"Where is my dress?!" screeched Chrysalis, her voice echoing throughout the halls of the hive. "How long could you possibly take to find a simple dress?!"
Emerging from the cavernous closet, G22-745AA trotted over with a pile of silk and lace held in his magic. Chrysalis snatched it from his grasp before he was halfway across the room. Shaking it out, she began hurriedly shoving herself into the dress without the slightest thanks.
Once she'd managed to get it at least mostly on her body, she rushed across the dressing room to stand in front of the wall-length mirror and anxiously look herself over.
This dress—the fifth attempt—was light yellow. It clung to her body, flowing down her hind legs to trail behind her, and puffed up around her chest, making her look somewhat like a lemon crossed with a robin. She calmed down for a moment as she admired it in the mirror, fluttering her eyes and wings and pouting her lips, then suddenly flew into a rage.
"No, no, no!" she screamed, tearing the dress from her body so violently she nearly ripped it to shreds. "This isn't the one I want either! How hard is it to find the exact dress I'm thinking of?!"
A few of the changelings around her frowned in concentration, trying to make sense of the disjointed, frantic series of dress images that were flooding the hivemind, while the rest simply rolled their eyes at each other and tried not to let their exasperation become evident, either mentally or visually.
A pony viewing the scene would have been surprised at the changeling's lack of reaction to Chrysalis's ranting, berating and insulting. Twilight herself had felt the same way, and had intervened a number of times before being made to understand a few things about the relationship between the changelings and their Queen.
The first, of course, was love. Love was what bound changelings to the Queen, the fuel for the link that, to them, was the same as life. Without love, there was no hivemind, and without the hivemind there were no changelings. It was inviolable, absolute, and ever-present, and no matter what their Queen might say to them, questioning that love was unthinkable.
The changelings also understood Chrysalis. They knew that the Queen lacked the same control over her emotions that they had, and did not begrudge her her ranting and venting. Almost subconsciously, they understood that her lack of control is what gave them theirs. By acting as a pressure valve of sorts on the hivemind, she let them maintain their facades, staying calm under even the most intense scrutiny of their disguises while out in the world feeding. In a very real way, her occasional screaming fits helped them all survive. Given that, and the fact that she spent an equal amount of time coddling and spoiling them, they could put up with a few insults when she got upset, or nervous, or just felt like it.
The final reason, as with most things involving the changelings, was the hivemind. They knew, with no doubt whatsoever, that Chrysalis meant none of the things she said, no matter how vitriolic or crass she might get. They felt what she felt, and so they knew that in this case, she was raving out of fear and nervousness, not anger. They also knew that she was on the verge of collapsing and weeping due to sheer dread of what the night's end might bring, and much preferred her anger to that. That same access to the hivemind meant they knew how much pressure she was under, and that her anger about the dress (and the dozen or two other things she'd raged about so far that night) was simply born out of anxiety. They felt her love and desire as their own, and were determined to do whatever they could to calm it.
And so, G22-745AA waited patiently as Chrysalis finished removing the dress from her body—in a manner that, though violent in its movements, actually didn't damage the dress beyond the point where a few minutes with a needle and thread could repair it—and balled it tightly in her magic. Turning, she flung it at the hapless changeling with all her might.
He stood still as the dress hit him full in the face, poofing out to float gently down over his head and body. Turning around, he trotted back into the closet, passing another changeling who was carrying a purple dress.
Once again Chrysalis ripped the dress from a changeling's magic and tugged it onto her body. This dress was slinky and covered in sparkles, held up on her barrel by thin straps over her shoulders and slit on one hip to expose her left hind leg.
She dashed over to the mirror once more, and again opened her mouth to cry her fury at the ineptitude of the changelings who had brought her this dress. Before she could, a voice from across the room interrupted her.
"Are you really wearing that dress?"
"Cadance!" Chrysalis flew across the room once more, this time stopping to prance in front of an enormous vanity covered in makeup and jewelry. Sitting on one corner was a large crystal ball, from which the Princess of Love stared out with a small frown on her face.
"Do you like the dress? Actually, I don't care what you think. But do you think Twilight will like it?" Chrysalis peered down into the crystal ball, a look of desperate hope on her face.
Cadance looked back, tapping her hooves together and pursing her lips in thought.
"I think it's exactly what you should wear," she answered finally. Chrysalis brightened up, a gleeful grin starting to form on her face, until Cadance continued. "That is, if you never want to see Twilight again after tonight."
“W-what?” Chrysalis’s ears drooped in dismay as she stared back into the crystal ball, her eyes searching back and forth. “But…it’s such a beautiful dress… I even picked one that will match her coat—”
“Chrysalis, Chrysalis, Chrysalis.” Cadance let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing her temple with one hoof. “We’ve been through this already; if you want Twilight to love you, you can’t do anything special for her. No little gifts, no compliments, no special, meaningful dates, and definitely no dressing up or wearing makeup.”
“I know Cadance, it’s just...” Chrysalis looked down at her hooves, as she shuffled them nervously. “It feels wrong to treat her like that. I'm the one in charge, I should be feeding her love. I see all these ponies going around on their own dates, and they’re always so affectionate to each other. They dress up, and give each other gifts, and… and hug, and gaze into each other’s eyes… I want to do all that with Twilight.”
“Those ponies have already developed their relationships. You haven’t,” replied Cadance, pointing a hoof at Chrysalis. “You and Twilight still need to build things up, and you’re just going to drive her away if you constantly shower her with gifts and love and attention. If you do all that, why should she care? There’s no mystery there, nothing for her to work towards. You need to excite her, give her a challenge. It’s not too different from how you changelings do things, it’s just that instead of actual physical combat, it’s mental and emotional, and focused more on love and kindness."
“Then why did you make me leave Twilight at the restaurant on our first date?” asked Chrysalis plaintively. “I felt so bad treating her like that…”
“I keep telling you there's no reason to feel guilty about it,” Cadance said patiently. “It’s expected that you do something like that on the first date. It builds up interest, and makes the other pony wonder what an actual, full date with you would be like. You look more confident, like you don’t even need the other pony, and that makes them want you more. I’m sure you’ve heard the term ‘playing hard to get’; that’s what you were doing. You were doing it really well, too, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if Twilight had admitted her love for you the next week.”
She bowed her head and let out a mournful sigh. “But you were too impatient, and you thought Twilight’s letter was actually sincere. And you didn’t even consult with me before deciding to act. Honestly, going to her straight away and taking her on a romantic date? I’m surprised she still wants anything to do with you. If you’d listened to me and gone back to her a week later, maybe offered to take her to the cheapest restaurant in Ponyville or given her a bouquet of half-dead flowers… well, who knows how close you two could be right now?”
“I know, but…” Chrysalis looked down, shuffling her hooves. “She just sounded so upset in that letter. And she said she didn’t want to see me anymore! I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing…”
“But that was exactly what you were supposed to do!” Cadance shook her head sadly. “Your date a few weeks ago was just as bad…”
“Isn’t this exciting?” gasped Chrysalis, the earring in her ear flashing in the spotlights as she clapped her hooves.
“Oh, um, yeah,” responded Twilight, trying to force interest into her voice as she stared at the two ponies who were grappling in the ring before her. “Wrestling is… woo.”
“I’m glad you’re so excited,” said Chrysalis, as one of the ponies finished pinning the other and both moved off stage, “because you’re up next!”
“Wait, what?!”
Before Chrysalis could reply or Twilight could object again, a pair of spotlights hit the two.
“Fillies and gentlecolts!” boomed the voice of the announcer. “We have with us today one Queen Chrysalis, and her wife, our very own Princess Twilight Sparkle!”
The crowd roared, and the announcer had to wait for them to calm down before he could continue. “And Princess Twilight has agreed to an exhibition match against the current champion!”
“I agreed to what?!” Twilight gave Chrysalis a look of combined confusion and anger.
“Have fun!” chirped Chrysalis, pushing the protesting pony up into the ring.
“Okay, now…” whispered Cadance, the earring Chrysalis wore carrying the Princess’s voice to her ears only, “Make sure to cheer for her opponent, and cheer loudly.”
“What?! But she—“
“Remember, you can’t let her know you care! The best way to do that is to make it clear you want the champ to win rather than her.”
“I… I guess…” Chrysalis turned to face the ring, raising her head as she called out hesitantly, “Go champ.”
The crowd was still making noise, and Chrysalis hadn’t particularly tried to be heard over them, but her voice was distinct enough that it carried to Twilight, who turned to look at her in disbelief.
“You should … win… champ…” Chrysalis faltered under Twilight’s hurt, uncomprehending stare, but before either could act the telltale sound and flash of light of a teleport spell came from behind Twilight, and she was eclipsed by a shadow.
“And now, introducing the champion of the Equestrian Wrestling Federation!” the announcer's voice filled the auditorium, drowning out anything Twilight or Chrysalis might have said. “The Terror of Tartarus, the pony who once wrestled an Ursa Minor to a standstill… you know her, you love her—The Mad Unicorn!”
Gulping, Twilight turned around, then immediately shrunk back. An enormous unicorn loomed over her, seemingly as tall as Celestia, and layered with so much muscle she looked like two Big Macs standing side-by-side. Her coat was steel grey, her mane a bright yellow, pulled back tightly into a simple ponytail, and her actual pony tail was braided so tight it looked like a whip. Slowly, she leaned forward until she was face-to-face with Twilight, bending nearly in half to do so.
“I will break you, little pony,” she rumbled in a heavy accent.
Twilight scrambled backwards, eyes wide, and instinctively tried to teleport away. Instead of appearing somewhere else, a burst of sparks came from her horn.
“It looks like the suppression runes are in good working order,” said the announcer over the speakers. “No magic or flying for either competitor in the ring! This is a contest of physical strength, after all.”
Lumbering forward, the Mad Unicorn advanced on Twilight, who continued to retreat backwards. Her hind legs bumped up against the ropes at the edge of the ring, distracting her enough for the other wrestler to leap forward and wrap her forelegs around Twilight’s body, squeezing her in a bone-crushing bearhug. Twilight let out a grunt, pushing at the other pony’s chest in an effort to escape. The Mad Unicorn, having underestimated the earth pony strength of an alicorn even as small as Twilight, looked down in shock as Twilight began forcing herself away, nearly creating an opening large enough to escape. Before she could, The Mad Unicorn swung around and fell forward, slamming them both to the mat with herself on top.
“Oh no!” gasped Chrysalis, hooves going to her mouth. “T-this was a mistake! I need to help her!”
“Don't do it,” warned Cadance. “This is what we wanted to happen. Now Twilight will have to wonder what she could have done to get you to help her, and for you to cheer for her instead of the champ. It will draw her to you more.”
“But she might get hurt!”
“Well, good, then you can win some points by taking care of her.” The sound of air swishing came over the magic link, as Cadance waved a hoof dismissively. “Not too much, of course. Give her a bandaid or something.”
Groaning, Twilight staggered to her hooves, not noticing as the champ circled around her. She did notice, however, when a foreleg was wrapped around her throat and she was lifted off her hooves once more. Not giving Twilight time to attempt an escape again, The Mad Unicorn shifted her weight to one side, then spun in a circle.
“Ohh, this seems really familiar—“ Twilight had time to moan, before the champ completed her spin and flung the Princess across the ring.
She hit the elastic ropes with her back, and as they stretched out, she had one endless moment to see The Mad Unicorn with a savage grin on her face and her foreleg held out to one side, ready for the clothesline. Then the ropes snapped back, and, screaming and flailing her hooves helplessly, Twilight shot back across the ring—
—only to be jerked to a halt in midair, held in place by a green glow. Blinking a few times in confusion, she looked to the side as she sensed movement.
Chrysalis stopped next to her, sparing one glance down to make sure she wasn’t hurt. Then she continued on, the magic suppression runes in the ceiling above her path sparking and exploding one after the other.
“H-hey, what’s with all the pyrotechnics?” The Mad Unicorn was looking around nervously, her harsh accent suddenly replaced by a voice that made Fluttershy seem assertive. “There wasn’t anything in the script about those. O-or about a Changeling Queen—”
“Well, you see, I think I made a mistake when I signed Twilight up for this,” purred Chrysalis, and while her grin was every bit as savage as The Mad Unicorn’s had been, it also held an unreasonable amount of glee. “Maybe you need to fight someone your own size…”
“I can’t believe you got us banned from the arena! For life!” complained Twilight, stomping down the Canterlot street. “You know how long that is for us!”
“You’re not hurt, are you?” asked Chrysalis worriedly, nearly cantering as she tried to keep up with Twilight.
"Don't try to change the subject," snapped Twilight. They trotted along in silence for a moment, then she lowered her head and sighed. "I'm sorry, Chrysalis. I'm just upset. I know you meant well, but attacking somepony wasn't the right thing to do."
"But… you're not hurt, right?"
Twilight tried her best to stay disapproving, but a small snort of laughter came out of her mouth, and she smiled. "No, no, I wasn't hurt. And… thank you for saving me. Even if you really didn't need to."
She leaned over, resting her head against Chrysalis's shoulder momentarily. The Queen looked down at her in surprise, then smiled, the chitin on her face darkening in a blush. Cadance's voice came through the earring, objecting and telling her to push Twilight away, but Chrysalis suddenly found it much easier to ignore the Princess's advice.
"I mean, facing down the champ to protect me… that takes some real bravery," Twilight continued teasingly, straightening back up to walk normally again.
"Ha! Some champion!" Chrysalis raised her nose into the air with a sniff, a slight sneer on her face. "I have followed her career for years, and for a pony that single-hoofedly beat Princess Smash and The Griffin Grappler at the same time, she hardly put up a fight."
"You… do know wrestling is fake, right?"
"What?!" cried Chrysalis in dismay.
"Oh, that night was just perfect," said Chrysalis dreamily, gazing off into the distance. "We didn't have anything else to do, so we just… talked, while walking around the city. I've never done that before with anyone, but with Twilight it was amazing. Of course, just being around her is like that. And that was one of the only times she let me kiss her goodnight—"
Chrysalis stopped talking with a long, happy sigh, which was interrupted by Cadance letting out a snort.
"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it," she said, with narrowed eyes, "because it might have been the last night you spend with her."
"Cadance…" moaned Chrysalis.
"Well, you ignored almost everything I said, you 'saved' Twilight—no doubt making her feel that you don't trust her to take care of herself—you spent the night having meaningful conversations with her… it's like you don't love her at all!"
"You know that's not true!" Chrysalis stomped her hoof on the floor, power crackling along her body. "She means everything to me! I would do anything for her… I have done everything for her: given up most of my plans of conquest, held back from killing all you Princesses, tried my best to let my changelings interact peacefully with those weak ponies… just asking to be kidnapped, to be replaced and give up all their delicious love…"
She paused for a moment, licking her lips, and a buzzing came from around the room as the changelings fluttered their wings and twitched their hooves.
"But that doesn't matter!" she continued after a moment. "I gave all that up for Twilight, because she wanted me to. Because she said we could get that love freely, and I trusted her. I love her… I love her more than anything, as much as I love the hive and all my children. All I want to do is spend my life with her… all I want to do is make her happy."
Cadance wore what looked to be a wide smile on her face. The sound of teeth grinding came faintly through the crystal ball, but though a few of the changelings cocked their heads curiously at the almost inaudible sound, none said anything. After a moment, Cadance took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.
“I wish you would try harder at this, Chrysalis,” she said in a soft voice, her head lowered. “I’m trying to help you. And I’m trying to help Twilight most of all. If you aren’t going to take my advice, I might have to… do something else.”
“I’m trying, Cadance!” protested Chrysalis. “But so much of what you say just doesn’t make sense to me!”
“Okay, okay,” Cadance smiled indulgently at Chrysalis. “Do you need me to explain how ponies date and court again?”
“Maybe,” said Chrysalis, giving a hesitant nod and sitting down on her haunches in front of the crystal ball. Changelings swarmed around her, sitting up attentively as well.
“Now then, what are changeling relationships based on?”
“Dominance!” declared Chrysalis, shooting back to her hooves and sending changelings flying in all directions. “I am the Queen of this hive! And I defeated Twilight in combat, making me her Queen as well! As hive Queen, it is my duty to find love for my children to feed on. As Twilight's Queen, I must provide for her every need, giving her all my love, catering to her every whim—“
“Okay, that’s enough, I understand,” said Cadance soothingly, motioning the changeling back down with one hoof. Chrysalis blinked a few times, then slowly sat back down. As she did the changelings, completely unmindful of what had happened earlier, flocked back to cluster around her again.
“Now, can you tell me what pony relationships are based on?”
Chrysalis blinked a few times, face blank, then turned to her changelings. Cadance’s eyes narrowed as they chirped and chattered at the Queen in their own language, and then her face went back to normal as Chrysalis looked up at the crystal ball once more.
“…love and tolerance?”
“Hahaha! Oh, no, no, no,” Cadance chuckled, shaking her head.
“Then… I don’t understand,” said Chrysalis plaintively. “Isn’t loving someone supposed to be all about, well, love? Isn’t that the most important thing there is?”
“For changelings it is, but not for ponies,” pointed out Cadance gently. “It’s something we find wonderful, but it’s not the most important thing in our lives the way it is for you. That may seem strange coming from me, the Princess of Love, but I would never say I'm more important than Twilight, or that the Sun is more important than the Moon. We all have our parts to play, and love is just one small piece of that puzzle. That’s why ponies have to be careful with their love, and make sure not to waste it on somepony who won’t return it. After all, think how terrible it would be to give love to a pony who just wanted to be your friend!”
“But… Twilight always talks about how much she loves her friends…” Chrysalis said doubtfully.
"That's just a figure of speech. When ponies say they love their friends, they just mean they like them a lot. And Twilight tends to exaggerate about that kind of thing. You know, Princess of Friendship and all."
"I guess that makes sense." Chrysalis looked around at her changelings for a moment, then turned back to the crystal. "So then what is the basis of pony relationships? How can I make Twilight love me?"
"By not loving her," declared Cadance triumphantly. "It might not look like it, but in a way, that whole mess where you married her and declared your undying love is actually an advantage. She knows you care, or at least thinks you do. She's also seen how you treat her when you do love her. So now all you have to do is stop all of that and instead treat her as though she's beneath you. As if she's not worth your time. As if you couldn't care less about her if you tried."
"I-I could never do that!" cried Chrysalis, hooves going to her mouth in horror.
"You'll have to if you want her to love you," Cadance said firmly, glaring out of the crystal ball. "She's already taken the bait. She's seen what your love is like. But if you try to press that, if you pressure her too much, she'll lose interest. You need to make her strive for your love, and that means not giving her any until she's desperate for it.
"You see, that's what ponies do when they're in love. They let the other pony see a little bit of that love, and then freeze them out. That way, the pony they love will have to work to get more love, and that draws them in until both ponies love each other. If one pony just gives the other pony all their love, then that pony has no reason to give any love back."
Cadance gave Chrysalis an encouraging smile. "And that's why all those ponies you've seen are always giving each other gifts and hugging and generally sharing their love with each other. They're both in love, so they can freely share their love. That's what you have to look forward to, as long as you can do what I say and keep Twilight from seeing the love you have for her until she can give you her love back. And the best way to do that is to act like she means nothing to you."
Chrysalis bowed her head in thought, and Cadance watched with obvious trepidation on her face. Chrysalis's horn glowed faintly as she conferred with the hivemind, the changelings around her making the occasional chittering and chirping sounds. Cadance opened her mouth, raising a hoof, but bit back what she'd been about to say and instead stayed quiet, chewing her lip nervously.
"Okay," said Chrysalis finally, an unhappy look on her face as she raised her head once again, and Cadance let out the breath she'd been holding. "I'll follow your advice, even if it hurts me so to treat Twilight that way. But it's for the greater good."
"Perfect," grinned Cadance. "Trust me, after tonight, Twilight is just going to love love love you."
Her entire body drooping, Chrysalis averted her eyes, nodding. Around her, most of the changelings mirrored her posture, but a few seemed a little too defiant for Cadance's comfort.
"Now Chrysalis, I want you to tell me what you're going to do tonight," she said firmly.
"... ignore Twilight," Chrysalis replied sadly.
"And?" prompted Cadance after a moment.
"Not give her gifts, or dress up for her, or do anything nice for her during the date," was the despondent response.
"How many compliments will you give Twilight?"
"N-none. I'll actually try to insult her instead."
"But nothing obvious!" Cadance cautioned quickly. "Just your usual snarky comments and backhoofed compliments. You know, treat her the way you treat all ponies."
"I'll try." The Queen let out a little sigh.
Cadance looked down at Chrysalis with a frown, her expression calculating, and then a large, cheery smile grew on her face. "Very good," she said encouragingly. "I know you can do this, Chrysalis. Remember, this is the big night. You do what I say tonight, and you'll never have to do it again. Twilight will be all yours, and you can give her all the love you want. And she'll love you, too."
That seemed to work, and Chrysalis raised her head, a look of determination filling her face. "Okay, Cadance. I'll do what you said. For Twilight."
"Good. Now take that dress off, put away any jewelry you have out—except the earring, of course—and prepare yourself for the most important night of your life."
With a wave, she cut the connection, and Chrysalis slumped back down again. "Put the dress away," she said listlessly, stripping the garment from her body and dropping it. A changeling caught it before it hit the floor, trotting off with it in his magical grasp.
"Are you really going to follow her advice?" asked one changeling carefully.
"She is the Princess of Love," said Chrysalis, climbing to her hooves. "She'd know best what it takes to create love in a pony. Unless you've found a better way?"
The changelings looked at each other, disappointment painting their faces.
"It's hard," said one.
"We've tried impersonating ponies who don't have any loved ones, to try to get new ones for them, but it didn't work out," said another. "They grew up learning all the social context and cues. We can't just learn it all in a few months."
"ILS-934GJ found a bunch of ponies who were interested in his disguise," added in a third, "but apparently something bad happened. He just says he saw things that no changeling should see, and that's all he'll say. He's even cut himself off from the hivemind."
"Then we'll stick with Cadance's suggestions. It might not feel right, but… obviously ponies do things much different than us. Twilight made that clear, at least," Chrysalis finished with a sigh.
"Are you sure you don't want to wear something?" queried a changeling. "I'm sure you could get away with a bow in your hair, or maybe—"
"Cadance said no," said Chrysalis severely. "I need to do what she says if I'm going to have a hope of winning Twilight's heart."
She glanced over at the vanity nervously. "Besides, as long as I wear that earring, she'll see and hear everything I do. I can't take the chance of angering her and losing her help. Imagine if that happened in the middle of the date!"
The changelings looked at each other. "Well... " said one hesitantly, "she can't smell through the earring, can she?"
Chrysalis perked up. "Of course!" she exclaimed gleefully.
Her horn lit up, and an entire section of wall folded back to reveal shelf after shelf of bottles. She trotted into the little alcove, browsing through the various perfumes.
"Now, we need something a pony would like… something Twilight would like," she muttered half to herself.
"Books?" suggested a changeling.
"Don't ponies like crystals?"
"I think that was just one of them…"
"We're trying to make Twilight fall in love with our Queen, yes? She should use the love scent. Ponies like love, too."
"Ooh, that's a good idea."
"Wait, can ponies even smell love?"
In the end, Chrysalis ended up with two bottles of scent.
"Hmm…" She looked back and forth between the two. "Wild jasmine might be nice. I know ponies like flowers as snacks, and they're also romantic. Jasmine doesn't grow near Equestria, either, so the fact that's from a far away land might impress her. She'll think it's exotic."
She looked at the other bottle. "But dead manticore… Manticores prey on ponies, so the scent of a dead one should put her at ease. And if she smells the scent on me, she'll think I was the one who killed it, making her feel safer around me and thus more attracted to me."
For several moments she agonized over the choice, looking more and more frantically between the two bottles as conflicting opinions and arguments surged through the hivemind.
Finally, things began to calm down, and a consensus was reached. Nodding firmly, Chrysalis passed one bottle to a nearby changeling and opened the one she had kept.
Carefully, she extracted a swab, and dabbed the smallest bit on either side of her neck, just above her scent patches. Too much would overwhelm her pheromone receptors (an experience she was not eager to repeat) but a small amount, mixed with her own scent, would be safe. And, as a bonus, it would be spread that much easier, as it was carried with her scent.
"How's this?" she asked, turning to the gathered changelings. Her wings were fluttering nervously, helping the scent spread around the room, and the changelings chittered their delight and approval.
"Perfect!" Chrysalis trotted over to the vanity, beginning to rummage through its drawers. "Now, to comb my hair, and I can wax my carapace, and polish my crown—"
"Excuse me, ma'am, but do you really think that's a good idea?"
A hush fell over the room, and Chrysalis turned slowly to face the insolent changeling.
"Would you care to repeat that?" she asked quietly, barely restrained rage audible in her voice.
"My name is P75-578DA," said the changeling wearily.
"Oh."
While the collaborative and information sharing abilities of the hivemind were enormous, it also lent itself extremely easily to creating an echo chamber effect. Chrysalis's position as Queen, and therefore the final arbiter of any decisions, tended to make things even worse.
The solution had been changelings like P75-578DA. While they were generally of the information-collating and decision-making caste, their specialized job was simple: to disagree with anything that was being discussed. If the hivemind began tending in one direction, they would take up the opposite side. If everyone wanted to go west, they said east. They rarely were ever able to actually change what the hivemind was planning on doing, but they could at least bring up problems with the direction things were going in and help the hivemind consider situations from different angles and think up alternate solutions.
As such, they were also the only changelings allowed to, in her own words, 'mouth off' to Chrysalis. While she made it abundantly clear that they were some of the most important and valued members of the hive, she also did not like being opposed. So her interactions with them tended to be a bit… strained.
"Okay, P75," she said with a suppressed disgruntled grumble, which echoed through the hivemind anyway, "Why don't you think I should get myself looking as good as possible for my date?"
"Because Cadance specifically told you not to," pointed out the changeling. "She said not to do anything special, at all. And if you start styling your hair and gussying yourself up, you run the risk of losing Twilight."
"Didn't you tell me not to trust Cadance when I first met with her?" queried Chrysalis, eyes narrow.
"She has every reason to despise us and want revenge for what we did at her wedding. We also have no easy way of verifying the information she's been giving us. But it's my job to disagree with what you want to do, ma'am. And making yourself look good for tonight goes against everything we've been told."
"It's not like I'm putting on a dress or anything, though! Just brushing the tangles out of my hair, waxing up my carapace so the chitin's nice and shiny—"
"And how often do you do that?" demanded P75. "If you turn up for the date looking like a picture-perfect Queen, it's going to be obvious you did something special. That's not going to be helpful for you at all, according to what Cadance has told us. Quite the opposite, in fact."
"Well… I mean…" she looked at the changeling meekly, eyes wide. "I can at least brush my hair, right? There's no reason to go out with it in tangles. I'd never do that, no matter what!"
"I'm not telling you what you can and can't do," replied the changeling with a sigh. "I'm just saying that Cadance told us to do one thing, and you want to go against her advice despite doing your best to trust her."
He considered the forlorn Chrysalis for a moment, then said, "Okay, if you want to brush your hair, that's fine. It's a… Queenly thing to do. And maybe your crown could use a slight buffing. It got a bit scuffed when you threw it at one of my colleagues for suggesting green didn't look good on you. But I think the carapace wax should be right out."
Conflict surged through the hivemind once more, but less so this time, and not driven by Chrysalis's frenzied panic. P75-578DA's suggestions were reasonable and logical, and calmness quickly flowed over the hive again.
"Very well," said Chrysalis stiffly. "I will not wax my carapace, and my crown shall only receive a modest buffing. But my mane shall be brushed, one hundred strokes from each changeling—"
P75-578DA cleared his throat, and Chrysalis glared at him, then let out an angry sigh. "Fine, fine. A normal brushing, so that it is no longer apparent that I put on and took off several dozen dresses just now. Is that good? Is that okay with you?"
P75 nodded and smiled, and Chrysalis whirled away with a huff. After a moment, though, she turned back.
"And… thank you, P75-578DA," she said, a strange expression on her face. "I know you're helping, and I appreciate it."
Every changeling in the room stared at her, mouths gaping open, and she quirked an eyebrow up at them. "What's the matter with all of you?"
"You've never actually thanked any of us out loud before," said P75 cautiously. "Normally you just let us know how you feel through the hivemind."
"You sounded like a pony just now," a changeling said.
"I think Twilight's rubbing off on you," said another teasingly.
"T-that's enough out of all of you!" barked Chrysalis, face darkened from a blush. "I can always send you off to dig more tunnels without any safety equipment! Get to work, you know what you have to do!"
The Queen stretched out on the floor, eyes half-lidded in contentment, as changelings surrounded her and began their ministrations. Several groups gathered at her head and tail, pulling soft-bristled brushes through her mane and making sure its holes were smooth and round. Her crown, meanwhile, was in the middle of three changelings fight over the polishing cloth, tugging it in every direction.
Chrysalis let her eyes slip fully closed, feeling truly relaxed for the first time in days. The hivemind was confident and gleeful, Cadance was providing her with all the insight she needed on how ponies worked, and it looked like everything about this night was going to go just perfect.
And even if it doesn't, I can still fall back on that kidnapping plan, she thought idly, and a happy smile blossomed on her face.