Deep Cover is Magic

May 11, 1000 AM

Well, I guess I'll start this "journal" thing. Gossamer says it's all the rage now among the scholar caste, and that I should keep one so that one day larva can read my words in school. I don't really buy it.

June 4, 1000 AM

Chrysalis made it clear today that we are to keep journals, so it seems I have no choice in the matter.

Today, I woke up early, and went about my routine day. I had a quick bite to eat (stored love really does taste blander than fresh), and got down to work. Today's work involved reading through and critiquing Pheromone's paper on pony sexual orientation. By the time I was done, I was salivating quite hard, and eager to break for lunch.

I was looking forward to discussing some points with Gossamer (Mem. pony sexual orientation and impact on culture). But our routine meal turned out to be not routine, as we were graced by Her Majesty's presence.

It is possible that the reader will not know of Queen Chrysalis. Many other writers have described her far better than I could hope to, but in the interest of completeness, I shall summarize.

Queen Chrysalis is probably the most beautiful, and without a doubt the most powerful, queen our hive has ever seen. Naturally, she possesses the memories of every queen before her, and rumor holds she has acquired their collected power as well.

Relevant to this writing, she also has gained a reputation for taking an unusually deep and committed interest in her subjects' affairs.

"Greetings, my subjects," the queen announced imperiously. "I am not here to discuss trifling matters. Firstly, we are running low on love again."

A silent shift went through the crowd. None of us dared to interrupt the queen, but we all knew what she meant. No love meant the gatherers weren't getting enough, which meant the gathering operations would be ramped up. And Queen Chrysalis does not like to do things halfway.

"To that end, I am reassigning many of you to field work. Your job will be to keep a low profile and gather intelligence on the goings-on of your region. Furthermore, you are to keep a personal log on top of your routine reports to me."

She paused meaningfully, and continued, "You will be assigned one skilled soldier each. They will be your bodyguard. The details, such as letters of introduction, birth certificates, and the like, will be finished over the next month. If you have any specific requests, such as you and your bodyguard being lovers, siblings, or best friends, file them within 7 days."

"Any questions?" she finished, her tone still authoritative.

A biologist I knew by sight but not name raised her hoof. Chrysalis nodded directly at her. "S-so where will be posted?"

Chrysalis answered swiftly, "I shall assign you to town based on skill. My decisions will be posted in three weeks."

With that, Chrysalis gave us one more scanning look, presumably concluded we had no more questions, and left. Several dark shapes I hadn't even noticed being there followed her, and a shiver ran down my spine. Everyone had heard the stories about the queen's elite, psionic guard, and their unnatural abilities, including concealing themselves from any sensory detection. I watched them go uneasily, and found I had lost my appetite when I sat back down to eat.

The rest of the day was uneventful. As I find myself writing these words, a strange sense of excitement and fear steals over me. I shall finally be leaving the hive soon--within the month, even!