This story is a sequel to Changeling Space Program
The space race is over, and the third flight of ESA Amicitas is not yet even contemplated, but life goes on for the first changeling queen on the moon and her hive.
Faced with the necessity of keeping track of all her subjects and proving that they are, in fact, hers, Chrysalis decrees the Badlands Hive's first ever census. And normally this would produce merely normal levels of changeling stupidity, silliness and shenanigans...
... but what happens when a name pops up, and you can't prove that the changeling attached to it even exists?
Takes place in late winter after the end of Changeling Space Program and about two years before the beginning of The Maretian.
Written for FanOfMostEverything's Imposing Sovereigns IV contest, pairing Chrysalis and Unorthodoxy. (Group here.)
Glorious.
I'd forgotten the wit with which you wrote Chrysalis. The Martian and it's predecessor remain my all time favourite story on this site. The menta! Image of the Changelings, their trip to Marehatten and "The Fun Machine" remain in my head years later rent free. You've lost none of your wit, charm and silliness that makes this particular iteration of the Hive such a delight to read.
I shall be following along excitedly for the next chapters.
A new story but before the Marerian? Neat!
And a double update? Amazing ♡
Oh my gosh this is so much fun.
Damn... Almost forgotten how mutch a tool Chrysalis can be, I wonder who this mystery Changeling is and what his or her part in this all is.
With how absolut Chrysalis mind set is I can see why other hives want to keep Chrysalis under observation.
Looking forward for more in the future
Thanks for the double update
Triple updated?
Awesome
What a awesome cliffhanger ♡
👍
Eeeee!! New story!!
I love how you write Chrysalis, can't wait to see more bugmom shenanigans
I also adore how you write changelings too! There's this one webcomic called Out-Of-Placers and your changelings resemble the yinglets from it a fair amount XD
Heh heh i like the thought of holding a young struggling chrysalis down and pilling her like a dog,
(There had been one who'd got in literally by the front door, but he was an exile and didn't count.)
I choose to believe this is a reference to Idol Hooves.
Four updates awesome! The story is already over? Dawww...
I still don't understand why she has to give them at all...
11760060 I put a LOT of references into this one.
11760065 Edited to make it a little clearer. The first draft had the actual letter, which has Celestia basically say, "No IDs, no prisoner exchanges," but very sweetly and politely. By the time I got to assembling the draft, I decided it was boring and that it would be better to introduce the plot hook by expanding the Chryssy-Cherry scene a little so that Cherry is stopping by to make a progress report rather than being summoned by Chrysalis.
Came from TVTropes! Most interesting! Mystery changeling!
I wonder who'll replace Paper Plane... Awww! Dream job acquired! So nice!
Typo?
High tied > high tide
Wonderful little story, happy to have gotten more of the shenanigans of the world you built. Perhaps more another time, perhaps not. Thank you for this either way.
11760078 I saw that in the edit and thought, "Huh. Well, I must have done that for a reason."
I think the reason was I didn't have my glasses on when I wrote it. Fixed now.
11760078 Wait... from TVTropes?
(checks)
Oh. Well, that was quick.
11759989 Well, it's done. I was just posting the chapters as I edited them, but the first draft was complete before I even posted the story title.
<Waves at Idol.>
11760031
I found that comic yesterday! I sat and read 250 pages in one sitting!
The home page.
Wrong on at least two levels.
Edit: Also, Beancounter is both a dear and a darling.
Happy to get more CSP shenanigans, still up there with my favorite fanfics and this little story had me grinning and laughing non-stop
Would this, perchance, have been by being in her cell?
I blame Greengrass.
Flubs?
Columbug!
Because she was blonde... (🎶Do doo do🎶)
Where'd the other 901 come from?
11760129 No, Parasol was innocent. She is a genuine kleptomaniac in that she takes things on reflex, without even realizing she's doing it. Burglary requires intent and planning.
To be honest, the only reasons she goes to jail at all are, it makes the victims feel better, and it allows for supervision without the trouble of putting her into an asylum (which she'd probably break out of instantly).
As the saying goes, you catch more changelings with honey than vinegar.
11760146 They came from a typo which is getting fixed now.
11760146
Figured I'd add a link to the reference:
"'Cause I'm A Blonde"
>.> Did i perchance forget this from the changeling space program or is this a small nod at our good buddy idol hooves?
Census every ten years is slow enough, but its been a thousand years since england last had a Full registry of all population and their associated resources.
Then again, how many people would complain about a plot of land and home price associated with their person that everyone with access could read?
11760173 Well, that would be because the last time England had a complete census, William the Conqueror looked at the list and said, "That's good; it all belongs to me now."
11760177
Ah, I forgot about the cat with two noses.
Daym.....Kevin has Balls.....or whatever the changeling equivalent is...
11760216 They are indeed made of brass, whatever they are.
I loved the references! Well done!
11760148
I thought there was a chance that it was a meta-joke.
I feel that there's the potential for a movie here. Parasol and Jailbird (from Georg's work) are accidentally left off of a prisoner transport somewhere in central Equestria, and have to cross the plains, take a train, and move themselves (auto-mobile) back to incarceration.
11760300 There were a couple of minor number-related references/jokes, but that wasn't one of them.
To the great and powerful writer of this amazing story I would like to ask you a question, WHAT DID KEVIN DO TO MAKE CHRYSALIS HATE HIM? It's been a long time since I read your other stories and I don't remember if I skipped or overlooked any references. I regret my ignorance but I hope can someone help me. I don't need sleep, I need answers.
One occurrence of Phrarynx instead of Pharynx.
Good so far.
Pffft Chrysalis can't help herself can she?
This story is amazing.
I do hope we will get a fic/chapter some day that devels into the backstory of Kevin.
11760335 11760429 Sometimes you do Noodle incidents because there simply is nothing you could write which the readers will find more entertaining than what they dream up.
I will say that, with Kevin, it wasn't just one thing.
11760146
Good call.
11760312
1,2,3,4,5. That’s the type of combination an idiot would have on his luggage!
Great little story with lots of neat references. Almost feel sorry for the Queen… that is until I am reminded that she pretty much brings all this on herself.
Which brings another question: why can't Chrysalis issue 30000 IDs for "Changeling McBugFace" if Celestia wants them so much?
Hoof
Well, this can only end well.
Seeing how many entries it got, I was worried that including a “none of the above” category had made the prompt too easy. After reading this, I’m glad to see my original plan of allowing for the unique (and not especially competent) leadership methods was so soundly vindicated. Brilliant portrayal of CSP Chrysalis dealing with the idiots who surround her, and her efforts to keep either Equestria or the changelings themselves from doing anything truly horrific to those charges.
If I have even one complaint, it’s that there are so many other fascinating topics to explore that the story touches on only briefly. Thank you for a wonderfully silly little bureaucratic mystery. Best of luck in the judging.
Huh, so he does exist.
Great bedside manner. >.>
I don't think that book's G-rated.
And thus the construction of a road between the hive and Equestria was greatly hastened as Chrysalis pretty much tore a wide straight ditch all the way to Equestria whole pursuing Kevin.
For some reason, whenever I hear the name Uncle Pointy I imagine a half-changeling half-mosquito with big blue eyes.
Heh, Detective Buglumbo.
Now I wanna hear more of Pharynx's paranoid conspiracy theories.
I guess Paussus is not a changeling from a different hive, but her plays one on TV. :B
11760506 Because Chrysalis has no faith that her subjects would be smart or loyal enough to keep up an "I am Spartacus!" gambit.
11760544 There are many reasons why medical ethics normally dictates that doctors do not have their own family members as patients. Not all of them are nice ones.