I wonder how much time we have until Celestia catches wind of Salt Lick City, Chrysalis thought, But I suppose that it does not matter much, seeing that my true agenda has begun to fall into place.
She closed the door to her simple living chambers; that is, they were simple considering that Chrysalis was a queen, but she was never a materialistic pony anyway. She walked through the halls towards her secretary's office, disrupting any Changeling that she passed, because they all felt obligated to bow when she approached. Chrysalis hated the fact that even in her own part of the Hive her mere presence was treated as something special. If I could just shift my form to an average Changeling, nopony would pay me any mind as I go about my business, she thought as she traveled through the corridor. Sadly for her, Changelings can not change into other Changelings. At least in this aspect, the Queen of the Changelings was equal to her subjects.
Chrysalis reached the door of her destination and it quickly opened, causing Chrysalis to fall with a thud.
"Oh my goodness! Are you all right, Chrysalis?" the Changeling responsible for knocking her queen to the ground asked, giving Chrysalis a hoof up.
"I am quite alright, Pycna, thank you," Chrysalis replied, regaining her footing.
"I was actually just coming to get you to remind you that you have a meeting with Tagma today," Pycna said, "and I'm guessing that you had forgotten, otherwise you wouldn't have come down here."
Chrysalis smiled, "You would be guessing correctly. I also have an appointment for you to schedule, which is why I stopped by."
"Sounds good. Come on in."
They entered Pycna's office, a room with a well-organized desk in one corner, a filing cabinet in another, and a large calendar that filled an entire wall. Pycna flew over to her desk and removed a notebook and a piece of graphite.
"What do you need me to arrange?" she asked, magically holding the graphite above the paper.
"I need to meet with Dr. Chitin and Dr. Telson as soon as they are available," Chrysalis said, gazing at the wall calendar.
"Alrighty! I'll let you know when they can meet with you," Pycna replied cheerfully, "Now you should probably get going for your meeting with Tagma. It'll be in her office like you requested."
"Thank you, Pycna, have a good day." Chrysalis said. Then she made her way down through the many layers of the Hive until she reached the prisons.
She approached the door of the prison administrator's office and opened it. At the sound of the door opening Tagma jumped to attention, "Gooday, Your Majesty. Shall I show you the way to your prisoners' cell?"
"In a minute, I have a pressing question to ask you: which Changelings have the keys to the cell?" Chrysalis questioned.
"Only I have said key to the cell of the ponies, My Liege," Tagma replied, magically picking up the key chain around her neck, "I thought that would be best, considering that they are technically prisoners of war."
"You have good judgement, which is why you are assigned to this position," Chrysalis said, turning around to leave, "Shall we go now?"
"Yes, Your Highness, I'll show you the way,"
Tagma locked her office doors with one of the many keys around her neck and proceeded to lead Chrysalis through a long and complicated labyrinth of tunnels and corridors. Torches hung upon the walls, sporadically placed and providing barely enough light to see by. Once they had covered a moderately long distance, Tagma stopped in front of an unassuming door, from which voices could be heard.
"Come on guys, look on the bright side!"
"What bright side?"
"I don't know, but when we find it, we should look on it!"
"I bucking hate you, Bottle Cap."
Chrysalis cleared her throat and the voices instantly ceased. What now? she though to herself, You musn't scare them too much. They need to be comfortable with the Hive and with Changeling for this to work. Oh Chrysalis, what the hell have you gotten yourself into? She raised her hoof and knocked on the door, completely unsure of what she was expecting.
"Who is it?" asked the voice which presumably belonged to the pony named Bottle Cap. The voice also received a good number of "shhh's" from inside the cell.
"My name is Queen Chrysalis," Chrysalis replied, "I wish to speak with you all if you would allow it."
"It's not exactly like we have a choice," Bottle Cap said through the door.
A moment later, another voice piped up from inside the cell, "I apologize for Bottle Cap and his potentially insulting behavior. We would very much like to know what is going on."
Chrysalis motioned for Tagma to unlock the door, which she did silently. The door's lock clicked and Chrysalis took a deep breath, Just be calm and collected, and everything will be fine. But what if I scare them? Should I change my appearance? No, otherwise you would confuse them later on. What do I tell them? The truth is certainly not an option. Why in Equestria did I come down here without consulting Dr. Telson first, or Dr. Chitin, or even Labium? Chrysalis stepped into the cell and looked about, darkness being the only thing meeting her eyes.
Attempting to break the eerie silence she said, "It is much too dark in here. Some more light, perhaps?" Without waiting for a response, Chrysalis conjured up four lit torches and magically tacked them to the walls. Gazing around the room, she was met with the faces of seven hungry and frightened ponies. "Better?"
Three of the ponies nodded their heads while the rest continued staring at the queen in shock. A pale blue unicorn, the one who had addressed the queen earlier through the cell door spoke, "Excuse me, Your Highness, but we are rather hungry. Perhaps you could speak with us over a meal?"
"Of course. My apologies if you have not been provided with adequate meals," Chrysalis replied, summoning seven plates of grass and oats and placing one in front of each of the ponies.
They all dug in greedily, as if they hadn't eaten in weeks. One of the stallions, an Earth pony who had a bright green coat and a silvery mane lifted his head and asked, "So why were we brought down here? I'm Bottle Cap by the way, sorry if I offended you like Dusty seems to think I did." He nodded at the unicorn mare and she smiled shyly.
"You were not terribly offensive, but your apology is accepted all the same," Chrysalis replied, "And you are here because, um--"
What the hell should you say? Come on, think.
"We, the Changelings that is, have saved you from the destruction of Equestria. Um, we had predicted a terrible apocalypse and tried to save as many ponies as we could, but we didn't move fast enough. You all are the only ones that we managed to rescue." Chrysalis paused and looked around the cell; fourteen eyes were riveted on her, all of them looking to be on the brink of tears. "I am very sorry for all of your losses." Oh, Chrysalis, that was such a cruel thing to say. It was also a cruel thing to launch an attack on their race and to capture them, ripping them away from their families, never to be seen again. Maybe you are turning into the terrible monster that pony lore paints you to be. Chrysalis turned around to leave, glancing back into the cell to find seven ponies huddled together in a corner, shaking. She exited the small room and reentered the dim corridor.
"Close the door, but leave it unlocked," Chrysalis said to Tagma.
"Your Majesty, are you sure?" Tagma asked. She seems awfully somber. I wonder what happened in there.
"I'm quite positive. They will not be in the mood to even consider leaving, at least for a little while." Chrysalis replied. She sighed and started to walk back towards the main part of the Hive, Tagma following close behind. As they walked Chrysalis said, "Leave them be, I shall take care of feeding them and such."
"As you wish," Tagma answered, "If you have any more requests, just let me know."
They parted ways, Tagma returning to her office and Chrysalis returning to her living chambers. Chrysalis closed her door and walked a few steps, then she collapsed onto the floor in tears.
Chrysalis, you truly are a monster.