Water trickled into the large open room and rolled down the arcs of the beveled ceiling before it hit the hardened resin floor below. Several small dots along the ribbed surfaces of the room’s roof illuminated the throne room while the queen of the changelings tapped her hoof on the cold ground.
“Where is HE?!” Chrysalis said with a groan. An echo resonated throughout the chamber; it traveled down the corridor towards the entrance of the hive. Each tap of her hoof against the cold, dark resin floor grew in frequency while the changeling queen sat on her throne. “Drone number four should have been back by now. That fool, I should have sent out drone number five or drone number one.”
With the light that penetrated the hive’s entrancing fading, night came to Equestria. The queen’s stomach emanated a sound that was all too familiar to the rest of her hive. An image of a lone pony materialized from the darkness of the corridor. In a quick flash of green, fiery light, the form dissolved. With a snarl, Chrysalis said, “DRONE, my patience is at its end! Did you bring what I requested?”
“Yes, I have it. The objects were where you said.” A voice said, greeting the changeling queen's ears with a quick muddled hiss and chirp. Two lifeless creations of felt were produced in front of Chrysalis, the stolen saddle bag they were produced from belonging to Pony Puppet Purveyor Productions Incorporated.
“It wasn’t easy to penetrate their defenses. All of Equestria is watching for us right now. Ponyville is on constant alert, Queen Chrysalis. I managed to procure the ones you specifically asked for. The ones you saw on your surveillance mission.”
“Good, good. Now…” Chrysalis said while her voice trailed off, and then licked her front teeth. The Changeling Queen’s eyes glimmered in the bioluminescent light of the dots from the ceiling. A quick flash of her white fangs greeted drone number four as the queen smiled at her faithful servant. She turned to the lifeless entities on the floor, raised her right hoof to her chest, and raised her voice to them,”…I, Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, hereby command you puppets to perform and entertain me. You shall amuse me like I saw in Ponyville, doing your routine that delighted those little fillies, colts and foals near Sugar Cube Corner.”
Nothing, nothing came from either of them. Chrysalis nudged the felt creations. Each prod of the changeling queen’s ebony colored hoof was greeted with the same lifelessness that she had witnessed when they were first displayed to her. After a quick snort, the queen said with a quick growl, “Move! Do not ignore the command of a queen! I command you to dance for me! Entertain me, now! Move I say!”
The creature’s temper flared and intensified alongside the greenish glow of her black, misshapen horn. With a whimper in his voice, the drone approached his ruler and said, “My Queen, I saw a pony moving these creations. The stallion manipulated these things as he moved them around with his hooves. I don’t believe they can move on their own.”
From her angered state, the queen’s ferocious eyes glowed while she turned towards the changeling. Drone number four slunk into the nearby corner, below a glass fixture, and into the shadows. The drone buried his mouth into his hooves while he lay in the corner. He closed his eyes and said to his queen, “I-I b-believe that they require so-some force to move them and cannot act on their...”
“You doubt the words of your Queen!” the creature said with a hiss, her horn glowing bright enough to illuminate the dark throne room and its corridors. “I saw them move. There was no pony behind that box. No equine could make these things move and not have love or happiness in what they did. It entertained those ponies too magnificently, too perfectly. By my command, the command of the Changeling Queen, I order you marionettes to move!”
The content smile on the white pony puppet mocked Chrysalis. She squinted at the lifeless creation, and, as the greenish color around the Changeling Queen’s black horn grew, another quick hiss and chirp entered her hears. A drone descended from a hole in the ceiling, bowed, and then nodded at the queen with a half-hearted smile. “My Queen, it is alright. These things are merely lifeless creations. I witnessed the pony behind the stands. The one that made these two creatures dance to his whims and wishes. As you say, the stallion was indeed “joyless” in his work and aspirations. That’s why you didn’t sense him.”
“Fine, fine…” Chrysalis said as she rolled her eyes, the glow from her horn quick to fade. She turned away from the puppets that lay on the floor. With a flick of her tail and a buzz of her translucent wings, the mare floated towards her throne and sat down. The changeling queen raised her hoof and motioned towards drone number four, who still cowered in the corner.
“Y-yes?” the creature said while he came towards her. His eyes fixated on the ground beneath the hooves of Chrysalis. “Wh-what is it th-that you need, my queen?”
In moments of those words being finished, the floor’s solid structure liquefied beneath the drone’s hooves. The sounds of his screams resonated throughout the structure as his body sunk further into the floor. “My queen, PLEASE! I beg of you! I did what you asked!”
“I needed a meal, and so you shall provide it.” The Changeling Queen said. A small pool of tears gathered into a depression in the floor. The depression’s form changed to that of a cup to collect the tears, and then delicately floated towards Chrysalis. “You, you shall make those lifeless ‘things’ perform for me Drone Number Four.”
The resin released its grasp from the changeling. He shot into the air before, and then fell towards the ground, the resin ooze quick to solidify underneath the drone before he landed. “Y-ye-yes your majesty, I will make them perform for you.”
Another flash of the queen’s white fangs greeted the room while she sipped on the drone’s tears to curb her appetite. Though love was what she desired, the tears of fear were equally welcomed in her current situation. The changeling queen’s moment of elation continued while the drops hit her forked tongue. With a wicked smile, the mare said,“Chicken is good from time to time.”
Chrysalis licked her lips before she formed an intricate stage from the hive’s resin floor, similar to the one in Ponyville. Though it lacked the bright colors and fanciful decorations, the creature made do with what was given.
“Drone, don’t test my patience!”
The marionettes were lowered with care towards the makeshift stage. The drone fumbled about to make the puppet dance, his actions proving ungraceful compared to the puppeteer in Ponyville. Chrysalis spoke nothing and merely watched the drone fumble about with the first marionette, those actions bringing a smile to the show’s one viewer. A second drone came in and produced the other puppet, moving it up and down to dance around with the first.
Time passed as the changeling queen sipped her drink and watched her entertainment. With the quick flashes of her smiles, the drones continued their play.
“Ooo, what will happen next I wonder,” Chrysalis said with a coy smile. “Could we see – is that really all of the performance?”
Both puppets retreated from the stage. As a few minutes passed, the queen flew behind the stands and saw the drones had vanished.
“The last time I allow those two twits to entertain me. Still, it was a rather ‘rousing’ performance for them, hoo hoo.” Chrysalis said while her horn glowed. A slight green hue enveloped the puppets while they rose a few inches off the ground. Innocence was granted to the queen with the time she spent to herself in that passing hour. “Such wonders in these little things. I'm curious, what it would be like…”
Her voice was interrupted by a quick yawn. Chrysalis levitated the puppets in front of her as she made the short trek to her bed. From under it, the queen produced a small box of trinkets and figures, placing the felt creations gently inside. The black box with a red rose was secured back into its original position underneath her bed before she slunk under the covers.
A final flash of her white teeth greeted the room, the changeling queen smiling with glee before her eyes closed. “Wonder if I could return these to that stallion in Ponyville, disguised of course. Maybe if I assume the form of a little filly, the puppeteer will make them dance for me like he did the others. Perhaps he’ll even give me a private show.”
“To think those drones believed me, hoo…” Chrysalis yawned once more as her tired eyes opened and then shut. “It’s fun to keep those drones on their tip of their hooves at times. Making believe those things moved on their own, such rubbish. Perhaps next time I’ll make those drones imagine a rock has some form of sentience and they can get love from it. A pet rock, such brilliance.”