A New Changling Queen

by Natedogg2006

Chapters

Changeling Queen
Genocide
Love Bomb
Pain, Regret, and Caring
Civility
The Changeling Way
Cultural Exchange
Going to the Court House
Negotiations: Bad Weather Forecast
Negotiations: Fashionably Responsible
Interlude: Risotto
Negotiations: Retail Hell
Come Alone
Negotiations: Catnip for Changelings

Changeling Queen

Twilight's hindlegs quivered before giving out under her. The cold stone-like floor on her flanks didn't register as her brain flatlined. The implications of what she'd just heard refused to solidify as reality in her mind. After some time she finally managed to articulate a thought.

"WHAT???!!! WHAT THE HECK DID YOU JUST CALL ME!!!???"

"GAAAAAH!!!!!" Chrysalis raised a hoof, bringing it down on the throne. Most of the foreleg rest she aimed at exploded out, spraying the guards on either side with shrapnel. They didn't move at all. "How was I defeated by the likes of.... GAAAAH!!!!! Changeling biology is absolute, but I swear I WILL NEVER CALL YOU MY QUEEN!!!"

"Why would you call me your queen? I'm a Princess of Equestria, I'm not a Changeling Queen."

Chrysalis turned back on Twilight, stepping towards her again. "You don't have a say in the matter you path..."

Chrysalis now reached out, as though to grab Twilight. Still in her stupor, Twilight didn't react, but the changeling couldn't bring herself to lay her hooves on her anyway. "...Princess." She forced the word out as though it was painful to her. "Changelings will only, can only, follow the mightiest ruler. The moment you bested me, you became a Changeling Queen. And I am now meant for nothing but to be a brood queen, to be bred to death for the benefit of the new queen." She began to pace back and forth. "But of course a pony would never do that. Pony society would never allow for the ways of the Changelings, and without a proper Queen, they will end."

Twilight finally managed to stand again, deciding on what was going on. "You can't fool me Chrysalis. I don't know what you're trying but it won't work. I wasn't even the one who beat you, it was Shiny's magic that forced you all out of Canterlot."

"A Changelings pride, your highness," Chrysalis shot back, "is in their disguise. If the day had been a victory it would have been fine. But not only did you manage to out me, you put a stop to my plans as well. You saw through me, you escaped my trap, you freed that stallion. YOU defeated me." The tightness of her jaw as she forced out the last sentence looked like she might break her teeth at any moment.

"What is this about Chrysalis? Trust me when I say that I would love it if Changelings and ponies could get along. But trying to trick me into making them citizens while you are still technically a hostile unknown power isn't the way to do it. Stop all the show and we can negotiate for peace." Twilight managed to fight back the cringe as she stood tall against the Changeling Queen. She hadn't meant to use that word again.

And it seemed to set the queen off even worse than any time before. Chrysalis seemed to want to outdo the crater that Twilight had caused as she ceased her pacing and wheeled up on her hindlegs. She slammed her forelegs into the ground with force. "Do you think for a second I would demean myself like this?" The hole she made wasn't to scale with Twilight's, a fact that she seemed to angerly sneer at. "We are predators, unlike you ponies. We hunt in the shadows and take what we want. I'd sooner lead my children into a suicide battle than beg for leniency."

At that Twilight's confidence wavered again. "Beg?"

Chrysalis growled deep in her throat. "Yes," she spat the word. "Isn't it plainly obvious that this was my intention. I would normally never deign to stoop so low as to ask a pony for anything.... but my duty is to my hive."

Twilight didn't seem convinced. "What you've been doing until now is far from begging. You're still acting hostile, and I'm in the heart of your hive. There's no way I'm going to let my guard down just because you're playing against my expectations."

Twilight managed to keep most of the shock off of her face as Chrysalis was suddenly hissing right in front of her. Yet it seemed there was a barrier the queen couldn't pass no matter her fury. "Yes! This is MY hive! I am the most dominant Queen in changeling history!" Chrysalis shouted in multiple voices as her anger had obviously reached a breaking point. "There aren't any other hives left that can possibly continue the species because I dominated all but the most insignificant and made them all my children. This is MY hive Twilight Sparkle."

Chrysalis raised a hoof to strike. Twilight skittered back immediately, horn flaring as a series of protective spells she'd memorized before coming here began to simulcast around her. And yet, she stopped. She watched in confusion as the mad queen seemed to struggle to move her own foreleg. She forced with what seemed to be all her might, looking as though she might pull her own shoulder out of alignment with her effort.

"GAAAAAH!!!!!" Chrysalis finally pulled away, slamming her hoof to the floor instead. She panted with her exertion, yet she still shouted at Twilight again. "You think I have fallen so low as to forget my pride as a queen. If you still need proof of the situation you find yourself in, Princess, here it is." She turned so she could gesture to the guardling to the right of her shattered throne. "S-02, KILL THE PONY!"

Twilight's spells flickered to life again, and again she paused. She'd been keeping an eye on both of the guards, as well as an ear on the ones that had let her in. They hadn't moved, even a little bit. One might think... no, their chests still moved with breath, and yet even after the order that was still the only movement they made.

"S-01," Chrysalis gestured to the other. "Execute directive 3. You know the order, in case of invasion, eliminate all non-changelings that enter the throne room." Chrysalis's shoulders seemed to slump. Her voice seemed to soften. "Either of you, step to your right." She stepped over to one, wincing as she noticed a thick fluid starting to flow out onto their chitinous outer shells. Apparently some chunks of the throne had dug into them more deeply than she had anticipated in her rage. "Go treat your injuries," she commanded again, her voice lowering even more. "Speak to me."

Twilight only watched as Chrysalis went between the two of them, seeming to be checking their injuries. Twilight knew that ponykind had had very little success documenting anything about how changeling society worked. But one thing she did know, an order from their Queen was absolute to any drone. She tried to find a reasonable solution to the problem as she heard a heavy sigh come from the ignored queen.

"Give them an order. It can be anything." She faced Twilight, sitting on the floor in front of the destroyed throne. "We have pony food here for those we abduct, some of fine quality. Ask them to bring you some." She paused as her head fell back, her eyes closing as she took a deep breath. "You may instruct them to kill me. Without hesitation they will rip me limb from limb. What is your desire, Princess?"

Twilight had run through every idea she could conceive of as to what Chrysalis might be planning. There was nothing about the situation that gave her an advantage. There was only one option left, and as a mare of science she had to at least test.

Princess Twilight Sparkle silently cleared her throat so her words would come out clear. "S-01, S-02." Her breath stopped. For the first time since entering the room, the two moved. Two sets of seemingly blank, pale blue eyes were now trained on her. She let her breath escape slowly and decided to approach the two. She kept a wary eye on Chrysalis who's flowing, almost spider web like hair nearly reached the ground as she continued breathing softly with her chin in the air and eyes still closed.

S-01 and S-02 tracked her movement as she went up to each in turn. They made no move besides that. A-01 had been on the side where Chrysalis had smashed the throne. Whatever it had been made of Twilight was now at least certain it wasn't volcanic glass. The places where it broke through their chitin looked like they were in bad shape as whatever it was seemed to be melting as it mixed with their blood. And Twilight had to suppress a shudder when she realized that blood was green. Despite this, Twilight knew they needed attention.

"The two of you should go get your wounds treated." It was the only thing that felt right to say.

Both changelings broke their positions, lifting a foreleg to their chests in unison. "Thank you, my Queen."

Author's Note

Finding the balance of what autonomy the changeling will have in the story is going to be a challenge. I prefer them to have some personality and autonomy, but you'd story also hinges on them being completely subservient on some level.

Genocide

Twilight managed to keep her breathing steady even as she felt like her eyes might fall from her head. She watched with wrapped attention as both guards turned and left through a perfectly disguised door behind the throne.

Chrysalis hadn't moved either. The anger that had been sustaining her for longer than she cared to remember at this point seemed to have finally burned itself out. With eyes still closed she spoke the calmest words she had throughout the exchange.

"Changelings feed on love, so we have empathic tendencies by nature. So no matter how hard you try to hide it I know you are moments away from a full blown panic attack. If it gets this over with faster I wholeheartedly encourage you to proceed."

Twilight seemed to remember her situation. She did her best to relax her posture as she turned back to the queen.

Her fellow queen.

"This, is real... isn't it." She didn't need Chrysalis to answer the question, something the changeling seemed to understand.

"You have no idea what it feels like for the first words I've heard from my children outside of regularly scheduled reports from the hivemind in months, was addressed to a pony." She still didn't move or even open her eyes.

"I... I'm sorry. I can't imagine how you feel ab..."

"I neither need nor want your pity you..." She finally made a move, her face scrunching in discontent as she turned away from Twilight. "Ponies, ponies are so infuriating. Why do they not understand that they are just prey." She finally opened her eyes, looking to Twilight with a much more relaxed posture as her multifaceted voice seemed much more in tune as she spoke now. "My extermination is imminent, this I know. But before you breed me to death I only ask that you take on your responsibility as a queen. If you do not support m... my....."

Twilight felt herself hold her breath. She definitely heard one of Chrysalis's teeth crack as her jaw clenched harder. The Queen took a few heaving breaths before speaking again. "....You're hive, then changelings are doomed as a species."

Twilight took a few moments. She was certain now that this was real, so she knew what she said next would carry a lot of weight. She channeled her considerable intellect into what she hoped would be a meaningful response. "Chrysalis, the way you've been speaking... Are you bound by your biology as well?"

Chrysalis growled in her alien voice before responding. "As a queen I possess more autonomy, but in many ways changeling biology is even more ingrained in me than in any drone."

"So, have you been fighting your own body against the urge to insult or even attack me this whole time?"

Chrysalis's face tightened as if she smelled something awful. Her eyes clenched shut and her face turned away as if she was attempting to address anyone other than Twilight. "A Changeling of lower rank may never speak or act against the will of their superior. That is the way of the hive, all is done by the will of the queen."

Twilight took another moment, deeply considering her next action. She decided. "Chrysalis." The Changeling actually looked to the pony, showing some interest in what she might be thinking. "My order... is that you may speak to me as an equal."

Chrysalis didn't manage to keep the look of shock off of her face. Genuine confusion overtook her features, but only for a brief moment. Her scowl returned as she shouted. "Equal, a pathetic pony like you thinks they are my equal. If I had my way..."

"No shouting please."

Chrysalis paused only briefly, taking another angry breath before continuing more quietly. "If I had my way, you'd be in a pod. You and the rest of your friends. Ponies are food, and one such as you has no hope of properly running my hive. So before you do what you must do, I must do what I must do and try to secure the future of my race."

Twilight stared at Chrysalis for several moments causing some confusion from the changeling. She glared back until Twilight finally spoke. "Is there any way I can fully trust what you're saying?"

Chrysalis growled before once again her multifaceted voice filled the room as much as she could without shouting. "Previously if I were lying to you you'd never know it. I am a master of stealth and deception. But I have no way of defying you at this point. If you want the truth, you only need to ask for it. How do you not understand this yet you frustrating..."

Twilight raised her hoof, causing Chrysalis to stop abruptly despite how much further she seemed to want to go. Realizing what she was doing Twilight dropped her hoof. The burden of the hush seemed to drop from Chrysalis, but she seemed more content to glare.

"Sorry, you can still talk to me as an equal. And freely if you'd like." Chrysalis glared harder. "Just try to keep it civil."

"It matters not, princess," the queen nearly spat the word. "My loyalty is not my own to give. I will defy you as much as I can if you do not do right by the changeling race. But you bested me, so you may do as you wish."

"That's good to hear." Chrysalis glared harder. Twilight waved a hoof to clear her last words. "Not like that. The compelled loyalty thing I have to address at some point, but I'm honestly happy to hear what a devoted leader you are."

"And why is that?" Chrysalis asked this through a clenched jaw.

For the first time since coming on this trip Twilight felt a sense of relief. A smile broke onto her face. "Because that's plenty to work with."

Chrysalis was somehow caught off guard as the mare she regarded as an enemy suddenly lunged forward. However, unlike any attack she might have seen coming, she suddenly felt the overly soft feel of pony fur wrapping around her shoulders.

The moment Chrysalis realized she was being hugged she jolted in shock. She couldn't force Twilight away, but she slipped from her grasp well enough. She backed away quickly, assuming a low stance and hissing.

"What are you playing at, pony?" Chrysalis demanded. Instinctively she tried to reach out to her hive for support, but winced from her defensive position as she felt an all too familiar feeling. She hissed again as the pony princesses sudden shock was replaced almost instantly by another smile.

"It's ok Chrysalis. We don't have to be friends yet."

"If you think you'll get me into your friendship cult I'll tell you right now, I'd rather be dead." She screeched the words, several tones of her voice breaking slightly.

"Chrysalis, you have nothing to fear. Your changelings are going to be just fine. You have my word as a Princess of Equestria that neither you or your hive will come to any harm."

Chrysalis straightened from her defensive position to once again glare at Twilight. "I already know at least part of that is a lie. But I will accept it if you will take the steps necessary to save m...my changelings."

Twilight smiled at the apparent concession of the fellow queen. "I'm going to head back to Canterlot to make preparations. If everything goes as I hope it will, I'll be back within a few weeks."

Twilight was surprised at the reaction that caused in Chrysalis. All the anger she'd been showing this whole time seemed to vanish as the normally proud changeling queen seemed to let a long held breath escape her. She then gently allowed her legs to relax and take a comfortable seat on the ground where she was. "And just as I'd assumed, both parts of your presumed promise were a lie."

Despite the number of times Chrysalis had nearly attacked her since she'd entered this room, this was the first thing to truly make her concerned. Chrysalis, looked defeated. "What... what's wrong Chrysalis? I'm not trying to do anything to hurt you."

"You won't be hurting me, your Highness. What you're doing is genocide." She didn't betray any emotion at the statement.

".....Chrysalis!!!! What are you talking about?"

"I told you already, pony. If I had any other alternative I would have never stooped so low as to beg for your help. I've done all I can to preserve m.. my changelings as long as I can. If you leave this hive today without doing something for m...my..... Your changelings, then you will return to a dead hive full of empty husks.

Love Bomb

Twilight stared. She wasn't sure how long she stood without blinking, but her eyes felt dry when she finally managed to process information again. She jumped forward, grabbing her shoulders and shaking the queen. She didn't respond.

"What are you talking about Chrysalis? What's happening to the changlings?" Twilight's eyes went wide as she finally got a close look at the mare in the dim glow of the changeling tourches. Her horn flared and a massive ball of light shot to the ceiling of the room. In the now blaring brightness of her magic she could see the changes in the once threatening tyrant. Though she'd always been full of holes, if Twilight could remember the holes were now much more pronounced. There were also more of them. Her chitin seemed dull and was beginning to crack at the edges of the plates. Her face was sunken, her eyes were dull. The situation was obvious to Twilight in that moment as the magic of her flare dimmed away.

Twilight reeled back in horror. "You're dying."

"We're all dying, your highness. Why do you think g-01 and g-02 struggled so much with the door. It is literally their only job, yet I could feel their strain through the hive mind."

"Chrysalis, tell me what's wrong. Tell me how to save them. That's an order from your queen."

Some life came back to Chrysalis's voice as she sneered her reply. "They have to feed, obviously."

"Why can't they feed now?"

The emotion drained from Chrysalis again. "Because I was too ambitious. I took too much of the hive with me to conquer Canterlot, because I was so sure of my victory. After the defeat, without orders and with no queen to give them any, they fell back into standby. They all stand ready for orders in their quarters. Except those who were left on sentry duty, they've been left out in the elements all this time, unable to even take a break. I've given all I can of my own love to sustain them, but it won't be enough for much longer."

"So we just need to give them some love and they'll be fine?"

Chrysalis managed a small smug smile at this. "Indeed. All you have to do, oh great princess of friendship, is give the hive an order to go feed on a nearby settlement of ponies. Tell them to feed to their hearts content, and they'll be fine. The ponies there will even be ok, eventually."

"I can't possibly give that order."

"Than their lives, and mine, are on your head." She scoffed in mild amusement at Twilight's distress. "Unless you secretly brought along that troublesome princess of love. I don't think you'd find a concentrated source of love large enough otherwise."

Chrysalis felt a maelstrom of emotions fly through Twilight's mind. To her senses for feelings, it was an almost sickening mix of flavors as the pony princess found herself between a rock and a hard place. The changling queen had played her last gambit. She knew a pony, at least this pony, would be too sentimental to let all the changlings die. Hopefully breaking to the pressure would force her to act like a true changling queen. If she saw that changlings needed to steal love to survive, maybe her changlings had a real chance.

She wasn't sure at this moment though, the queen had never felt such frantic emotions. Normally, she had a fair bit of insight on a creature based on how their feelings tasted. But if she tried to guess the princesses next actions based on her emotions at the current moment, she seemed just as likely to break down and start crying as she was to suddenly attack and strangle her.

Then something happened. The torrent of emotions coming from Twilight seemed to even out. Despite how chaotic her mind obviously was, the pony seemed to be trying to physically wrangle the tempest. The indistinct feelings seemed to blend together, but didn't taint one another. Chrysalis unconsciously tilted her head in curiosity. Whatever mental fortitude the pony before her was capable of, it must have been something impressive. A clarity seemed to start to settle into Twilight's mind, her emotions forming an almost rainbow like uniformity. It created a feeling of resolve and satisfaction that felt almost as pure as love to the changling queen. She unconsciously found herself licking her lips.

"You've been sustaining the hive this whole time by yourself, so that means if I can get you enough love you can save the whole hive on your own. Right?"

Chrysalis was intrigued. She found herself wanting to tell the truth without compulsion if only to try to figure out what the mare was thinking. "A, proper, changling queen gives her hive love naturally. All is done by the will of the queen, because the Queens love is the purest love. But even if I sucked you dry it would not sustain the hive even a day longer. Unless you want us to starve, you have to make a hard choice."

"I just need some more information. Can any kind of love sustain changlings, or does it have to be romantic love?" Twilight asked this in earnest.

"In truth, we can consume any emotion. However other emotions will not sustain us." The flow of Twilight's emotions fluctuated a little with that statement. Apparently Chrysalis had said something the princess didn't like. She could leave her explanation there, but the affect it brought to Twilight's emotions left a bad taste in her mouth. "Emotions are spectrums though, and love is no different. Romantic love is the most... the pony equivalent would probably be nutritious, but other forms work as well."

The clear emotion returned, even stronger than before. Twilight smiled. "That's great." As naturally as can be, she turned to the door she'd come in by. "G-01, G-02, would you please open the doors."

Chrysalis decided to follow as Twilight gestured to the queen. "I don't know what you think you've come up with, but you're grasping at straws. You need to step up and be a queen if you want to make a difference."

Twilight's now chipper mood didn't seem to falter. It would have irritated Chrysalis were she not resisting the urge to snack on it. "You can still fly right?" She asked as she started leading the way back through the hive the way she came.

"Of course I can, I am a queen. I will fight my hardest to the last." The proud statement still didn't disturb the pony.

"Great, let's go. The faster the better. Through the air it shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

Chrysalis eyed her suspiciously as she allowed her to lead the way. Before long they found their way to the surface. Twilight flexed her wings some before indicating she was ready. "What are you playing at pony?"

"Nothing you have to worry about. I just happen to know where there's a ready source of love close by." Twilight took to the air. The Queens wings buzzed to life and she followed close behind.

While her access to the changling hive mind was limited since her defeat, she could still hear reports from scouts around the badlands who were still keeping watch for all these long months. Thus she knew already what was in the direction they were heading. She was correct as she noticed the smoke from a small campfire burning in a clearing just ahead of them. Four ponies sat around it while a fifth was in a tree, watching the sky.

The blue pegasus there saw them immediately and looked like she began shouting things to the others. They immediately seemed to jump into some kind of formation as they approached.

Twilight landed in front of one of them, Applejack, if Chrysalis remembered correctly. She looked between the assembled ponies as Chrysalis landed behind her. The rest didn't seem to break their focus on Twilight as she finally spoke. "It's a gamma 5A formation."

Applejack nodded slightly. "Alright then, go ahead."

Twilight nodded as well, stepping forward as if she was going to stand between the rest of her friends. Chrysalis stayed where she was, curious of what was going on. She managed to keep the shock off her face when the earth pony suddenly reared up and struck out hard with her hindlegs as Twilight was passing.

Struck hard, Twilight went sailing into a nearby tree. She was stunned for a time, but managed to shake it off. "Did you really have to kick me so hard?"

"Sorry Twi, but you told us to be sure." She smiled as she went to help her up.

Twilight smiled as well. "Yeah, so phase two."

So far Chrysalis was impressed. She doubted even she would have stayed in disguise in that situation.

Rarity sauntered up, eyeing Twilight up and down. "Ok Twilight, if you are Twilight. How many stars were on the gala dress I made you last year?"

"None. The only gala dress you made me with stars was the first one. That had 25, including the ones on the shoes which you made very clear was part of the dress."

Rarity smiled a bit at that. "Who was at your first slumber party?"

Twilight smiled at the question. "I didn't have my first slumber party until I moved to Ponyville. You and Applejack were there, and you bickered most of the night."

Chrysalis wasn't sure what a slumber party was, nor why bickering at one would be a memory that made them laugh together about the experience. Chrysalis was interpreting that there were layers to whatever they were doing that went beyond the questions being asked.

"Ok, last question." Twilight nodded her assent. "What is my little sister's name?"

"Applebloom", Twilight confidently declared.

Even though Chrysalis hadn't given much time to look into the element bearers, that seemed off even to her. She watched the earth pony who had kicked Twilight before. If she was Applejack, surely her sibling must be Applebloom. Yet Twilight wasn't kicked again.

The still cautious ponies maintained where they stood, only nodding in what seemed to be a practiced way. Rarity went back to her place while the yellow pegasus now stepped forward. "Ok, last test and we'll trust that it's really you and that you're ok."

Fluttershy, by Chrysalis's memory, now faced Twilight and gave her what seemed to be a piercing stare. However that seemed tame compared to what she did next. Raising a foreleg to Twilight's face found the princess face to face, with a harshly glaring rabbit.

Animals could always be a problem for disguised changlings, as even the best changling couldn't perfectly match smells. It was always a great benefit that they couldn't communicate directly with ponies, otherwise any pony with a pet would be a deal breaker. However, as the bunny glared he seemed to be chittering things back to the pegasus. Without any regard for her personal space, the bunny now hopped onto Twilight and aggressively inspected her. This led to him even diving below her mane. A few moments later he emerged, looking much less hostile. Some more chittering to Fluttershy, and the pegasus suddenly lunged forward.

"Thank goodness you're safe Twilight." Remembering the situation though, she backed away from the sudden hug, taking the bunny with her. "But what's going on?"

They all now turned on Chrysalis. She had to admit the lack of fear shown was impressive, but obviously Chrysalis knew better.

"You're all very anxious at the moment." She stared at Fluttershy specifically. "One of you is so scared you're barely keeping yourself from shaking." She smiled a sinister smile when that made the pegasus gulp. However the queen was caught off guard when the bunny from before suddenly hopped on top of the mares head, and threw a carrot at her. Where he got the carrot she did not know, but she did know she couldn't let the insult stand when it bounced harmlessly off her muzzle. "How dare you, you lowely creature..."

"Chrysalis! No malicious magic and no causing harm to anypony or any creature."

Twilight shouted the command. Chrysalis cursed under her breath as her magic cut off almost without her even noticing. "You expect me to endure such disrespect. No matter how far I've fallen I am still a queen."

"You're arguing with a rabbit." Twilight seemed exasperated by this. Seeing all beings as lesser to changelings, Chrysalis obviously didn't see how an insult from him was lesser than any insult she wouldn't usually allow. Twilight seemed to understand this failure in translation. "Fluttershy, Chrysalis isn't going to do any harm, can you please get angel bunny to apologize?"

Fluttershy looked shocked at what had just transpired. Hesitantly she bent down low to where Chrysalis now noticed the bunny had ended up, with the mare stepping on his tail as if holding him back.

"Now Angel, I'm not sure what's going on but it is still not ok to throw things." The rabbit chittered in what sounded like irritation. "I was a little scared and I'm happy that you would defend me, but you still need to apologize." The chittering now sounded like resignation as the bunny hung its head. "He says he's sorry. And he really means it."

Chrysalis growled. "If I could shout right now I would."

Twilight looked sympathetic, which only made Chrysalis angrier. "I know this must be stressful, but I just need to explain some things and then we can all help you."

"Help her, why the heck would we help her? Are we sure Twilight's not being mind controlled?" The Rainbow one now stepped forward, eyeing Chrysalis suspiciously.

Applejack seemed to consider. "She passed all the tests, even the trick ones. I think we just need to hear this out y'all."
The rest of the ponies accepted this with varying degrees of hesitation.

Twilight seemed to sense the lowering of tension which caused her to straighten up a she cleared her voice to speak. "It's a delta- seven scenario, but with some complications."

There seemed to be some confusion among the other ponies as they looked between one another. Applejack finally responded. "Uhh, Rarity. I think that was the stuff you memorized."

Twilight looked aghast. "You should all know all the codes. What did I say about needing redundancy in the system?"

Rainbow Dash now moaned. "There were like, hundreds of scenarios Twilight. Only you could memorize all of them. What's she talking about Rarity?"

Looking only slightly abashed at their deception, Rarity cleared her throat before speaking. "The delta scenarios pertained to the situation being all clear. Number seven specifically means no threat." This suddenly made the rest of the group drop into defensive positions again. "More specifically," Rarity continued quickly, "it is the only no threat scenario that isn't a false flag."

"Which we are now going to have to find a new code for because it was never meant to be said aloud." Twilight pouted. Chrysalis was impressed. The pony princess had created a system she didn't think any changling would be able to breach. But of course that wasn't her focus right now.

As loudly and aggressively as she could, the queen spoke up. "I couldn't care less about you ponies and your futile games. I'm only interested in making sure my children can feed. So unless you're going to let me drain your friends dry I would like to know what the plan here is, princess."

Twilight stopped her pouting immediately, refocusing on Chrysalis. "We've got everything we need, I just know they won't agree with it unless they are totally sure I'm not a changling or being mind controlled." She turned back to her friends, determined. "This will sound crazy, but it is very important that we give Chrysalis as much love as we can." Hooves impacted Twilight's side and she flew into the tree again. "Yes, very good. I told you to do that if I said anything like that as well." She said this while slowly picking herself up. The other ponies shared another glance between Twilight and Chrysalis. "But I'm still not a changling and I'm still serious."

"Ok," replied Applejack. "We still believe you, but we still don't understand. They're had better be a dang good reason if you expect us to willingly help."

There were nods of agreement around. Twilight steadied herself. "Because if we don't help, all the changlings are going to die and it will be my fault."

There was a tense pause.

"I'd call that a dang good reason. What's the plan Twilight?" Applejack said this with a definite nod that was mirrored by the rest of the group.

"It turns out that romantic love isn't the only type of love they eat. It's the best for them, but any kind of love will do."

Determined looks became smiles of understanding. Chrysalis growled, bringing the attention back to her. "I don't know what you ponies think is going to happen here, but your princess is grabbing at straws. Sucking you all dry will only keep the hive alive a few more hours. If you really want to help, convince her to let the hive go feed on a nearby town."

Despite the queen's outburst, the ponies kept smiling. Twilight decided to respond. "Chrysalis, since ponies and changlings are going to be coexisting after this, I think it's ok to let you in on something about how ponies work."

It didn't escape the lone changling's attention that the ponies now began to surround her. "What do you think you're playing at?" She sneered as she lowered herself to be ready for a fight.

The ponies only seemed to smile wider at this. Twilight, right in front of her, replied. "We won't hurt you Chrysalis, so just let us do this."

Chrysalis felt her posture relax against her will. She held her sneer as best she could as she protested again. "You're all fools if you think anything but the changling way is going to work."

"This is the pony way Chrysalis. And the pony way, is that we're stronger together." Her smile now became sickingly sweet. "Group hug girls."

Chrysalis was unable to resist as an unfamiliar softness pressed in on her from all sides. As alien as the feeling was, Chrysalis did feel a sudden relief as she was able to start feeding on a plentiful source of love. She could concede that it was more love than she had anticipated, but she knew it couldn't be enough.

But compelled by her biology, she kept feeding. And feeding.... And feeding more.

"What is this? What's going on?" She asked this while her body began to tense at the unending stream of love.

"It's ok Chrysalis. We've got you." Twilight whispered this somewhere close to her ear.

"That's not... what..." Her body began to shake as her back began to arch against her will. "It's... too much..... I can't." She wasn't able to finish the thought as a sudden surge hit her. All at once she felt her own voice leaving her without her knowledge as her vision went white and her body went slack.

Pain, Regret, and Caring

Chrysalis was suddenly aware that she was aware. That was about all her mind could gather at the moment. Nothing filled her thoughts except the realization that she was thinking them. But thinking meant she was there, even if she didn't know yet what being there meant.

But trying to figure that out was at least giving her something to do, which she had a vague feeling she hadn't been doing for a while. The idea of doing something though reminded her that there was more than thoughts. She remembered that she was physical, and that she could move. She attempted to do so.

She then remembered what pain was.

Chrysalis heard a thrum of anguish escape her throat as the feeling of every muscle in her body suddenly screaming made her very aware that it existed. Memories finally came flooding back to her as her eyes shot open and she attempted to assess her surroundings.

The place she found herself was completely unfamiliar to her, but she imagined that her thoughts were probably not all in order quite yet. She seemed to be in a small bedroom of a pony design, all made of wood. As perplexing as that was, it was far from the biggest question on her mind at the moment.

"Why... am I alive?"

There was a sound that made her roll her head to the side from where she lay. This made another shot of pain go through her. From next to what seemed to be a modest bed where she was resting, a door opened. From the other side there was what appeared to be the head of a very small dragon now looking through. The door slammed back shut and Chrysalis could hear the scampering of claws and sudden slightly panicked yelling.

"Twilight, she's awake!"

That name struck a chord in her still struggling mind. She remembered what anger was, and that gave her the resolve to attempt to forget her pain. In her mind she put together what she believed was enough information about what must have happened to her.

She had an opportunity. It was entirely possible her changelings were still alive and probably well fed at this moment. Though she still couldn't command them, she would still be able to retreat back to her hive and try to come up with a plan.

'All I have to do is find a way to best that pony, then my hive will be mine again.'

It was that thought that gave her the resolve to try to push herself from the bed. Her resolve was short lived however as the pain that was barely manageable when she was lying still seemed to multiply many times over the second she moved. She pushed through the agony and attempted to jump from the bed and make a break for the window on the opposite side from the door. She only managed to end up tangled in the blankets that had been covering her, on the floor, and hissing in pain.

"No!" She tried to force her limbs to move. She had to take this opportunity, and tried her best to push past her own body telling her to stay. The hiss of pain became one of anger when a flash of light appeared from the other side of the bed.

"Chrysalis, stop!"

The voice was unmistakable, and thus she was compelled to stop her attempts to flee. Chrysalis attempted to turn on her captor, hoping still to find a way out of the situation. Her body still felt as stiff as death though and she failed the attempt.

"Chrysalis .... lay still, that's an order." Chrysalis growled as her body complied. "I don't want to have to force you to do anything, but if you flail around like that you're going to hurt yourself worse."

Chrysalis sneered as best she could as a lavender magical aura suddenly surrounded her. That aura then proceeded to gently lift her back onto the bed and cover her with the blankets that had partially thwarted her escape attempt.

"There. You can move around if you want to, just don't get out of bed yet." Chrysalis felt the pony emotion of sympathy coming from Twilight, and she hated its sickly sweet taste.

Chrysalis felt her body relax on its own, Twilight's order allowing her movement again. She took advantage of this to turn and glare at Twilight. This caused a thrum of pain to come from her throat again, which in turn made more sympathy come from Twilight.

"Don't you pity me, pony," Chrysalis spat. "If you wish to torture me before you kill me you'll draw no satisfaction from it. I am a queen and I will not be broken."

"You're not being tortured. You're only still in pain because I didn't know what I could do as far as treating you. Pain medication might react badly with your biology and kill you. I'm also not the best with healing magic and without at least a general understanding of your biology I wouldn't want to risk..."

"Don't think me so weak either," Chrysalis cut in. "This pain is nothing..." She had to stop to suppress the thrumming in her throat again as she attempted to raise a hoof menacingly at Twilight. "I doubt anything for a pony would be sufficient to treat a changeling, much less harm them." Chrysalis lowered her hoof slowly and carefully, forcing herself not to show her pain.

More sympathy came from Twilight. Chrysalis felt the urge to feed off of it despite its lack of nutrition. "You seem like you're in so much pain right now. Is there anything I can do?"

"I am a queen," Chrysalis sneered.
"Whatever way you tried to end me I'll recover from in no time. You should have killed me while you had the chance." She was helpless right now, but she knew she couldn't let Twilight know that.

"How long is it going to take you to recover if you consider a steady source of nutrition? Answer me truthfully." Why did Twilight's emotions taste like genuine concern, and why did it again make the changeling feel like consuming them. Chrysalis once again considered escape, but knew she had no choice.

"I'm not sure of the extent of my injuries, but my metabolism is high enough to recover from even near death in about two weeks." Chrysalis didn't like giving information to an enemy, but at least this was something that might discourage ponies from challenging changelings in the future. Once she was free and had her hive back.

"That's great," Twilight exclaimed, apparently not realizing her own inferiority at this news. "Would running a medical diagnostic spell on you work or would your biology be too different from a pony?"

"Don't think your pony magic can give you any advantage against me," Chrysalis hissed.

"Well if you're not afraid of my magic then you won't mind me using the spell, right?" Chrysalis could now confirm that she knew what smug tasted like. Like most pony emotions it was almost too sweet for her liking.

Chrysalis thrummed with anger. "It's not as though I could refuse."

Twilight seemed apprehensive, but her horn did begin to glow. "I don't want to force anything onto you, but I do want to make sure you're ok." The Alicorn's magic began to wrap around Chrysalis. It made her chitin crawl. After a few moments a look of distress came over Twilight again.

Chrysalis held back her initial reaction to this, but still wanted answers. "What is it you think you've found pony?"

Apparently remembering once again that the creature before her could sense her emotions, Twilight seemed to try to reel them back some. "Oh no, don't worry. It's nothing too bad. None of the damage seems like it will be permanent. Like I said, I'm not the best with medical magic, but from what I can tell you seem to be suffering from massive overexertion. It's just... I can tell just how much pain you must be in right now."

"Don't pity me," Chrysalis sneered.

"Stop snapping at.... " Twilight paused, taking a deep breath before she continued. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap, I'm just concerned and you're not exactly being cooperative. I'm not going to give you an order, but you don't need to be so on guard and hostile right now. Changelings might not be the same as ponies, but I'm still sure stress will not help you recover."

"I am in the presence of my worst enemy, what would you have me do? Welcome your attack as though...." Chrysalis stopped as another magical aura surrounded her. She winced as she hadn't been expecting an attack quite yet. Twilight's emotions had slipped, but she didn't think they were that powerful at the moment. She wasn't angry, but the feelings had been building in that direction.

Chrysalis was surprised when the aura cut off without any pain being administered. In fact, the pain seemed to have alleviated significantly.

"I'm sure I'm going to have to say this a lot in the coming weeks, but I am not your enemy. I don't care what you've done in the past to survive. If you're no longer a threat to those I care about, then I am going to try my best to make you an ally."

Chrysalis was taken aback, but found her anger again in a moment. "You think you can be an ally to changelings." She attempted to shout this, but her body still compelled her to lower volumes. Her voice splintered some as she sat up as best she could with her new range of motion. "You have no idea what it means to be a changeling if you think that's true. My last goal as a true changeling queen is to do all I can to save my hive. Something that's impossible if you are to take care of them."

Twilight didn't back down from the tirade. She met anger with anger, and Chrysalis could feel them clash in the air. "If that's true, why haven't you asked me about them since you've been up?"

Chrysalis felt her own emotions slip as a retort to that caught in her throat. In her confusion she hadn't thought to check on her hive. In her anger she'd done the same. She tried to save face in this moment of oversight.

"I am a queen, I know that my hive is alive."

"You can sense the hive, but you can't interact with it. For all you know I could be working them all to death in gem mines or using them as military training fodder." The look of resolve on Twilight's face gave Chrysalis pause.

Chrysalis forced her breathing to stay even. Her mind raced as Twilight's aura of anger seemed to beat back her own in midair. "I know a pathetic pony like you would never have the carapace for such an..."

"And what if I did?" Twilight now stood with her forelegs up on the bed, towering over the bedridden queen. "If you still think of us as enemies, then what would you do in this situation?" She bent low almost bringing their noses together as Twilight glared more deeply than any pony Chrysalis had ever seen. "Tell me, in great detail. That's an order."

Chrysalis felt an unfamiliar chill run down her back, the reason for which she couldn't identify. She chose to ignore it though as she quickly compiled her thoughts. "You'd be dead." She was surprised that this didn't bring any reaction to the princess. The chill crept back slightly. "All of those troublesome element bearers too." That did get a reaction, Twilight's glare deepening. "I've had enough experience with those of your ilk that I wouldn't let threats like that stick around to foil me again. I'd have then kidnapped an entire town and disappeared. I'd spend years building up my forces, and come back to take my revenge on the rest of your race."

"That's what you expect of an enemy, huh?" What happened next did shock Chrysalis. "If that's the case, I guess I'll let you see for yourself what I've done." She smugly drew away, stepping back down off the bed and sitting comfortably. "I give you full access to communicate with the hive mind, though no ability to give orders through it."

Chrysalis's breath caught at the sudden sensation. All at once a wave hit her. Her mind opened up, and for the first time since her defeat she heard the unfiltered voice of her children at the edge of her senses.

"I should apologize. I've been talking with some of the changelings, trying to learn about them, and you. I found out little bits of how the hive mind works, and that since you didn't have any formal standing anymore, you likely couldn't communicate with any of them. And also," Twilight seemed to hesitate just a little, "that not being able to hear the hive mind was likely torture to a changeling. I'm sorry I didn't realize sooner. I'm also sorry about overwhelming you. You were starving and we dumped so much on you at once. It's no wonder you're in so much pain."

Chrysalis would have normally snapped at the obvious sympathy being shown to her. Instead, she closed her eyes as she let the sensations wash over her. Though it was only moments, her instincts stretched the time as she was able to check on her hive for the first time in months.

"They're, all there. They're all safe, and I can hear them." For the first time Twilight had heard it when she wasn't in disguise, Chrysalis's voice sounded almost singular in that moment. The Queen's eyes opened slowly as she turned to Twilight. "Why would you do this for me?"

"For the second time already, I'm not your enemy. Now that you're awake we can start talking about how to integrate changelings into Equestrian society."

Chrysalis scoffed at this. "Even if you're delusional enough to believe such a thing could happen, I doubt any of your fellow rulers would be so accepting."

"It might take some time, but I think I can convince them." Chrysalis rolled her eyes, then tried to go back to listening to the hive mind. "Spike should have sent a letter to Celestia explaining what's happening. If everything goes like I'm hoping, we should..."

"You did what!?" Chrysalis pulled herself from her thoughts abruptly, her eyes going wide.

Twilight pulled away at the sudden outburst. "What? What's wrong? We'll need her help if we're..."

"You'll get me killed. Do you really think telling her that the one who defeated her in combat is hanging around her pupil will somehow endure her to me. I need to get away." She attempted to get up, but Twilight's order kept her from leaving the bed. "You need to let me run, I can't survive her in my current state."

"Chrysalis. I told you you need to relax. The princesses are all reasonable. You have nothing to f..."

Both mares jolted in shock as the exterior wall of the room was suddenly smashed. Through the rubble stood an alabaster alicorn clad in golden armor.

"Princess Celestia," Twilight stuttered, "w, what are you doing here?"

"Your letter said Chrysalis was here. Naturally I came as quickly as I could." Her voice was more menacing than either had ever heard as she materialized a massive war hammer and held it in ready position with her magic.

"Did you read the whole letter? I told you it wasn't an emergency. I gave a whole explanation of what was happening." Twilight was definitely taken aback at this. Even more so as Celestia now turned to brandish the hammer at her.

"Yes, and I'm sure Chrysalis tried her best to make you sound convincing. Rest assured, I'll undo whatever she's done to you just as soon as I'm done with...."

Both Alicorn stopped as a black figure came into both their views. Between them, Chrysalis stood, seemingly in defense of Twilight.

"What is going on here?" Celestia bellowed.

"Chrysalis, I told you to stay in bed." Twilight was shocked and concerned.

Chrysalis stood in a low fighting stance as if ready to attack the elder alicorn. However, as she spoke it was through obvious pain that showed she was in no state to do so. "Do you think I'd be defending you of my own free will?"

"Twilight! What is going on here!?" Celestia demanded again.

The changeling once again felt Twilight's chaotic emotions seemingly be physically wrangled by the mare. With sudden clarity, Twilight attempted to calm the situation as quickly as possible. "Chrysalis, why are you defending me right now? Tell me honestly, and say it so that Princess Celestia can hear you."

Chrysalis winced, lowering her gaze and attempting to address anyone but Twilight at the moment. "The duty of any, lower, changeling is the subservience to and defense of the queen. If they sense any mortal distress from their queen, it is a changeling's duty to come to their defense, no matter the circumstance."

"Do I seem like I'm in distress at this moment?" Chrysalis didn't answer, she only looked up to focus on the hammer twice her body length still floating menacingly above them.

Celestia seemed to be struggling with what she was seeing. Hesitantly, she took a step back. Her horn glowed brighter and both her armor and hammer popped out of existence. "I'll admit, I only skimmed the rest of the letter after learning Chrysalis had come back with you from the badlands. Forgive me Twilight, but I've been on edge since my scouts lost track of you and your friends. Please, tell me what happened. In full detail, so I know how to respond to this more properly."

Celestia's tone was measured, showing no emotion whatsoever. Even though it was off putting to Twilight, she brushed that aside knowing she had a more dire situation to deal with. "See. I was taken aback, but the princess isn't a threat. I'm safe, Chrysalis."

Chrysalis winced as she knew what was coming. Whatever the changeling equivalent of adrenaline was that currently forced her to ignore her own pain cut off abruptly. Despite knowing it would happen, Chrysalis couldn't help the thrum that escaped her throat. She crumpled to the floor as the pain she'd woken up with was now back in full force.

Almost as quickly as her injuries came back to her, they were beaten back again. She noticed a lavender aura surrounding her once more. It didn't seem to make her chitin shudder the way it had the first time as Twilight apparently cast the same pain relief spell as before upon her. She felt herself once again being gently lifted and placed on the bed.

"Please don't get out of bed again. This spell can only be cast twice a day without it being a potential health risk."

"Don't pity me, pony."

Anger attempted to flare up in Twilight's emotions. Chrysalis was puzzled as she seemed to force it back. "It's not pity. I'm showing concern to somepony who is under my care. And at some point, I'm going to get you to understand that."

"You're a fool if you think I'd ever fall for that." Chrysalis winced as her head was lifted, but she suppressed a sneer as she realized Twilight was only placing a pillow beneath it.

Chrysalis noticed Celestia approach behind Twilight. The elder princess seemed to tilt her head in confusion at the interaction. Even more so as Twilight's aura now enveloped the blankets and wrapped them around the disgraced queen with the utmost care. She fully stepped to the side to watch Twilight's face as she began to speak.

"This isn't an order, but I want you to rest. Once you are feeling better, I promise we are going to do all we can for you and your change..." A confusing swirl of emotions seemed to stop Twilight's thought. Despite this, she continued hesitantly. "For our changelings."

An emotion Chrysalis had never felt before now came from Twilight. Despite her hesitation, after getting a taste Chrysalis felt herself feeding on it more. Whatever it was, it seemed to have a remarkable calming effect on her. She felt her eyes fluttering as exhaustion caused from her pain finally caught up with her.

Celestia now stared at Twilight with undisguised scrutiny. "Twilight... are you..."

That was the last Chrysalis remembered before the most relaxing sleep she'd ever felt came over her.

Author's Note

Three hours until the date of publishing, and only now finishing the first full edit. I 100% can't guarantee the next chapter will be on time, but I'd imagine it will be easier than this chapter. This is the infamous chapter that kept me from starting this stories publication a long time ago. I just couldn't resolve the meta narrative conflict I was having with trying to write an angry Chrysalis, with a Chrysalis that is stuck in bed. More edits will come, and the name of the chapter might even be changed again. But none of that is so bad that it won't be published some time tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your amazing comments that have helped give me the creative push to continue working on this story.

Civility

"This sucks."

Chrysalis would never admit to agreeing with a pony, but she couldn't help but have a similar feeling as the colorful winged pegasus at the moment.

Twilight had given Chrysalis almost a full week to "recover her strength," as if she'd somehow become so weak since coming to this pony town. In truth, the ambient love in the area meant her strength was returning to her even more quickly than she'd estimated. Of course she wouldn't let any of these ponies know that. The less they knew the better.

But apparently enough time had passed that her captor now believed she could go ahead with the charade of trying to get her to let her guard down. Around her were those troublesome element bearers who had attempted to thwart her plans in Canterlot. Even though they hadn't been enough of a threat back then, they had proven to possess a notable level of power more recently. Six ponies in total, plus one dragon, and the four changelings Twilight had brought back with them from the hive in the badlands. Even though there was clearly some kind of spatial distortion magic being used on this library, it was still cramped.

And it sucked.

"Seriously Twi, when is Celestia going to get you your own castle. Meeting in the library like this is kinda lame." The pegasus she had confirmed to be called Rainbow Dash, Chrysalis would never understand why pony names were the way they were, whined from atop a bookshelf in order to escape the cramped floor space. It proved to be a surprisingly good enough strategy that Chrysalis had gotten Twilight to let two of her changelings up there as well. Rainbow Dash kept eyeing them cautiously.

"Castles don't just spring up out of the ground Rainbow Dash. Canterlot castle was built over the course of decades and took the combined treasuries of multiple joined tribes. I'm not going to commission one in Ponyville just because you want to have a cool place to have meetings."

The white unicorn apparently named Rarity, again with the lack of consistent reason, chimed in as she used a small folding mirror to pretend to inspect herself while watching the two changelings still on the floor with them. "As much as it pains me to say, I kind of agree with Rainbow on this one. While we don't necessarily need something quite as grand as the royal capital, a proper space to have a Friendship Council meeting would be nice. I mean, one we don't need to contend with Ponyscouts meetings for."

"We were not muscled out by them." Twilight said this in such a way that Chrysalis was sure this was not the first time this had come up. "The mayor does give us priority and we could have used the town hall community space if we'd wanted to."

"So why didn't we?" Rainbow Dash dryly cut in.

Twilight glared. "Because, due to the delicate nature of the situation, I thought it would be better to keep everything as contained as possible to avoid information leaks. We don't need Ponyville in an uproar thinking there's an invasion happening."

"It's a small town, Twi, odds are everypony already knows." Applejack stood to the side. Chrysalis could tell she was trying to watch over the whole room. Her paranoia was bitter and also tainted all other emotions in the room. That being said, it was especially odd that she'd brought a basket of fruit themed pony foods and offered them for the group, Chrysalis and her changelings included. "Apple hospitality," she had said. Knowing anything she could have tainted them with probably couldn't hurt a changeling, she'd elected to let her children partake. They seemed to like them according to chatter in the hive mind.

Twilight cleared her throat as a murmur of agreement followed the statement. "If that is the case, we'll deal with that when it comes up. For now, let's try to be civil and professional. We'll call to order this friendship council meeting." She lightly banged a heavy book against a table in absence of a gavel.

"Why are we trying to be so, 'civil and professional?' It's not like this is a real government function." Rainbow said this while attempting to get more comfortable where she lay atop the shelf.

Frustration was becoming more prominent in Twilight's emotions, souring them overall. "Because we have important guests here today and I'd LIKE IT if they got a good impression. Now, before we get started with the important stuff, is there any new business that needs to be brought up?"

Rainbow chimed in, raising a hoof as if trying to make an official motion. "I'd like to make a motion that this sucks."

"Rainbow!" The exclamation came from more than one source in the room. All silenced after what followed.

"Seconded."

All eyes turned to Chrysalis. Their confusion was a bit too tart for Chrysalis's taste, but she enjoyed it anyway.

Twilight cleared her throat once more. "Well then, I guess that makes it an official motion. I don't think we need to vote on it though. I suppose... Spike, you can put it into the minutes for the meeting." The dragon began to scribble away. Rainbow snickered from her perch.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "I don't care about any aspect of this farce. Every pony in this room is eager for something. Each has different intent based on how they feel, but I can surmise they all wish to be asking me something. Let's just get this glorified interrogation over with. It's not as if you'd need to torture me to get the truth."

Most seemed taken aback at the declaration. It was Applejack that seemed to recover first. "I can respect that. Are you planning on betraying Twilight if you get the chance."

Chrysalis scoffed. "There will be no betrayal involved. I want the best for my hive and the best thing would be for a true queen to take charge. I'll take my hive back if I get the chance and she knows it."

Twilight sighed with exhaustion, seeming to acknowledge the breakdown and embracing it. "Yes, she's told me that pretty much every time we've talked. However, much like the protocol for figuring out if I'd been replaced, I came up with a series of orders which should overlap in such a way that she can't enact any subversive actions." Chrysalis thrummed low in her throat at this.

Applejack narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Y'all say that, but how can we know this ain't a really elaborate scheme?"

Twilight sighed in exhaustion again. "Yeah, I know. I told you all what happened in the hive, but you weren't actually there for it. I'm sure I can't say it in any properly convincing way, but the moment I gave those changelings an order, I knew it was all true."

"I want to believe the changelings ain't a threat too. But you being a changeling queen is just hard to wrap my head around. Y'all aren't even a changeling."

Chrysalis was getting tired of the confused banter. "Unlike you disorganized and undisciplined ponies, changelings know their duty is the good of the hive. And the hive must be controlled by the strongest there is." She turned to glare at Twilight. "I don't know how a pathetic pony beat me, but that is the reality I'm currently dealing with. If you want proof your princess need only command."

"Wow." Rainbow now chimed in. "Is that true Twilight? Can you really command her to do anything? Ooooh, tell her to put on a frilly pink dress and skip through Ponyville."

"No!" The room seemed taken aback at the response coming from both Chrysalis and Twilight at the same time. Though Chrysalis had considerably more venom behind the word, Twilight was the one to follow up. "Both her and the other changelings are living beings. If I can help it, I'd prefer not to force their compliance. And I'm certainly not going to humiliate them for fun."

"Well how are we supposed to know for sure if you don't?" Rainbow inquired.

Twilight seemed to ponder for a moment. Her thoughts cleared somewhat, but not as much as Chrysalis had observed before. "It would be the easiest way to prove it." She turned to Chrysalis, biting her lip just a little. "Chrysalis, is it alright if I...."

"Grow a spine and do what you need to do," Chrysalis spat.

Twilight was shocked by this sudden outburst, but stabilized her emotions quickly. She seemed to settle on the best course of action within moments. "Chrysalis, tell me something you really don't want me to know."

Chrysalis twitched as her biology kicked in and she fought the words trying to come to her mouth. Everypony else in the room noticed the sudden, and violent, discomfort in her face and might have tried to inquire. But the words finally forced themselves from her mouth. "There was an error in your logic when you gave me your nonviolence orders." Chrysalis then began swearing under her breath, though to the ponies in the room it sounded like a series of hisses and clicks.

"What!? Where? How?" Twilight asked in earnest as confusion came from the others in the room.

Chrysalis growled as she responded. "You were too specific in your orders about malicious actions."

Twilight's moment of realization was a bitter emotion for Chrysalis to taste. "Oh, I think I see. I said you can't take any action with the intent of it being malicious to any creature. But you can make a malicious action as long as there's no direct intent with it. The only way I think you could use that though... is maybe setting a random trap with little to no chance of it working against anypony and just hoping for the best." Chrysalis grumbled and looked away. Twilight took this as confirmation. "Ok then. I amend that order to no intended malicious actions whatsoever, even if it has no chance of hurting anypony, any creature, as far as you can tell."

Another twitch from Chrysalis, this one more violent as her horn glowed to life. There was a sudden loud thud from somewhere in the tree house.

"...That was a good line of questioning. Thank you for that Applejack. Let's move on."

"Twilight!" Applejack exclaimed. "She set a trap for y'all in your own house. That right there should be the last straw. Lock her up and throw away the key."

"I'm actually way more concerned that that could have hurt Spike." This seemed true by a very concentrated bubble of anger Twilight seemed to be trying to keep from rising to the surface of her emotions. "But please understand that I'm trying to be very forgiving right now. I'm pretty sure the changelings don't even have a concept of ponies being able to be nice to them. She's just not that used to, positive feedback."

"Twilight, that's not really making a case as far as Applejack's lock them up idea." Rarity now chimed in. "Wouldn't it be more prudent to secure them in such a way that they can be confirmed to not be a threat, then find a way to reform them."

Twilight's emotions were a chaotic mess once again. Chrysalis cringed at the random torrent of flavors. However that clear flavor she preferred started to come back as Twilight took a series of deep breaths while extending her hoof from her chest. "Creatures can't be forced to get along. If changelings and ponies are going to get along, it needs to be mutual. We can't force changelings to be something else for us to be able to accept them."

"Why are your emotions so clear right now?" All eyes turned to Chrysalis at the question. "Normally when a creature lies it taints their emotions. How can you lie so effortlessly?"

The silence after this seemed hard for the ponies to break. It was finally Applejack that braved a response. "I think you're right, Twilight. She really can't imagine trusting us at all." She said this, before finally addressing Chrysalis neutrally. "Listen. Y'all probably don't know much about us, but everypony here represents an element of harmony."

"I don't know how that weapon works, but I doubt it will help you. Your threats are wasted." Chrysalis hissed back at her.

"Not a threat," Applejack raised her hooves placatingly. "I'm just explaining. My element is literally the element of honesty. It's not like I couldn't lie if I really needed to, but it ain't exactly natural for me. So let me just say, as the literal embodiment of honesty, that Twilight is telling the truth. Celestia knows why, but she wants to help ya'."

Chrysalis couldn't taste a lie in either Twilight or Applejack. She turned away in frustration. "You ponies make no sense. You are prey, we are predators. Peace is not an option."

"Chrysalis. If you refuse peace, then how can you see life going forward for your changelings." Rarity now, and with her the sickly sweet sympathy coming from the ponies now threatened to overwhelm Chrysalis.

"I DON'T KNOW!!!" It wasn't loud, but every voice in Chrysalis seemed to try to shout out at once. Much more calmly she continued. "I don't know. I only know the changeling way. I have to do something for my children, but at this point I can't understand what you ponies are thinking."

There was a sweet flicker of thought from Twilight before she spoke up again. "Since you already thought this was an interrogation, how about instead of a friendship council meeting, we treat this like a meet and greet?"

"A what?" Chrysalis was confused, but the emotion Twilight was giving off was keeping it from being frustrating.

"It's how ponies, creatures, that don't know each other can get to know each other. We can just exchange questions back and forth. Because we don't know how changelings think either. This will give our two species a chance to learn about each other. " Twilight suddenly seemed overjoyed by this idea. Chrysalis wasn't sure about it, but the sudden change in emotion in the room made her more prone to agreeing. She nodded her consent. Twilight clapped her hooves together in joy at this. "Does anyp... any creature want to go first?"

From a forgotten corner of the room, a yellow hoof was raised. Fluttershy seemed apprehensive, but a genuine spark of curiosity sat at the edge of her emotions. This caused Chrysalis to tilt her head in confusion, which Fluttershy seemed to consider an acknowledgment.

"I was just wondering, since you can clearly sense emotions from ponies, can you sense them in other animals too?"

Chrysalis considered how to answer. "The less... collective a species, the harder it is to sense. Wild animals rarely have much on their mind beyond survival. Ponies, cows, griffins, any species that get together for the sake of survival. You're all more, domesticated." Chrysalis could sense most of the ponies didn't like that phrasing. She continued on unhindered by this. "It makes your emotions more broad. Once the spectrums are wide enough, we changelings can sense them and feed upon them."

Fluttershy seemed disappointed by this. "Ah, that's too bad."

"Can you really communicate with wild animals on a one to one level?" Fluttershy seemed taken aback by the sudden question from Chrysalis. "I thought this was meant as an exchange. Do you not wish to divulge your secrets as well?"

Catching on, Fluttershy now stuttered a response. "Oh no, I didn't mean to keep any secrets. I just didn't think you'd be interested in me. Let's see. It's not one to one, unless I know them really well like Angel Bunny. Most of the time I can understand what they are trying to tell me, but it's more like I can just, feel what they want to say. Does that make sense? The more wild and unfamiliar an animal the harder it is to understand. I was honestly curious because, well, if changelings could give a broad sense of an animal's emotions, it might make it easier for me to communicate with them." Chrysalis eyed her with confusion. "Umm, you can, ask another question if you don't understand."

"Wouldn't capturing the animals you seek be easier?"

"Oh, well yes. But that would be mean. I want to learn about them in their natural state, so that wouldn't work."

Chrysalis turned to address Twilight. "I don't think this is working." Twilight's smile fell some, but Chrysalis didn't acknowledge that as she turned back to Fluttershy. "Your motivations make no sense to me."

Fluttershy just shrugged. "It's just something that makes me happy."

Chrysalis puzzled with that for a few moments more. Twilight spoke up, her mood elevating as she spoke. "See, this is working. We can talk without it being hostile."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we can just ignore the apparent assassination attempt for now I guess." Twilight's smile and eye twitched at the statement. Applejack steamrolled ahead with her question. “Just how many changelings are there?"

Chrysalis grumbled at this. This pony had a clear intent to assess the threat they faced. It was respectable, but frustrating that she would have to divulge such valuable information. "In this hive, just shy of twenty thousand." Applejack's eyes shot open at the news. "There might be a few outlying hives left, but none of them would be larger than a few hundred. They'll likely die out in a few generations."

"Twenty thousand. I had no idea... how can we deal with that?" Applejack's mind now filled with stress.

"Isn't it my turn to ask a question? Chrysalis inquired.

This seemed to stop Applejack's frantic thoughts as she refocused on Chrysalis. "Yeah. Yeah I guess. Go ahead."

"Why do you ponies only think in terms of brute force?" Applejack seemed taken aback by this. "The invasion of Canterlot was a one off. Normally I'd never attack full force like that. If I wanted to conquer a pony settlement, rest assured I would only need a fraction of my forces to do it."

"Are ya' threatening our town?" Applejack stomped forward with the question. Twilight looked like she might interject, but Chrysalis seemed at most bemused by the show of force.

"I have no means to threaten anything. I'm making a statement of pure fact. You ponies are our food source. Why would we risk a harvest by attacking it with brute force?"

Applejack drew away, suddenly seeming to be in deep thought. "It only takes a few ponies to harvest a whole orchard. Too many and the labor cost can be too high to make a profit. Makes sense." She now looked back up at Chrysalis. "But if that's true, why did y'all try to attack Canterlot."

Chrysalis scoffed at this. "Likely not for dissimilar reasons as to why you ponies grow and harvest your own food. Having a reliable source of food constantly ready is more desirable, is it not?"

"So, we're just food to you?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

Applejack stared at Chrysalis for a time. Chrysalis was curious as what she said didn't seem to trigger more anger in the earth pony. "I, I think I get it now." For some reason, she smiled as her emotions cleared. She also chuckled as she stood to take her previous place. "Word of advice though. If ya' try to force a crop to grow, you're just gonna end up with bad apples."

Chrysalis once again turned to Twilight. "This still isn't working. I still don't understand what you ponies are thinking."

Twilight seemed elated. It would be frustrating to Chrysalis if it didn't taste so good. "I think it is working though. I mean, do you feel any more hostile towards Applejack or Fluttershy?"

Chrysalis looked between them. "That one managed to get crucial tactical information. But her follow up inquiries indicate she doesn't know how to use it to her advantage."

Oddly, Applejack smiled at this. "I can now say with some confidence, we ain't trying to fight cha'. Now I'm just wondering how big this town will get iffin' were gonna move them all in."

"We aren't as wasteful as you ponies. We can dig a hive out in a matter of a few weeks."

"Dig?" Twilight inquired.

"You saw our last hive. We are predators that hunt in the shadows. Underground is a safe place for us that affords many advantages." She turned to Twilight with a glare. "Had I been in control of the hive then, you'd have never gotten close. The ambush would have come from below and you'd have had no warning."

"I was just wondering, not scheming. If you didn't have to live underground, wouldn't you prefer the surface? I mean, do changelings prefer underground?"

"Those that prefer it have more duties on the surface. As it should be. Do you ponies not employ the best suited individuals for their most useful traits?"

"I'm trying to learn this, but I'm still not sure just how, individual, changelings really are." Twilight's emotions clouded some as Chrysalis stood to walk over and tower above her.

"You of all ponies need to learn well. My changelings are not mindless. They have their own thoughts and personalities. Those are just secondary to serving the hive."

Twilight seemed to think of something. "Is that why I..." She seemed to look around, her gaze shifting between the other changelings in the room. She finally settled on the one opposite of Rainbow Dash on the bookshelves. "...I-25 is the only one who speaks to me when I address them?"

Chrysalis had been sure up until that point that ponies could not tell changelings apart. Why did that fact make Twilight's emotions seem more nutritious than they actually were. Pushing back that line of thought, she rolled her eyes as this information seemed obvious to her. "It's because they are the only one who knows ponish. They're the only infiltrator you brought along for some reason."

"You speak ponish?" Rainbow Dash inquired to her neighbor.

I-25 now seemed to look down to Twilight, seeming in inquiry. Chrysalis knew Twilight couldn't understand, and yet she now turned to her as if she knew what was going on. "What are they saying?"

Chrysalis was taken aback, but responded. "They have previous standing orders not to interact with ponies outside of disguise. They need orders if they are going to respond to her."

"Oh, of course. Chrysalis can you please relay this to the hive mind. All changelings can freely interact with ponies. Although I'm still restricting them to the hive and the areas around until we have an integration plan." She now looked up. "Except you four of course. You can stay until we figure stuff out. Until then, feel free to chat as much as you want."

A small green flame sparked around I-25's muzzle and throat. Their fangs retracted, and in a voice that seemed to mirror Rainbows they spoke. "Of course."

"Wow! Cool!" Hey, how fast can you fly with those buzzy wings?"

"Not fast enough to outrun a pegasus, but we can out maneuver almost any flying species."

Rainbow Dash smiled. "We'll have to test that at some point.”

The mood of the room was nearly pure sweetness to Chrysalis right now. At least the emotions from Twilight were tempered with something that made it more palatable. "This is good," the Alicorn proclaimed. "Any other questions...."

"Oh oh, me next." And there was the overwhelmingly sweet taste in full force. Pinkie Pie bounced up, seeming to not fear Chrysalis in the least. "What do you think of this?"

Chrysalis was now taken aback as the pink mare raised a hoof. In it rested what seemed to be some kind of pony food. Where it had come from, she had no idea. "These are those cupcake things you tried to push on me when I was disguised as Cadence."

"Nope. These are a completely different recipe. I didn't know if you were just in a bad mood then, but I figured I should try something different anyway. But now I'm curious. Can you taste pony food? Can you digest it? The others had some of Applejack's fritters, did they like those? If I threw you a welcome to Ponyville party, what would work for party food? Or maybe, since you eat emotions, gasp, is the party food???" She continued on in this manner.

Chrysalis turned to Twilight. "I can't hit her, how do I make her stop?"

"Pinkie!!!" The rest of the ponies shouted. This seemed to finally stop the endless rambling. Twilight continued. "Remember how we talked about letting others speak?"

"Oh, right." She turned back to Chrysalis, still smiling for some reason. "It's just, twenty thousand. I wanted to be ready in case we needed to expand the menu at Sugarcube Corner."

Chrysalis thought about this for a moment. "It would be easier to show you." She took the cupcake from Pinkie. In a few quick bites she chewed it up and swallowed it down. Although she seemed to continue to work her throat as she did. "We can imitate pony biology, that includes taste buds. It's not necessarily important, but it helps us blend in. And of course, we have preferences. As far as your food," she leaned in close with a deadpan expression. "I simply can't stand the texture of buttercream."

"Noted." Pinkie didn't seem off put by this at all.

Accepting that these ponies just didn't know better than to fear her, she continued. "As far as digesting." She now opened her jaw wide, flexing it some as she did so. As she did, a thick black substance began to exude from her fangs. Within a few moments she'd produced enough to fill her mouth. She then transferred it to a hoof and offered it to Pinkie.

Instinctively, Pinkie took it, an astonished look on her face.

"Oh good gracious. Pinkie don't touch that."

Knowing where this was going, Chrysalis turned to Rarity, the source of the sudden shrill cry. With a malicious smile, she opened her mouth wide and extended her tongue. The mare seemed to follow the forked appendage as it flopped out to its full length of nearly a foot. With wicked pleasure she spoke. "We don't produce waste products like you disgusting ponies do. We don't even have saliva. That is as much cupcake now as when I ate it.”

“Is it really?” Pinkie asked, even more astonished. She gave it a sniff.

Rarity cried out again. “Don't you dare eat that Pinkie.”

“I wasn't gonna.”

“Don't lick it either.”

“But it still kinda smells like cupcakes.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes at the exchange. “It's just been processed into a more useful form. Where do you think the dirt goes when we dig?"

Suddenly Twilight was up close to Chrysalis. "Wait, you use the material you dig to build and reinforce the tunnels you're digging? That's so fascinating. Spike, get me one of my field study notebooks.... are you still keeping minutes?"

The small dragon looked grumpy. "You never told me to stop."

"Oh, sorry. No, this has spiraled out of control as an official meeting. You can take that all up stairs and I'll go through it for useful information later."

Looking pleased to be able to leave, he gathered up as much of the massive pile of papers he'd produced as he could and began trudging from the room.

Twilight turned back to Chrysalis, her joy obvious. Chrysalis decided that letting her indulge in it a bit longer was fine. If only such an emotion could actually sustain her.

"I have so many questions about how this process works. Is it like how wasps build a hive? What kind of materials can be processed?"

"Twilight!" Caught off guard, she turned to Rarity at the call. "Could you leave such, scientific, inquiries for later. This is very distasteful."

"Not really," Pinkie interjected. "This stuff is actually pretty cool.

Looking over, the pink mare had been alarmingly busy. In the time they'd been distracted she'd somehow managed to sculpt little figures from the material. A dragon, five ponies, an Alicorn, and she was just finishing a changeling. One that was noticeably modeled after Chrysalis. She now looked around to the other changelings in the room.

"Sorry, I ran out before I could do you all. I'll bring you some made from cake later if you want." She said this while setting the miniature Chrysalis next to the miniature Twilight.

Twilight looked around the room. She was apparently very happy about the new enthusiasm of her friends. "This is good. There have been some shakey parts, but it's good. Look at us, ponies and changelings, having a nice, civil conversation."

"Hey." The call came from Rainbow above. She smiled fiendishly. "I've got a really good one." Sudden dread set in among some of the ponies in the group. "Can changelings bang?"

Rarity looked aghast. Fluttershy ducked low and hid behind her hair. Applejack chuckled. Pinkie looked confused. Twilight suddenly turned red as her emotions became too chaotic to read.

Sensing she'd accomplished what she had set out to do, Rainbow pushed the issue further. "Seriously. I mean, you almost married Twilight's brother. What if a changeling in disguise needed to bonk somepony to not be noticed?"

"There's no reason to go into stuff like that. Chrysalis, you don't need to answer that if you don't want to." She seemed to be trying to imply something. But implication wasn't an order.

"By 'bonk' I assume you mean sexual intercourse. I've already said we can replicate pony biology nearly perfectly. Of course we can, with the emphasis your species seems to place on the act. Though in a changeling hive it's not necessarily a natural function. The pleasure can be replicated, but the breeding itself is not allowed. The only changelings allowed to breed are Queens. So the only 'banging' that will happen is when your princess breeds me to death for the future of my..."

"STOP!!!!"

The order closed Chrysalis's mouth immediately. She could not parse all the emotions in the room at the moment, but they all seemed remarkably focused on Twilight.

"Hey Twilight, did you still want your research notebook for...."

The door to the library was suddenly slammed in Spike's face with enough force to shake the whole structure. The door was then locked and the key seemed to burn itself from existence.

"Ok, it's not what it sounds like..."

Author's Note

Thanks to my wife for helping in certain places. Although her trying to talk to me while I edit has been frustrating. But without her I'm not sure I'd have finished on time. Seriously, I did like ninety percent of this last night. Once I managed to get all the characters talking, they just kept talking. Hammering that into something useful has been the whole editing process.

This isn't exactly where I wanted to go with this chapter, but I think I like where it's gotten to. This was a bit of a struggle, it plays into a writing problem I've always had, too many characters. I do feel like some of them just sat in the corner for this, but it still works. The next chapter I feel like is going to be a lot of fun to write. You comments are always welcome, good and bad.

The Changeling Way

"Breed her!!!" Rainbow exclaimed, flabbergasted.

"To death???" Applejack cringed, shocked.

"It's NOT what it sounds like!!!" Twilight stated again. "That is not going to happen. It is an issue I've been meaning to address with Chrysalis. It's just come secondary to everything that's been happening so far. Right Chrysalis?"

Chrysalis glared. She glared until Twilight caught on.

"Oh right, sorry sorry sorry. You can speak freely again, I didn't mean to forbid you. But please tell them the truth."

"The truth is that it's what needs to happen if you want the changeling race to continue," Chrysalis said flatly.

Twilight's eyes went wide as her emotions spiraled. "I said I wanted the truth, Chrysalis. That's an order."

Chrysalis took a breath as she fully turned to Twilight. In her most measured tones of her multifaceted voice, she spoke. "This is the Changeling way."

The room was silent but for the sound of a very rapidly beating heart.

"Twilight," Spike knocked at the door. "What's going on in there?"

"Spike I have a stash of bits in my bed side table go ahead and take the whole bag and hit the comic book store or the arcade or whatever I don't care just please give us some privacy for the next few hours OK!!!" Chrysalis wasn't sure how Twilight could make her voice seem frantic and yet monotone at the same time.

"Ok, if you say so Twili..."

The rest of his words were cut off as a powerful sound proofing spell suddenly enveloped the room. It suddenly came back down again. "And if you did hear anything that was going on in here please for the love of all things don't tell any pony about it and I promise we'll have a talk about it later. "

"Sure thi..." The spell went back up.

Twilight turned back to the rest of the room. Chrysalis was left wondering why parts of her mane now stuck out at impossible angles.

"OK. So. OK. So.... OK....... So." Twilight was clearly stalling for time. But calling her out on that would be kicking her while she was down.

"You're stalling for time." Chrysalis mentioned.

"No I'm not!" Twilight exclaimed.

"..."

"Goodness gracious, they're fighting like a married couple already." Twilight turned to Rarity with a look of absolute betrayal.

Rainbow snickered. Applejack and Fluttershy still looked aghast. "So, what's been going on with you and your new roommate for the last week?" Rainbow seemed to be purposely misreading the situation. Chrysalis couldn't help but feel disgusted, at the flavor of the emotions now raging through the room. The other changelings visibly cringed at it.

Not for the first time, Chrysalis thought she could feel Twilight attempting to consciously rerail her train of thought. Unlike previously though, this did not lead to ordered streams of emotions that were difficult not to indulge in. Rather than one big tempest of swirling emotions, she seemed to have organized them into several smaller ones, none of which seemed any less chaotic than the original.

"Chrysalis. I'm not sure why you'd think this was even an option. Rest assured, even on the off chance that I wanted and or needed to breed with you, it certainly wouldn't be to the death."

"So you would force me to stay your indentured broodmare for as long as you could keep me alive. I didn't think you capable of such cruelty. But rest assured you cannot break me. I'll never beg for leniency."

"... Well, hopefully they at least have a safe word."

"Ok Rainbow, y'all need to shut it for a few." Rainbow snickered until Applejack indicated in the direction of Fluttershy. Though her face was hidden, it was obvious she was turning a little green at the conversation. Rainbow cringed, and looked apologetic. Applejack looked relieved and made her best attempt to quell the emotional storms raging against one another. "So what exactly is 'the changeling way' and why does it sound so brutal?"

The ponies in the room were shocked as for the first time, Chrysalis seemed to be delighted to speak. "Unlike you ponies who seem to breed weakness into your species, we changelings strive to perfection. This is why it is so important for all things in the hive to be done by the will of the queen. And if the queen is not strong enough, a new queen will take over and build the hive stronger."

Applejack looked hesitant. "... And you've, done this? Beaten another queen, and bred them... to..."

"Wait," Rainbow interjected, her inability to read the room for once being helpful. "How could she breed somepony? Aren't you, you know, a mare?"

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Only lower species are concerned about such things as that." The ponies seemed puzzled by this response. "Have you simple creatures really forgotten so quickly?"

A green flame sparked below Chrysalis, enveloping her in a moment. As it burned away her form was replaced, with a remarkably similar one. Smaller, furrier, and not full of holes. Quite simply, it was Chrysalis, but as a pony. A horn, no wings, onyx black fur and her green mane. A mark of a green flame and a black crown sat on her flanks. Definitely not average looking, but definitely a unicorn mare.

Before any comment could be made on this the flame sparked again. And again when it cleared moments later the image hadn't changed much. A unicorn, but this one with a sharper jaw, wider hooves, and a slightly heartier frame. A unicorn stallion, though again a far from average one. A stirring of emotions in the room made Chrysalis turn to Rarity, giving the mare a confused look.

"Oh, goodness," she managed through what sounded like a dry mouth.

"Hey now Rarity, don't be perving on Twilight's new wife." Rainbow still seemed intent on stirring up every ponies' emotions, and Chrysalis expected this to make Twilight's all the more unpalatable. That seemed to not be the case however.

Twilight was now up close to Chrysalis, seeming to be examining her. "Wait, so are you saying that changelings don't naturally have any gender?" It wasn't that Twilight's emotions had calmed, it seemed more that her curiosity had simply suppressed them. Curiosity was a... curious thing to taste.

"Why would we need such a thing as gender?" Her flames once again enveloped her as she returned to her original form. "We are Changelings, we are whatever we need to be to hunt." Chrysalis seemed proud by this declaration.

"That's fascinating." Twilight said, the thirst for knowledge glimmering in her eyes.

"But it's not what I'm concerned about," Applejack cut in. "I think we really need to know, what do you do with other changelings' hives?"

The emotions all settled into a much more dower state. Even Twilight's curiosity died down at the inquiry. Chrysalis didn't like that, but she figured it would come back with explanation. "Exactly what I'm assuming you're thinking. When two hives become aware of each other, either one will flee, or they will fight. The final confrontation should be between the queen of each hive, although typically the battle is long since decided. The victor of the fight will either use the loser to incubate a large clutch of eggs, or take the genetic materials needed to raise a clutch of eggs themselves. Either way, the loser typically doesn't survive." She gave a divisive smile to Twilight. "It's not exactly a smart tactic to keep alive a threat as obvious as a rival queen."

"So you've done that. Beaten another queen, and ra..." Twilight stumbled over the words.

"Your pony explanations don't mean anything to me. A queen can inject another with eggs through their ovipositor and force fertilization, or take their genetics through their ovipositor and use it to fertilize their own eggs."

"And what did you choose in that situation, when you took all the other hives?"

Chrysalis glared. "I take what I need and leave nothing to chance. I could have gotten more changelings by breeding other Queens, but my children are stronger and more competent than their drones. The changelings I took from their hives I used to build my hive bigger, and they didn't last much longer than that."

Applejack looked sickened. "That... still sounds really horrible."

"No, it's actually really not." Everypony seemed shocked at the soft words. Fluttershy, looking more composed, straightened up to speak. "I think I get it now. Kinda like Applejack before, I was thinking about this the wrong way." She looked up, seeming to think for a moment. "There are certain species of ants, they will overrun other colonies, kill most of the mature ants, and steal the larva. It's just how they've evolved, it's their nature."

"But they're not ants, Shy." Applejack interjected.

"But they are not ponies either. We can't judge them by pony standards." She seemed to think about something again. She turned fully to the fallen queen. "But Chrysalis. Your species is advanced enough, I think you can realize it's time to change."

Chrysalis stomped up to Fluttershy, hissing violently in the absence of the ability to shout. To her surprise, the pegasus didn't flinch. She couldn't even feel her emotions stir. The gaze she gave her at the moment didn't seem like anything could break it. "Insolent pony. Suddenly thinking yourself strong. Changelings are the superior species and we will not yield to the ways of lowly ponies."

Fluttershy now stood face to face with Chrysalis, the queen kneeling down to glare into her eyes. "Then how did you lose?" Chrysalis drew back to strike her, but found herself unable to. "When a species finds its usual ways unable to sustain itself, it either goes extinct, or it adapts to survive. That's nature's way."

Chrysalis glared, but finally broke away, stomping to the middle of the room. "What would you have me do? Yield? Assume that a species I've hunted my entire existence will not turn against us? Trust ponies?"

"... Yes." Chrysalis now turned, rage attempting to flare. However the words spoken from Twilight seemed to signal that she'd gotten her emotions back under control. The tempest cleared and her ordered emotions restored, she now gave off a flavor that made it more difficult for her anger to build. She didn't respond as Twilight stepped up to her. "Chrysalis, I know you're probably used to feeling in control. And having some creature else control your fate is probably very scary."

"I fear nothing," Chrysalis sneered.

"You fear for the safety of your changelings. But rest assured that I meant it when I said that they are our changelings now." Chrysalis couldn't really back up with ponies surrounding her on all sides. Thus she didn't draw away as Twilight raised a hoof, and placed it gently on her shoulder.

"I can't possibly trust you. Every creature only does what's best for themselves," Chrysalis declared.

"And I believe, it will be better for ponies if we and changelings could live side by side. It doesn't matter if you trust me right now Chrysalis, because I promise on my pride as a Princess of Equestria... and my willingness as a Changeling Queen, I'll do everything I can for your changelings and you to be happy." Twilight held her position, face to face with Chrysalis and giving her the most trusting look she possibly could.

"..., .... Well, I ship it." Thwack!.

Despite being struck in the face with a rather large book, and now falling from her perch on top of the bookshelves, Rainbow laughed all the way down.

"Sorry for using a book as a weapon, Twi. But I didn't want to ruin the moment. I think things were finally getting back on track."

Taken aback by both Rainbows words and Applejack's actions, Twilight once again corralled her emotions. "Chrysalis, just how long do changelings live?"

Feeling remarkably calm at the moment, Chrysalis responded. "Queens can live as long as they have love. Regular changelings have similar life spans to ponies. I believe it's linked to you having always been our prey."

"So we don't have to worry about another generation of changelings quite yet. For now, can we just focus on our changelings that we do have. Bringing them to Ponyville and making them a part of the community is going to be tough. I'd much rather have you here to help."

"You'd really keep me around, knowing what a threat I could be?"

"We could be a threat to each other. So how about this. I'm not sure how I can phrase this as an order so how about just a promise. If I ever do anything that can directly harm any of our changelings, I'll give you full control of the hive back."

Chrysalis was stunned. "How are you not lying right now?"

"Because if I'm ever going to get you to trust me, I have to trust you first. But Chrysalis, I'm putting a lot of trust in you. Please, can you give me something. You don't have to show me I can trust you, just show me you'll do whatever you can to help your changelings too."

"Of course I'd do anything for my changelings."

"Even if it means going against the changeling way?"

"..."

"Chrysalis. Help me to help you."

"... ok." A calm now spread through the rest of the room, reminding Chrysalis of the other ponies there. She pulled away from Twilight's touch, finding her breathing to be heavy. "What is the plan then? What could a changeling possibly do in a pony society?"

"We can figure that out together." Almost as if she too felt the sudden shift in emotions in the room, Twilight added on quickly. "All of us, we can help find something for all of them. Any ideas girls?" She finally looked away from Chrysalis, asking the rest of her friends.

There were a few moments of hesitation. Minds seemed to be working, but emotions seemed stable, and hopeful.

"Even if they aren't ponies, they are pony like." Rarity suggested. "Technically speaking, they can do anything ponies can do. The real challenge would be... well."

"That some ponies aren't going to want them around." Applejack finished the thought very honestly. The feeling of that was bitter, but not prominent. "I mean, I could easily invite a bunch of them to come work the farm. But I don't think just using them to help us is going to help much. If ponies see them, really see them helping and getting along. I think that could work."

"So, what can they do for ponies that no pony, no creature else could?" Rarity asked.

"What about a fantasy brothel?" Rainbow Dash suddenly suggested from her fallen position behind the shelf she'd been on. Chrysalis didn't know until then that glares could be felt. Rainbow seemed to feel it as well. "What, they can literally be anypony, and they can't get themselves or anypony pregnant."

"Rainbow, seriously. Why can't you get your mind out of the gutter right now?" Applejack snapped, seeming ready to tear into the pegasus.

Seeming to realize she'd finally stepped over a line, some time ago, Rainbow came from behind the shelf looking sheepish. "Sorry. It's just, I've never seen Twilight get that frazzled. I mean has she ever had a special somepony? I didn't want to let it drop until I could get at least some mileage from it."

"Y'all been acting like this just because you wanted to tease Twi. Really?" Applejack glared hard.

"Yeah, sorry," Rainbow said while rubbing the back of her head.

"Rainbow... it's not like I've never thought about relationships. But I've always had much more important things to think about. Especially right now. Tease if you want, but I'm a princess now, and I've got responsibilities to deal with first."

"Yeah, I guess. But tell me this at least, because I've literally never heard you say it about anypony. Do you think Chrysalis is hot?"

Twilight sighed with exhaustion. "What I think of Chrysalis's physical appearance is not relevant. We just need to get along enough to do what's right for our changelings. Right Chrysalis?"

They turned to see Chrysalis giving Twilight a suspicious look. She shook it away before responding. "Yes, and we still don't have a plan on that."

"Oh oh oh," Pinkie exclaimed. "Perfect idea. What if we have one of them come work at Sugarcube Corner?"

"I don't know Pinkie. Wouldn't that be a little too public for the first changeling?" Twilight wondered aloud, already considering the details.

"No no, it'll totally work. Mr. and Mrs. Cake have been wanting to hire new help there for a while, but they don't know if they can afford it. If a changeling is willing to take part of their pay in love it could really help them, it would still be fair for the changeling and no ponies except for maybe Cadence and Shining Armor have more love to share than the Cakes."

Twilight's emotions seemed to rise at the idea. "The question there, would be if the changelings would be willing to work for love. Chrysalis, do you think you could ask the hive, see if there's maybe an infiltrator that's had some baking experience and likes the idea. Not as an order, see if they want to do it."

Sighing, Chrysalis closed her eyes and felt the hive mind come over her. Chatter that usually stayed at the edge of her senses now flowed through her. She went through her children one by one, though little time passed for the ponies around her. As she came out of it, she suddenly realized that allowing herself to be that defenseless among these ponies should have been very dangerous.

"There are a few who would be willing to try, and one that previously worked in a restaurant while under cover. Of course they are back at the hive, so they'll have to make the trip here."

"That's actually perfect." Twilight exclaimed, suddenly taking Chrysalis's hooves in her own. "We can work out the details with the Cakes while they're on the way here. Please tell them to start heading this way, but be discreet. We still don't need ponies freaking out. They'll get used to seeing changelings soon, but let's take this gently. OK?"

Chrysalis couldn't deny, Twilight's emotions at that moment were delicious. So much so Chrysalis almost felt sated just off of them. Too much junk food she figured, but right now she didn't care. "Ok," she agreed simply.

The moment was broken by Pinkie's sudden excited chattering. "This'll be great. Everypony at the shop has been curious about changelings ever since we got back."

The mood in the room soured again instantly. With hoof upon forehead, Rarity inquired. "Pinkie, did you tell ponies around town about Chrysalis and the changelings being here?"

"Of course. Everypony should know when there's potential new friends around."

Dragging her hoof from her forehead, Rarity inquired again. "Did you not think it appropriate to be discreet about such a potentially delicate situation."

For the first time Pinkie seemed concerned. "Well, no pony said it was a secret."

There was a tense silence.

"She's got us there I guess. No pony said to keep it quiet." Applejack admitted this begrudgingly.

"Your pony command structure is really pathetic." Chrysalis added on.

With a sigh, Twilight decided to see how much damage control might need to be done. "How many ponies did you tell about this, Pinkie?"

"Just most of my regulars at the shop," she explained, gleeful once more.

Twilight rubbed her eyes with a hoof. "Pinkie, almost the whole town are your regulars."

Another tense silence.

"I hate to say I told ya' so, but..." Applejack said, looking frustrated.

Though the commotion in Twilight's emotions wasn't major, Chrysalis still enjoyed indulging as she felt her working them back into order. "Chrysalis, have you noticed any strange emotions in town? I know you've been stuck here, but you haven't noticed anything that felt like fear, panic, or anything that might indicate ponies might be forming a mob, have you?"

"None whatsoever," she stated bluntly. "This town's emotions seem remarkably calm. There does seem to be a background feeling of anxiety, but it seems very ingrained and would likely predate my arrival."

Twilight considered. "That's probably related to the random monster attacks we have to deal with."

"Monster attacks?" Chrysalis inquired.

"Semi regular thing in this town. You get used to it, and there's never any lasting damage done. Except Trixie's cart that one time," Twilight explained while in thought.

"You ponies are weird. Why would you live here." Chrysalis wondered.

"It's home," Twilight said with a smile. "Hopefully, someday you'll see it that way too."

"I doubt it." Chrysalis said dryly.

"What's important is it seems like you, I-25, D-3, and S-19 and 23 are safe for now. Overall I think this meeting was... at least not as bad a disaster as it could have been." Twilight smiled.

"It was eventful, that's for sure, Rarity added. "I for one am going to need a trip to the spa. I'm dragging you along Fluttershy, you don't get a choice."

"Ok Rarity." Fluttershy agreed.

"Rainbow Dash," Rarity turned on the other pegasus. "I'd recommend you go take a long, cold shower if I didn't know you frequently bathe by flying through clouds." The rest of the ponies grumbled as Rainbow looked embarrassed.

"Yeah, sorry. I took that a little too far."

Rarity sighed, and then turned to Twilight and Chrysalis still together at the center of the room. "Twilight, it's been lovely. And Chrysalis," she sighed again. "Welcome to Ponyville. It only gets weirder from here."

Both the statement and the genuine feelings from it confused Chrysalis. Even more so as they seemed to be mirrored by the other ponies as they began leaving. With a quick order her changelings left as well, going back up to the room where Chrysalis was staying as they had been since the day after she'd woken up.

The room cleared, Twilight gave a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry if that was a lot for you and the changelings to deal with."

"We are not so..." Chrysalis stopped and considered before she began again, her voices more synced. "I don't know how you ponies show appreciation. But right now I can't find reason to doubt that you are trying to help me and my children. What would you say in my position?"

Twilight smiled a pleasantly sweet smile. "In this situation, a pony would just say Thank you."

Chrysalis nodded. "Than thank you, Twilight."

"And thank you for giving me and the others a chance.

Chrysalis gave Twilight a suspicious look again, but again brushed it off. "I fear being around those element bearers so long that I've eaten a bit too much." I think I'd like to join my children upstairs for a nap."

"You don't need my permission. You're free to enjoy yourself as long as you stay inside for now. As for me," she now let out a grumble of annoyance. "I have a little brother to go find and potentially have a very awkward conversation with. Have a good nap, Chrysalis."

Chrysalis nodded, and found herself watching Twilight as she left. Confusion plagued her own emotions.

'It tasted different coming from Twilight, but it did taste familiar. But there is no way Twilight was feeling that, right?'

Author's Note

Twenty minutes to midnight and just starting author notes. Sorry, was in no state to write yesterday and I've been dealing with distractions all day today. Editing was fast and dirty, so hopefully it isn't too bad. Much like in the story itself, this got a little off the rails. I'm Ok with it, but I think it's a little weaker than I originally hoped this chapter would be. Might put in an extra edit after publishing, so hopefully no one jumps on this to fast. Sorry for the delay and I how you enjoy. Comments always welcome, good or bad.

Cultural Exchange

Wrath

"Hey there Pinkie. The Mrs. and I can finish up. You and your friend feel free to head out a little early."

"Sounds great Mr. Cake. Where'd they get off to anyway?" Pinkie asked excitedly.

"I think they're still around back. I told them you'd probably be coming to get them when they were done." Mr. Cake indicated with a smile. Pinkie smiled back before pronking through a door behind the counter.

Rage.

But not coming from any of the ponies around. A very different emotion could be felt swelling up from them. Pinkie Pie bounced out of the back room a few moments later. Behind her at a much steadier pace came an infiltrator changeling, designation I-221.

"Just so you know Mr. Cake, Izzi did an amazing job on prep for tomorrow." Pinkie Pie declared this proudly.

"Well, it sounds like I chose the right mare to train them, didn't I!"

The three all smiled.

Wrath.

"If it's not too much trouble Mr. Cake, could I get my wages for the day?" I-221 inquired.

This actually made Mr. Cake smile brighter. "Oh, of course. My pleasure. Oh Honeybun!" He called out with a loving lilt.

"Yes dear?" Mrs. Cake inquired as she followed the voice in from the kitchen.

"It seems a debt is owed that we need to pay." He waggled his eyebrows at his wife.

Mrs. Cake blushed, but seemed to saunter over with enthusiasm. What followed was a tender show of affection from a couple who clearly loved each other. The warmth of their hearts, the devotion plain for all to see. It was the purest form, of nutrition for a changeling.

Breaking the just barely work appropriate kiss with her husband, she looked over and smiled with appreciation to their latest employee. "Having you here sure has been a treat, we haven't been this lovey dovey since before we opened the shop."

I-221 seemed satisfied with his payment as well, thanking them for their generosity. He was then curious when Pinkie chimed in. "Oh oh oh, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, since they've been helping me so much, can I give Izzi an extra bonus."

Mr. Cake looked slightly confused by this, while Mrs. Cake smiled slyly. "If you want to Pinkie. We could still cover it if you think he should get more bits though. No need to give up some of yours."

"Nah, I was thinking more like..." Pinkie then gently sauntered closer to I-221's side, and even more gently kissed them on the cheek.

The changeling was clearly taken aback by this, but just as clearly was far from upset by it.

The rest of the exchange seemed gleeful. However, from her corner booth, Chrysalis stopped paying attention. The establishment would be closing down soon, so it was time for her to get going. She had another engagement to get to as well.

She downed the last of her still scalding hot black coffee, then looked down with contempt. Every day she'd come here, Pinkie Pie had brought her a cupcake to go with her coffee despite knowing she'd only ordered the coffee to give herself a reason to hang around. Each day she left the offered treat sitting, wasted on the table. Yet each day they were offered, different every time and clearly designed to appeal specifically to her. Today she had managed to make the cake itself almost as black as Chrysalis's chitin. It smelled of blackberries and cream and had a decoration of a little crown in the green frosting.

Chrysalis let out a sigh.

It looked delicious.

*****

"... Sooooo, did you try it this time?" Twilight inquired.

"... Yes," Chrysalis replied, staring up at the ceiling absentmindedly.

"Did you... enjoy it?"

"It was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. And I spent weeks pretending to be a princess." Twilight smiled hopefully. "No, I still did not thank her. I left the shop like I always do and came back here." That smile faltered some.

"That's fine. I'm just happy that you're allowing yourself to be open to new experiences." She kept smiling, yet Chrysalis could feel the slight disappointment this caused in her. It left a bad taste in her mouth. "So, how did watching that exchange make you feel?"

Chrysalis groaned at the question. Nearly a month had passed since coming to this quiet little town. And loath as she was to admit it, Chrysalis had fallen into more than a few routines. One of them she was engaged in at the moment. Talking with Twilight after going out into Ponyville, so that they could have an open dialog about the things Chrysalis saw and they both could learn from one another.

"I already told you. Wrath and rage." Chrysalis groaned out the response. "It didn't make any sense to me. I know there must be a catch. Just what does that pink one think she'll be getting out of this?"

Twilight seemed to consider how to answer. "Friendship. Maybe a little more based on what you were just telling me. Pinkie Pie is fairly prone to getting crushes."

"Obviously," Chrysalis responded. That response seemed to intrigue Twilight however, and Chrysalis knew she'd be wanting an explanation. "Amorous feelings are just as distinct as any other to a changeling, and that mare exudes them everywhere she goes. I'd make assumptions about her, except that she exudes a wide range of emotions everywhere she goes."

Twilight smiled at the explanation. "Pinkie is a very open pony. I just hope this doesn't cause any problems. I'd imagine an infiltrator has enough worldly experience to have some emotional maturity. I-221 will be ok if it is just a little crush Pinkie is having, right?"

Chrysalis considered, looking out of the window of the room Twilight had been letting her use since coming here. Chrysalis knew it was the only bedroom in the tree house, but had yet to confront Twilight about such things. There were a lot of things about the Alicorn's behavior that she'd been feigning ignorance on, but she decided she might have a chance to figure out at least one of them now.

"I'd imagine it will be fine, even if the situation has already caused some changes in him." Twilight was caught off guard on that, as Chrysalis had hoped. This would hopefully grab her attention enough to keep her mind where Chrysalis needed it. "Oh yes, that's one of them. He's begun to consider himself a male, and is even going by the name Pinkie gave him."

Twilight immediately turned the page in the notebook she'd been absentmindedly writing down notes from their conversation in. "Wait. So changelings don't have a biological sex, but they do have gender? That's intriguing."

"Not really," Chrysalis intoned. "You ponies seem to make the simplest things so complicated. If you could be the version of yourself you'd consider ideal, would you not want to do so?"

This explanation seemed to intrigue Twilight all the more. Though her mind was clearly considering a great many things, her emotions remained the clear nectar Chrysalis had decided to stop pretending to herself that she didn't enjoy sampling from heavily.

"This is so interesting," Twilight chirped as the quill in her magic flew across the paper. "I know I've been asking you a lot about how changeling society works already, but this is a whole new avenue to go down. First off, will there be any immediate changes to I-2... to Izzi if he has indeed decided to be male?"

"Nothing dramatic," Chrysalis responded, careful to keep the tones of her voice even. She had Twilight distracted, she just needed to lead her where she wanted her to get the information she needed. "He had already been better at taking on male forms when in disguise, so most of his training was focused on typical male pony behavior. Although he hasn't had to employ most of that while not in disguise."

Twilight kept writing, mumbling things about nature vs nurture and self determination as she did. Chrysalis had the perfect opportunity. "There was something else about, Izzi. Something different, so it must be related to ponies. Something about, Pinkie Pie."

Twilight looked up from her notes, instinctively switching to a new page. "Something related to Pinkie and Izzi. What is it?"

Twilight was so caught up in her research she would never make the connection. "It's not the most distinct, but Izzi has been noticing what must be a new emotion. It seems an absurd notion, and yet he has reported an emotional signature he doesn't recognize. Specifically, coming from Pinkie."

Twilight seemed to give the idea great consideration. "An emotion he's never felt before. He's an infiltrator, so it seems highly unlikely he just wouldn't have ever encountered an emotion. And as unconventional as Pinkie is, I doubt she's randomly managed to come up with a new emotion. We need more data. Under what circumstances does he feel this emotion?"

Chrysalis considered her phrasing carefully. "It only seems to occur, between changeling and pony. Specifically when the ponies' emotions are directed at the changeling."

Twilight scrunched her face in thought. "Would the way it's being received change that? Like the fact that it's being directed specifically at them. "

"No," Chrysalis confirmed. "Changelings have emotions directed at them all the time. When in disguise, they often pose as ponies loved ones and feed off their love. We know what that tastes like."

"So this tastes like love than?" Chrysalis fought back a wince. She'd meant to keep that more ambiguous.

"It's, similar. But like I said, it's unique. We eat love all the time in all its forms, so it can't be that."

Twilight seemed to be struggling with a thought. "But like, it has to be a form of love. Just... presenting differently."

"Not possible," Chrysalis said bluntly. "Do you think you ponies are so unique that you can change the very nature of love?" She asked sarcastically.

"No, it's not like that," Twilight still seemed to struggle, raising a hoof to her forehead in thought. "How do I say this in a way you'll understand?" She got off the chair she'd been sitting on, stepping away from the table that had separated them.

"Are you implying I'm so inept that I somehow don't know something about our very food source that has sustained us for our entire existence?" Chrysalis put as much venom into the tones of her voice as she could.

"No, of course not. This is another one of those 'cultural' things. It's not about one side or the other being smarter, it's about the things that are unique between them and how we can become familiar. It's almost like, a language barrier," Twilight explained.

"Changelings do have our own language." Chrysalis didn't understand where Twilight was trying to take this idea.

"Exactly, but that's also just the tip of it. What if a pony and a changeling who didn't know ponish tried to communicate?" Twilight inquired.

"The exchange wouldn't go far. So why bother?" Chrysalis challenged.

Twilight smiled back at this for some reason. "Because even if it's difficult, finding a way to bridge that gap might be better for both parties. It's actually been very satisfying to try to figure out how to explain things to you in ways that you'll understand."

"Fine," Chrysalis decided, "explain your pony concept.

Twilight thought on it another moment. A jolt of joy in her emotions signaled to Chrysalis she'd figured something out. "Right. Emotions are not just abstract concepts or chemical reactions in the brain to you. They're actual food." She considered another moment. "I can cook risotto," she proudly declared.

"... Are you, offering?" Chrysalis asked, confused.

There was a momentary swirl in Twilight's emotions, one she quickly shook off. "No. I mean, I could at some point if you wanted to try. But my dad makes the best risotto, and I begged him to teach me. I can't really cook anything else well, but I learned to make it because I loved his. But I've never made it as good as him."

"So would I not be better off getting it from him? If you say you can't make it as well as him, what's the point of claiming you can cook it so dramatically?" Chrysalis tilted her head in confusion. Realizing it was a pony trait she'd picked up, she corrected quickly.

Twilight seemed bashful at the assessment. "The thing is, he says mine is better. And other ponies say he taught me to make it perfectly."

"So some creature in this equation is lying. Unless there's something I'm missing."

"That's what I'm getting at," Twilight continued. "There's a concept for ponies, that the way we receive things can greatly affect our perception of them. So basically, at least part of the reason I love his risotto so much, is because he made it for me. Do you get it."

Chrysalis felt her chitin tingle as she considered the assertion. "You are suggesting that the emotions a changeling takes when they are between others, might be different than emotions given to a changeling. And that it would be different than even when a changeling was the target, but the emotion was meant for another pony. "

Twilight smiled at the understanding they seemed to be coming to. "That's what I'm assuming."

"And that assumption presumes, that a pony could feel, good emotions, towards a changeling." Twilight nodded with a gleeful smile. "Ridiculous." Her smile fell as Chrysalis's voice distorted in its facets with the force of her assertion.

"Why would that seem so ridiculous?" Twilight asked, turning to Chrysalis to earnestly preserve the mood.

Chrysalis pushed away from the table as well, now pacing the room opposite of Twilight. "It's the same as changelings living with ponies. We've been over this. Predator and prey. It CAN'T work."

Twilight kept her emotions level as she responded to Chrysalis's sudden outburst. "But we're already proving that to not be true. Izzi and Pinkie right? Ponies and changelings can get along, and maybe even in different ways."

Chrysalis now turned to Twilight.

"This isn't like that," Chrysalis declared, forgetting her caution. "I'm talking about deep emotions. Caring, affection, even attraction. It's not possible."

Chrysalis froze up as a twinge of emotions were quickly attempted to be suppressed within Twilight, who looked away guiltily.

"I mean, why would that seem so ridiculous. It might not be..."

"What was that!" Chrysalis demanded as she cut in.

"What was what?" Twilight tried to defend weakly. She was caught off guard when Chrysalis stomped over to her. So much so she unconsciously backed into the wall of the room.

"Considering the precautions you've taken against me, you know I'm no fool Twilight Sparkle." Though she couldn't hurt Twilight, the Alicorn seemed to be caught off guard enough to be simply trying to escape. When she had no more space, she instinctively reared up on her hind legs against the wall. Chrysalis followed, slamming a hoof against the wall next to Twilight's head for balance. "So know that I acknowledge that you are no fool as well. Now tell me. What!? Was!? That!?"

Twilight's emotions were delectable as she was obviously putting together the real meaning of their conversation. "Using Pinkie was a good distraction." Twilight now looked away as Chrysalis's intensified glare seemed to spark familiar, yet unique emotions from Twilight. "I... might find you a little bit attractive."

Chrysalis's voices growled together as she spoke. "You realize I can still taste when you're lying."

Twilight turned back, more earnest with her next words. "It's not a lie, I just didn't..." She was cut off when another hoof was slammed on the wall on the other side of her head. She closed her eyes as the emotions now seemed to pour from her. Her eyes closed as words seemed to force themselves from her. "You're the hottest creature I've ever seen and until I met you I thought I was Asexual."

This finally caused Chrysalis to draw away, shocked. She hadn't tasted a lie this time. "What are you talking about? How is that possible?"

"I'm sorry. It... it's just a little crush. I promise it won't cause any problems. I'll still do everything I can for our changelings." Twilight's words were earnest, among other things. It caused Chrysalis to finally step back from the wall. She watched from the center of the room as Twilight settled back to her hooves.

"How did this happen?" Chrysalis demanded. She tried to put as much anger in the tones of her voice as she could, but the melancholy coming off of Twilight now seemed to be keeping her own emotions from flaring violently.

"You... you've challenged me like no other creature has. Everything you've done against me has pushed me harder than just about anything else. Not to mention, working with you to help our changelings, it's the first time I've actually felt like I deserve a royal title. I've actually wanted to thank you for that for some time now, I just didn't know how to bring it up."

Twilight seemed almost deflated where she now sat on the floor, still next to the wall. If Chrysalis could, she'd imagine this would be an ideal situation to attack Twilight as the Alicorn seemed completely vulnerable at the moment. And yet, the idea of attacking her didn't seem appealing to Chrysalis for some reason.

"You are... the most formidable, and genuine pony I have ever met." Twilight looked up, almost hopeful at those words. "But I think you know that there is no way I could ever return those feelings."

That caused some sadness that Twilight seemed to try to mask. The words she spoke indicated nothing but acceptance of the situation. "Yeah, I figured. Like I said, it's just a little crush. Probably just from working together so much. I'll still do everything I can for our changelings. I won't get distracted."

Chrysalis looked away, considering the situation as she processed the emotions coming off of Twilight. "You're going to the town hall tomorrow, right?"

Twilight seemed caught off guard by the question. "Uh, yeah. Celestia may have granted all changelings asylum, but in order to become citizens they'll need an official residence. I'm going to need to clear that with the mayor as well as see how to begin the entire process. Why?"

"I'm going with you." More hope swirled into Twilight's emotions. Chrysalis decided she didn't need to discourage this. Even if such emotions were mostly junk food to her, they had her feeling strangely sated at the moment. "As a proper changeling queen, I can't let you do more for my changelings than me, now can I?"

Twilight smiled at this offer. "Thank you Chrysalis. I'll be happy for the help."

Chrysalis scoffed at the sentiment, even as she ate it up while forcing herself not to lick her lips. "The faster we can get more changelings here to begin digging a new hive, the faster you can have your pathetic pony room back. I'll be moving back into a proper royal chamber just as quickly as I can." Chrysalis said this while leaning against the bed that was formerly Twilight's.

Twilight herself blushed at this, having obviously been long since found out in that regard. "It's fine. I wanted you to be as comfortable as possible, and I don't mind sharing. I appreciate the consideration though."

Chrysalis feigned indifference to the barrage of emotions directed to her at the moment. "Who said I was being considerate? I simply wish to have the trappings of a proper Queen once more. Not this sad pony existence you've been forced to endure. Perhaps one day you'll realize the superiority of changeling life as well."

Twilight giggled at this. "Chrysalis, do you happen to know what a tsundere is?"

"No," Chrysalis replied, puzzled. "What relevance does it have?"

Twilight giggled more as she finally stood. "Don't worry about it, I'll tell you eventually. For now, I think I need to go get the love seat ready. I wanted to get to town hall early just in case the process is a long one. Good night, Chrysalis."

Chrysalis wanted answers, but also didn't want to give Twilight the satisfaction of showing interest. She turned away with a huff. "Good night, Twilight."

Chrysalis felt the positive glow of Twilight's emotions until long after she'd left the room. As strange as it seemed to her, Chrysalis almost wanted them back after they had faded. Even without the emotion there, she was sure now. Her wrath and rage were now completely gone.

Author's Note

Almost everything I wrote last week had to be thrown out. I ended up on so many bad tangents initially that my story was almost nothing but rambling. Like seriously, almost all the chapter I'd written before was dialog. This is still dialog heavy, but I think it at least feels like it has context now. Also, I could have had this out hours ago, but somehow everything I'd written in the last two days suddenly disappeared. No idea how, and every method of recovery I know didn't work. I was going to get this out as a christmas gift for all my friends, but it looks like it might be a little late. I'm gonna try, but it's gonna need a few more edits. Sorry for the delays, but I hope you like the results. Let me know, good or bad.

Going to the Court House

The doors to the Ponyville town hall were opened bright and early the next morning. The staff, not so much. A middle aged earth pony yawned deeply as he made his way to unlock the doors. One yawn trailed into another as the door opened just a moment later. Two unicorn mares passed him before his next yawn could finish. One was obviously Twilight Sparkle. She came around enough for him to know her even before she casually greeted him. The other however, was a mystery. That didn't stop his gaze from following her figure as they passed.

Just as they were about to turn towards the main reception area, this mare seemed to turn as if she'd known he'd been looking. He felt the glare she fixed him with deep in his soul, before she turned away as if he didn't exist. He suddenly wondered if he had any vacation days left, as he felt he needed to go home to recover.

At the front desk, the two mares were greeted by an older unicorn mare who was yawning as well. "Good morning Twilight," she said as her exhaustion receded for the moment. "I'm assuming you already booked your appointment. Who's your friend?"

Twilight was already signing into the ledger as Chrysalis fixed the receptionist with a glare. "I am not, her friend."

Whatever pleasantries she'd been planning died on her tongue. She'd run through the same dialog on autopilot a million times. This was an obvious break in protocol, and she didn't know how to respond. She found herself unable to break from the gaze that held her.

"Chrysalis, it's fine. She didn't mean to imply anything. Let's go, the mayor will be waiting for us." Twilight wasn't forceful, just indicating the direction. Chrysalis broke her glare to follow her in the direction.

The mare felt herself exhale, not realizing she'd been holding her breath. She raised a hoof to her own face. Feeling how hot it was, she silently wondered if she could get her break in early to go cool her head.

Twilight and Chrysalis made their way deeper into the building, coming to an unflattering office door. The worn plaque on the side was the only thing distinguishing it from every other door in the hallway, though it did look like the room within at least had some extra space. Knocking, a voice clearly fighting back a yawn beckoned them in.

A slightly older earth pony mare greeted them without looking up from a stack of papers. "Good morning Twilight. I was just going over the documents you sent me again. I'm afraid I didn't quite understand everything." Finally looking up, she noticed the other mare in the room. "Oh, right. You said you were bringing somepony with you. It's a pleasure to meet you, " She looked back to something on her desk, "Chrysalis." She attempted to smile pleasantly, but the only half empty coffee mug next to her was proof she wasn't quite ready for that. Getting no response from the mare she didn't know, the mayor turned back to Twilight. "So, what is this about, 'relocating an entire population',? And also, what exactly is a changeling?"

Twilight winced as a green flame sparked next to her. After a moment, queen Chrysalis now stood in her true form, towering over the pony and glaring with contempt. "This, is what a changeling is," she sneered, her voice thrumming menacingly on all levels.

The mayor stared, a surprisingly neutral expression on her face. Chrysalis waited for the outburst she knew would be coming. "Ah, alright then. So that's what I've been hearing about going on at Sugarcube Corner. Will they all be as tall as you, because that might present several problems."

Chrysalis stared, hiding her surprise. "You, don't seem bothered."

Mayor Mare shuffled through her paperwork again. "I'm sure your big reveal could scare ponies from different places, but this has become a bit of a weird town in the last few years."

Twilight turned to Chrysalis. "Remember I mentioned the random monster attacks."

Chrysalis looked between Twilight and the mayor to try to gain clarity. The remarkably stable emotions in the room belied the subject being discussed. The mayor continued. "Yes, in my tenure here we've been attacked by a giant ethereal bear, a swarm of poofball parasites, multiple potential pandemics, a literal dragon, a chicken that turned ponies to stone, a magically possessed egotistical dictator, packs of giant wolves somehow made of actual wood, a mythological world ending deity, and we are currently playing host to the literal physical embodiment of pure chaos. Welcome to Ponyville Miss Chrysalis, you are the fourth most interesting thing to walk into my office this month."

Chrysalis was at a loss as neither mare seemed bothered by this information. "Why would you live here?" she questioned.

"It's home," Twilight said simply.

The mayor nodded in confirmation before turning back to Chrysalis. "Back to changelings and if future housing is going to need to anticipate for a population as tall as you? By the way, you can both take a seat, no need to keep standing for this meeting."

Chrysalis, now genuinely taken aback, followed Twilight's example as she sat in the almost too small chair in front of the mayor's desk. "... No. Most changelings are the same size as ponies. Being able to alter size when transforming requires more magic. Generally Queens are the only ones capable of it. Being the same size as our prey is advantageous."

The mayor checked something on her desk again. "Twilight did mention that. You're technically a predatory species. Once again Twilight, I didn't quite get what you were saying. 'Emotovores'? I'm not sure what that is, but it's hard to source meat this far from griffin settlements."

Twilight attempted to brush off the misunderstanding quickly. "No no, I may need to come up with a better term. Predator yes, meat no. They are actually capable of sustaining themselves off of the emotions of other creatures. Primarily love and primarily ponies."

The mayor finally looked taken aback by something. "Sustain, as in eating? Emotions?" She looked back to Chrysalis in question. "That's not harmful, is it?"

Chrysalis spoke evenly through her varied voice. "Only if we abduct them, put them in a pod, and induce a dream-like state to feed off of them for an extended period."

The mayor stared for a time. "I'm going to assume there won't be any of that going forward."

Chrysalis maintained her deadpan. "It's only done in emergencies as it's not the most efficient method of stealing love. I am also currently bound from being able to cause harm to anycreature."

"Bound?" The mayor asked for clarification.

Twilight cut in. "Technically I defeated her, so technically I'm the new Changeling Queen. But as I'm also an Equestrian Princess, my number one goal in both regards is the integration of ponies and changelings. This is the next step in that process."

The mayor seemed mostly pleased with that explanation. "Ok, if you're sure they aren't a threat I see no reason not to allow them residency. How many are we talking about?"

Twilight now smiled a guilty smile. "Umm, about ... twenty, thousand."

"Twenty thousand?" The mayor repeated in shock.

"Nineteen thousand eight hundred and forty two, to be precise," Chrysalis clarified.

Mayor Mare put a hoof to her forehead, letting out a groan of pure frustration. "Of course. That's what I get for applying for vacation time. Again. Those are some reservations I'm never getting back. Again."

"Miss mayor, it's not as bad as it sounds. There's no reason for despair." Twilight tried to sooth the suddenly turbulent emotions coming from the mayor.

"No reason? I'm going to have to work through the next two weekends just to produce enough documents for such an endeavor. Processing them will take months. I'm going to have to apply for more document storage space. Not to mention that that is nearly four times the population of the town currently. This will require a massive rezoning. And I can't even imagine what this could do to the local economy. " The mare now seemed to become frantic. In a daze she went to the cabinets on the side of her office and began opening drawers seemingly at random.

Twilight stood too, now going through the documents she'd brought with her. "I can explain, and I promise we can make this process work."

Chrysalis could tell this did little to help the mayor's mental state. As she had been learning that many ponies were rather loose lipped, she decided to inquire about something that had been nagging her since entering the building. "You and your staff seem miserable, as though you hate your jobs and they are stealing your positive emotions."

This caused the mayor to stop. Slowly, she came back to her desk to take a long slow sip from her likely cooled coffee mug. It still seemed to have a leveling effect on her emotions. "Accurate, if a little brutal. But may I ask how you can tell such a thing?"

"Changelings consume emotions. As a queen, I especially can sense if prey is worth pursuing. If I were to send infiltrators to steal love from this town, I wouldn't send any here. Ponies who are largely dead inside are not worth the trouble."

"Chrysalis," Twilight interjected, "There's no reason to be so mean. I'm sure the mayor is doing her best."

Mayor Mare retook her seat, seeming to now let her clear exhaustion show. "It's fine. I don't hate my job, it's just become very thankless work. I don't have the resources for much and the little staff I have are only part time. Most everything falls to me."

Chrysalis was still trying to understand. "But why not stop if you find no fulfillment in it. Changelings are only given the jobs they enjoy because it is typically what they are best at doing. Why isn't it the same for ponies?"

The mayor's emotions soured even more. "I've run unopposed in the last few elections. And if nopony runs, the position is automatically given to the most senior political figure in town, which is also me. I'd have to literally leave town."

"This town seems like a hazard to everycreatures health anyway. Why not leave?" Chrysalis persisted.

The mayor took a breath to soothe her own emotions. "It's home. I don't want to leave my home high and dry. It's just, hard sometimes."

Chrysalis wasn't sure why she would do such a thing, but she felt like she had a solution to this situation. "... Would you like some changelings to fill your staff?"

The mayor scoffed. "I'd take literally any help, but we don't really have the budget for it."

"That's one of the things I wanted to discuss," Twilight finally cut in, seeming to have found what she was looking for. "Due to the nature of changelings, they could actually be a massive boon to the town rather than a burden."

The mayor took the documents now presented to her and examined them briefly. "Working, for love?"

"Yes. While it might be complicated to figure out as I definitely want them to be fairly compensated, changelings technically require nothing from the local supply chains for food and nearly nothing for housing. As such, any changeling who chooses to live and work within the town can take a portion of their pay in love."

"If it's literally for their ability to secure a permanent place to live, I could find you a number of changelings who would be willing to work only for love," Chrysalis offered.

Mayor Mare's emotions fell back again at that. "We're government workers, we have even less 'budget' in that regard."

Twilight presented another document. "The other Element Bearers and I have proven that we can generate enough love together for the changelings survival. And while I'd prefer them to be able to thrive and not just survive, I think we can work out a system to provide them with love if any employer can't meet the needs."

At this, the mayor's dower emotions now seemed to begin to sweeten. "But what about the housing?" She inquired, some hope finally brewing inside her.

"Already considered," Twilight replied as she hoofed over another document.

"Subterranean?" She asked as she looked it over briefly.

"Most changelings prefer to live underground. The ones Twilight brought here already have been living rather comfortably in the basement of the library once she cleared out her lab for them."

"Twilight cleared out her lab?" Mayor Mare seemed surprised by this. "She really is taking this seriously."

"Yes. And since there are no zoning regulations on what goes on underground, we can figure them out as we go and make them advantageous to everycreature. If you approve it, they can start digging a new hive here in Ponyville and we can start moving more changelings in immediately."

"And then I can get my new staff?" Twilight and Chrysalis nodded to the mayor's question. With new found joy in her heart she pulled something from a drawer of her desk and began stamping papers. She then turned her attention back to Chrysalis. "So, do you have some changelings willing and able to do the work?"

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "There are few jobs a changeling cannot do better than a pony, but let me check." She closed her eyes.

"What's she doing?" The mayor asked.

"She's communicating with the hive mind. It's amazing, changelings can communicate with each other miles away instantaneously. Even more incredible, she can communicate for what to her is hours in there, and it's mere moments to us. She's so cool."

"That could also be great for administrative work. I only need to communicate with one and they can all get the same information. That's huge."

"I know, changelings are so amazing. And Chrysalis, she's just so..."

"You know I can still hear you both, right." Chrysalis's eyes fluttered open with a groan of her fragmented voice. Twilight was clearly preparing some excuse, but Chrysalis decided to spare them both the embarrassment. "How would you like to have a staff of twenty?"

"You can spare that many?" A smile finally broke on the mayor's face.

"I actually had to cut it down. Middle management type positions are actually perfect for changelings as most ponies in those positions fade into the background as it is. Many are trained for those sorts of tasks. I'm also adding a few coordinators. They don't speak ponish, but are well versed in directing activities through the hive mind so you don't have to manage the whole staff."

The mayor now seemed elated, though a sudden thought seemed to come to her. "You're already being so generous, but may I ask, what about ones for more, manual labor?"

Chrysalis deadpanned. "I'm not being generous, this is for the benefit of my children. What type of manual labor?"

Only slightly taken aback, she responded. "To tell the truth, I really want to fire that creep maintenance guy."

Chrysalis allowed a chuckle to escape at the sentiment before closing her eyes once more. "How many would you like?"

"One or two is fine."

Chrysalis remained quiet for another few moments. "We'll call it four."

"That's being too generous. We only need a few to keep the place clean."

"Many maintenance changelings are becoming restless back at the hive with nothing to do," Chrysalis explained. "They're actually fighting over who gets to take the job right now."

"We can put them on a rotating schedule," Twilight suggested.

Chrysalis nodded her head with her eyes still closed. "They love the idea." Twilight smiled as Chrysalis finally opened her eyes.

The mayor now stood from her seat again, but this time seemed to be barely restraining herself from prancing as she gathered what appeared to be employment paperwork from a dust covered pile in the corner of the room. Between her joy and Twilight's delicious approval of the situation, Chrysalis found herself wanting to raise the emotions in the room some more.

"One of our infiltrators actually wanted to inquire with you, Miss Mayor." The mare in question looked over curiously. "They previously worked in the Canterlot chamber of commerce. They were mostly gathering intelligence for our operations in Canterlot, but during that time they worked their way up to being the secretary of the stallion in charge. Also his secret lover too, but that was just a convenient source of food to them at the time. They actually enjoyed the work there though, and wondered if you would like a personal secretary."

Mayor Mare now bounded over to the still seated changeling queen, looking into her face with unrestrained glee. "I could have a secretary? A competent secretary, one I could potentially leave in charge for at least short periods so I can actually have time to myself?"

Now backed into the chair that was already a bit small for her, Chrysalis felt the need to retreat with no way to fight off the mare basically pinning her in place. However, she did hesitantly nod. In the next moment, she felt forelegs wrapped around her and a muzzle on her shoulder. In a moment of pure confusion, Chrysalis looked to Twilight. "What's going on? What do I do?" She was surprised at herself how easily she asked Twilight for help, but decided it was just due to being so at a loss at the moment.

Twilight pantomimed a motion. "Raise your forelegs out to either side of her." Chrysalis did so. "Now gently wrap them around her back." Chrysalis complied. "Now squeeze, roughly as hard as she is." Chrysalis did, and it seemed to do the trick. A moment later the joyous mare broke away and pranced back to her own seat. "Did I just hug a pony?"

Twilight smiled brightly. "Yes you did. Though I can't say I'm not at least a little bit jealous."

Still confused, Chrysalis gestured to the mayor. "I'm sure if you wanted to she'd let you hug her." She became even more confused when Twilight began laughing joyously.

The mayor brought the discussion back on track. "Alright, let's work out all the finer details. I want to get this process started as soon as possible."

***

Hours later, two exhausted Queens finally emerged from the building.

"I'm sorry Chrysalis, I didn't expect it to go nearly that long."

Chrysalis threw her head back proudly. "A queen will endure any hardship for their children." She shrugged back with a groan though. She was tired enough that she elected to not bother taking on a covert form while walking through the town this time. "I just didn't expect such a downtrodden pony to suddenly have so much energy."

"Remember, the pony way. We're stronger together. So maybe now you'll agree that changelings and ponies will be stronger together as well. I mean, just the prospect of it seemed to restore years of her youth back to her."

Chrysalis caught herself before letting out a chuckle and instead scoffed. "Keep dreaming, princess."

Smiling, Twilight mumbled under her breath. "As long as you don't mind me dreaming about you."

"What?" Chrysalis tried to decipher what of it she'd heard.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Twilight now trotted ahead, looking back to smile at Chrysalis. "Would you like something special to eat before we head home?"

Chrysalis was suspicious, but no longer regarded Twilight as enough of a threat to linger on the issue. She just rolled her eyes as she brushed it off. "I suppose I wouldn't mind another of those blackberry cupcakes Pinkie made for me. Do you think she'll have any ready?"

Twilight smiled wider. "Oh, Pinkie somehow always knows. Come on, it'll be my treat."

Chrysalis followed as Twilight pranced ahead. She found herself actually looking forward to the sweet indulgence, even though she didn't feel hungry at all at the moment.

Author's Note

On time for once. This chapter was pretty fun as I actually budgeted my time better to finish it. Also, a fair amount of the clutter that was clogging the previous chapter was much more gracefully transplanted into this chapter. It's mostly filter fluff, but it had some moments I liked. I want to get this published for everyone, so I'll keep this short. As always, feel free to comment. Good and bad, I love hearing from everyone.

Negotiations: Bad Weather Forecast

"Alright everypony, fall in!" Rainbow Dash barked the order, but then seemed disappointed at the results. Twilight and Chrysalis stood to the side, giving her exasperated looks. Two changelings stood in front of her, looking confused. "Uhhh?"

"Not ponies for one,"Chrysalis supplied.

Rainbow suddenly looked apologetic. Twilight cut in before she could correct herself. "We're also not here to begin training them either. This isn't like Sweet Apple Acres, you're the chief Weather coordinator. You have to actually assess them for the job."

Rainbow seemed to try to brush that off. "Oh come on Twi. I know how to get the job done. We don't need to go through all that dumb paperwork stuff. I can just hire them right now if need be."

Twilight face hoofed. "Sweet Celestia, I do not want to see what your department's organization looks like." She then thought about it. "Wait. No actually, I'm a princess. So that technically makes me part of the government, so that actually does concern me. I'm auditing your department the next chance I get, Rainbow."

Rainbow suddenly looked concerned. "Oh crud."

"I'll send her with changelings so she can relay the results to the town hall instantly through the hive mind, " Chrysalis added.

Rainbow now looked very concerned. "You two are dangerous together." Chrysalis felt this observation produce a swirl of pleasure in Twilight.

"You're impending massive infractions notwithstanding," Twilight continued, "We're just here to assess if the changelings would be a good fit for the weather team. Although I'm starting to assume you just put in the application to be supportive."

Rainbow Dash now pointed at Twilight in accusation. Or at least as best as she could with one foreleg bandaged. "Hey, just because I don't like doing paperwork doesn't mean I don't do my own research."

Chrysalis grumbled as Twilight deadpanned and replied. "And what 'research' have you done for this exactly?"

Rainbow tried to look smug at this. "I've been studying how changelings fly. And while they aren't as fast as me," she flashed her usual smug smile at that. "They seem like they'd be good on the weather team."

Chrysalis now deadpanned. "So your 'research' is based upon you convincing I-25 to sneak off with you to do those asinine obstacle courses."

Rainbow now looked shocked. "How did you know about that?"

Chrysalis decided not to react to it as Twilight reached out and placed a hoof on her changeling companion's head, caressing it caringly. "Hive mind, Rainbow. As in there's literally nothing our changelings do that she doesn't know about."

Rainbow's eyes went wide. "You mean..."

"Yes, even that," Chrysalis confirmed.

Red now filled into Rainbows cheeks. Chrysalis restrained a grumble as Twilight seemed to be finished with toying with Rainbow. She stopped patting Chrysalis on the head to face Rainbow properly. "We honestly don't care that you convinced I-25 to change into Daring Do so you could see what it was like to make out with her." Ok, so maybe Twilight wasn't done messing with Rainbow.

"It's fine actually. Lust may not be nutritious, but it's a nice treat for them sometimes." Chrysalis ate up Twilight's delight as their torment now had Rainbow Dash on the ground with her good hoof over her head.

"Could we please talk about weather management?" came her muffled reply.

"Of course. So first off, why did you imagine changelings would be able to work with clouds?" Twilight inquired.

Rainbow at least managed to expose her face again, as red as it still was. "Like I said, I-25 is a good flier. So I figured it would be no sweat for them and the other changelings."

"So in all your dedicated research, I'm assuming you at least cracked open one of your old 'flying for beginners' books from flight school. Maybe the first chapter of the first page. The passage that explains that high altitude flight is actually a rare trait that takes magical creatures like pegasi to achieve." Twilight was in full lecture mode, and Rainbow seemed to be in full detention mode. The emotions played out in an entertaining way for Chrysalis.

"So, changelings don't fly by folding the magic under their wings?" Rainbow asked hesitantly.

"No!" Twilight and Chrysalis replied in unison.

"... So how do they fly?" She questioned further.

"By flying," Chrysalis deadpanned. "You pony birds are the weird ones, not us. We use our wings to beat the air and become airborne. Most clouds are high up where the air is thin. We can't fly up there, and technically you can't either."

Rainbow looked to Twilight for salvation. It was not forthcoming from her. "Yeah, that's kinda the reason I had a hard time learning to fly initially. With pegasus magic, it's more like we, swim through magic. Flying on air, a pegasus would struggle to even get airborne, much less to high altitude."

Rainbow Dash now looked sheepish, seeming to already understand the implications of this information. "So, probably a no on cloud manipulation too then, huh?" Rainbow now sounded slightly defeated.

"Also pegasus magic. We can replicate biology almost perfectly, but most of your weird pony magic is too, illogical." Chrysalis confirmed this by whipping out her wings. Just a few beats of her wings sent more dust flying than Rainbow would expect from a full crash.

She seemed to at least understand enough about flight to see the implications of that. Getting back up tentatively on her good leg, Rainbow looked apologetic. "Yeah, I guess this isn't going to work out, Twilight."

Twilight summoned a clipboard with her magic. "No, I don't think so either. Although we are happy for your support and consideration."

"She is. I'm very upset at the waste of my valuable time." Chrysalis said this with a yawn as she was already gesturing to the still confused changelings to start back to the hive.

Twilight stuck her tongue out at Chrysalis while not looking up from filling out her notes. "We are thinking of setting up a changeling communication system at some point, if we can work out the logistics of it. If you still feel like you want to work with them, you can reapply when that becomes a reality. I think it could be a massive benefit if you at least had one at your field office. We can even see if I-25 wants to join up with you then."

This seemed to perk Rainbow Dash up some. "So, you don't mind that I sneak I-25 away to come fly with me?"

Chrysalis decided to reply. "They were in no way obliged to either go with you or to stay put whenever you contacted them. They did so of their own free will. Plus, the information about your flying abilities they are gathering will help me to defeat you when I'm ready to oust Twilight and retake our hive." Rainbow seemed a little off put by this, but seemed to be focusing on the positive. Sensing this, Chrysalis decided one more jab was in order. She bent down to Rainbows eye level to emphasize her next point. "By the way. You'll never be able to pull off a dead stop turn. Your body and wings just aren't made for it. But by all means, feel free to break another leg trying it. You being injured will only make my takeover all the easier."

"But I can still hang out with them, right?" She inquired.

Chrysalis patted Rainbow on her head dismissively. "I'll let them keep you as a pet once changelings rule. They'll take good care of you I'm sure."

"Thanks. I think?" Rainbow responded, confused at how she felt about it.

Twilight seemed to be double checking the information on her checklist. "That's just her way of saying to be careful. I-25 seems to like flying with you as well, and they were really upset when you got hurt." She finally looked up to smile at Rainbow Dash. "And if you're important to them, you're important to her."

"Don't put words into my mouth, pony." Chrysalis turned to sneer in Twilight's face. Deciding she was done with the conversation, Chrysalis once again whipped out her wings. With a fierce buzz she was in the air, leaving Rainbow and Twilight behind her quickly.

Twilight had to bite her lip to restrain a giggle. "She's so cute when she's embarrassed." Magically dispelling her clipboard, she too extended her wings. "Sorry it didn't work out, Rainbow. I'll see you later." With that, she took off after Chrysalis with a bright smile on her face.

Left behind, Rainbow watched as Chrysalis at least seemed to be trying to outrun or avoid Twilight. Yet despite her lack of flight skill, Twilight somehow managed to stick close to Chrysalis as they flew away. Rainbow thought she even heard Twilight laughing as Chrysalis made an easily followed turn to avoid her.

Rainbow watched the display with confusion. "If they were pegasi, I'd swear they were flirting right now."

Author's Note

Dang, almost forgot author's notes. Short chapter, but I enjoyed writing it. Not as much angry Chrysalis as I'd like, but I think it's showing her character growth well enough.

Currently trying to think up other careers the changelings might want to try as part of pony society, so please feel free to offer suggestions.

As always, feel free to comment. Good or bad, I like hearing from everyone. Especially if you have suggestions for more chapters I could write.

Negotiations: Fashionably Responsible

Rarity hummed enthusiastically as she shuffled in circles. A little purple dragon followed obediently, helping her work quickly. It still wasn't quite quick enough for some of the occupants of the room. Chrysalis had found a nice place to partially sprawl on what she believed to be a remarkably impractical couch. Part of that impracticality was that it seemed to naturally push Twilight closer to her on the cushioned piece of furniture.

It was still comfortable though.

"So, if he's your assistant, why does he spend so much time helping her?" Chrysalis asked this for no other reason than to pass some time. Normally any idle time she might have had would have been spent in the hive mind. Previously there were always issues coming up that would require her input and influence. However, she'd been finding herself with little to handle in that regard as of late.

Not to mention, Twilight's emotions did taste better when she was showing an interest in pony affairs. Or was at least pretending, which she totally was at the moment. "Oh, well technically speaking he's always been free to come and go as my assistant. We've always just used it as an excuse to stay close, since we consider each other siblings."

"You've mentioned that before. The found family concept I'm familiar with, but how did that happen with a dragon? More weird pony stuff I'd imagine," Chrysalis question, only to keep Twilight's emotions positive.

Twilight giggled some at this. "Better than accidentally becoming his mom. I hatched his egg when I was just a filly. It was for an advanced placement into Celestia's school, but I'm pretty sure even they didn't know it was a dragon egg."

"Even after birthing him, he shows more loyalty to her than to you. See, this is why you ponies will never be as great as changelings."

Twilight giggled more at this. "I didn't birth him, that would have been weird. I was eight. And besides that, I can't fault him for wanting to spend time with Rarity." She drew in closer to Chrysalis with an only slightly hushed whisper. "He's got a bit of a crush."

"Obviously," Chrysalis intoned. "The air in here might as well be marshmallow fluff."

"It used to be a little frustrating, but more and more I'm starting to understand." Twilight shifted on her side of the couch, seemingly to get more comfortable. It didn't escape Chrysalis's attention that this shift put them a little closer together on the awkward piece of furniture. "Rarity is smart enough not to actually mislead him though. She lets him have his feelings, as long as he doesn't go too far with it."

"Allowing a creature to indulge an impossible fantasy as long as it's still advantageous to her. Finally, a pony I can understand." She made sure her words of praise were as sarcastic as possible.

A slight sour taste came into Twilight's emotions from that regardless. Though it oddly didn't actually seem to dampen Twilight's mood. She playfully bumped their shoulders together and blew a mild raspberry at Chrysalis. "Oh, don't be like that. As long as both are getting something out of it, no creature is being taken advantage of. Right?"

Chrysalis scoffed at this, acknowledging the implication. "Do you honestly think anything I've done has been 'mutually' beneficial. Every creature is trying to get the better half of the bargain."

"So what was the better half of the bargain when you diverted changelings that were digging the new hive to dig that new storage for town hall?" Twilight said this with a smug tone.

Without missing a beat Chrysalis replied. "The faster our changelings become citizens, the faster ponies will presume them tamed, the faster you'll all let down your guard, and the faster I'll be in control."

"And yet I believe you said it was to keep me suffering in the love seat in the library reading area." Twilight's voice dripped with smugness at the words.

"Good plans are meant to have layers. Weakening you with bad sleep is also crucial." Chrysalis turned as well to smugly explain this to Twilight. She turned back away though when she realized their muzzles were mere inches apart in their current position.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "As long as I get my new lab, you can divert as many changelings as you want to other stuff. Build yourself a dozen royal abodes if you want, I'll still sleep peacefully knowing everything is running smoothly."

Chrysalis seemed to remember something as she once again feigned interest in what the dragon was doing well following around the seamstress. "The engineers are having trouble with the triple blast protection you proposed for your 'magical accelerator'."

"I gave them detailed diagrams. You even interpreted it into a coded form that could be viewed through the hive mind." Twilight gave a little shudder at that, as Chrysalis ignored an interesting taste coming through her emotions. "That was still an amazing thing to do by the way. What's the problem?"

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Just one more reason you ponies should have been wiped out a long time ago. Why would you build a settlement right on top of so many faults? The fact that this town hasn't been swallowed by a dozen different sinkholes is a dozen different miracles."

Twilight looked genuinely shocked at this. "You're fixing them, right?"

"Of course. I need this area secure for when I take over, don't I."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. That's one thing I would have never thought to check on. I'm so glad I can rely on you."

Chrysalis grumbled as she turned to glare at Twilight. "What about my statement made it sound like you could rely on me?"

Twilight smiled. "I didn't have to order you to do anything, and yet you did something that would benefit the whole town. That's borderline heroic if you ask me."

Chrysalis hissed. "Only fools become heros. Reinforcing a stronghold and securing a food source is just practical empire building. You insufferable pony."

Chrysalis didn't turn away this time as their muzzles once again came close. Chrysalis glared as Twilight gave her a smug look. Chrysalis assumed that by pony standards, the smirk on her lips would have qualified as cute. But Chrysalis was not won over as her own lips twitched in frustration as she found herself focusing on them.

The standoff was interrupted with an elegant clearing of a throat. "If the two of you could stop flirting for a few moments, I believe we have something grand to show you."

"Changelings do not flirt," Chrysalis hissed, but then stopped at what she saw.

Twilight still smiled as she too looked over to see Rarity holding a hoof out in presentation, of a changeling still in their natural form, wearing a nicely fitted outfit. "Oh, interesting." Twilight seemed to be thinking as she stood from her seat to examine the look from different sides. "I thought you'd have them transform to try different styles on different body types all at once."

Chrysalis stood too, passing information to the hive as she too took in the look. "Indeed. I was not expecting this either." She noticed that the outfit was definitely designed for a changeling. Dark colors to match their chitin. A motif of holes that complimented their natural ones. The wing slits even seemed to be fitted perfectly so that they opened with the ones on their body. The changeling did so as they extended their wings, showing that the design took them into account and looked natural with them open or closed.

"How could I pass up this opportunity? I've designed for all types of ponies already. Making the first ever outfit for a changeling, that is an all new challenge." Rarity already seemed triumphant at the impressed looks the royals were giving their subject. "I dare say, bringing a changeling that couldn't speak ponish made it a bit harder, but I think E-54 and myself began to understand each other fairly well. Right darling?"

E-54 chirped in what seemed to be a happy way. Chrysalis interpreted. "They really seem to like it. As an engineer, they know what it's like to design for something specific. They praise your ability to work with their body type." E-54 now turned, showing off how the clothing moved with them as they stretched in various ways.

Twilight smiled at her changeling's clear delight. "I'm glad they enjoyed the experience. But this doesn't really help in the question of if changelings could work in the fashion industry."

Rarity's mood now shifted slightly. "Yes, unfortunately I was bouncing the ideas off of Spike while we worked. I think he said it best."

Chrysalis and Twilight looked to the dragon who was now snacking on a gem Rarity had promised him when their work had begun. "I just pointed out that if you had a few changelings, you wouldn't really need any other models at all."

"Indeed," Rarity intoned. "Unfortunately, I don't think changelings would be a good fit. They could very easily destroy the entire modeling industry. I'm afraid on anything more than an interpersonal level, it won't work out to every creature's benefit."

"Humm, I think you might actually be right there Rarity. That's really unfortunate too." Twilight continued to consider, while another in the room became concerned.

E-54 couldn't understand what was going on, but sensed the change in the mood of the room. They began chirping and humming in question to Chrysalis. Chrysalis responded in turn, which only made E-54 more distressed. They now approached Rarity, a look of pleading in their clear blue eyes.

"Whatever is the matter darling," Rarity inquired, before turning to Chrysalis for the answer.

Chrysalis was now intrigued, and responded in all honesty. "They enjoyed modeling for you. And they really like the clothes. They're worried they won't be able to come back and do this again."

Rarity looked shocked and intrigued. "Really, they enjoyed modeling that much? Normally I have to beg and bribe my friends to come model for me if I don't have the means to hire a professional."

Chrysalis nodded. "Several others in the hive wish to try your clothing too. Some of them are making bits intown already and are willing to pay."

Rarity was taken aback, looking once more at the earnest face of the changeling before her. She then smiled. "Darling, you can come model for me any time you want. And you'll be paid a fair wage as well. Help between friends can't hurt anything, I just can't use you in an actual fashion show. Unless it's a show featuring changelings anyway." Rarity seemed to think about that. "That could be an amazing idea. I'll have to work on it."

E-54 once again turned to Chrysalis. There was some chittering back and forth, then the changeling turned to embrace Rarity, humming in what sounded like glee.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "They're thanking you. They promise they will come around whenever they aren't busy in the hive to help you around your shop. They seem to want to learn all about fashion."

Rarity hugged the cute little bug back. "Who would have known changelings could be so adorable. Of course darling, I've always wanted to train an apprentice."

E-54 seemed to stop, looking back and forth between Rarity and Chrysalis. They chirped some more. Chrysalis responded. "They know it's a term of endearment, but they were wondering if you could keep calling them that?"

Rarity looked at them in wonder. "You wish to be called Darling?" The changeling looked pleading, their flap of a tail seeming to wag in anticipation. "I think that would be perfect for you." Darling embraced Rarity again.

Chrysalis broke away from the display, returning to Twilight's side. "That's one at least."

Twilight nodded. "I was hoping for more before we widened the search. But between town hall and the Apples, we aren't doing that bad."

Rarity gestured to them. "If you two love birds are OK with it, I'd like to keep Darling and Spike here for a bit. This outfit is only fit for display currently, and I think they'd like to keep it for more than just that."

"That's fine Rarity. They know when and where they need to be for the hive." Twilight began to lead the way out of the shop.

Chrysalis grumbled as they went, shooting a glare back at Rarity as Twilight led the way through the door. "We are not love birds." Chrysalis growled this as she slammed the door to the shop.

"I can't wait to design dresses for them." Rarity giggled.

"What kinds of dresses?" Spike inquired.

Rarity patted him on the head. "Don't worry about that Spikie. You'll find out when you're older."

Author's Note

Sorry for this being so late. Last week it was me being sick. This week, I blame lantern rights. That is still my fault though. I need to do the events if I'm going to get the primos to get Shenha.
However it wasn't all due to me slacking off. The first half of this chapter was largely just exposition, which is really hard to write well. That whole section was redone a few times when I couldn't get it to go anywhere. Next chapter will be a slight diversion from this theme, but I have a few other ways of examining how changelings might become part of pony society. If you have any ideas for jobs they could try, let me know. As always, let me know what you think. I know this chapter is probably a little weak, especially considering the wait for it. But good or bad, I still like hearing from everyone.

Interlude: Risotto

Twilight scooped the last of the rice onto a plate, leaving two with a very generous portion. With a spatula, she began shaping each into what she hoped was an elegant presentation. After this, she took up a clean cloth in her magic and began diligently cleaning the plate wherever there was stray sauce.

With the plates now presentable, she turned to the book she'd taken from the library. According to it, she needed specific types of beverages to go with such a meal. Wines were not something she knew much about, but the stallion at the shop had helped her find non-alcoholic varieties she hoped would fit in their place. Carefully, she opened one of the bottles she'd purchased and gave it a sniff. It didn't have the usual acrid smell she associated with alcohol, which brightened her mood some. Carefully, she began pouring a pair of glasses.

From the other room, Chrysalis waited. She was under no obligation to stay where she was, except that Twilight had asked her to at least stay out of the kitchen and dining room for a while. Survival instincts told her she should have left the library entirely, and yet she found herself intrigued.

She could sense Twilight's emotions. They wafted in as freely as the admittedly tempting smells of the food being prepared. Anxiety and stress tended to spoil the taste of her emotions though. It was thus pleasant to her when the sounds of utensils clanking together finally came to an end, and the emotions coming in seemed to stabilize. Pride and confidence worked their way in, though some uncertainty remained.

"Hey, Chrysalis." Twilight finally called out, nervous anticipation lacing into her emotions as she spoke. "Everything is ready, if you want to come in here."

Stirring in Twilight's emotions did prompt Chrysalis from her resting place. She'd been sitting on a small couch Twilight had been using as a bed, looking out of a window as the sun went down over Ponyville. Now she instinctively made her way through this pony abode towards the kitchen/ dining room, a room which held no practical use for her, and yet she'd become relatively familiar with. Through the door the queen found Twilight, nervously smiling as she held out a hoof in presentation.

"Just a little treat I threw together, since I promised to let you try my risotto after all."

Chrysalis started to the table, wondering what else had been prepared. "I don't think there was a promise in that discussion. Regardless, you realize I don't need to eat pony food, right."

Twilight's smile and emotions faltered some at those words. "I know, that's why it's just a little treat. And even if I didn't necessarily promise it, you definitely deserve something nice with how much you've been helping lately."

"What is all this?" Chrysalis now questioned as she looked over the table.

Twilight gestured. "Of course, there's my specialty risotto. But we also have an eggplant parmesan with a balsamic reduction sauce, a chop salad on the side, and I have a crème brûlée ready for dessert."

Chrysalis was confused by this. "From what Spike has told me, you're nearly useless in a kitchen. How did you pull this off?"

Twilight blushed as her mood seemed to improve. "I'm working on it. Although I will admit I bought a kit for the dessert. Spike was kind of excited about it actually, he wanted to try to use his flame to torch the tops. I had to remind him that my magic is still a little more precise for stuff like that."

"Is he not joining us for this 'little treat'?" Chrysalis inquired, noting the two plates of food.

Twilight's emotions swirled again at that. "He suddenly got an invite from the cutie mark crusaders for a sleep over. He might try to act mature, but I think he still likes hanging out with creatures his own age. I promised to save him some though, so it's fine." Chrysalis wasn't sure which parts of the statement Twilight was lying about, but it didn't seem that important at the moment. Especially as she noticed something and pulled away.

"That isn't wine is it? Honestly, I don't know why you ponies would willingly poison yourselves, especially with such a vile substance as alcohol." Chrysalis nearly hissed as she looked at the glasses between the plates.

Twilight interjected quickly. "I actually agree with you completely on that. Not only do I hate the idea of losing my higher brain functions just for a sense of 'fun', but alcohol is just so," she seemed to strain to find proper wording. "Yucky. This is non-alcoholic, but the stallion at the store said it should still pair well with the rest of the dinner."

Placated, Chrysalis lit her horn to magically pull chairs out from each side of the table. Why she did both she didn't know. "You seem to have put in a great deal of time and effort on this 'little treat'."

Some panic swirled into Twilight's emotions, which she quickly tried to suppress. "No, of course not. Like I said, I just sort of threw it all together." Her smile was much too big to be genuine, but Chrysalis decided not to comment. She had another inquiry to address first.

"Why do you have so few candles lit? Isn't it a little dark in here for a regular meal?"

Twilight answered as if she'd for some reason been expecting that question. "Oh, that was me being silly. I didn't buy enough candles the other day and my light spells are a little too bright for indoor use. It's enough for a quick, simple dinner though, so I don't mind just picking them up tomorrow."

Chrysalis just nodded, once again deciding not to figure out the half truths her rival was feeding to her. Both now seated, looking at each other in the dim candle light, Chrysalis decided to concede a bit, for the sake of stabilizing the emotions she was actually eating at the moment. "I will admit, this looks and smells good. I may not need pony food to survive, but it does have its appeals."

Twilight smiled brightly, which Chrysalis ate up readily. "I'm glad to hear it." She lit her horn to raise her wine glass. "I'm not good at these sorts of things, but as I understand it, we should do a toast before a dinner like this." Chrysalis raised her glass in acknowledgment. "To us... finding plenty of ways to help our changelings."

Chrysalis nodded, and they both took sips of their drinks. It was probably the best 'wine' Chrysalis had ever tasted, but she didn't need to share that detail right now. "So this was partially done in anticipation of opening up our search tomorrow. You ponies always need some kind of preamble to certain events."

Twilight smiled at the observation. "That's a good way of putting it. I've heard it described as 'vibes'. Setting a good tone before starting something important helps creatures during the process. There's actually some great scientific studies into it. So hopefully this will help us help our changelings."

Sensing the desire in Twilight, and knowing the payoff it would bring, Chrysalis made yet another concession for the sake of improving Twilight's mood. "All this for the sake of my hive. I believe I remember what you told me ponies do in these situations." She focused on Twilight. "Thank you for all your help."

Worth it. The flood of positive emotions from Twilight at that moment were particularly tasty. She would have just eaten them up if Twilight didn't now bashfully fill a fork with food so she could raise it to her face to try to hide a blush. "You should try your food. I'm curious, since only my family and close friends have tried my cooking. Is it really any good?"

Chrysalis raised her own fork, a nice sampling of Twilight's risotto bringing it's scent to her nose. There was something familiar in the smell, which Chrysalis decided was just ambient from the emotions in the room. There was no way for smells like that to get into pony food.

Chrysalis's eyes shot open as the bite touched her tongue. She stared at Twilight in disbelief. Twilight's smile started to shake some as Chrysalis realized she'd been staring for a while longer than was proper. She could tell Twilight wanted to know.

Hesitantly, Chrysalis finished her bite. She couldn't help but to be honest at the moment as her mind was occupied with conflicting information. "This, is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted."

Twilight's satisfaction from those words was immense, especially as Chrysalis began digging into her food almost uncontrollably. But Chrysalis didn't pay it any mind as she tried to process new information as a feeling coursed through her body with each bite of food that technically had no nutritional value for her.

Chrysalis, felt full.

Author's Note

Been a busy week, so this chapter I thought might get done early took me the full time. Initially, I felt I was going to have a hard time making it over a thousand words. It's still short, but I'm glad it started flowing for me at some point. Literally most of this was written in the last 2 hours. Especially since editing went remarkably quickly. Let me know if you catch any mistakes, because that was too smooth for me not to be suspicious. Next chapter is going to be a much more dramatic one, and I'm going to be glad to be getting back to writing an angry Chrysalis. As always, let me know what you think, good or bad.

Negotiations: Retail Hell

"I don't like this place!" Chrysalis hissed in hushed tones as her head jerked from side to side. She moved as if anticipating an attack at any moment, even partially using Twilight as a shield as she followed behind her.

Twilight was concerned, but not being able to feel what Chrysalis did she walked forward as if nothing was wrong. "It's fine Chrysalis, I promise there's nothing here that can hurt you."

"I'm not worried about being hurt. These pathetic ponies still hold no threat to me. This place though, how can such a place exist?" Chrysalis once again jerked at a sound, moving to the other side of Twilight when an employee passed by pushing a flat cart. "What are these, things?"

Chrysalis continued to make a scene. Ponies around pretended not to notice as the pair of royals proceeded. The customers at Barnyard Bargains obviously didn't know why there would be a changeling among them, much less why they seemed to be making their way to the back of the establishment. But it seemed at least one was willing to check why.

"Hey there, can I help you today?" A mare wearing a manager's vest approached from the opposite side of Twilight, apparently managing to catch Chrysalis off guard. The mare kept a plastered on smile, even as Chrysalis pulled away and crouched into a fighting stance, hissing violently. "Is there some problem?"

"There is nothing of you but the scent of death. Begone, walking corpse." Chrysalis couldn't attack, but it was obvious from her body language that she would if she could.

The mare's smile still never wavered. "Okay, you have yourselves a Barnyard Bargains best day ever." She turned and walked away at a slightly faster than needed pace. Chrysalis watched and thrummed low at her the whole way.

Concerned, Twilight thought and moved quickly. "Chrysalis, I'm going to give you some orders, but I promise it's for the best at the moment." Chrysalis braced for what was to come. "Stand up straight, and come over here, next to me." Compelled by the words, Chrysalis did so. She settled in just next to Twilight, fur and chitin just brushing together. The moment she did, Twilight unfurled a wing and draped it protectively over her fellow queen. "Try to calm down, and stay with me."

Chrysalis allowed herself to be led to a slightly secluded area. The compulsion of the order, and clearly nothing else, did allow Chrysalis's pulse to slow. Away from prying eyes Chrysalis asked again. "What are these things?"

"There's nocreature here but ponies. Help me understand, what are you seeing that I can't?" Twilight's tone was gentle. Unrelatedly, Chrysalis felt more calm.

"These can't be ponies, they have less emotion in them than wild animals. The mayor was less dead inside when I first met her than any of the creatures in vests in here."

"The employees? What's wrong with them?"

Chrysalis snapped her gaze in another direction once more as one of said employees passed the aisle they'd ended up in. "I can't even sense them. That one that approached us was almost like a void in the background emotions, like the emotions were somehow actively being avoided. What is this place and what type of fresh Tartarus is it?"

"I told you, it's a grocery store although I just realized you'd probably have no context for that." Twilight winced slightly as she rambled out her sudden realization. "It's where ponies can obtain different forms of sustenance as well as certain household goods in exchange for bits. It's a more centralized form of the market place that you've seen."

Chrysalis considered that for a moment. "That seems redundant and unnecessary, as well as each being detrimental to each other's continued existence. Wouldn't such a place inherently hurt your pony economy?"

"Some creatures have issues with them. They've had complaints in the past, but most of them never went anywhere for some reason. They are one of the biggest employers in Equestria, so I thought it might be ok," her wing tightened around Chrysalis. "But I'm thinking this might require more research."

Chrysalis felt hopeful. "Does that mean we're leaving?"

Some conflicted feelings darkened Twilight's emotions. "If you can handle it a while longer, I'm honestly concerned now and want to check this out more thoroughly. Having you there would actually help a lot."

Chrysalis buzzed in irritation. "Fine, but when I take over I'm burning this place and all others like it to the ground."

"Of course you will. Could you get ahold of I-515, I might want to get the mayor in on this, just in case." Twilight gave Chrysalis a reassuring smile before she began leading them through the store again.

Chrysalis buzzed more, but allowed herself to be led as she let more of her consciousness fade into the hive mind. "They are going by Isis now. Something about the mayor calling them a goddess of organization."

Twilight giggled at that. "Something tells me we don't need to worry about the special pay for the changelings at town hall anymore."

"I would have never thought appreciation could be strong enough to be a form of love. Nor that the mayor could actually love her job that much with just a little extra help. What am I telling them specifically?" Chrysalis pretended not to notice when Twilight gripped her more firmly with her wing as they walked, pressing herself into her fellow queen more.

"Have them start looking up all info on Barnyard Bargains first." Twilight managed to keep Chrysalis distracted as they made their way through the store once again.

Through a set of swinging doors and up some shabby stairs, they suddenly came across something noticeably different. An expensive looking door with an elegantly adorned placard, gleaming golden in the cheap fluorescent lighting in the otherwise run down hallway.

Rich
Owner
Operator
Pony in Charge

With a cringe from both, Twilight knocked gently. Both were curious at a feminine voice forcing a sing song lilt responding, "You may enter."

Inside they were not greeted by the stallion from all the inspirational posters from around the facility. Instead, there was a pink mare with a massively over groomed purple mane and enough tacky jewelry for it to noticeably jingle with her every move. Her fake smile made Chrysalis have to restrain a thrum in her throat.

"Good morning, your highness. It is an absolute pleasure to have you here in the Barnyard Bargains home store. I hope you are having a delightful day."

Twilight noticed that she seemed to pay no attention to Chrysalis before she responded. "Mrs. Rich, I thought we'd be meeting with your husband today."

The fake smile didn't budge, but a swirl of sinister satisfaction crept into the emotions permeating the room.

"I don't like the smell in here. " Chrysalis said it flatly.

Again, the mare behind the very expensive looking desk didn't seem to acknowledge Chrysalis even as she responded. "It is a place of business, some things are unavoidable. I promise it's nice and comfy in here though. As far as my dear husband, unfortunately he was called off on some important business elsewhere. It, unfortunately, seems to happen a lot when we have important staffing issues like this. I take care of most stuff at the employee level. Why don't you come have a seat and we can have a little chat."

Only one of the also very expensive looking chairs on their side of the desk was pulled out in welcome. Twilight lit her horn to pull out the other for Chrysalis before taking her own seat. Chrysalis hesitated, her emotionless stare at the mare never breaking. At Twilight's silent urge, she too took her seat.

"Now, your highness, I hear you might have the answer to our little staffing problem."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "You put in a request to assess our new Changeling citizens for feasibility with your business. I wasn't aware you were having active staffing issues."

Chrysalis squinted deeper as the fake smile shriveled at the edges just the slightest bit. "Oh, nothing serious. We just come up a pony or two short every now and then. Nopony likes to work these days, you know." The fake laugh she let out then made Chrysalis want to transform into something without ears.

"I see," Twilight said hesitantly. "Well first off, what is it exactly that made you believe our changelings would be a good fit for your business?"

Mrs. Rich seemed to perk up at this. What she said next was clearly practiced with purpose. "Oh, well here at Barnyard Bargains, we pride ourselves on our staff. Our staff makes us who we are, so we believe in welcoming ponies from all walks of life. Everypony deserves to be a part of the Barnyard Bargains family." She finally looked over to Chrysalis, and her smile became much more obviously fake. "So of course we can't wait to invite other... things to join our family as well."

The neutral smile Twilight had been managing until now began to slip. "Ok then. Were there any specific questions about the program you had before we get into the finer details of the assessment?"

More sinister glee now spawned behind that smile as she turned her attention back to Twilight. "Well, I did hear something through the grapevine. Is it true that they don't have the same, compensation requirements as ponies?"

Chrysalis openly sneered, but was also impressed. She couldn't help but be disgusted by this mare, yet the sudden disgust that began to come from Twilight didn't show on her face from what she could see in her peripheral vision as she responded. "Changelings do not have the same dietary requirements as ponies, so due to this fact they have a lighter burden on the flow of goods on an individual level. As such, part of this program is meant to assess the balance of fair pay as far as a species that doesn't need traditional food in order to live comfortably. What was your specific inquiry about this aspect of the program?" Chrysalis wasn't sure if she'd ever heard anything that flat come out of Twilight.

Mrs. Rich, for what seemed like reasons of simply not being able to contain it any more, let her smile slip into a sinister smirk. "Well, I see no reason to beat around the bush, what's the least we'll be allowed to pay them."

Twilight's smile slipped even more, barely staying above a scowl. "Monetary compensation is one thing. More importantly is that our changelings require love to live. We need to make sure they can be treated fairly in that aspect before we can move forward with anything else."

"But of course. We love our employees here. I can call any of them up here and they, will, tell you." Chrysalis had seen that smile before, on invading queens who thought they could conquer her hive. She would have instinctively taken a fighting stance and began breaking things in the office, if not for what happened next.

Twilight now openly scowled. "Chrysalis?"

"She's lying all the way down to her core. Of course those broken ponies down there wouldn't do anything to cross her. She has absolutely no empathy in her words, all I taste is greed. She'd make our children into slaves without a second consideration."

"I'm sad to say, that sounds about right at this point. Mrs. Rich, I can already tell that there is absolutely no way I'd ever let our changelings work for a place that would treat them unfairly."

Though clearly taken aback, the mare recovered quickly. Her smile had faltered, but she clearly thought she had some new angle to work. "Come now your highness. This is a respectable business and I'm a respectable business mare. You wouldn't trust, that, over me would you. I'm sure we can come to a deal that would be, beneficial to both parties."

Chrysalis had definitely not seen Twilight this angry since their meeting in the hive months before. Her body seemed to be pushed forward in her chair from the force of her glare. Chrysalis couldn't help but be impressed. "Are you offering me a bribe to subjugate an entire tribe that is under my direct care and responsibility?"

"That isn't necessarily what I was saying. I just think we can..."

"Moreover, are you asking me to betray her, somecreature who has been by my side helping me for weeks? An individual who's word and insight I've come to trust and rely on almost implicitly?" The force of Twilight's hooves against the hoofrests of the chair now clearly threatened to break them with the force Twilight was putting into her glare as she leaned forward in her barely contained rage.

Mrs. Rich just smiled a smile of superiority. She had clearly done this before and thought she knew what was about to happen. That smile was the breaking point for Twilight, she was done with the situation.

"Chrysalis!" Realizing her anger was not meant for her fellow queen, Twilight proceeded more calmly. "How is the mayor's investigation going?"

"They have managed to find almost all documents related to the business as well as what appears to be numerous shadow companies that seem to be acting as legal shields." Chrysalis let a sinister smile come to her lips as she turned back to the mare behind her tacky desk whose smile was falling.

"You... how did you find...???"

Chrysalis leaned forward in satisfaction. "Most of them were already gathered. My children have been helping to reorganize the files at town hall. They had already uncovered some suspicious activities that seemed designed to keep the town's legal system at a stand still. Along with that, they've been compiling a number of documents that seemed to be filed in such ways to keep them buried. They'd been filed in a new section labeled, 'to be investigated'." Chrysalis watched in satisfaction as her face fell.

"Spoiled Rich. This is your official notice that you and your husband's company are officially under investigation. He'll be contacted separately in order to get his initial impression of this news. As you are both involved in this inquiry, we do have the right to question you both separately. I'm personally curious how he's going to react to all this." Her smile returned as she turned, stood, and turned away from Spoiled. "Let's get you out of here." She held out a hoof to her fellow queen.

Chrysalis didn't hesitate. "Gladly. I need to get the taste of this place out of my mouth." She took the hoof, and neither looked back as they left the mare stunned in her office.

Making their way back through the store, Twilight seemed to manage to work some tension out of her emotions. "If you want something tasty, I was planning on meeting up with the girls at Sugarcube Corner."

Chrysalis could still feel the remaining tension in her. It didn't taint her emotions much, but Chrysalis still didn't like it. She had a feeling she knew what Twilight wanted to hear. She decided it was worth it, at the very least to purge the emotions from her palate. Maybe for more than that.

"I believe I can endure their presence for the sake of a blackberry cupcake or two."

As they made their way out of the store, the wave of emotions from Twilight did seem to wash her clean of their previous interactions. Although oddly enough, she didn't seem to be the only one. She noticed an odd sensation coming from behind her. Looking back she paused as Twilight did the same, watching her as she watched another pony exit the building behind them.

The mare from earlier seemed to be leaving work, obviously not noticing them as she seemed to be having a moment of relief as she was pulling off her vest. Almost as if it was practiced, she immediately turned her head to the side, and smiled. Chrysalis allowed herself to tilt her head in confusion, as she practically watched the emotions come back to her.

"Hey sweetie." A stallion holding two drinks in a magical aura approached her and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek. "How's your day going?"

"I'm finally out of there, I've got my handsome coltfriend, a strawberry banana smoothie, and I do believe somepony here promised me a hoof rub later." They both smiled as she shimmied in next to him. "I'd say my day is turning around."

Chrysalis watched them as they departed, practically leaving a trail of love behind. "I don't understand the nature of you ponies, and how you can be so resilient."

"You won't believe it, I saw two royals in the store today. One was a little rude though..." they turned a corner, out of view.

Twilight was smiling a smug smile when Chrysalis turned back to her. "We're not all so bad, right?"

Chrysalis thrummed in annoyance, before deciding to lead the way towards Sugarcube Corner. "If I'm feeling lenient when I take over, maybe I'll let them evacuate the building before I burn it down."

"I'm sure they'll appreciate it. So, are you going to finally give in and try one of Pinkie's smoothies when we get there? I'm sure she can make one with black berries."

"Not a chance. I don't need to start falling into your pony ways of over indulgence. I'm a proud queen, and I don't need such frivolity." Chrysalis raised her chin in defiance.

Twilight giggled, a sound Chrysalis felt she was finally getting used to. She could at least admit it didn't annoy her as much as it once did. "Well I'm a proud queen too, and I'm definitely going to have one. Maybe even two. But if I'm too weak to finish one of them I'm sure there's a much stronger creature who could help me finish."

Chrysalis buzzed in annoyance, as she kept her face turned away from the mare walking at her side.

Author's Note

Full disclosure here: I'm probably a terrible ponies fan, as I actually have yet to finish the series. One particular episode made me stop, and I just never went past that point. I don't hate the show, don't think I ever will, and some of what I've heard about the later seasons even some interesting. I sometimes go back and rewatch some of my favorite episodes. But I say this to tell you about an interesting challenge with this chapter. I've actually never seen an episode of the show with Spoiled Rich in it. I literally only know her from the few fics I've read with her in them. Therefore the only thing I had direct context for was that Filthy Rich doesn't seem like a totally bad guy, so I didn't necessarily want to smear him. For the most part Spoiled seemed irredeemable though, so I went all in. But as I don't know her as a character, I instinctively started writing her as a condescending southern bell type character, which I don't think is right. Had to pull that way back in the edit, she was one step away from a "bless your heart" at one point.

I didn't get as much angry Chrysalis in here as I wanted to, but angry and vengeful Twilight was a fun tradeoff. Bonus points for anyone who can guess what kind of job I used to have. Maybe share some work horror stories. I love hearing from everyone, good or bad.

Come Alone

If Twilight wasn't looking for it, she was sure she would have never noticed. An opening between two rocks on the side of a hill, just barely large enough for a pony to fit through. It really didn't look out of place on the featureless landscape. But even though it seemed like the gap ended just a little way in, upon closer inspection one could go much deeper.

Her wings shuffled nervously at her sides. Despite the time that had passed since becoming an Alicorn and a Princess, she hadn't quite gotten a feel for how to keep them from giving up her feelings. Unless she focused on them they would shuffle or twitch depending on the situation. She resolved to just press them into herself tightly as she lit her horn and took her first steps into the darkness.

By the faint glow of her horn she levitated out part of a letter she'd reread countless times now. The second page of the letter contained a detailed map, one she now glanced at to confirm her position. Within the underground structure, going in every direction, were tunnels branching off of tunnels branching off of tunnels. And though they were minimal in appearance, they were far from crude. Not far down into the structure the natural look of the cave walls was replaced with finely cut passages. The floor was flat, the walls were square, and every branching tunnel she passed seemed to come at very regular intervals. She began counting them as she went, referencing the map as she proceeded.

Consulting the map was a largely compulsive act at this point, she had long since memorized every detail. What she was on her way to was a big deal, so it deserved nothing less than her full attention as a Princess of Equestria. Reflexively she turned back to the first page and played the words over in her mind yet again.

'Her Royal Highness, The Living Swarm, and Ruler of all Changelings, Queen Chrysalis, does hereby request the audience of the Equestrian Princess of Friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle. This meeting will be diplomatic in nature and if The Princess of Friendship agrees, it shall take place two weeks hence. Full instructions are to follow and must be met in their entirety. Most notably, due to the monumental importance of the nature of this meeting, Queen Chrysalis requires one stipulation above all others:
Princess Twilight Sparkle must come alone.'

Reading this again made her wings twitch unconsciously. It was hard to believe with how quiet it seemed, but the realization that she was actually in a changeling hive was a fact that made her pulse quicken. She only had the word of the letter that she would be safe within the structure. She of course had her reasons to doubt. The path through was unintuitive, seeming to have many directions that led to dead ends. Instructions in the letter made note not to end up down any of them as they were purpose built ambush points.

'It is by no fault of Her Royal Highness Queen Chrysalis if you are injured by changeling guards doing their duty to protect the hive.' Twilight had come here knowing full well that she was walking into a literal death trap. This was a huge leap of faith she hoped wouldn't backfire on her.

She felt the potential danger increase as she took one last turn. The first light she'd seen since entering came into view. The narrow halls opened wider here. Down the long corridor she could see a single glowing green orb set in the wall above large double doors. They were hugely grand, and clearly not for show. It was a fortress inside a death trap. From the impressive size and build of them it seemed like it would take a very strong force to open either by magic or physical strength.

And that physical strength seemed to be there. The first signs of life she'd seen since she'd come to the badlands. Standing in front of the double doors were the largest changelings Twilight had ever seen. Well not as tall as she remembered the changeling queen that had summoned her to be, they embodied the word stocky. Almost as wide as they were tall, and they stood almost a full head taller than the mare.

With one last flicker from her horn, Twilight stowed away the letter below her wing before extinguishing her magic light. She marched forward, trying like she'd been practicing for some time now to exude the same regal confidence the other princesses seemed to do so effortlessly. She remembered the last instruction on the letter as she came before the massive guardlings. She mustered her confidence once again and spoke the words as she was instructed.

"By the order of The Queen of the Changelings, I demand entrance." She forced herself not to hold her breath. She even managed to not twitch as the proclamation seemed all too effective. The hulking bugs seemed to move almost without thought, their massive chitinous hooves drummed heavily on the ground as they stepped aside. Even for their size they had to brace themselves as they reached out to pull the massive doors open.

Twilight was definitely fighting to keep her breathing even, but she still strode forward as the opening became wide enough.

If anypony told Twilight that the room she now entered was constructed entirely of volcanic glass, she would believe them. The blackness of the room was truly ominous. The fact that it was larger than the throne room in Canterlot, yet almost completely empty, only exemplified that feeling. Her hoofsteps reverberated off of the hard surface as she walked into the large room. Dark green torch light came from fixtures along the side walls, making visible the only occupants of the chamber.

At the center, set off the back wall of the room was a large throne that seemed to have been grown from the obsidian like substance. Flanking either side were more changeling guards. They were no bigger than the ones who had attacked Canterlot, but seemed much more solidly built. Between them, sitting on the throne, looking more ominous than even the first time Twilight had ever seen her, sat The Changeling Queen she remembered.

Chrysalis betrayed no acknowledgment of Twilight's entrance. While her stare was locked on the Alicorn Princess, it seemed like she had already been watching the spot when she entered. The changelings on either side of her were equally still. There was no indication of where Twilight should stop, so she naturally came to rest at the center of the room. She stood still a fair distance from the throne. She managed to not make a panicked gasp as the doors behind her closed with a massive thud.

Twilight had never known true silence until that moment. The only sound that came to her was her own breathing which she was trying to force to be steady, and her own heartbeat she was desperately trying to fight to slow. In the dim light of the room it was honestly hard to tell how much time was passing. Every muscle in Twilight's body tensed as a multifaceted voice finally came to her ears.

"Welcome, Your Highness."

Twilight managed to keep the shudder from her voice. "Queen Chrysalis, thank you for the invitation."

"You were instructed to come alone."

"And I did." Twilight surprised herself at the firmness in her voice.

The Queen's voice dripped with contempt as she spoke, some reverberation entering the tone. "Then why have I received Intel that says otherwise." It was less a question and more a statement. Twilight steeled herself.

"The royal guards were not my doing, they were sent after us by Princess Celestia. I wouldn't have even known about them if I hadn't been using detection magic during the entire trip here. The other Element Bearers did come with me, but you wouldn't begrudge me some sort of protection." She glanced to the guards on either side of the throne.

Though her face didn't change in the least, Twilight could practically feel the sneer and rage in the queen's next words. "They will not bother us. Changeling biology is quite rigid. They have not been given any orders outside of maintaining their positions for the sake of protecting their Queen. And they will not waver from that without either a credible threat or an order from their Queen."

"That's reasonable. My friends are at the edge of the badlands and will only make a move if I haven't returned in a day. They are also distracting the guards, so they should stay at a distance as well. We won't be bothered."

"...... Good."

The encompassing silence swallowed Twilight again. She was surprised to notice her breathing and heart rate had slowed. She actually felt confident as she looked up to the towering figure atop the black throne.

"You're scared."

Twilight's instinct was to deny the statement, but she figured a creature who literally lived off of emotions could tell that sort of thing. "But I'm still here."

A scowl finally broke on the Queen's face. The intake of air she took then felt like it drained what little light the torches on the walls provided. Though rage still burned below her indistinct voice, her words still came out steady.

"Very well. Have you any inclination as to what I have summoned you here today for m..." Chrysalis paused, taking another breath that seemed to darken the room. "Princess Sparkle?"

Twilight was too focused to try to figure out the reason for Chrysalis' hesitation. Though she was desperately trying to figure out the reasoning of the changeling leader, anger was the only thing that seemed to come from her. Even if she wasn't showing any of that anger, Twilight could practically feel it. Was that possible when dealing with a changeling? No time for that.

"My hope was that we could establish some kind of dialog. Little is known about Changeling society, but I'd like to believe that there is a road to peace between our species. I don't think I'd be standing here if that wasn't the case."

Silence swallowed the room again, pierced only by another intake of air from the obviously furious Queen.

Twilight waited, but eventually decided she wanted to be the one to push the subject. "Queen Chrysalis, I want there to be peace between ponies and..."

A chitin hoof slammed into the floor below the throne. Cracks webbed out from the spot, being added to as the statuesque mare stood and stomped forward. She cut the distance between them in half in just a few moments before her alien voice boomed through the room. "Peace! Peace is a concept for ponies, a concept for pray! We are predators! We are Changelings! We are Queens! You need to learn your place and the place of the rest of those insignificant tribes!"

Twilight was more than a little taken aback at the outburst. Though she pulled away at the approach, she didn't back down. It took her a moment to process the words, and although she didn't quite understand the anger she knew she had to persist.

"If you didn't bring me here for peace talks then what am I doing here Chrysalis? I think you're smart enough for this to not be an assassination attempt." Twilight had only tried this a few times, but she felt like she needed to match the show of force. She'd been working with her friends to develop the new magic she'd gained as an Alicorn, and it was time to see how the training was going. She channeled earth pony magic into her leg as she took a step forward. It came down with enough force to blast the glassy surface aside, leaving a crater where she stepped. "Stop making vague threats and tell me what you've brought me here for!"

It was clear that none of the anger faded from the changeling as she glared down at the pony. Twilight saw the muscles in her throat work as if she desperately wished to retaliate, but whatever it was seemed to literally die on her lips.

"Very well my...." Chrysalis sneered openly as she took a breath. "Princess Sparkle." She turned away, striding back to her thrown but not taking the seat. "You are here because I dema...." the word seemed to die on her lips again. "I, am trying, to secure a future for this hive and the continuation of the changeling species." Twilight was once again taken aback, but Chrysalis didn't give her a chance to recover. "A Changeling Queen has a responsibility to her hive. And this hive is the most important of them all. Without it, without a Queen to lead it properly, the species will perish. So it is imperative that my..." The sneer she made at that moment looked nearly painful. "That the changelings of this hive are given the chance to survive. Whatever fate that befalls them as part of pony society, m.... my....... my changelings will survive."

The pain in her voice was obvious now, as if she'd literally had to rip the words from her throat.

Twilight stared, mouth agape. Her mind scrambled to make sense of all of what the Changeling Queen had said. "Chrysalis, why would you think for a second that you or your changelings would be in danger? I already told you, I came here hoping for peace."

"I already told you to not speak of peace to me!" The Queen bellowed as if through multiple voices. "Stop speaking like a pony! There is no peace to speak of, no war to be had! The battle is fought, the victor decided! As a Changeling Queen, the fate of the race is in your hooves!”

Author's Note

Sorry, forgot to publish with author notes.

Didn't think I'd be able to manage a Halloween story this year, but wanted to do something fun. A story with a slightly darker tone, at least initially. I literally did this exclusively because I wanted to write for a very angry character. Chrysalis was the perfect character for this. I've actually been sitting on this for a while, I've just been stuck on it. Hopefully I figure out how to get past where I'm stuck before I reach that point. There will be a solid release schedule for at least a few chapters. Hope you all enjoy and as always feel free to tell me what you think. Good or bad, I like hearing from you all.

Negotiations: Catnip for Changelings

"I'm not agreeing to anything less than twenty," Chrysalis said with an air of finality and a glare that could rot an apple in minutes.

Unfazed, Applejack fired back. "Twenty is ridiculous. Four or five maybe, tops."

"Now you're being unreasonable. You have no idea what you have here and I think I'm being more than fair considering the circumstances." Chrysalis was impressed with Applejack's resolve. They'd been fighting back and forth like this for some time now.

"Now now, there's no reason to get fired up about this. I keep telling you both, this is meant to be mutually beneficial. I'm sure we can bring those numbers closer together without shouting." Twilight was trying to maintain peace while Big Macintosh and Granny Smith watched on in confusion. Granny Smith also found herself stealing glances at the changelings behind Chrysalis.

Integration of the changelings had officially begun. However, due to the delicate nature of the situation they were taking it slow. Thanks to Pinkie the town had been abuzz with rumors, and seeing so many changelings moving between Twilight's library and the town hall everyday for the last week had only made that more prominent. So before opening up to the town fully, they had decided to stress test their new system with some more reliable individuals.

"I'm trying to be reasonable Twi, she's the one who seems to want to ring us dry." Applejack declared this with a stamp of a hoof as she glared up at the much taller queen.

"I should be insulted that she would turn down an offer as generous as this." Chrysalis hissed this at Applejack before directing discontent back at Twilight. "And I am not shouting. I'm still physically incapable of doing so thanks to you."

Twilight looked puzzled, then it clicked. "No, I've told you that you can speak freely since then."

"Yes, speak." Chrysalis emphasized this before turning back to glare at Applejack.

Now feeling embarrassed, Twilight opened her mouth to correct her previous order. She then realized the situation her fellow queen was in and reconsidered. "Maybe after this negotiation is done."

"If she ain't gonna budge on this, I'd say we're done right now. It don't matter what the pay is, that's still too much. We don't need that much overhead round here." Applejack seemed adamant.

"And here I was told you element bearers were generous. You'd really keep something like this to yourself. Especially when you can't even benefit from it." Chrysalis sneered before casting a glance over the farmland they'd been given a tour of earlier in the day.

Seeming to catch onto something, it was actually Granny Smith that chimed in next. "Now wait up b'fore 'ya keep on with all this foalish fightin' Applejack. Them there buggy folk seem to have taken a shine to the farm. I don't rightly know why, but maybe they'll clear some things up?"

Applejack broke from her glare off with Chrysalis to finally look back to the other changelings she'd brought along. They seemed almost unable to sit still. Each would randomly lick their lips while looking around and shuffling on their hooves. "Ok, so it's clearly not about the bits. Why do you want so many changelings working here?"

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Considering how much you bragged about your farm all morning, I would have thought that was obvious." She then dragged one of her hooves across the ground, presenting a small pile of dirt for her efforts. "I'm not even sure how it's possible, but there seems to be some kind of emotion coming from the ground itself. It's not distinct, more like something that would come from a domesticated animal, but it's there. We can't feed on it, but it makes this whole area," Chrysalis paused, seeming to consider how to phrase her next statement. "... More tolerable."

Applejack was taken aback by this. Granny Smith however, just laughed. "That'd be decades of Apples puttin' all their love inta' makin' this here farm what it is. I reckon if they can appreciate that, we can bring in a few extra. Right there youngin."

Applejack seemed to consider. "Alright, but just cause the farm is like catnip to y'all still doesn't mean we can take on the lot of them."

"Considering the circumstances, I'm sure they could take less bits for their work. I'm still not sure what if anything they might end up needing them for." Seeing the conversation finally taking a turn for her, Chrysalis seemed to have lightened up some. A situation that seemed to be making Twilight smile wider.

"Just because they will work for cheap doesn't mean it sits right with me," Applejack finally explained. "I'm with Twi on this. We need to make sure no pony... no creature is being taken advantage of. If Sweet Apple Acres is going to set the example, it needs to be a good example. We usually put up our workers at the farm house. We don't have that much room."

Chrysalis deadpanned. "There are so many ways around that. We can fly for one, heading back into town to a hive entrance isn't a problem for us. We can also dig a hive entrance out here. But if you insist on your 'Apple hospitality'..."

"We do." Applejack added.

"They could just live in one of these other structures. What's in that one?" Chrysalis asked, gesturing to a further away barn.

"That? That's the old barn. It's basically just being used for storage. I ain't putting no creature up in there. It'll take more lumber than its worth to make it livable."

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Please. You ponies and your reliance on depletable resources." Chrysalis now made a series of hisses and clicks. One of the changelings she'd brought with her instantly jumped to attention and scrambled over to her.

After a series of hums, hisses, and clicks between them, the changeling turned and promptly began shoveling dirt into their mouth. While Granny Smith and Big Macintosh looked troubled at this, Applejack seemed curious.

"I been meaning to ask about that," Applejack said, gesturing to the display. Chrysalis nodded in acknowledgment. "Isn't that a might... gross?"

Chrysalis rolled her eyes again. "Taste is a learned behavior for interacting with ponies. Maintenance workers rarely leave the hive, so they don't learn transformation that precise. They are just processing materials."

In the time she'd been making the explanation, the maintenance changeling had already begun to produce a black substance from their fangs. They skillfully began working it out into a flat slab. It began to take on a brown color as they did. As they formed it into a flat thin form, they even took the time to produce a wood grain pattern on either side. In a matter of minutes, they produced what looked like an ordinary plank of wood. Chrysalis gestured, and they offered it to Applejack.

"Dang, ain't that something." Seeming to acknowledge it was not any form of waste, Applejack took it and began to examine it. "I wouldn't even know this wasn't wood." She attempted to put pressure on it. She then put more pressure, and more. Seemingly impressed, she passed it on to Big Mac. "See if you can break that."

After a few attempts and changing his grip more than once, the large stallion eventually did manage to break it. Though he did look impressed as it did seem to take him considerable effort. "Eeeyup," was his only acknowledgment.

"Dang, really? I reckon we could sell something like that." She seemed to consider while looking off towards a far area of her farm. She absentmindedly spoke more to herself. "I wonder how many boards they could make with that big hill in the north orchard where we can't grow nothing?" She looked back to Chrysalis, suddenly realizing she looked smug. "Alright. But I still ain't doing more than ten at a time. And their first job is fixin' up a living space for themselves. Once I know they can be comfortable out here, they can stick around." She then held out a hoof.

Chrysalis examined the offered hoof with scrutiny. "What is the meaning of this gesture?"

Remembering the situation, Applejack looked apologetic. "Oh right. It's a pony thing. Tapping hooves as acknowledgment. It means we have a deal. If we have a deal, that is?"

Chrysalis seemed to think for a few moments. "I suppose ten will keep my changelings happy. Deal. " She reached out and bumped hooves with Applejack.

Twilight now clapped her own hooves together with glee. "See, I told you Chrysalis. Our changelings are going to find plenty of places to belong in pony society."

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "It will make it all the easier for me to take the ponies by surprise the day I manage to defeat you and take back our hive."

Chrysalis felt only a little frustrated that her threat was met by a smile from Twilight. "Ok. I-54 can handle translation. Should we just leave them and M-101 here to get familiar with things?" She posed the question to both Chrysalis and the Apples.

Applejack responded. "If y'all wanted to head back alone, we can keep showin' them around."

"That seems to be the most logical course of action. We can decide later which workers will join M-101. I-54." The Changeling came when called. "The rest of your siblings that will be coming here will be maintenance, so you're going to have to take care of them. You'll be working for the ponies, but that doesn't mean they control you. Do your job and earn your keep, just as it's always been, even if the circumstances are different."

Twilight came over, sliding in next to Chrysalis to address them as well. "And try to have some fun. Other than when you're working for the Apples, you'll have free reign to do whatever you want. As long as it won't hurt anycreature."

"Thank you, my Queens." With that, they both turned to approach the Apples who led them further into the farm.

The two queens watched them as they went. "Is it weird, that I feel like a proud mom right now?" Twilight wondered aloud.

"Except for the fact that they are not biologically your children, no." Chrysalis turned to begin leading the way back into town.

"So, are you proud right now too?" The question seemed to make a delightful swirl of emotions rise up in Twilight.

"I'm always proud of my children. That's why I'm trying to do all I can for their survival." From the corner of her vision she could see Twilight looking at her face, and smiling. "What?"

"You might not show your softer emotions, but I think I'm starting to be able to see them. I think I'm going to call that a Chrysalis smile."

"I wasn't smiling." Twilight seemed to giggle as a few layers of her voice broke in the reply.

"You didn't show a smile, but I'm pretty sure you're happy." Twilight smiled smugly as she now began to trot ahead of her companion.

"Why are you so frustrating?"

Twilight only giggled more. "Oh, speaking of frustrating. Before I forget. You may speak freely, with whatever volume you think is appropriate."

"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!" Twilight jumped at the sudden outburst. She then smiled and was thankful they'd made it a good distance from Sweet Apple Acres already.

"Needed to get that out, huh?" Twilight teased.

"By the foremothers, that felt good." There seemed to be a little extra rasp to some of the tones of Chrysalis's voice.

"Sorry," Twilight started. "I need to be better about taking care of those I'm responsible for."

A bit of guilt crept into Twilight's emotions. But Chrysalis knew she could clear them up. "Get me something for my throat and it'll be fine. I think I threw out my voice."

Twilight smiled as her emotions cleared. "I'll take you to my favorite tea shop. Let's go."

Twilight led her fellow queen back into town. Chrysalis ate up her emotions with great satisfaction the whole way.

Author's Note

This chapter was supposed to be shorter. At one point I thought it would be less than a thousand words. This will be part of what should be a few smaller chapters. I might even throw in some bonus uploads depending on how fast I can crank them out. Thanks for reading and as always feel free to comment, good or bad.