Pocket Change

Chapter Music

Chrysalis

Doctor Chrysalis sat atop a throne of chitin, gently stroking a sleeping cat-like changeling hybrid, eyes closed with an unshakable concentration. Though the hive mind had increased her intelligence and computational abilities by several orders of magnitude, maintaining a psychological simulation in real-time was no easy task. However, she had reason to believe that if she saw it through until the end, it would all be worth it.

After all, this was the only human test subject aside from herself to show high compatibility with C-cells and Chrysalis was determined to have him. In theory, he should have suffered a rather slow and agonizing demise. Only...he didn't.

"This child, Change, shows remarkable promise," Chrysalis giggled at the irony, "Just a bit of memory manipulation, oxytocin regulation here and there, and he'll practically become my own child. Honestly, I was never big on the idea of having children. I mean, I did eventually want children, but I just couldn't see myself having enough time, and the opposite sex never gave me a second glance so finding a suitor was also an issue. This child though... he's a kindred spirit. Those familiar with suffering to such a degree are few and far between, yet it's those with unshakable willpower that makes all the difference." She thought to herself, giddy with excitement.

Change had that willpower. Although a life of crime and hellish survival had hardened him, his sense of self had remained intact. He possessed remarkable intelligence, adaptability, and strength; traits Chrysalis thought befitting of one to be called her son.

Being a genius geneticist who clawed her way to the top of her field, only to have funding cut on her greatest project yet, she had developed a soft spot for the boy. At first, she was vexed that someone had managed to not only weasel their way into her lair but they also escaped her most vicious changelings while retrieving one of the kidnapped people. However, what she thought to be a mishap, turned out to be an opportunity.

Even if the current circumstances didn't stand to benefit me, it really wasn't cause for concern. I would still conquer the city and eventually the world, pushing it forward into a new era where I would rule over everything as the monarch of Earth, as Queen Chrysalis.

The police were of no concern, I had strategically replaced every member of the force with a changeling as fast as I kidnapped them. Once I eliminated them as possible threats, I began taking my time with the rest of the city. A changeling's metamorphic properties were extensive. They could easily mimic a human in appearance and thanks to the adaptive property of C-cells and the hivemind, their intelligence reached that level as well.

It's a similar concept to that of the internet actually; It's just a vast network of computers that communicate and share data from all over.

And to think, all of this was made possible by a chance encounter that defied all reason. I had been having a particularly rough day, attempting to make the C-cells obey my orders. Every test subject from the previous trials had tragically passed. Admittedly, they were animals, but each death weighed down on me. As cold as my heart was, I was not heartless. I had full confidence in the C-cells with every trial. Although, at the point of the incident that changed everything, that confidence had begun to waver.

Just as I was about to give up, the space in front of my work desk began distorting, folding in on itself, and twisting in mind-boggling ways my mind was struggling to comprehend. A tear in space and time opened, strange ethereal energy emanating from the seams and a window to another world was visible. At the time, I had been alone, thankfully. One of the many benefits of being infamous amongst your peers I suppose.

The rational part of my mind told me to get away from it, but the scientist in me said otherwise. Upon reaching out to it, I found that it freely let me guide it, my body even absorbing some of it without any issue. In fact, it made me feel young again, the fatigue of overworking myself and doping on caffeine no longer present.

As abruptly as the tear had opened, it closed, leaving only trace amounts of its energy behind as proof that it had existed. Thinking I had gone mad, I went back to work on the cells only to find that they were doing exactly as I willed them to.

Hesitantly, I ran another trial, injecting a minor concentration of the cells into a mouse with a rare type of cancer. After all, curing diseases was what the cells were intended for. At first, it displayed the telltale signs of violent immune system response, wild thrashing, blackening of its blood vessels, and so on.

Yet, somehow, this trial was different. It did not parish, it instead...changed. Its fur and flesh had morphed, melding together into some sort of black shell perforated by holes, its eyes protruding from the sockets and changing to a form similar to that of a Diptera. I named him Alpha for being the first success. However, it seemed like being cured of his illness and a change in appearance weren't the only effects of the C-cells.

After the change, Alpha displayed an extraordinary level of intelligence. Rat mazes and other various puzzles no longer posed any challenge, solving them in mere seconds. It also seemed to communicate with other mice, guiding them proficiently through various tasks of their own.

Mice were already intelligent creatures, however, this was something else entirely. I noticed that the longer Alpha spent around the other mice, the stranger they began to act.

For one thing, their overall libido and companionship dropped dramatically to the point where they stopped mating. Running a simple diagnosis, I found that the small concentration of oxytocin that was supposed to be present in the mice was nonexistent.

Alpha, on the other hand, only grew larger and more astute. He quite literally fed off of love. I began to wonder why he didn't attempt to escape even once, given his adaptive prowess. Imagine my surprise when I found out the reason was none other than myself. Alpha would follow my instructions before I would even give them; somehow he could understand my thoughts.

After many more successful C-cell trials, I injected myself with them. It was...painful, to say the least, but I lived. No, that's not the right term for it; I was reborn. And with my rebirth, my connection to my changelings grew far stronger, thus we grew far smarter as a whole. This was all impressive in itself, but it was when Alpha did something unprecedented that my plans changed.

One of the stray cats had managed to escape confinement and began chasing Alpha around the lab. Admittedly, this was my fault. Due to Alpha's properties and accelerated growth, I had taken him outside his habitat, allowing him to reside close by my side. He, alongside his kin, began excreting a sort of chitinous compound that spread throughout the entire lab like a fungus, infesting the other containments. I assume they did this to lower the overall temperature of the basement as well as feel more at home.

Anyway, Alpha had gotten cornered by the rather large cat and with nowhere to go, he morphed into a near mirror image of his assailant, only much larger. The only trait he carried over was his jet-black color. Understandably, the cat freaked out, running into a wall and knocking itself out in the process. Alpha showed me that changeling's abilities were far more extensive than I had initially thought.

By focusing my energy and envisioning what I wanted to become, I not only felt younger, I became younger. I also may or may not have tweaked my form to be more...alluring. I never did have a figure that could turn heads quite as much as other girls, like the queen bee of high school, Celestia, for example. I've been meaning to capture her for quite some time now, but she always seems to have eyes on her. I suppose not much has changed after all this time, but I digress.

I've changed my plans since then. Why settle for curing simple diseases using the C-cells, when I could take what I've always deserved using them? My funding had already been cut anyway. Besides, I found that incubation not only rejuvenates the body completely, but it also induces a coma for the host to enjoy a pleasantly endless dream. One by one, conquer cities, replacing their human population and putting them into hibernation.

I discovered this from Alpha when he captured a few smaller rodents and placed them in small openings within the chitinous fungus. Rather quickly, the fungus grew around them, suspending them in a pod filled with green liquid that somehow enabled the host to breathe, but otherwise rendered them unconscious.

I quickly figured out that this was so that Alpha could have a steady supply of love to feed on. When I ran a remote MRI scan on the rodents, their brainwaves indicated that of a blissful dream.

I have reason to believe that strange otherworldly energy may be supernatural in origin. As a scientist, it's inherent to denounce the existence of things like magic. Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury anymore. After scouring the internet as well, I stumbled upon several instances of absurd reality-breaking events and individuals harnessing this otherworldly power. The epicenter of these magical happenings seem to be none other than my old high school, Canterlot High.

I've sent scouts to investigate the school, but nothing's come up so far. I've kept an especially close eye on the group of girls that consistently showed up in videos capturing the supernatural events. I haven't thought to replace any of them yet, there are just too many unknown variables.

As for the boy, I've already thought everything over regarding how I should go about converting him. Judging from his memories, the parent and role model positions of his life appear to be mostly vacant. The boy doesn't even appear to have any siblings. All I need to do is fill those roles and... re-educate him while his body finishes undergoing its metamorphosis.

There is the possibility of his friends and mother somehow influencing his mind, but I doubt it'll be an issue. His mother is a dead-beat who's already been cataloged by the hivemind. She's been captured. As for his friends... there aren't many, but their presence within his psyche is strong. Perhaps I can use them as tools to speed up his progression into changeling-hood...

Friends are among the greatest assets after all.