Author's Note

90% of this chapter came to me tonight in a rush of inspiration. I apologize if the quality isn't to snuff or if there are too many pop-culture (or other) references. When the story flows, you gotta grab it by the horn, amirite? Lemme know what you think in the comments, please.

I'll amp up the excitement and references, or tone down the madness and memespeak, all depending on feedback. But expect next chapter to both come slowly and flow calmly. Celestia and new Chrysalis need to have a smart conversation, diplomacy style.

Anti-Arachnophobia

The white Alicorn taps her chin in thought. "Hmm... How about we take care of this right here and now? No better time than the present, you know!" She chuckled lightly.

"Honestly, I would love to, but with a new issue just now cropping up, and tensions still very high, I believe it best to leave the diplomacy until a more... opportune span of time." I respond, having received a message over the hivemind about some kind of containment breach. "You know where we live, so send a message sometime. Now, I must politely, yet firmly ask you to leave, mostly for your own safety. Something about containment, and the Underhive. Now shoo. A drone will escort you out. I look forward to hearing from you in the future."

As one of my drones led the ponies out of the impromptu meeting room, I turned my attention to the messages frantically being relayed across the- 'Ugh, it needs a name besides the hivemind... Whatever... I'll brainstorm on that later.'

"Lead me to the containment breach" I call over the connection, and a drone quickly jumps to my side and begins leading me down into the depths of the hive, towards the Underhive.

On the short trot to the underhive, I try to absorb as much information as possible about it. It was simply just a massive cave system stretching a damn good few miles under the deepest parts of the hive, and it was inhabited by all kinds of creepy crawlies. Eugh. Giant bugs and insects, humongous rats(you might even say they were rodents of a very unusual size), and even some creatures that, when described to me, I had nothing I knew from common mythology or otherwise that they resembled.

They regularly tried to break down through what the previous inhabitor of myself thought was a good idea to install instead of just caving the whole place in to block it off; a door. A very heavy door, but still a door. I definitely facehoofed at that.

As we approached the breach, sounds of fighting, magic, and yelling gradually got louder. "Shit, this place is FUBARed, isn't it?" I asked rhetorically as the door came into view. "How many losses so far?"

"None yet, but definitely some close calls and near-fatal injuries. What do you plan to do, My Queen?" A drone who was probably some kind of lead medical staff, piped up.

I resisted the urge to say the most important first part of a funny phrase that came to my head, and replied simply with. "I shall tidy up." I say with a slight posh accent. Using mana to will-force a few sabers into existence, I funnel a little more mana into my body, muscles, and mind, mildly enhancing my strength and reaction times. The sabers were barely within the definition of a saber, merely being curved blades that I made sure had sharper than razor-sharp edges. "Drones, retreat. I will handle this."

Very quickly, the majority of my drones backed out of the fight as they were afforded openings, and I leveled the sabers at the approaching beasties. Their numbers were high, but my protective desire grew with each moment. I carefully measured my mental strain. "Ah, who am I kidding? I can afford at least 4 more." With a slight strain, I summoned four more of the curved blades, and lowered them all. "You guys should back up. I don't want to have to worry about collateral damage." I warn.

Channelling a hint more mana, I leap forward with a burst of speed, and with a flurry of spinning blows that would make a weeaboo jealous, I dispatched the first, second, and third 'row' of beasts with minimal effort. I grinned wildly, insect and rodent gore being splattered across the walls and even hitting the ceiling.

I let out a mad cackle, and looked up at my next challenger; a ridiculously huge spider. The rest of the creatures had backed off and made a ring around me and what might be the attack's leader. "Damn, you're a biggun, ain'tcha?"

"Chrysalis, you fool. I felt your magics all the way in the Depths. You've gone against the ancient accord. For your betrayal, I will have your head." The spider surprisingly responded.

"Oh, you mean the accord with old Chrysalis that allowed your little meat-scraps to climb up to our home and attack us? Yeah, no. Even if I knew of such a thing, I wouldn't allow your little under-freaks to keep testing our defenses like it sounds like you were doing." I barked back. "In fact, I believe I have a new Accord for you." I grinned madly as my horn glowed a sickly green with effort; I bent mana to my will, dredging up a lost memory of my past.

Above the spider, what I could recall as a mid-1990s Honda Accord fell from the ceiling of the cave, landing on the spider and stunning it. "A HONDA ACCORD!" I screeched in laughter as I charged the spider, spreading my blades out so they attacked the spider's legs first. "It may be a little used though. Owned by a teenager for most of the 2010s, with two hundred thousand miles on it!" I yell, giggling as the spider flopped and flailed, most of its legs cut off cleanly at the first joint.

I will the blades to rejoin me at my sides, and give one a look-over. "Damn, gonna keep these in the mental reserve. Absolutely lethal!" I turn my attention back to the spider, which was hissing in pain as it tried to move, to no avail.

"I don't need no fuddy-duddy ancient arachnid telling me what to do with my life. My life is my own. Just like how yours is over... unless you can prove yourself not worthless."

"You absolute imbecile," The spider hissed, still flopping around a little. "Do you not remember anything? We were protecting you from what lay deeper! Do you not remember The Unlimited? Or the Depth-Floggers? Or any of the other Megarachnids, like myself?"

"Firstly, if this fight is anything to go by, does it look like we need protecting? Secondly, seeing as how you're a Megarachnid, as you so called yourself... What prevented you from turning on us, like you currently just tried to do? I doubt an honor system is that profound or powerful. No, this needed to happen. So that the creatures of the Underdark learn the lesson of NOT FUCKING WITH ME!" I screech as I take flight, lining myself up over the arachnid's head and grabbing a blade in a solid magical hold.

I then flip myself over and freefall, letting the sword guide me towards my target; the top of the spider's head, roughly in the center of the many eyes. The blade landed true, piercing through the thick keratin, and continuing on. With a powerful kick, I drive the blade even deeper in, forcing my momentum into the blade to lessen the damage of falling. The blade disappeared through the spider's exoskeleton, and the spider writhed and screeched, but quickly went silent as its brainstem was severed cleanly.

"You don't fuck with my hive," I spat on the spider, and fluttered down to the ring of creatures around the now-dead spider. "So... Whatcha waitin' for? A threat of harm? Get back the fuck down into your hole, cretins, before none of you do." For good measure, I bared my teeth. Just as quickly as the alarm had been raised, the creatures bounded off into the dark.

"Good riddance. Prep this location for immediate clearing and tunnel deconstruction. All access points are to be destroyed and made impossible to cross. The Underhive is to be sealed. I won't stand for any more breaches." I barked orders as I walked back to the shattered door, where numerous dumbstruck changelings were watching me.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" I asked, oblivious to the shocked looks on everyling's faces.