together. Seeing that her prisoner was not eliciting her wanted response, the commander's horn glowed brightly, nearly blinding the changeling. This was followed by a sharp, intense pain that exploded from her wound and traveled quickly down her back to crash into her brain like a tsunami, drowning all her thoughts except for the overwhelming anguish she was going through. The dagger currently digging into her side was buzzing as sparks flew from the handle, the commander apparently having started a lightning spell to shock Chrysalis back to attention.

“Awake now? Good, we’re not done yet,” the commander beamed in a gleeful tone as she started the spell up again, shocking Chrysalis as the sickly smell of burnt flesh filled the chamber. Chrysalis’s legs quivered and shook in their chains as her spine arched backwards. Her neck immediately raised back up as the lightning entered her system and caused her muscles to spasm. Just when she couldn’t take any more of the pain, the door opened, and the commander looked up to see somepony wearing what looked like a bird’s mask with a very long beak.

“Commander Static! How will you get her to talk if she’s dead?” The bird masked stallion contained a deep and muffled voice, a black and leather coat with blotches of blood stains, and a medical seal on the back of his attires where his cutie mark was, probably meaning it was just that. “It’s my turn with her, now if you don’t mind, I’d like to relieve her of this room and take her to the cell We've prepared for her.”

Commander Static grunted rudely and trotted away from Queen Chrysalis. She sat at the table across the room, looked at some documents and ordered, “Have her back within five hours. Do what you must to have her somewhat healed, and bring her back in perfect interrogating condition.”

The masked steed bowed, unhooked the restrained and instructed Chrysalis to follow him. As they trotted down further steps, Queen Chrysalis limping all the way, she found the strength to thank him for rescuing her at the last minute. He, however, didn’t feel up to returning kind words.

Author's Note

Coauthored with RainbowBob