“Oh, hey Chrysalis!”

The carefree voice comes over buzzing wings before hooves alight upon the gravel. The emerald changeling who comes to stand before her is slim and slightly toned—it takes a moderate degree of athleticism to lug around pizza deliveries, especially for those who do so while flying. Of course, the large wings which fold up into the casing behind her back are performing a lot of the work. She has to wear a backless shirt so that her clothing doesn’t inhibit her movement.

“Busy night, huh?” she remarks, rolling her shoulders and neck while she holds her own insulated delivery bag by its straps. “I had to go all the way out to Sweet Apple Acres. They must have some family party going on.”

“Mhm,” Chrysalis mumbles absentmindedly, hardly bothering to listen. She doesn’t think about how thankful she should be that there are other changelings, like Elytra here, who can take long-distance deliveries while she operates mostly in the heart of Ponyville. The thought of making the trek out to the orchards on hoof makes her want to throw up. Not just because of the effort involved, but because the farm is home to some of the ponies she harbors the most disdain for. It’s always a gamble any time she picks up the instructions for her route, always faced with the possibility that she’ll be asked to serve food to one of the ponies who foiled her attempts to take over Equestria.

“Here, let me get that for you,” Elytra then says, and she so casually, so effortlessly, reaches forward and pulls open the door that Chrysalis had been about to fumble for herself, standing out of the way so she can pass through.

“Thanks,” she replies with the most neutral tone she can manage. She should be happy, since this is the closest she can get to deferential treatment in these times. But she also can’t shake the feeling that she is being patronized. The changeling queen who has fallen so far from grace that now she needs assistance from others just to get through a door. Well, they’ll see who’s laughing when they’re the ones who need help getting through doors.

She smirks to herself, not even fully knowing what it is that she’s scheming.

After a few seconds of shoving and shimmying, Chrysalis succeeds in getting her bosom through the doorway. There’s not much more room to maneuver inside; Bug Bites Pizza is still hardly more than an express outlet for delivery and carry-out, so there’s only a small space for customers to stand in front of the counter. Some days, Chrysalis has enough excess love buildup that she can hardly stand there without filling the span between the counter and the wall opposite it. The changelings have still done an adequate job of decorating the building to give it their own flair, with green glowbulbs hanging from the ceiling and wavy swathes of resin coated across the walls. The changelings who, for the most part, hardly notice her presence as she comes in, still just busying themselves with their work on the other side of the counter, rolling dough and placing toppings and managing the ovens.

“Chrysalis!” This voice addressing her is less friendly than Elytra’s, gruff and demanding. Spiracle, the pastel orange changeling who approaches with a stack of pizza boxes, has a girthy frame, stretching the fabric of the shirt and apron he wears. Drones of such physical condition would have been a rarity during Chrysalis’s reign—they were only rationed exactly what they needed in order to carry out their orders. There could have been more to go around, she tells herself, if only she’d been able to have her way with the ponies of Equestria.

“Here’s your next delivery,” he says as he slides the boxes toward her, “try to be snappy about it, you gotta take your break before the hour’s up!”

“You got it, boss,” she mutters, keeping her scowl set to “mild” intensity. She doesn’t know whether the worst part of all this is having to work for ponies or having to work with other changelings. These were supposed to be her subjects—her children. Instead, she’s just another employee. The only queen she will ever be is the queen of the delivery mares. “Can’t wait to run all around the market district again…”

“Just one delivery, actually,” Spiracle replies while he hands her the receipt with the address.

“That’s not so bad, Chrysalis,” Elytra remarks from beside her, all too casual and friendly as usual. “You can be done and then come back and take a break!”

Chrysalis squints and reads the type on the paper and her brow furrows, her scowl deepening. “Wait a minute…Rainbow Dash?! She lives in a cloud! How am I supposed to get this to her?!”

“Sorry, Chrysalis.” Spiracle shrugs. “She requested you specifically, and we gotta give the customer what they want.”

She grumbles obscenities under her breath while she haphazardly scoops the pizza boxes into her delivery pack. Nevermind the disrespect owed to her by the subjects who abandoned her; working for ponies is definitely the worse factor in all this. And if that damnable pegasus so much as looks funny at her breasts then she’s going to get a faceful of veggie combo.

Author's Note

Originally written 1/20/25

Introducing a couple generic changeling OCs who may or may not appear again.

I feel like Elytra is one of the more common changeling names that have been used by fans.

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