To Love Your Torturer

Shining Armor was wandering down one of the many steep, dank corridors he had spent the last week and a half familiarizing himself with.

Queen Chrysalis' hive was like a labyrinth to him. Seemingly endless identical corridors, crossing through each other in seemingly random patterns, spread throughout the hive like a giant ant-hill.

The countless changeling drones buzzing around seemed to know every way by instinct alone. A pleasure he certainly didn't have.

Due to its confusing layout, he had spent more time creating a mental map of how to navigate it, than he had doing actual spy work, and he still knew next to nothing about what the Queen was planning. And the fact that the drones practically never talked didn't help him in the slightest. But it did mean that none of them ever asked anything of him. Something he was naturally thankful for.

Learning his way around the hive without seeming out of place hadn't been easy, but he had been careful, and it had gone well so far. His disguise had a broken wing as to give him a reason not to fly, but luckily, the changelings didn't seem to care that he was on legs. No one seemed suspicious of him, not even the queen. Not that any of them would have time for suspicion. They were always in a hurry, seemingly never resting. He just tried to blend in, and scurry as he moved through the massive cave system...

**

He arrived at a large, dank area, which high ceiling of long, deformed stalactites dripped green liquid onto the course, bumpy floor, where it drained into the countless cracks and crevasses and disappeared into an unknown layer of the hive.

This enormous rooms acted as a hub for the cave system. It was a place where one could switch direction to almost anywhere in the hive if you knew what you were doing. Naturally, it was swarming with changelings, and Shining Armor was careful to not catch any unwanted attention from the army of drones.

He hurried to one of the corridors he knew where lead, but before he could enter he was blocked off by none other than Queen Chrysalis herself, emerging alongside a plethora of swarming drones, carrying spears.

Being near the queen was how Shining got his information, because unlike the rest of these strange, love-sucking creatures, she actually had the incentive to talk. Still, this encounter was way too sudden, and he found himself far closer to her highness than what he was comfortable with.

Quick to react, he immediately changed direction and walked quickly towards the very next corridor, but he was stopped by chrysalis before he got away.

"You there! Drone with the broken wing!" she called out, startling Shining immensely.

"Follow me," she finished.

His heart was pounding with fear as he turned towards her, giving her a quick bow. But he didn't show it. He acted perfectly and he knew it.

Her command was direct and unchallengeable. If Shining Armor tried to escape now, his cover would be blown, and against this many changelings, he knew he didn't stand even the faintest chance of getting away alive. His only option was to comply with her and hope for the best.

He followed after her as she wandered through a cave he had yet to sojourn. He hoped to Celestia he would be able to reorient himself once the queen allowed him to leave, as he didn't know this corridor at all.

The cave went downward, steeply, and it just continued and continued in what seemed like forever. There were a few other changelings tagging along with them, but one after another, they disappeared into small holes into the wall, until it was only Shining Armor and Queen Chrysalis left.

Being left alone with the large bug-horse made Shining's already crippling fear rise within him. The only thing that kept him calm was the thought that his family was waiting for him at home.

Eventually, after wandering downwards for minutes, they emerged in a hall, with a set of wooden doors on each side. Torches hung on the walls, lighting up the place with dim flickering, green, magical lights. By the end of the corridor, a large metal gate, towered menacingly high, going all the very ceiling of the hallway at least five meters in the air.

"Come now, my drone."

Together they approached the gate. Shining Armor having a bad feeling in his gut, tried his hardest not to panic as they slowly wandered through the ominous hallway together.

His chain of thought was broken by the loud noise of the grand gate opening, revealing to him the one thing that could have made him gasp even when trying this hard to seem in character.

His heart surely skipped more than just a single beat as he stared into the horrors of queen chrysalis's torture chamber.

Old blood painted the many devious devices, of which there were more than plenty. The room was lit by a burning fireplace, and spikes were placed into the flames, to keep them red hot. All over the walls hung small accessories of suffering. Whips, pincers, knives, saws and knee-splitters just to name a few. The room was an altar of pain, and in the middle of it, chained to the wall, somepony sat, crying.

Shining Armor almost pissed himself, not so much due to the sight of the horrible torture room, (though that definately didn't help keep his bladder at bay), but due to seeing his mother, who he had just left behind ten days ago, sit in chains, bruised and bleeding on the stone floor, while weeping silently due to the queen's untimely return.

She looked hurt, but not destroyed. She had all her limbs and both her eyes, and no part of her looked to be placed in an unnatural way. She had been beaten, but seemingly nothing worse. Not yet, at least.

Shining wanted to run to her. To free her, hug her, and tell her everything was going to be alright, but he couldn't. Not with the changeling queen standing right beside him. His lips felt dry, and his knees were trembling, but he had to keep it together. He had to look as if this meant nothing to him.

"Why are we hear, Queen?" He managed to ask without breaking down in tears or anger.

"The pony you see sitting here is the mother of the purple princess."

She looked down at her lonesome, tense drone.

"There is no doubt in my mind that such a close relative of one of the princesses must have a lot of useful information. She just doesn't seem to wish to share anything useful with me."

Chrysalis picked out a small torture device from the wall and handed it to Shining.

"Perhaps I'm just not doing it right... Torture her," she commanded in a cold, aggressive tone, Twilight Velvet crying louder as she gave the order.

Her order shook him to the core...

The likelihood of him, out of all the changelings having been chosen for this was unfathomable, but he was glad. He was glad it had happened because that meant he could spare his mother the pain.

He let the device fall to the floor, and stared into Chrysalis' eyes, with a burning passion.

"I won't!" He shouted as the white color returned to his body, the holes in his legs closed, and his horn straightened. He once again appeared as Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard.

His disguise was gone, but he didn't need it anymore. All he needed now was his magic. All he needed now was to die while defending his mother.

Not giving Chrysalis a chance to react to his sudden change, he immediately threw himself to the side, firing a shot of magic at the queen as he ran for cover behind a torture bench. But as he fired his attack, what was supposed to a strike of magical energy turned to sparkling particles in the air before it even reached her. He didn't have time to consider this failing attack, however, and quickly dashed out from his current cover, as to not stay a sitting duck against his powerful enemy. He fired another similarly withering beam of particles at the queen, before finding cover behind the next torture machine.

This time, though, Shining realized something was wrong. He didn't expect his attacks to take down the changeling queen, but he expected them to do damage. They had done nothing. Furthermore, she hadn't moved an inch since he started the barrage. She just stood there, completely still, looking both bored and utterly unchoked at his sudden transformation.

"You done?" she asked in an annoyed manner, as Shining sat, reconciling behind the torture device.
He looked up from behind the device, staring into Chrysalis' eyes. He was angry, determined and scared and it was all showing now. There was no more pretending.

He was not. He gave it his all in his next attack, practically draining himself of magic as he jumped out from his hiding spot and fired yet another useless attack, that dissolved just as quickly as the other.

Exhausted, he fell to his knees, panting and frightened.

"You know, Shining Armor, I am really, really good at taking notice of the small insignificant things ponies do that are unique to them. Every tiny habit anypony I've studied has, I know of them. It's in my nature. I need to be perfect when I take another's identity."

She approached the kneeling unicorn, trotting slowly towards his weak body while he staggered to get up.

"It's not hard to guess that I became suspicious when one of my children started walking very similarly to my old lover. Just needed my suspicions confirmed is all."

Shining felt like an idiot. This predicament was entirely his own fault. If somepony Chrysalis didn't know had taken on this mission instead of him, like had been originally intended, she wouldn't have seen through the disguise. Why did he have to be so considerate all the time.

His only relief was that what appeared to him as his mother, was most likely just a changeling in disguise, meant to draw him out of hiding. Even though her wide eyes and loud cries seemed very real to him.

"Y-You were never my lover!"

With the limited power he had left, Shining tried one last time to fire his magic, but nothing, not even the worthless sparkles from before came out this time.

"Spare me, Shining. It should be obvious by now that your magic is useless down here. You're just embarrassing yourself."

"I do not intend to surrender quietly. It is obvious you don't have my mother. So drop the act, and fight me!"

He got on his hind legs and raised his front hooves to fight. He knew he had no realistic chance of winning againts an enemy twice his size while having no access to magic, but he had to try. For his family. For Equestria.

Slowly, a smile manifested on the, (until now), bored-looking Chrysalis. Her grid of long razor-sharp teeth turned to a smirk of utter sadistic glee, sending shivers down Shining Armor's spine.

"You don't believe I have your mother? Oh Shining, you always were naive."

"Sh-Shut up!" he yelled, not having any of it.

Chrysalis couldn't help but giggle, at her insecure but stubborn opponent.

"There were six ponies at the hidden outpost we found buried in the ground near the giant oak. Three guards, two researchers, and as luck would have it, this lovely mare."

A sense of dread, strong enough to take his out of his fighting pose struck Shining, as Chrysalis described the exact conditions outpost where he left behind Twilight Velvet.

There was no way. There was no way this was happening. This was really her. This was really his mom.

He turned his neck to look at the crying mare, that still sat gagged, and chained to the wall.

"Mom, no." he whispered quietly while tearing up further.

Chrysalis stepped up to his side, and placed a hoof on his shoulder. He didn't react in the slightest, stunned by the realization, that both he and his mom were at Chrysalis' mercy.

"I haven't been harsh to her, really. I just beat her up a bit. I know she doesn't have any information. You on the other hoof. You know so much. I want, more than anything, to find a way to beat the Equestrian military. Will you be of help?"

Chrysalis's sadism was oozing off of her as she spoke, making Shining gulp.

"I-if you let my mother go, I'll do whatever you say. I'll be obedient as you torture me. I'll make hurting me easy. I'll even beg for torture if you like that. I just won't tell you anything. I can't betray my people."

"Sounds delightful. But information is all I'm seeking. I'll keep your mother here, as a means of encouragement, but I won't hurt her as long as you comply. If you should go too long without talking, though, I may end up going back on my word."

Shining, defeated, heartbroken, and scared, looked down on the blood-splattered ground, contemplating how to answer her.

"I can't tell you what you want to hear. I can't betray my country. I can't sacrifice all those ponies for the sake of just two, but I will comply with you. I hope that will be enough to keep my mother safe. I hope you have at least that much mercy."

She scoffed.

"We'll see."

She pointed to a torture bench in the corner of the room.

"Go to the rack and strap yourself in."

Shining gulped. His heart started pounding faster again as he looked at the cruel device. He wasn't exactly an expert in torture methods and didn't know what a rack was, or what it did, but looking at the thing gave him a rough idea.

"C-can I, hug my mother goodbye before we start. I have a feeling we won't get to see each other again after this."

Shining thought his request would surely be denied by the tyrant, but after a moment of thinking, much to his surprise, she allowed it.

Trying not to cry his eyes out in front of her, Shining Armor embraced his retrained mother and hugged her deeply.

"I'm sorry, mom... I'm sorry it had to be this way. Just know that I love you more than anything in this world," he ensured her.

She moaned in tears in response, trying to hug back her child, but her chains preventing her.

"Time's up," Chrysalis coldly replied.

Shining let go of his of mom. Reluctantly, he very, very slowly trotted towards the torture device. As he reached it, he laid down on his back.

"Uh... A little help?" He asked unable to restrain himself without magic.

Chrysalis happily complied with his request, binding his limbs with the rope attached to the top and bottom of the device. Having her prisoner restrained, she gleefully yet slowly clopped towards him, smiling sadistically at her soon to be torture victim.

Shining Gritted his teeth.

"Y-you know, Chrysalis... You don't need to attack us... I've studied changelings substantially for this... I know there can be a symbiotic relationship between our kinds."

"Spare me," Chrysalis cut him off. "Don't even mention those antlered freaks in my presence or I'll break off your horn and force it up your ass. Understood"

The poor stallion gulped.

"Y-yes..." he said meekly. A hellish time was upon him.