Queen Chrysalis' Foundation for Volunteer Incubators

The rabbit curled up tightly in the unforgiving corner as a shadow passed over. Its tiny body shivered violently, eyes wide and fixed on the terrifying figure approaching. Towering, terrifying. A hiss escaped the enormous figure as a long tongue flicked out. “Now, you’re mine...”

“Chrysalis? Where did you go?” The Queen lifted her head up abruptly from the verge of swallowing the rabbit down whole. With barely any time to react, she picked the rabbit up in one hoof and began stroking it with the other, after having found a comfortable sitting position of course. Twilight arrived immediately after. “I’ve talked with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, and needless to say I’ve had more intelligent conversations with a parasprite.” Chrysalis watched her as she spoke. The expressions she adopted were very telling. The former was frustrating, while the latter was stubborn.

“So, one wouldn’t hesitate to embrace my plan, while the other is running for the hills?” It left Twilight stunned, a most amusing sight. “You forget that all changelings have a capacity for telepathic influence. Mine just happen to be more powerful.” Twilight squirmed more at the thought of her every passing thought being picked up by the changeling Queen. “Now, has telling your pony friends about my plan accomplished anything worthwhile?”

The rabbit that had been fixed to her hoof in terror bounced away at that moment. Twilight watched it with her eyes until it was out of sight. Much as she didn’t want to admit it, Chrysalis’ implication that telling them would do little to change things was quite right. “No. It hasn’t. But that doesn’t mean I’m just going to let you walk into the homes of mares and fill them up with eggs, with their consent or otherwise. There has to be regulation of it in any case, and I want to be personally, one hundred percent certain that this is safe.”

Chrysalis grinned. “Really now? I can prove to you that it is, as you say, ‘one hundred percent safe’.” There was no effort from Twilight to disguise the range of expressions virtually exploding from her face. Disgust, repulsion, and horror were the most obvious. “You asked; I merely provided an answer. It is not my fault if you don’t like the answer.” She stood up again, no longer having a rabbit to maintain her obviously fake display of being kind left no reason to continue sitting there. “Would you like to take a look at the construction of the hive so far while we discuss this further? My changelings may be limited in thinking, but they are excellent workers. A shame that I’m cutting back on that workforce to please you.”

Conversation was sparse as Queen and Princess crossed Ponyville to the area where an oddly formal building had appeared. It was squared off, a very dark green in colour. The walls themselves were smooth on the outside, though not on the inside as Twilight soon found out. Passing through an oozing wall of slime that got deep into her feathers only served to keep her on edge while the room beyond came into view. Changelings apparently had no compulsion for neatness in their architecture, as every wall bore the appearance of twisted tubes of liquorice compressed into whatever form it could occupy. A very stark contrast to the outside.

Twilight stood there. They had actually taken steps to make sure that the outside of the building didn’t have a grotesque appearance. And they had taken a moment to consider what the ponies of Ponyville would be uncomfortable seeing every day. Her previous memories of extreme prejudice settled into the back of her stomach as a strong feeling of illness. Chrysalis paid no attention to her moment of realization. By then, she had approached a large hole in the middle of the building, one glowing brightly in neon green. The green light grew intense as she stepped up, prompting Twilight out of her frozen moment. “Sorry, I had no idea...”

“That we actually take a moment to consider the needs of others, Twilight?” Chrysalis flicked her tail as the young alicorn approached the gaping pit in front of her. “You won’t need your wings in this case.” There was no hesitation before she stepped out into the void. Rather than simply falling forward to tumble down, a plate of green energy for her to stand comfortably on formed. There was a long pause as Twilight pondered on the science behind such a method of transportation before she finally stepped onto the plate beside Chrysalis. She made no attempt to conceal her sigh. “If you will just follow along for the time being, I will be perfectly happy to provide you with information about everything you see. Just don’t try my patience, if you don’t mind.”

Twilight’s stomach heaved as the plate fell at terrifying speed. While Celestia had said the hive had to be at least twenty metres below Ponyville, yet again the changelings had taken extra consideration of the town and gone deeper. Much, much deeper. “How far down does this go?!” The constant glow of green prevented her from gathering a fair idea of how fast they were descending. That and the constant look of what was potentially actual boredom on the Queen’s face frustrated her further. Before she could protest, the plate came to an abrupt stop. It had just barely enough time to slow down to prevent her knees from buckling under inertia.

Chrysalis stepped off the plate into a dimly lit corridor of more twisted dark green liquorice. Changelings that were attending to all manner of tasks in the corridor ahead immediately stood to attention in her presence. A wave of her hoof allowed them all to return to their work. It was hard to ignore the smile that formed as a result. “As you can see, another advantage of having an entire hive that knows I am the one who conceived them.” She casually strolled through the hallway. This was her environment. Her domain. When she looked back at Twilight Sparkle, her smile grew more. The pony princess was completely out of her league. This was an environment alien to her, and all she could do in the end was complain about their descent.

They soon reached a dead end in the main corridor, where several changelings were preparing a magical device. As expected, Twilight’s curiosity prompted her to begin inspecting it. Again, to the annoyance of every living being around her. “Is this some sort of portal drilling device? Designed to bend the very fabric of space-time until you can literally walk from Ponyville to your home hive with a single step?” As the machine powered up, the result was far less spectacular than what she had expected, but nonetheless intriguing. Where there had been a dead end, a large room quickly formed. The opposite wall pushed away into the solid dirt to leave a near perfectly squared off room. After a few moments, the corners began to curve into a more natural shape, until the process was complete.

“If you haven’t already gathered, it digs tunnels. I’m sure you’ll find some use for it.” Chrysalis’ snark was brushed off while she proceeded into the room. Furniture grew right out of the walls and floor, until a rather large conference room of some sort was formed. On the left wall, a projector screen was stretched out by the almost-living material that the hive was made out of. “This is where the volunteer mares will be given a complete walkthrough of the incubation process. And it also doubles as a movie theatre.” In demonstration, a few changelings entered past them to reform the chair layout into a comfortable arrangement. On the screen itself, a film of what was probably entertaining to them began to play. It gave Twilight even more nightmares on top of the ones she had gathered so far.

A slime curtain sealed off the room at that moment. Chrysalis returned her attention the long corridor, several offshoot halls appearing as the other devices powered up. “Excellent, for once they have exceeded the generous standards I had set. Would you care to tour the facilities I shall be providing?” Twilight had given up on speaking at that moment, ruffling her feathers in a very begrudging way. “Trust me, impatience gets old very quickly.”

Chrysalis casually strolled towards the first hall. Beyond lay a spa in the middle of forming. Real water flooded in from below. “We found an untapped hot spring, hence choosing this site in particular. And don’t worry; we have excellent filtration systems to keep it clean.” The next room they passed looked like a scary, horror story version of a hospital. It still had the same motif as the rest of the hive, twisted dark green with glowing walls. The only real change was the fact that it was marginally brighter. “We’re still waiting on blankets and sheets; it’s not exactly the sort of order that can be filled out immediately.”

The next few rooms had a more natural tone to them, given that they were no longer in the middle of forming. An open plan social room for chatting, as well as a smaller projector screen for what Twilight could only guess would display. On the other side, a room of bioluminescent moss that made out constellations of the night sky drew her breath away for the longest moment. More prompting from Chrysalis pulled her away from the brief moment of awe. Once again, Twilight was both resentful and guilt struck. I had no idea. For the first time in her life, she was resentful of Chrysalis. Not because she was a changeling, but because she had been pulled away from something that truly captured her attention. A creation of the very beings she despised so much just the year before.

“Moving on...” Twilight was pulled away to the next room at that moment. A pair of green curtains parted to the view of a very lavish bedroom. The expansive bed in the middle was surrounded by a literal sea of cushions, all covered in green silk to keep with the theme. Long lines of beads that reflected more green light around the room dangled among the draperies in such a way that made the overall image feel like some sort of vegetarian dreamscape. At that moment, she felt a hoof slide around her neck in a very disconcerting way. “The bedroom I’ll be staying in is down further below. Let just say that this is the one... ‘open for business’. Want to take a tour?”

Alarm bells inside her head went mad as she drove out the seductive influence of the Queen. “Forget it. I know what you’re trying to do, and I’ve already made my position clear.” Twilight turned to Chrysalis, who looked ahead with an expression of contempt. “I think you just made it clear to me in fact that you can’t be trusted on a whim. I will give every single one of your proposals a honest consideration, including ‘that’ one. But no games until it’s all settled. Are we clear?” At first, she received only a laugh in response, the sort of laugh that one used when issued with an empty threat. She kept up the firm stare throughout, right up until Chrysalis withdrew her hoof in a minor defeat.

“I’ll say this much; poker nights are going to be fun with you around.” The pair began a very tense return to the surface shaft. Chrysalis maintained her air of superiority throughout. “In my defence, I had no intention of engaging in any activities with you, not at that moment at least.” There was one final glare between them before both stepped into the shaft. Like before, only upwards this time, magical forces propelled them to their destination. For the changeling, there was very little discomfort. For the young alicorn however, the sudden shift in motion was just as sickening as it had been on the way down.

“Ugh, please tell me that we won’t have to use that too often.” By then, she noticed that Chrysalis had clearly changed the way she walked. Now she was practically screaming at the top of her lungs just how unimpressed she was with Twilight’s behaviour throughout. And as much as she wanted to make a heated response, Twilight also knew better than to provoke the ill feelings that had formed. “Forget it; we can talk at the library. It’s closer, warmer, and overall more pleasant.” The Queen had left the building itself by then, leaving Twilight to the dark confines of the twisted inside. Alone, cold, confused... “Oh for crying out loud, this is stupid enough!”

In a rush to escape the bleak environment, she almost knocked Fluttershy flat on her face. Purple and yellow feathers flew up in a small explosion. The latter of course was quick to spout apologies, the former grumpy from her earlier experience. “Oh sorry Twilight! I didn’t see you leaving, and it all happened so fast. Are you alright?” She backed away upon seeing the definitely-not-pleased expression on her face. “Uh oh, I must’ve run into you harder than I thought. I really am sorry.” For a moment, Twilight opened her mouth in what looked like an attempt to scream. Silence filled it instead as Pierinae came to a stop beside Fluttershy.

“Oh, you must be Princess Twilight Sparkle. Fluttershy was just telling me about the wonderful things you did to help with her animal friends just last month.” Fluttershy felt her cheeks flush ever so slightly. As always, she never hesitated to talk about all the nice things her friends did when asked, but still felt embarrassed when they were brought up again. Twilight literally yanked her away from Pierinae’s side with her magic at that moment. A muffled yelp followed, along with a pretty clear look of concern from the Princess at the display. “Well, that’s one way to introduce yourself.” As if to compliment Twilight’s actions, Chrysalis herself pulled Pierinae away, with considerably more grace.

There was only a brief glance between the two before both began to speak. After some confusion, it was Chrysalis who finally began. “Pieri... You have to understand, that Twilight and I have a turbulent history, brief as it is. She is quite protective of her friends, and while I do not have concerns about who you socialize with most of the time, I do have to worry when it comes to her close friends.” Pierinae’s slitted eyes glanced at the ground in a moment of concern. Socializing. It hadn’t even occurred to her that being friendly could potentially offend the one pony her mother was trying to form an understanding with.

“I simply answered her questions about our kind, and that seems to have helped her calm down. If that offends Twilight, then I’ll just stay out of the way.” She looked over at Fluttershy. Twilight didn’t seem too upset, though the way her new friend cowered just enough to make it obvious worried her. And yet, she knew that it would harm their standing to interfere. “Still, you would think at least that Twilight would have more trust in Fluttershy’s ability to handle herself. For a culture claiming to be trusting of each other, I certainly don’t see a whole lot of it.”

Chrysalis looked at her blankly. Much as she loved Pierinae for not being a selfish prick, her moments of philosophical commentary on the day-to-day life of Equestria always irked her. Worse still was proof that she was quite right, bits and pieces of the conversation between the ponies wafting over. Twilight’s final statement especially hit both quite hard. “I’m sorry Fluttershy, but you have to understand that some ponies just prey on ponies like you, because you may not realize what they’re doing. They will take advantage of anything they can, and it’s bet to let a pony who knows how to handle themselves deal with them.”

“Just stay away from Pierinae... and especially Chrysalis.”