Queen of the Changelings; Master of Me

After calming down my Free Willy, I quickly hurried into the next room with Chrysalis standing in it.

“These are my Private Royal Chambers located deep within the tunnels and caves my brothers and sisters roam free.” She enthusiastically said to me. I could hint a bit of showing off in her voice, but who could blame her really? This place was even grander than the previous hallways and chambers I saw before! The public areas I passed through where the common Changelings meandered and gathered about was very nice looking with a nice flare of elegance to them; minus the streaks and mounds of leftover green goo everywhere, and looked fit for a king! But when compared to the queen’s chambers, I could see why they belonged to the commoners.

The walls were colored a near jet black, much like Queen Chrysalis’ coat, but only a few shades lighter to help distinguish it from her. Only speckles of white and the occasional blue or green gem broke the endless sea of darkness. The distance from the floor to the ceiling I could estimate at about…2-3 stories high; possible somewhere between the two figures. I then noticed something a little peculiar. Most of the inside walls were uneven and a bit rough, much like the inside of a cave, like the public areas I traversed through. But every now and again, the rock work would be smoothed out a bit and create a very shiny and well-polished smooth and flat wall surface that resembled a marble counter top, but in the black color of the rest of the cave.

Chrysalis took notice of my curious look on my face as I looked at the stark contrast between rough and smoothness of the walls. True, there was a slight transition into each one, but if you were going to make a smooth wall, why not carve the rest of the roughness out so that you have a nice and even surface? “I see a curious look on your face. What’s on your mind?” She chimed to me.

I gave her my thoughts, ”I noticed that your walls are a bit uneven. You partially have a rough, cave-like wall and a smooth, marble-like wall set up going on. Why not just have one or the other?”

“Well, I can’t leave it all with a cave roughness to it, as some appliances or other minor things would not fit or stick properly to an uneven surface.” She pointed towards things that lay on or against the flat portions; mirrors, wall lighting fixtures, tables, drawers, bookshelves, sinks, paintings, and even a white marble refrigerator…I’ll question her on that technology a bit later.

“But then why keep the rest of the walls rough? I queried to her.

“Simple really…” She gave a small smirk, blush, and an ear drop as she said that…daw, did she look cute when doing that,” It reminds me of the cave I grew up in as a younger one. I have fond memories of that cave, and was greatly saddened to have to abandon it when we had to move deeper into the ground for protection”

“So you kept it that way because of nostalgia’s sake?”

“Well…yes…pretty much that reason alone.”

I can’t blame her for those actions, however. Nostalgia’s a powerful thing. I still have my stuffed animals I had as a kid that I proudly display on a shelf in my room, as well as basic learning books I cherished reading as well. My mind quickly zoned out and back on my present day situation; Living goo, apocalypse pony, underground chambers, pony sex, magic, and tentacle rape. Right, I got to focus on reality.

Looking up, I noticed something that caught my attention. Hanging from the middle of the ceiling was an impressive gold-platted Victorian styled chandelier. Pure diamond beads strung between the bars and the light fixtures held brightly lit white gems that have been cut into long rods that resembled candles. Heck, they even carved little melted wax running down the sides of it for authenticity! Talk about craftsmanship! The same gold-platted Victorian styled lighting fixtures with intricately carved gem candles was repeated throughout the rooms, from wall fixtures to desk lamps and all other different types of fixtures.

As my eyes shifted downward, I noticed that the floor was covered with a red carpet; a Hollywood Red Carpet type of red. Wiggling my toes around, I found out that the carpet wasn’t too thick. I could possibly guess that the carpet was only 3/8ths of an inch thick. May not be the comfiest or plushiest of all carpets, but it does go nicely with said golden fixtures and jet black walls. From my vantage point, I could see through the open door frames and find all the floors were covered in this red carpet.

Victorian styled tables littered the room here and there. The wood was the color of a very dark chocolate and the countertops seemed to be made of the same material as the cave walls. It resembled marble, but was jet black with white specks dotted here and there. That theme and color scheme was repeated for coffee tables, bedside tables, dining tables, whatever. In fact, those three things seemed to be repeated throughout any of the same corresponding materials; dark chocolate wood, jet black marble-like stone, and a Victorian theme surrounding the two former.

As I took in more and more of the astounding beauty the rooms held, I sat down on a nearby couch. It was a very nice looking couch that had another Victorian theme to it. The wood was the same color and the cushions and fabric were red carpet red, once again. Pomf. Oooh yes, very comfy indeed. It was like sleeping on a cloud; very heavenly feel to it. I started to slouch back on the arm when Queen Chrysalis sat down on her legs until she was at eye level with me,” I can see you’re enjoying my chamber’s furniture.”

Giving a sigh, ”Oh yes, I have never felt anything for relaxing in my entire life and I doubt I’ll ever experience anything like this ever again…”

“At that, you are indeed correct. Each and every single furnishing in my Private Chamber are artfully hoof crafted by the finest and best materials and Changeling Craftsmen. The wood is rosewood, a very dark colored wood, and was skillfully carved by my personal woodcarver. The fabric coverings are spun from the finest silk imported from all four points of the compass and gives it an incredibly soft, silky feel to it. But that’s not the best part. Instead of using normal feathers or cotton to stuff them, we used pure naturally made clouds that drifted away from the Everfree forest, untouched by a single pegasi. They are the best as they do not need to be fluffed often and often go back to their original form when left alone.”

Stuffing clouds into pillows, talk of the mythological pegasus, and clouds that act like a very soft memory foam? I am mentally adding that to a list of things that should not happen or exist but is standing right in front of me. I should make that a game; see how many things are added to the list before I get back home or expire, although I do hope for the former to happen before the latter. But as I told myself before, I am just going to roll with it because I feel that asking even more questions may make my head spin more than needed.

As I lay back relaxing on silk-lined cloud-stuffed cushions, I noted the layout of her chamber. The way the rooms were set up was pretty much like a Tetris T, so imagine that T pointing up with the flat part down. What looks like a main foyer lays in the center, a kitchen and dining area to the left, living quarters up ahead, and the rape room I just came from to the right. Someone needs to coin that term ‘Rape Room’. It’s short and to the point and tells buyers exactly what the room was intended and used for so they don’t accidentally turn it into a kid’s room or something like that.

Curious about the other rooms, I rolled off the couch and got up. “Shall we continue the tour, my queen?” I motioned to her. She, as well, got up and started walking towards the kitchen area, ”Right then. Let us continue.”

We both headed to the left wing and through the arch doorway. Maybe now I should take the time to explain the intricate details that go into the arches. They are, once again, carved from the cave’s walls, much like the flat smooth areas, except filled with much more intricate details. The arch itself seemed to be carved to represent two horses rearing up and their frontal hooves meeting up in the middle section, except these horses had horns and wings, much like Queen Chrysalis, but they were perfectly smooth, unlike hers which has holes in them. Each horse had an image etched into their flanks as well; the one on the left had a sun and the one on the right had a crescent moon.

To make the archway a little more squared near the top rather than round, other shapes and figures have been carved into the blank spaces. There seemed to be more ponies…six to be precise; three on each side to even it out. Each side had at least one regular pony, one unicorn, and one pegasus. Each one seemed very distinct from each other, yet I felt there was a stronger connection between them from first glance. Once again, each pony had a symbol etched into their flank. Stars, apples, lightning, jewels, balloons, and butterflies. Those symbols had to mean something, but what? Well, I’ll question that later because for now I had to meet up with Chrysalis in the kitchen.

As I approached her, she began speaking to me, ”This is the Royal Chamber’s kitchen and dining area. I picked up the idea of adding one to my chamber after a recent trip. However, this place serves no other purpose than to keep drinks cool through our ice box…”

Her horn glowed and the white marble refrigerator swung open. Inside there were vials, flasks, jugs, cups, and any other type of container that is specified to hold liquids, as well as a box with grills on the bottom nailed to the top of the fridge. I leaned forward and opened up the box’s compartment. Inside was a perfectly shaped block of ice. It had a perfect surface and perfectly straight and sharp edges. No imperfections of any kind were found on the cube. Heck, it didn’t even have signs of melting.

“Hey Chrysalis, I have a question about your ice box’s cooling unit.”

“Yes Chris, what is it that you ponder?”

“Did you replace your ice very recently, because it doesn’t have any signs of age or melting on it at all.”

“The ice block is magically enhanced so that it doesn’t melt or lose its shape or form, even after a long period of time. It’s due to where we live. Although it is relatively cool down in the caves, the land up above us is a desert wasteland with the closest forested area being a long journey’s away. It would be too costly, and not to mention dangerous, to keep on bringing back large chunks of ice through a desert, so with must thought being put behind it, we brought back two large chunks of ice; that were about the size of a two story house, that we magically enchanted so they don’t melt. We could only bring two because we only have enough ponypower for two.

One of the giant chunks is used to create more regular ice that we use to sell to other changelings, and the other chunk was brought specifically for me. This small cube for the ice box is just a small piece cut from the larger one. I am still deciding what to do with the big leftover chunk however…”

Over indulgence much? Well, she IS Queen, so she gets the best of course. All that overpriced indulgency luxuries…oooooh, it’s good to be the queen. Some people may say that’s wrong, but I won’t dwell into The History of the World to try and prove them right or wrong, because I had other thoughts on my mind. One such thought is as why there were drinks stored in the fridge, but no food? I speculated before that she could feast off of love because, well, she made love to me and said something about her being satisfied, or something along those lines.

“Uh, Queen Chrysalis, I’ve been wondering something” I queried over to her.

“Yes? What is on your mind?”

“Over the course of time I’ve stayed here, you keep on saying something about hunger and extraction. At first I thought you’d be eating me, but it doesn’t seem to be that exactly. Can you explain that to me?”

She gave her answer a little bit of thought before responding, ”I’ll tell you once we reach my living quarters. It does require a little more indepth…explanations.”

Well, that’s fine with me anyways. It means I can get some more time to explore this mansion-esque royal chamber of hers. Like that dining table for example. Like previous statements found in the main foyer room, the wood was rosewood carved to look Victorian with a well-polished jet black surface. The only thing a bit odd that struck me were the seats. They are not like our traditional seats you would find with a back on it to lean. Instead, they were almost shaped like mushrooms. In that sense, they were stools with a very wide seat. I could speculate that large ponies, such as Chrysalis demonstrated a small while ago, can only sit either on their rear or on all fours. Lying back much like a human would seems a bit tricky.

The dining table was a large rectangle that could seat ten other people or ponies. Two ponies sat on either end, and three sat on either side. Wonder why such space would be needed as it seems Changelings don’t feast upon physical foods. It’s even more unnecessary when you put into account that hardly anyone, even regular officials, get to be in here. Oh well, some people add things to their house that are meant for groups but don’t use them for that purpose but just installed it because it looks nice. I can understand that point.

I saw a silver lined fruit platter sitting in the middle of the table with a bunch of fresh fruit on it. I can suspect she casted another spell on it to keep the fruit preserved. I leaned over to grab an apple to eat because I haven’t eaten in, what I believe, hours. Quickly skimming over the provided apples, I picked the reddest, plumpest, and shiniest one out of them all, which would be all of them. Man, for a pony who doesn’t need to eat anything, she sure does have some of the best food I’ve seen around.

Taking a bite, I noted that the apples here are much sweeter than the ones back home. Almost as if it was pure sugar, but not manufactured sugar, but natural sugar. You can tell the difference between foods loaded with natural or processed sugar by their distinctive taste. I made another mental note that I should take a couple of these with me and try planting a farm with them and expand from there. I could become a modern day Johnny Appleseed.

Queen Chrysalis patiently sat on a stool nearby as I devoured said delicious apple right down to the core. Once there were no edible parts left of the apple, her horn started to immediately grow and a magical field enveloped the core. A small zap later, the apple turned to ash as if disintegrated. Once that was done, she called over to me,” Ready for the final part of our tour? Off to my living quarters then.”

I too got up and walked back onto the main foyer and made a left going through another carved archway. Except this one wasn’t a clone like all the others. It was wider and the ponies were replaced by simple Roman columns and had a triangular roof on it. The archway also held two very thick iron-reinforced wood doors that swing inward. Kind of reminds me of that buyable door from The Sims 3. You know, that giant white marble one, except this one is black. You know, walking back through the main foyer again, this place reminds me a lot of those mansions built by turn-of-the-century rich men. You know, the big fancy ones built buy the Vanderbilts in Rhode Island and the Rockefellers in New York.

Unsurprisingly, Queen Chrysalis’ living quarters were the best looking when compared to the other rooms. For one thing, all the walls were smooth and not a single sign of roughness was seen anythere. In the middle up against the wall was a massive king sized four-poster bed with the regular Victorian styled rosewood, red silk pillows and blanket, pure white linen sheets underneath, and a thick, heavy, red curtain cover that hung from the canopy. Moving near it, I noticed there was a mirror attached to the ceiling of the canopy, so any persons sleeping in the bed would see themselves. Giving the bed a slight slap, I could tell that it, too was made from the memory foam like clouds.

To the left was a long love seat with a very large and wide padded footstool just a few feet away. It was large enough to sleep on when coupled to the loveseat, which I guess was the purpose, much like couches that fold out to make a bed at hotels and such, except much fancier and comfier. Behind the loveseat were two gigantic rosewood bookshelves that joined in the corner to make an L shape. When I mean gigantic, I mean gigantic. It was as big as a wall from head to toe, and each one wide enough to fit a Volkswagen Beetle through it with a few inches to spare.

To the right of the king sized bed was a large low lying circular bed with a couple of pillows stacked up in the middle. Nothing too special about the bed except it’s larger than normal size to accommodate someone as large as a horse. Then again…I’m pointing out the obvious there, aren’t I? Scattered around the room were many, many paintings that depicted Queen Chrysalis. Some were almost still images of life while others were very abstract. Big, small, short, wide, all kinds of pictures hung from the walls. They just lined every inch of the room.

Speaking of lines, while examining the room closer, I noticed that very faint lines were drawn in the room. Along the walls they were squared and rectangles, mainly hidden behind paintings just the same size. In the floor they were also squares, rectangles, but also circles and ovals. The bookshelf itself was also encircled by a quarter of a circle. These lines looked very familiar. I remember seeing lines like these on a home improvement show on the television, where they remodel an entire house to fit the desire of the owner. They were movable wall panels. How strange.

Sitting down on the heavenly feeling cloud stuffed bed, I motioned for Chrysalis to come on over and sit down with me as well. She too lay next to me, and I finally put some questions down onto the table that I wanted answers for.

“I now ask for that in-depth answer you told me you’d give once we reached your living quarters. As well an answer as to what and why you need me.” The queen sat there in deep thought as she pondered on what to say.

She finally gave me her answer, ”We Changelings, of course, need to be nourished in order to be healthy and live for a long time. We don’t eat in a traditional sense, such as physical foods like that apple you consumed earlier. True, we can eat that type of stuff, but we extract so little energy from them that it would take tons of them to nourish a normal changeling. Now multiply that by the thousands. It’s extremely counter-productive, especially when one lives in a dry desert climate that lies above our heads.

However, there is a much more efficient resource we feed off of; love. Well, mainly love, but any kind of positive emotions we can feed off of. Remember when I said the slime that is located within out skins feeds us? It absorbs any surrounding love and delivers it straight into our bodies.”

With that explanation, I finally understood what happened in the closet, ”So the reason why you gave me your goo back in the storage room was to not only keep me warm, but to also feed off of my love that I was giving you?”

She gave me a small smile and a blush, ”Precisely. I was hungry, you were cold, and all I needed to do was transfer some of my excess bodily slime onto your body to keep you warm.”

Speaking of body slime, I almost forgot about that stuff. I rubbed my neck, arms, chest, legs, everything. I could not feel a single glob of goo, yet it was relatively warm. Somewhere around 75°F, which was a pretty pleasant temperature considering where I come from. “Hey Queen Chrysalis, I don’t have any goo on me yet I still feel relatively warm. Didn’t you say we are deeper than our previous location? Shouldn’t it be a lot colder?”

“At that, you are correct, it should be colder. In fact, it IS colder outside my Private Royal Chamber’s door. But I actually have a very advance system running throughout my chambers.” She pointed up at a point in the ceiling where I noticed grooves were etched into a smooth portion of the wall. These grooves were repeated several times throughout the walls. The more I thought about it, more and more they looked a lot like…

“An air temperature control system. Each and every room has these grills installed. Remember that giant public chunk of ice? Below that is a grill that most of the cold air travels through. It goes deep down until it connects to each and every air vent. And in the case of heat, a few miles below us lies a giant incinerator room where the Changeling’s garbage is incinerated. My air vents are also connected to the shafts that collect the head radiating from the fire. With my magic, all I have to do is flip a couple of valves and I can change the temperature of the room entirely.” Wow, pretty advanced system, and all just carved from the rockwork? Craftsmanship! Then again, these guys do have magical powers, so I guess it’s not such a pain for them.

“As for why you are here, it’s all for a small…experimentation as to say.”

I sat there shocked a bit. “Come agai-“

“Now before you misunderstand my intentions, my spell was never aiming for you. Let me try to explain as best as I could…” Queen Chrysalis lowered her head so he could rest a bit while explaining everything to me, ”Remember when I said we feed off of love? We create our own love down here between each other, but soon enough that wasn’t enough to suffice all of our hunger combined. We can live on, yes, but it just isn’t enough to be satisfied with. Long story short, I did a little experimentation. Through a few mishaps, I found out that sexual intercourse is the fastest and easiest way, although it does leave the subject a bit weaker but nonetheless alive.”

So that explains why I was barely able to stand up by myself after my closet adventure with Chrysalis! Wow, very interesting. I do love a good history lesson every once and a while, ”So where did you and your Changelings go to get food?”

“We went to Canterlot, the capitol of the Equestrian Empire, hoping we could…er…seek help to feed my hungry minions. It was a very awe inspiring trip for me, as Canterlot really did capture in my mind a place I would love to live along with my minions. In fact, most of the interior design in my Private Chambers is based off of the designs found in Canterlot.”

“My, does a sound like an interesting place! Do tell me what it’s like at Canterlot!” The little traveler inside my heart exploded with joy. I really do love traveling when I can.

“Well, it’s basically a city-castle hybrid that’s build on the side of a mountain with waterfalls springing from it an-“

I slammed my hand on the bed, ”That’s it! We’re going to Canterlot!”

She had an almost embarrassed look on her face. She looked away and replied,” Uh, on second thought let’s not go to Canterlot. Tis’ a silly place…”

Not wanting to embarrass Chrysalis any further, I stopped the subject matter there and moved onto the next, ”So what does that have to do with me?”

She came back with the slight spring in her voice that I was so used to, ”I am continuing my studies on extracting love. The sexual intercourse I tried earlier was more or less against the subject’s will. It did get the love I needed rather quickly, but left the subject weaker, thus making extraction of further love a little more difficult. What I am trying is something a little different. I am experimenting to see if growing an attachment with the subject and doing sexual things as they please would increase the amount of love extracted and, how can I put it, increase the ‘harvest time’ due to the subject being stronger and not weaker. However, I misaimed my spell at my target and I got you instead. But are you not happy about that miscalculation and error of my ways?” She have me a smirk and bedroom eyes.

She gave me something taboo, something that is quite frowned upon in many societies. Something that could send me straight into the hell fires of damnation. Then again she gave me hot steamy pony sex, ”Nah, I’m quite happy with what happened.”

At that exact moment, the sound of a grandfather clock chimed four times from the main foyer. Queen Chrysalis quickly got up and gave me a hurried explanation, ”Sorry Christopher, I almost forgot I had an appointment at this specific time. I need to go, so take care…” She began to gallop off to the exit and down more tunnels.

Leaving me…here? All alone? “And you’re now an honored guest! Whatever’s mine if yours! Make yourself at home!” She yelled back, her voice echoing off the rough tunnels and bouncing back to me. I leapt off the king bed and began to continue looking around the room.

Upon closer inspection of the beds, I noticed that there were also rings screwed into various points along the sides. They looked like you’d be able to hook or loop something through it, and were sturdy enough to resist a forceful escape. In fact, there were several locations around the room that these rings…Wait a second. Heavy duty doors, moveable wall panels, mysterious rings screwed into the room and a four poster bed with a heavy curtain surrounding it ALONG with a mirror attached into the ceiling of the four poster bed? I think our Queen has been a bit lonely and has been anticipating a moment to come along to use those…

Oh my, I think I can understand what she means by extraction.

Whether I should be afraid for my life or have butterflies in my stomach from the joys that await me up ahead, I’m not sure.

SPOILERS: Warning, this chapter includes a lot of...

Exposition!

Exposition!...

Yeah, this chapter is relatively tame once again, but that doesn't stop me from giving so much EXPOSITION! In fact, it's much less of regular exposition and more of an exposition dump. Please do excuse me for that, but I am a person who loves writing details, even if it includes droning the scene on and on.

And if I have any errors or inconsistencies, please do forgive me once again, I am still sick. Although my condition improved enough to give me the spirit to put out a better looking chapter, I still rest for most of the day, not giving me enough time to edit out any mistakes. And with my schedule getting busier and busier the more and more I get better, I may not find time at all to edit mistakes or inconsistencies out, so please forgive me for them and point them out so I can fix them as soon as possible.

And now let's turn to our favorite weatherman, Al Roker who will give us a forecast on any and all fanfic events coming up.

"Alright, thanks for that Bongo! Looks like the Equestrian Wasteland in Fallout Equestria will be the normal hot n' dry wheather with a slight chance of radiation fallout. Over in Past Sins, Ponyville is expected to have a perfectly sunny day. Great day for fillies, colts, and a specific young alicorn to venture outside and play! And there's a high chance of tears in the Fanfics Bittersweet, Bubbles, and The Party Never Ended! Now let's see what the forecast will be in your neck of the woods..."

[WARNING]
HIGH CHANCE OF CLOPPING DUE IN:
QUEEN OF CHANGELINGS; MASTER OF ME
RESIDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO STAY INDOORS
[WARNING]

Being sick can give you some of the strangest ideas, can't it?

And let's not go to Canterlot...tis' a silly place indeed.