"Remind me again, why are we doing this?" Chrysalis sat across from Celestia in one of the less ostentatious meeting rooms in the castle, the one bored and annoyed while the other had her feet kicked up on the oak table and was playing with her perfectly-manicured fingernails.

"Chryssi, my dear, I really would rather not find out what Twilight thinks of you living here in the castle as nearly my equal if we don't tell her up-front. The darling is quite brilliant, but sometimes she can fly off the handle quite spectacularly and do something rash without all the facts. I just want her to come meet you, the new you, while I'm here to prevent such an event from taking place when she inevitably stumbles across you in the castle." Chrysalis rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, glaring at Celestia like a rather slow child.

"You do remember that we were both at the grand summit together, right? I can't imagine she didn't notice the spectacle I caused."

"You haven't known Twilight for as long as I have, and I don't fault you for underestimating her skill with tunnel vision. She has a rather stunning ability to focus so hard on her work that she completely blocks out everything around her, and she was quite surprised when I told her about Clive's little outburst at all." Well, from what Chrysalis had seen of the lavender unicorn, she had been the most focused character at the table, and thinking back she honestly wasn't that surprised to find out that she had been too busy working on her spreadsheet to notice a major war being narrowly avoided ten feet away.

"I suppose that seems reasonable. Still, I've danced that dance with your student in the past, and I could handle whatever she had. It was that abominable niece of yours that gave me actual problems. I still don't see that this meeting is all that necessary." Celestia scowled slightly at the slur against Cadance but didn't make a fight of it; she understood Chrysalis was still adjusting to life as one of the good guys, and she was willing to give her her space as long as she was still playing nice.

"I know we can subdue her, but I would rather not have to replace half the castle after her little panic attack. It was hard enough rebuilding Ponyville last time something like this wasn't handled properly." Well, that seemed like a fair point, at any rate, or at least it seemed pragmatic enough to sound like the Celestia Chrysalis knew was hiding under the omnisexual maniac's skin. While dealing with the fallout from Clive's capture, Chrysalis had come to understand that the chessmaster that had beaten the queenling in multiple battles before was no less sharp for her current lavish lifestyle. Much the opposite, even; life in the castle had honed Celestia's political wit to all-time heights, and Chrysalis had no doubt that even if she were to return to evil and go against her, she might win the battle but Celestia would definitely win the war. It would certainly be a feat to surprise her with anything.

"Anyway, my darling queen, I believe we have more interesting things to talk about." Celestia put her golden shoes back down on the floor and leaned forward on the table, resting her head on her hands and peering intently at Chrysalis.

"There are many things I've wondered about you for quite some time, and I'm hoping now you might be a little more forthcoming about a few of the answers. That gel you use, for example. I know you seem to be able to produce it naturally, or conjure it, but I've never been able to figure out just how it works. I don't suppose you could explain to a bored lover?" Chrysalis blinked and shrugged, somewhat at a loss for words. Not because she didn't want to tell Celestia, more that she honestly wasn't sure what to say. She raised a hand and with the slightest effort of will tiny channels of green liquid began to run down from her fingertips and drip along her arm.

"Never really did know a whole lot about it myself; it's something of a species thing, I know that much for sure. Beyond that I've tried studying it, but it seems to absorb magic and once it hardens I can only get rid of it by naturally absorbing it. Enough magic from an outside source can vaporize it completely, but if it gets around your horn, as you might know, it shuts you down hard." She couldn't help but smirk at the thought of Celestia, gelled completely up and hanging from the ceiling. Good times. "I mean, you've got a fresh set of eyes, you can take a look at it. Here, hold still." She extended a hand and shot a band of it at the princess, letting it stick to the back of her hand for easier examination than just sticking it awkwardly to the table.

Twilight pushed the door open just then, and it wasn't hard to see where it all went wrong. Celestia had invited her in to talk about a matter of national security, and when she arrived Chrysalis was standing across the table from her, already apparently halfway through gumming the princess up in one of her signature slime cocoons. The confusion and terror on her face was more than obvious to Chrysalis, and when she tried to raise her hands to placate the mare she only succeeded in accidentally covering Celestia's entire head in goo. Celestia clawed at her face, thankfully still able to breathe through the goo, and Twilight was quite certain she'd seen more than enough.

Before Chrysalis could do any more damage she found herself on the bad end of a magenta bolt of raw energy, the impact of which hurled her off her feet and into the far wall. by the time she regained her bearings Twilight was long gone and the gel had worked its narcotic power on Celestia, leaving her dazed and disoriented even after Chrysalis pulled it off of her. She wouldn't be any help for an hour or two, and Chrysalis had a sneaking suspicion Twilight would be able to do more than enough damage in that time.

The Queenling's fears proved well-founded as, not more than a minute after she had run out of the room searching for the unicorn Chrysalis heard the emergency alarms going off around the castle and city that signalled the beginning of Canterlot's evacuation and the Royal Guard's call to battle. Chrysalis knew the guards posed no threat to her, but in deference to Celestia's affection for them she was rather disinclined to maim and kill them by the squadron as she had done in the years before taking up the guise of Princess Cadance.

Thankfully, though, it seemed things wouldn't have to come to that. Around the castle her employment hadn't exactly been any sort of secret, and when the first group of guards came around the corner with swords at the ready they ran right past her in search of some ancient evil that wasn't on the payroll. In fact, Chrysalis was amazed at how few second glances she got from the staff and guards alike. It seemed word traveled quickly in the barracks.

Ultimately, though, it seemed the karma Chrysalis had built up had run out when she came into the grand foyer of the castle and found several dozen of the oldest and most experienced guards set up in a defensive line around the doors while the staff made their exit. At the front of the group was miss Sparkle herself, along with the grizzled old Pegasus that had taken Shining Armor's role as Captain of the Guard when he and Cadance had run off to the far north. Thankfully, he and Chrysalis had met a few times in the past, and he relaxed visibly when he saw her even as Twilight tensed for a fight.

"At ease, lads, it looks like the cavalry's arrived. Good day, your majesty." He stepped forward and smartly saluted her with his sword, and behind him Twilight looked like she was about to have an aneurysm.

"Wha- no, you're working for her?! No... She's replaced you all, hasn't she? You're all changelings!" Even as the Captain turned to her in confusion Twilight was preparing a spell, and from her place on the stairs Chrysalis was only able to protect the stallion by throwing her own body into the path of Twilight's attack. It stung, to say the least, and the bolt utterly ruined her favorite dress, but as the light cleared from Twilight's eyes Chrysalis loomed over her, essentially none the worse for wear. At this point the queenling felt quite justified in being annoyed with Celestia's trigger-happy protégé, but before she could coat her in gel and carry her off to the dungeon to calm down the mare's horn sparked to life once more and in a blinding flash she vanished and reappeared on the balcony high above. She turned and ran back into the depths of the castle, and Chrysalis couldn't help but mutter some very un-queenly things as she spread her wings and flew after her.

By the time she caught back up with Twilight, Chrysalis had to admit she was impressed with the unicorn's speed. She had half-run, half-teleported around the entire palace, always just a few steps ahead of Chrysalis, but now their race was over. The queen stood at one end of the hallway and Twilight stood at the other, the doors to the vault where the Elements of Harmony were kept looming large behind her. Sure, Celestia trusted Chrysalis, but even that had its limits and that meant her magical signature hadn't been attuned to the wards around this particular tower. She didn't need a key, though, to understand there was the energy of a small star built up in this particular lock, which made her just a little nervous when her arcane senses picked up on the enormous ball of destructive power Twilight was drawing together in her horn. Something was telling her the key to this particular lock wasn't a crate of psychic dynamite.

"Twilight Sparkle! Please, don't do this!" Twilight paused in her incantation and slowly turned around, and Chrysalis took half a step back when she saw the half-insane rage in Twilight’s eyes.

“You want me to stop? You want me to not hurt you? Well, what do you fucking think Princess Celestia wanted when you attacked her?!” The power around Twilight started to build again, faster now as it was fueled by her righteous fury.

“Twilight, I never intended any harm to come to your teacher! What happened today was an accident!” Even as she tried to talk her down Chrysalis began building her own power into the best shield she could come up with. She wasn’t a mage on par with the Princesses, but the years of staying alive had taught her a trick or two. Besides, it wasn’t like she was exactly spoiled for options at the moment. Her goo wouldn’t get anywhere near the mare with the amount of power she was holding, and she wasn’t about to rush her for fear of her blowing the spell early. Predicaments like this were why she much preferred to hide in the shadows and only reveal herself when she had already won.

“Miss Sparkle, if you destroy that door then we all burn no matter what! I know you know there’s enough power in those wards to blow half the mountain into ash, and the city evacuation would take another hour at best!” Chrysalis steeled herself for what was to come. If nothing else, she would at least be able to contain the blast to the castle. The princesses might survive, particularly since Luna hadn’t put in an appearance yet and was still more than likely at full power, but it looked like this was the final chapter for the Changeling queen. Not a bad way to go, all things considered.

“Enough lies, monster! I’m going to get the Elements and send you back to Tartarus where you belong!” Chrysalis put up the best shield she could muster around the castle and closed her eyes as Twilight drew the spell to the tip of her horn and fiired a blindingly white lance of energy at the vault door.

After several seconds of waiting she blinked her eyes open, confused to why she hadn’t been atomized in the arcane inferno. The color had totally washed out of the hallway, leaving the entire place silent and still as a tomb. The stained glass windows had all turned grayscale, as well as the grand golden door set with enormous gems that was the target of Twilight’s fury. The mare herself looked like she had been turned to stone by the same effect, and her bolt of power somehow stopped dead several feet from the door.

“Huh, didn’t think anypony else could resist my power. You must really be as strong as Celestia said.” Chrysalis whirled around and came face-to-face with two mares in full royal armor, both quite conspicuous in that they were the only colored things in a washed-out world. Princess Luna she knew on sight, but she had never met the batpony guard at her side. Of course, it wasn’t hard to see why. The mare was easily six inches taller than the princess, and a cursory glance at her with her arcane senses nearly knocked the queenling off her feet. Princess Luna looked like the same magical supernova as her sister, and Chrysalis had been expecting that, but this new mare had a power well as strong as Chryssi herself, and between the three of them plus Twilight the magical buildup in the room was almost tangible.

“So, I don’t think we’ve ever been formally introduced. I am Dutchess High Orbit the Third, queen of the Nosferatu, Mistress of Time, and Lunar Consort.” She smiled and extended a hand to shake but pulled it back when a bit of color seeped back into the world and the magic missile jerked forward a few feet before she could get it under control again. Luna walked up to it and her horn sparked to life as she extended a hand into the energy field. When she drew it back after a fraction of a second, her gauntlet was sizzling hot, and she quirked both eyebrows at the frozen Twilight.

“Hm... I must say, my sister’s student is far more powerful than we had expected. Still, it wouldn’t do to let her think she’s on our level just yet.” The princess walked around in between the vault and Twilight’s spell, and when Orbit lowered her hands and colored flooded back into the world she met the spell head-on. As the explosive light faded Twilight stared in bewildered shock at the princess that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and taken the full brunt of her spell without flinching even as her armor was obliterated along with everything else she was wearing. Now she had Luna in front of her and Chrysalis behind her, and the mare’s ears lay flat back against her head as the princess approached her.

“Twilight Sparkle. We are going to need to have a very long talk in my private chambers.”

“Eep.”

==========

Two hours later, Chrysalis sat down at Celestia’s bedside in the castle’s infirmary with a pot of tea and two cups. Life in Canterlot had returned to normal shockingly quickly after the All Clear had been sounded, and the castle itself was fully operating again within an hour. They must have some seriously effective drills, Chrysalis mused, or maybe national calamity was just that routine in Equestria. Either way, all had returned to normal aside from the princess on bed rest.

“I keep telling them I feel fine, but apparently the doctors think there might be lingering effects of getting a load of Changeling goo in the face. Oh, thank you.” Celestia poured herself a cup and Chrysalis rolled her eyes at the crude innuendo, and she was pretty sure the effects actually had worn off and Celestia was just taking advantage of the moment when she wasn’t expected to act like a proper goddess. It wasn’t like she ever really did anyway, but it’s the thought that counts.

“I’m guessing they don’t want you studying it without adult supervision anymore?” Now it was Celestia’s turn to roll her eyes in return, even if she did nod a little sheepishly.

“Apparently doing it myself is an ‘unacceptable risk to my health and safety,’” Celestia said while making air quotes with her fingers. “Please, it’s not as if I haven’t taken on dragons in the heart of a volcano before, to say nothing of you completely encasing me in goo in the past. Lab testing is just too dangerous, I suppose.”

“Well, you could always just make it a research project for your number one student.” Chrysalis paused and glanced around, only just now noticing the conspicuous absence. “Where is Twilight, anyway? I’d have thought she would be waiting on your every whim while you’re in sickbay.” Celestia grimaced slightly and shrugged, glancing out the window as she did towards one of the castle towers.

“My sister and her favored pet have decided to handle her discipline themselves, even though I don’t exactly approve of Luna’s methods.” Even as she said it, though, she couldn’t help keep a wistful smirk from crossing the corners of her eyes. “They certainly are memorable, though. I doubt the poor darling will be able to sit for a week.” It took Chrysalis a moment to figure out what Celestia was saying, but when she got it her wings fluttered out and her jet-black carapace turned magenta in an instant. Celestia giggled at her utterly adorable reaction and leaned over to kiss her nose while her defenses were down.

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on replacing you. After all, I’ve been wanting to see how that ridged horn feels ever since the first time I let you capture me. You have no idea how disappointed I was when you didn’t collar me and take me as a trophy of war.” She waggled her eyebrows and licked the queenling’s cheek, eliciting a fresh burst of crimson across Chrysalis’ face. “I wouldn’t have even fought back that hard.”

“Down, girl! Even with Equestria how it is I’m reasonably certain the doctor doesn’t want you jumping me in the middle of his medical wing.” Celestia nodded with a scowl as she looked back out the window, now not happy at all even as she sipped her tea.

“Indeed, and he wants me coming in for checks and I have to sleep here until he’s satisfied. Don’t worry, though, I’ve set you up with a bed downstairs in the royal harem chambers so you don’t get lonely in the meantime.”

“Hang on, you have an entire harem and you never told me?!” Chrysalis went from somber to indignant in an instant, already wondering just how many ponies Celestia had been sleeping with while letting her think she was special.

“Chryssi, calm down. You’ve been living here for what, a month? Do you really think I let all of this,” she gestured to herself in a slow, seductive motion, “go untapped until you turned up in my dungeon?” Chrysalis had to admit she hadn’t really thought of it like that, and gave a noncommittal shrug to that effect. “Besides, they do much more than just amuse me. I’ll have one of my best mares explain things to you. I think you’ll get along; I’m told she’s considered the greatest whore in the world.”

For reasons she couldn’t explain, Chrysalis suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

Author's Note

First things first, a note about High Orbit the Third.

So, it's been almost a year. Sorry about that, but life got in the way in a pretty huge way, in that I joined the United States Navy. Just got out of boot camp and decided to pick up writing again, and a few months later here we are! I've already got the start of the next chapter going, and I hope I'll be able to write more coming up in the near future. As I mentioned on the blog I've got some other stories set in this world that just need some cleaning up from their current enormous chat archive states, so be sure to follow if you want to see more in Chryssi's strange new world!