Queen Chrysalis' Foundation for Volunteer Incubators

Sunlight peeped through the floral curtains of an upper storey bedroom. Beyond the glass window, a canopy of blooming vines and leaves provided enough shade to make the morning light pleasant to waking eyes. The eyes in this particular case fluttered open with the most delicate of reactions. A quiet yawn followed with a ruffle of yellow feathers escaping the warmth of the blanket. At last, Fluttershy pulled the curtain of pink that covered her face to look over the silent room in her moment of waking. Another yawn came, this time ending in a sigh.

From the doorway, a small animal raced over and jumped on the bed. Fluttershy looked down at Angel as he sat on her stomach. He was expecting her to get up. “Oh Angel, I just woke up. Can I please have a moment to get out of bed before I prepare breakfast?” He thumped his foot down in annoyance before bouncing out of the room again. Fluttershy was left to stare at the empty doorway in hazed confusion while pulling herself out. “That doesn’t seem normal, did I sleep in?” Celestia could have set the rising of the sun forward an hour, and she had just forgotten any official announcement about it. But Angel would have woken her up if she had slept in under any circumstances. His ability to keep track of time was far better than her own.

Two hooves slipped into floral slippers, followed by another two hooves in a matching pair of slippers. Barely a squeak was made as Fluttershy began gracefully walking right into the doorframe. Hitting her face directly into hard wood provided the sort of wake up that she probably needed. Angel needed a lot of care and attention after all, a little pain was worth being able to attend to him faster. “I’m coming Angel Bunny. Just when it stops looking like the time Discord lifted the house up and made it spin. Or is that actually happening now?” It took just one attempt at flying to work out she was the one spinning, not her cottage. Especially when she landed face first on the floor.

Just a minute later, she had pulled herself back up and made her way into the kitchen where Angel waited. “See? Momma always wants only the very best for you.” Through one slightly swollen eye, she set about to prepare food for all of the pets she cared for. A light salad for Angel, wholesome grains and corn for Elizabeak and the hens, and a good portion of cereal for Mr Mousey and his family. There was a good amount of light in the kitchen by the time she had a chance to prepare food for herself. Angel had vanished into his bowl of salad. She slumped back in a stool, almost toppling it altogether in the process. “I think I’ll eat out. Whenever I can order a nice meal without dropping everything in nervousness.”

While the pets continued with their own routines, Fluttershy spent a good part of the next hour trying to decide which woollen jumper would be better for sitting over a daisy sandwich in nervous silence. A quiet shade of light green with pink cuffs and collar eventually settled down over her body. With some struggle, she pushed her wings out through the two holes in the back. On the front, right below her colour, the pink shape of a butterfly sat roughly centred between her shoulders. “There, much better. I’ll be back soon! Don’t eat too fast, we wouldn’t want you to get stomach pains, now would we?” Angel glared at her from the salad bowl.

Her hoof pressed firmly against the front door of her cottage. Another sigh, this time out of worry over what terrible disaster would land right on her doorstep when she opened the door. You can do this Fluttershy. Just go into town, buy a sandwich, then eat it and come home. Nothing to it at all. She exhaled as the door gently opened under the touch of a cool breeze. No giant fire-breathing dragons. No evil clouds of darkness that gobbled up ponies for snacks. Just a perfectly quiet and normal day in Equestria. She took a few tedious steps out until the soothing wind flowed around her entire body. “Nothing to worry about, at all.”

A pink blur raced down the path from Ponyville. As it passed her cottage, all of the nearby trees bent over drastically in the gale following right behind that blur. Leaves and twigs caught in the wind began to catch in Fluttershy’s mane. The blur quickly vanished into the Everfree Forest, leaving Fluttershy to tremble beneath an exterior rather akin to a bush. “Oh Fluttershy, why do you always have to ruin everything with your big mouth?” She cowered down as the blur made an unexpected return trip. Trees began to bend in its wake. More twigs and leaves followed, right up until Pinkie Pie stopped right in front of her.

“Hi Fluttershy! Like the new look! Gotta go!” She was gone again before the onslaught of twigs and leaves could reach her. They added to Fluttershy’s unwanted camouflage instead. Barely any pink peeked out from the brown and green porcupine she had become. Most of her back legs and flank were left uncomfortably exposed. She began pulling twigs out carefully with her mouth when Pinkie Pie returned just seconds after leaving. “Oh, and there’s a huge swarm of changelings led by that meanie Queen of theirs headed right for Ponyville. I forgot to mention that the first time, go figure!”

*

Ponies from all over Ponyville ran in no particular direction while screaming their lungs out as Fluttershy settled down in front of Town Hall. Above, a dozen or so changelings were doing constant fly-bys of the whole town. There was no sign of a whole army, or the Queen herself, but it did seem likely they weren’t far away. Rarity was first to gallop up. “Oh Fluttershy, it’s so brave of you to come... What in Celestia’s name happened to your jumper?” An assortment of leaves were still stuck in both it and through her mane. She winced as white hooves began to probe across her body in search of any imperfections.

“I just wanted to get a nice sandwich for staring at in silence. But I never expected there to be a changeling invasion on today of all days.” A hard tug on her mane brought a wince. It was all tangled and messy now. Far from the high quality that Rarity kept hers in ever since a white streak had appeared. One of Twilight’s experiments in colouring manes with magic had produced the effect, and Rarity had kept it ever since. “Uh, Rarity... I don’t mean to interrupt, but don’t you think the state of my mane can wait until after the changelings are gone?” Rarity glared at her in a way almost identical to Angel’s. She whimpered to herself, letting her continue without further protest.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were quick to pull her away as soon as they arrived. Twilight wasn’t far behind with the Element’s case. “Rarity, now’s not the time. And where’s Pinkie Pie?” A familiar blur broke the sound barrier as Pinkie Pie came to a full stop right beside Twilight. She ruffled her feathers after they had been messed up by the boom. “Fine. Now that we’re all here, let’s see exactly what Chrysalis is doing here in Ponyville. Positions girls.” Fluttershy trembled as the Element of Kindness locked around her neck. They hadn’t actually used them against the changelings yet, so there was no guarantee that any of their precautions would do any good.

The swarm came into view at that moment. Changelings scouting above broke off to re-join the dark cloud of insectoid ponies. Most of the ponies that often ran about screaming faltered into hiding into every little space they could find. Fluttershy wanted to do just that, except she was situated between Applejack and Twilight herself. None of them spoke. It was their home at stake this time, instead of some far away city, or even Canterlot. The swarm stopped directly above them. Even when Queen Chrysalis herself began descending, Twilight maintained her position. Three changelings accompanied her, one carrying a large scroll on his back.

Chrysalis herself glared at Twilight as her hooves landed on the bright grass. There was a small hiss as she sapped the ambient love from the lawn, leaving four patches of the grass in a sickly yellow. “Princess...” Twilight swallowed as the Queen continued to stare her down. Chrysalis took a step forward to close the distance between them, until their horns made contact. “Gotcha!” She broke into a loud cackle while stepping back. Many changelings that had descended joined in with their own laughter, an assortment of gargles and screeches to pony ears. “Oh, I do love it when they act all ‘Oh no! The Changeling Queen is here to gobble all our love! We’re doomed!’ It’s such a refreshing change from taunting carnivorous bunnies.”

Fluttershy shuddered right down to the slippers she had forgotten to take off. A changeling invasion was unexpected. Actually seeing the Queen herself making jokes about it in such a casual way terrified her, leaving the mention of carnivorous bunnies. “Carnivorous... bunnies?” Applejack was too stunned to catch Fluttershy as she fainted. Pinkie Pie was rolling around on the grass after joining in with the laughter. Rarity looked once at Rainbow Dash before hiding behind her. It left Twilight alone to confront the Queen when she finally got over her laughing fit.

She took a moment to breathe in and out before speaking. “Alright, what in Tartarus is going on? First we have a bunch of changelings flying overhead, then you arrive with a hundred of them, only to start laughing as if this is all one elaborate prank!” Chrysalis motioned for the one bearing the scroll to approach at that moment. It lowered its head while the scroll hovered over to Twilight. “What’s this? A deed from the Changeling Empire that claims Ponyville is some ancient historical site, and we all have to leave so you can move in?” The scroll unfurled to show a very long list that took only a few glances for her to grab hold of.

“As you can see, my presence here is not under malicious intent. Quite the opposite in fact, I intend to spend time here to, negotiate the reforms I am making. As well as some other things.” She left Twilight to read over the list, turning her attention to the other five ponies right behind her. “I see dear Fluttershy was overwhelmed with joy to see me. And Rarity, I do like what you’ve done with your mane.” Rarity pulled at the white streak in her mane defensively. “Psh, believe it or not, I take great pride in my appearance. Few of the other Queens and Princesses have the capacity to appreciate how rewarding a little effort into styling one’s mane can be.”

That caught Rarity’s attention. Slowly releasing her mane, she moved closer to Chrysalis. “You know what; I actually think we have something in common after all.” The white highlight curled around her hoof as she idly toyed with it. “Perhaps while you’re not busy discussing whatever it is you were going to discuss with Twilight, we can talk a bit more about how unappreciated good stylization can be.” Rainbow Dash bit down on her tail to keep her from getting any closer to Chrysalis. The Queen didn’t seem too surprised by her clear display of suspicion.

“Yes, perhaps when your lovely bodyguard isn’t around. Well, I trust that everything is in order Twilight?” The Princess hadn’t taken her eyes off the list. In the process, her face had shown all forms of contempt, surprise, disgust, and outright confusion. Even with some prodding from Applejack, she didn’t break eye contact. “Fine. In that case, I think it’s time we discuss where I’m spending the night. My changelings are fast workers, but they won’t have our temporary establishment ready for nightfall. At least to a quality suitable for their Queen.” That was enough for Rainbow Dash to bolt off in defence of her cloud home. Chrysalis sneered as she left.

Pinkie Pie was off to have fun with some of the other changelings who had already begun copying her appearance. It left Applejack and Rarity as potential candidates. The former was first to speak. “No offence, but I’m not sure the barn’s up to your ‘standards’. Besides, it’s four ponies under the one roof, not much room at all for somepony like you now is there?” Anypony could tell that it was a mix of honesty and pure spite that came out of Applejack’s mouth. She made her departure after that anyway. An unconscious Fluttershy and the two unicorns were left.

“Well, obviously I would be glad to let you stay over. But unfortunately, I’m in a similar position to Applejack, in that I have no suitable bedrooms available. Sleeping on a couch is hardly good for the posture, as I’m sure you’re no doubt aware.” The Queen rolled her eyes discreetly. Rarity was preferable to the others, but there was always the chance of getting roped into a new fashion line. Appealing in itself, but she did have other commitments to take care of first. “Actually, I could always arrange for Sweetie Belle to spend time with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders for the night...” The mere mention of the three fillies caused Chrysalis’ stomach to turn.

“Uh, no, I do not see a reason to interrupt your normal schedule. It seems I will simply have to stay with Twilight after all.” She teasingly wrapped her hoof around Twilight’s shoulders. At last, the intense focus on reading the list broke. “So Twilight, I trust that you understand I am completely serious about negotiating my reinstatement?” She was met with a rather blank stare, endless confusion from the purple eyes. Rarity mentioned something about returning home during the stare between Queen and Princess. When Twilight finally began looking around again, only a limp Fluttershy remained.

Her jaw began to hang open. A changeling approached the pair with a smaller scroll hovering beside him, and would have interrupted if Chrysalis didn’t motion for silence. Eventually the dumfounded look on Twilight’s face vanished. “I don’t know what to say. For one thing, over half of the things you’ve changed I never knew about in the first place. And some of the things that you were doing are downright horrible. But, I don’t get why you would bring a hundred changelings to build a place for you to stay, if you just wanted to negotiate what’s on the list.” The Queen smiled at that moment, turning to make her departure.

“I said ‘establishment’, not home away from home. There is one item at the bottom of that list which affects the very survival of my hive. One which I am staking my throne on in fact.” Twilight rolled the scroll all the way up to look at the last entry. Chrysalis grinned, practically feeling her eyes triple in size. “My plan is to seek out mares who are willing to host a clutch of ten changeling eggs for a few months until they hatch. And I’m starting here, in Ponyville.” Many of the changelings began laughing again as their Queen re-entered the gathering. It echoed right through to the liquefying brain of Twilight Sparkle, unable to comprehend what she had just heard. Her eyes settled on the scroll presented to her by the other changeling.

‘My dearest student, Twilight Sparkle.

By royal decree, Queen Chrysalis of the Fourth Order of Changelings has been given full permission to construct a hive at a bare minimum of twenty metres below the surface of Ponyville. This hive is to be deconstructed and filled in exactly eight months from the presentation of this letter.

I realize that the circumstances under which I grant this authority will seem very unusual. But I have confidence in your ability to forgive, and to help the Queen make a genuine attempt at changing her ways. And remember, as a Princess, you have the authority to make decisions on my behalf. Do not be afraid to use this power, for the benefit of the Queen or otherwise.

Celestia.’