“I can’t believe it took that long to make the necessary changes to the airship, did we have to go this far?” said Twilight.
“The airship was decided by majority rule,” said Chrysalis, “and on top of that it is in midst of being renamed for some reason.”
“Sorry about that,” said Luna as she held Emerald, something the night alicorn had insisted on, “it was part of a small set of vessels that were named after villains in Equestria’s past, the idea of the ponies responsible was to have the names of the villains become associated with the good deeds of the ships.”
“While I appreciate the thought,” said Twilight, “the execution needed much more work than they thought, also we need those same villains to help in the instruction of Equestria’s new generations.”
“It’s why I insisted they keep the records of the old me in the education system,” said Chrysalis, “and when I begin instructing any future queens I have their lesson plans that will also have heroes and villains, a lot of villains when I get to referring to changeling history.”
“What about the Accords? Surely those queens could be considered heroes,” said Twilight.
“The queens that founded the original Accords, which has undergone a few minor revisions over the past few centuries, were closer to being heroes than most other changelings, to be honest, no changeling queen has actually had the distinction of truly meeting the criteria for a hero,” said Chrysalis, “the original five that established the first Accords did so more out of desire to not come into conflict with hives they deemed unworthy and have a set of basic rules for those that were willing to cooperate with one another, that’s all really. I suppose you could say I came the closest, but I’m still far from having anything akin to hero status.”
“Even if their motives were obviously self-serving,” said Luna, “they may have been unintentional heroes for creating a set of guidelines that have allowed the changelings to continue into the modern era. And you for instigating on a massive reform of policies on a personal level might be seen as a hero for starting the foundations on which future generations of your kind can build. We might not be heroes or villains in our own time, but when others look back they might see something we never did in the present.”
“History will probably look back on this coming event with mixed views, as is the case with many events that can potentially shape the culture of nations,” said Chrysalis.
“You’re probably right,” said Twilight, “but in the meantime, this ship needs a new name. Any suggestions?”
The three mares sat in thought for a bit, with Emerald gently sleeping in Luna’s embrace, before Chrysalis said, “How about, Youthful Adventure. Since we’ll be putting most of our foals on the ship, and it has been modified for them.”
“Mostly,” said Twilight, “you insisted that the air heating apparatus be modified to house your pet salamandra.”
“She’s the girls’ pet, and I have a feeling leaving her alone for extended periods without the possibility of the girls coming to see her might prove detrimental to her health.”
“On the plus side,” Luna, “by merely using the chamber to house her and her food supply the ship will need less fuel or interference by unicorns with knowledge of heat based spells to keep it aloft, and potentially lighten the load by a notable margin.”
“Let’s get it to Ponyville, get the foals loaded up, provide the elder ones with instructions on how to operate the vessel, and send them on their way,” said Chrysalis, “I’m sure some of them will be happy they can make a go at being a bit like their moms from way back when.”
“Um, right, I almost forgot we’re forgoing the crew for the ship to cut down on possible changeling infiltrators,” said Twilight with a sheepish look on her face, “and Chrysalis will be there the whole time to let us know if she finds something a bit off.”
********************************************************************************
“Alright, that’s the last of our precious cargo loaded on the boat,” said Rarity, “Oh, how I wish we could join them on this voyage, it’s been ages since I was on a proper ship.”
Applejack gave an eyeroll before saying, “Work b’fer pleasure, ya know t‘at rule as much as Ah do. An’ we got a pretty hefty job ahead o’ us in a few hours, Ah just wish we weren’t cutting et so darn close.”
The main 6 and Chrysalis were gathered around the airship after making sure their foals were all settled in, as Chrysalis had anticipated her girls had requested Naga join them on the trip, so the room that now contained a salamandra in the heating torch house was also partially filled with partially dehydrated food in one half of the room and a small collection of volcanic plants that were mature enough to harvest that Chrysalis and Spike had been growing in some of the chambers that Naga spent the majority of her time. Also, as anticipated, the Apple foals wanted to bring a dog along for the ride, so one of the older pups that they had been raising on the farm was loaded up with a small supply of dog food in one of the rooms that the elder Apples had chosen to occupy. The younger foals were bunking at four to six to a room while the older ones, some of which were technically no longer foals, were given the option of bunking with another pony of similar age or having their own personal room on the ship. The ship’s storerooms had been loaded with enough provisions to last almost a month after you took into account the consumption rates of all the occupants.
After watching the ship take off, without knowing which of their offspring was at the helm, in a generally southeastern direction they all headed back into the castle. “Maybe next year,” said Rarity dreamily.
“Focus on what we’re here for before you start making plans,” said Twilight, “we don’t know which will be making their entrance first, and I would like to keep the surprised reactions on the low side of things.”
When they entered the palace Flash reported, “The entire town, and any known visitors, have been notified since this morning of what will soon be going down; the staff are sticking to the week long break you announced to them yesterday; all guards have been ordered to observe but not apprehend any individuals acting a bit off; all the town’s schools are having field trips for all the classes in lesser seen or known parts of the country; and Spike is by the table acting like a bit of a nervous wreck. Thankfully, he’s been with Emerald this entire time, so he’s not a complete wreck.”
“So, business as usual,” said Chrysalis as she made her her way over to Spike, “you don’t look so good, honey.”
“I was really hoping this day wouldn’t come,” said Spike hugging an oblivious looking Violet Emerald closer, “and that forty-page pamphlet on changeling diplomatic practices you gave everypony that has to be here on didn’t help much.”
“Well, at least you had company,” said Chrysalis before giving the changeling filly a tap on the head to alert her to her mother’s nearby presence. “I anticipate the event will begin its start shortly.”
No sooner had she said this than what looked like a model quality, sea green unicorn sauntered in with what looked like a pair of seafoam white pegasus personal guards in well-tailored, black business suits. Even from her stride, it was easy to tell she held nothing but contempt for all those around her.
Chrysalis let out a displeased groan as she turned to the unicorn, “Of course the first one to show up for this had to be her!” The ponies and dragon gave the violet colored changeling queen a look that asked her to expand on the statement. “Everypony, this is Nymph and her visible escort.”
The unicorn’s voice came out rather attractive, but dripping with contempt, “Ruining the fun for everyone, as always,” said the mare as dark blue tinted emerald flames engulfed her and her bodyguards to reveal a changeling queen with a surprisingly attractive figure that was a shade of blue so dark it almost verged on black and could only truly be defined as villainous, her guards revealed to be a similar sort of coloration. The contemptuous voice of the queen had the added bonus of sounding like like a partial gurgle within her reverberating echo-like voice, “This little farce of yours will be short lived, good call on getting a dragon in here, it’s a good intimidation tactic, and having multiple alicorns at the whole thing is also an effective show of power.” She didn’t see the young changeling in Spike’s grasp, mostly having to do with the angle at which she was in relation to him.
“Well, you were right, Chrys, she is a piece of work,” said, Spike, “and my assessment of her before making actual contact also proved to be more accurate than I suspected.”
“You warned them about us,” said Nymph with a bit more menace entering her contempt layered tone, “of course you did.”
“I didn’t think any of them would be making an entrance before Princess Celestia or Princess Luna,” said Rainbow Dash in her characteristic brash voice. The other mares remained quiet and resolute, aside from Fluttershy who was making a go at hiding behind Twilight and Applejack while maintaining her silence.
“You best drop your disguise now, failure,” said Nymph, “you maintaining a guise while all the other queens are forced to show their true states is a bad way to start this off.”
“This is my natural state,” said Chrysalis with an agitated buzz of her wings to emphasize things, “as for how long that’s been, you’ll have to wait until all the delegates arrive, I don’t want to have to repeat myself several times.”
Shortly later there was a flash of light from inside the castle’s library and Princess Luna walked into the room to behold the sight, “I see one of the visiting dignitaries is already here, I was hoping we’d have another hour or so before any of this.”
“Princess Luna, why are coming out of the library for the castle?” Twilight inquired, mostly in an attempt to diffuse what she saw as a coming volatile situation.
“You can thank my sister’s husband for that, he thought it would be amusing to ‘tweak’ my teleportation destination a bit.”
“That definitely sounds like him,” said Rarity with a huff, “at least his antics have toned down since the old days.” Looking over Luna’s fine dress, which was a light charcoal color, she said, “that’s a lovely dress, but are you sure it’s effective enough to convey your presence properly?”
“I suppose not,” said Luna, “but I wanted to wear something simple, yet elegant, to this event. Besides, my sister will likely be wearing enough overly ornate vestments for the both of us.” She then took quick stock of the outfits all those present were wearing. Twilight was in a regal pink, a nice nod to her extended family, dress and had her mane done up in a business bun; Applejack was in slightly nicer clothes than her usual attire, and had switched her trademark stetson for a bun that almost mirrored Twilight’s; Fluttershy, who was still hiding behind her friends, was in an ornate forest green dress with her mane done up in a pair of buns on either side of the back of her head; Rainbow Dash was in her Wonderbolts dress uniform, which looked like it had been freshly cleaned, and had her mane looking much more professional than her near-trademark messy head look; Rarity was in a dark violet dress that almost perfectly matched up with Violet Emerald’s natural color, just more evidence of the fashionista drawing inspiration from the changeling filly, and had her mane done up in a Prench braid that was held together by a massive, orange mane tie that also sported her mark in three different areas; Pinkie was dressed in a cherry red dress with her usual hairstyle, the dress also sported her mark on the abdominal region; Chrysalis was in a dark orange dress that had a green dragon flame emblazoned on the chest, her mane was done up in a style that looked like it was half business bun and half Prench braid; Spike was in an indigo business suit with a green shirt and tie that matched Chrysalis’s coloration. As for Violet Emerald, whom she could see quite well from her vantage point, the changeling filly was once again in an orange outfit that sported her favorite gem, which could be seen peeking out of a pocket on the right side of the waist. Luna then noticed that the visiting queen didn’t seem to have noticed the changeling filly yet, which was probably for the best at the moment.
Almost as soon as she was done she noticed the attire of Nymph and her guards, it was so simplistic she had almost thought the attire had been made in a hurry with no regard for who it was that would be wearing it, which from Chrysalis’s description of changeling clothing trends was fairly accurate. Chrysalis hadn’t started wearing more sophisticated attire until after she had found herself in the forced situation that had led to a more civil relation with everyone in Equestria, which some ponies were still getting used to.
Shortly after Luna had looked over Violet Emerald a flash announced Celestia as she gracefully entered the room from the outside, she was adorned from horn tip to hoof tip in her regal regalia that was set aside for “special” occasions. The platinum accentuated gold vestments were more akin to a sort of decorative armor than anything else. Her daughter followed close behind, her vestments that were a reverse scheme of her mother’s. Discord followed behind, floating upside down in a green stripe and polka dot gold business suit, complete with an overly ridiculous pompadour hat that was capped with a rainbow colored feather.
When Celestia entered she had her stride and visage did not betray her disdain for Nymph when she gazed upon the blue changeling queen. The fact one was present already did not bode well, thankfully she had been there when Twilight had hatched a game plan a few days prior should something like this arise. She wouldn’t deny that nymph had an attractive physical figure, but the contempt and disdain that practically radiated from her told the ivory alicorn all she needed to know.
It wasn’t until a few minutes later that Cadance, Shining Armor, and Skyla made their entrance. Cadance was in a set of pink diamond accented gold armor that bore her mark on the bosom; Shining was in his formal guard uniform and showing that he might be putting it through multiple washings in rapid succession when this event was over. Skyla was in a formal dress that was in Twilight’s colors.
*********************************************************
After waiting another solid hour the rest of the “delegates” began arriving. The approach to all of them, including Nymph, would take some finessing that even had Celestia doubting her political skills would be close to enough. Having multiple changeling queens, no matter what the reason, in the same complex, is an easy way to get more than a few recipes for disaster.
The next delegate waltzed in as a forest green unicorn accompanied by a pair of tree brown earth pony guards. Chrysalis didn’t even bother with a groan and just said, “For those of you haven’t yet had the distinction of meeting her, this is Queen Cicada.” Upon her name being announced Cicada and her guards dropped their guises. Cicada was pretty much how she was in Chrysalis’s memories, a dark green changeling Queen with a much more jagged looking horn. Her attire was a robe of dark brown, an aesthetic choice that had Rarity flinching involuntarily at the lack of proper color complementation.
“Nice to see your manners haven’t completely left you, Chrysalis,” said Cicada in her hive’s distinct reverberating murderous tone, one that had been surprisingly downplayed when Chrysalis’s memories had been viewed. “I take it we’re waiting for the rest, not that I see a need to hurry this along, the end result will be the same,” she ended with a snicker that indicated she was beyond confident, possibly even beyond prideful, that the way she envisioned the proceedings ending would be how they would ultimately go down. Cicada’s self-importance was far greater than Twilight, Celestia, and Luna had surmised up to that point. It seemed that in an effort to minimize her personal trauma’s impacts Chrysalis had subconsciously toned the personalities of her mother and sisters to a point that was far more manageable for her psyche to maintain, or perhaps it was a side effect of her bonding with Spike.
Almost twenty minutes after that a black coated pegasus mare with a pair of honey yellow unicorn guards entered. Once again Chrysalis didn’t bother to make her displeasure audible. “And now we have, Queen Vespa.” At the announcement, a deep wasp-colored changeling and her guards dropped their guises, a set of retractable stingers could be seen on the forearms of each.
“I see you’re playing a different game now, defect,” said Vespa with her hive’s reverberating buzz in her voice. The muddy yellow outfits of the outfits that adorned her and her guards were only slightly better aesthetically than the outfit adorned by those in Cicada’s hive. Vespa narrowed her eyes at Spike, who was doing an admirable job shielding Violet Emerald from the view of each of new changelings.
“We’re still waiting on some more...guests,” said Twilight tactfully, “once you’ve all arrived and assembled we’ll all make our way to the conference room that has been prepared for all of this.”
“I find this forethought to be acceptable,” said Cicada, “best keep private matters private.”
A few minutes later a crimson unicorn flanked by a scarlet pegasus and a cherry earth pony decided to cut in. Chrysalis suppressed another groan as she said, “For those who haven’t had the distinction of meeting her, Culicidae.”
“Giving introductions now,” said the blood colored changeling with a murderous tone to her voice as she and her guards dropped their guises.
“I suppose that’s all the participants,” said Cicada, “let’s get to it so tha…”
A regal looking silvery blue unicorn sashayed into the room with a steely blue earth pony and aurora blue pegasus as her guards. “I had a feeling you’d make an entrance,” said Chrysalis, “For those of you who haven’t had the...privilege of meeting her, Queen Arachne.”
“A lovely formal introduction,” said Arachne in her hive’s distinctive silky reverberation, “I look forward to your contributions before the inevitable.”
“As long as she hasn’t violated any of the major taboos I think we’ll be fine,” said Cicada.
The ponies and Spike just gave each other looks out of the corner of their eyes, that is until Arachne and her guards changed to their true forms. Smoky silk tinted flames flared up to reveal changelings who had their lower halves appear like that of a spider’s abdomen with eight, long, surprisingly thick, yet spindly, legs that ended in hoof-like protrusions. What almost caught The ponies and Spike a little off guard were the metallic stripes along their limbs. Her guards had bronze stripes going along their limbs. Arachne herself had platinum stripes that joined together into web patterns at key points on her body. She was beautiful, terrifying and mysterious all at the same time in that moment, much the way Chrysalis had been raised to believe were needed to be projected by Changeling queens.
“We should head for the meeting room,” said Twilight after coming out of her short trance, and in doing so breaking the others from theirs. The only ones not caught in the trance were Spike, who was paying more attention to keeping his daughter safe; Chrysalis, who had a natural immunity thanks to her properties as a changeling queen and Violet Emerald, who despite looking straight at the visiting queens while in her father’s protection seemed more interested in why the visitors insisted on either mocking her mother and those closest to her or putting on a mostly pointless show. With all that taken care of, they entered an extravagant meeting room, from the looks of it the room had been done up to look more in line with impressing Canterlot nobles than the simplistic approach that Twilight was more well-known for. Arachne gave a smirk as they began to follow Twilight. Spike, with Violet Emerald and Chrysalis, were bringing up the rear. Flash remained behind to close the doors and had no intention of hearing what was going in that meeting room. Once they were all in the room the ‘visiting’ queens finally noticed the infant changeling.
“Your first future queen, pity she won’t make it much longer,” said Cicada with a sense of certainty as they all sat down at the table.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” said Chrysalis, “but I haven’t had any potential new queens yet, besides my hive is too small to be worrying about that sort of thing.”
“Just how big is your hive,” said Vespa with no vested interest in her voice. Twilight and the other princesses, along with Spike and Shining Armor, noticed this almost instantly.
“Less than fifty, I would give the exact number but I’m sure you really don’t care that much. After all, you have no real interest in that answer, you are just asking those kinds of questions because at this point it’s just a tradition for a queen at royal meetings.”
“You’re right, we don’t care,” said Nymph indignantly, “this is all a massive waste of time, chances are before this little ‘meeting’ is done you’ll lie bleeding on the floor and then all we have to do is wipe your hive off the map.”
All the visiting queens blinked, “I assume one of you ‘princesses’ has something to do with this,” said Arachne, “so, what’s the criteria on the spell?”
“Something you are not likely to overpower,” said Twilight, “ with Applejack’s permission,” she gestured to the orange mare, “I tapped into the element of Honesty to create a ‘Sphere of Honest Truth’ around the entire town, it was activated the moment the door to the castle closed. Anytime one any of us here decides to lie the spell will make it so we say the truth of the matter and may also have to say what our intended lie was. There is no loophole to this particular spell you can exploit, none of us in attendance is omitted from the spell’s purview, and should you decide to leave the designated area of the spell you will find your return to it will have you once again unable to lie. I take it Nymph chose to use some sort of elaborate lie as an intimidation tactic. Honestly speaking, I’m glad you stumbled upon instead of asking for a demonstration after being told and likely not believing any of it, even when it was all proven true.”
“Chrysalis told us about how one queen would usually cast a powerful truth spell over the delegation area with the added ‘bonus’ of omitting herself from that very spell,” said Celestia.
“Twilight actually agreed with having a spell to keep everyone present honest, in word at the very least,” said Cadance, “so she worked out how to make sure that everyone, including the caster of the spell, was so at this meeting.”
“Because of our connection to the Elements of Harmony,” said Rainbow Dash, “we’re listed one of Equestria’s greatest groups of defenders, there are only six elements, but the element of Magic is a gateway unit to the others.”
“Which means if the one connected with Magic is in agreement with any of the other Element conectees,” said Pinkie with a bit a giggle at her use of wording, “they can temporarily take advantage that other element’s power, of course, we didn’t find that out until, like,” she did a quick check of her memory, which meant her comical thinking face, “four years after we formed our connections with the Elements. Twilight set it up so that we’d all be under the effects of the spell for the entirety of this event. And to make matters worse, you all seem to clearly hate parties.”
“Parties are mostly a waste of time,” said Culicidae, “they only serve to bring multiple targets into one place so we can take advantage of them.”
“Oh, now you’re definitely not getting a ‘Now You’re Leaving, but at Least we had Fun’ party,” said Pinkie, “but we’ll probably have a ‘Now the Meanies are Gone, Let’s Celebrate’ party.”
“Just don’t make it too loud, you have to remember quite a few in attendance to that party won’t even be a full year old yet,” said Chrysalis as she took Emerald from Spike’s hold.
“I see you decided to stunt the development of your offspring to make feel closer to raising ponies, Chrysalis,” said Cicada.
“I’ve done no such thing,” said Chrysalis, “it turns out when the aggressively fast maturation cycle of a changeling meets the aggressively slow maturation cycle of a dragon you end up with offspring that develop at a rate closer to ponies than anything else. And before you say anything else, she is six months old and part of what I want to discuss with you.”
“Your concerns are of little consequence to us,” said Cicada, “as far as we’re concerned they might as well not exist.”
“And that right there is your main problem,” said Chrysalis, “you are only concerned about your personal agendas and short-term gains. I, on the other hand, have been thinking in the long term,” she took a seat, with Emerald still in her hold, and gestured for those in attendance to do the same. Twilight, the princesses, and Shining armor were not surprised by her attempts to take command of the situation, she had shown quite an effective aptitude for it in the past.
“I can appreciate wanting to try thinking a few centuries ahead,” said Arachne as she and everyone else took their seats. All the visiting changelings made a visible show of choosing seat opposing the one Chrysalis was in, with their visible guards standing while flanking their respective queens. Spike and Twilight chose seats closest to Chrysalis with Twilight’s friends choosing seats on either side of the pair for a more concise show of solidarity. Celestia and Luna were sitting next to each other at one head of the table, while Shining Armor, Cadance, and Discord were seated at the other table head. Which left only a few empty seats for Lucent and Skyla on the side with the ponies, Spike and Chrysalis. They chose seats that were the closest possible seats to their respective mothers. “But you must understand this is how things have to be,” she continued.
“No,” said Chrysalis giving Emerald an affectionate nuzzle, which caused all the visibly visiting changelings to blanch at the act, “it’s how you think things should be. What happens when the changelings are down to the last two hives? Will the last ones still standing continue their struggle ignorant of impending mutual destruction? Or will things play out differently? It’s not something you can brazenly answer now, nor is something you should readily dismiss just because you think such mental exercises aren’t worth your time.”
“And really not something we should really concern ourselves with,” said Cicada.
“Actually, it is,” said Arachne, which caught almost all of the delegates off guard, “while we have experienced a period relative stability, when compared to the era that predates our current agreements, there is a good chance the current power structure will prove less viable as the total number of hives becomes noticeably fewer. Even if we hadn’t been...directed into this ‘meeting’, another of its kind would have been organized at a later date. At the very least, we should acknowledge that this attempt is being made, even if it is through a queen that is designated for termination by all hives that are not her own.”
“Fine,” said Nymph, “what role does that drone even have being here?”
“Just because she’s not a queen does not mean she is a drone,” said Chrysalis indignantly, “as far as I’m concerned, she’s my daughter. Also, every single member of my hive has a sense of self-awareness, she is no exception. As I said before when changeling and dragon genetics mix they can produce unusual results. This big, purple dork,” she gestured at Spike, “is an earth dragon, and as such all members of my hive possess the properties of a tunneler type changeling.”
“A useful feature to have,” said Cicada, “but ultimately useless when not optimized properly.”
“This little cutie is different from the other members of my hive thus far, she does not fall into any of the prior categories used to designate the different kinds of changelings within a hive. If you do not believe me then feel free to check for yourselves.”
“I’m still skeptical of your claims that your mate is a dragon, but we’ll leave that for later said,” Culicidae as he put her focus on Violet Emerald, along with the other queens. When they did they attempted to strip away any false identification the changeling filly might have, which has always been a common tactic among changeling queens to lower the guard of other changelings. What they found was the information Chrysalis had provided regarding the age and caste of the infant were completely factual with no attempts to hide anything, regardless they didn’t believe such confirmations until their twelfth go through in analyzing the infant.
“It has been ages since the emergence of a new caste,” said Arachne as she turned her attention to the rest of the delegation after the three-minute long analysis of Emerald’s natural magic field. “You can understand our ‘desire’ for confirmation, even the age you gave us was accurate. A...worker type changeling has no place in a hive if it progresses at such a slow rate.”
“That and, we doubt a changeling like this is worthy of having in any hive,” said Vespa with a bit of a sneer.
“Oh yes, because a changeling with the ability to naturally ‘sniff out’ potentially valuable resources such as gems and water is completely useless,” snarked Rainbow Dash, “seriously, she’s probably one of the most valuable progressions in the history of the changelings with just her ability, and that’s not even considering her natural defense system.”
“Defensive ability? I see none,” said Culicidae with indignation.
“It’s called the ‘cuteness factor,’ and it’s quite effective,” said Chrysalis, “allow me to explain. Mammals, a variety of birds, and even some varieties of dragon have an inborn physical trait that decreases their likeliness of being harmed, this is commonly referred as trait known as ‘cuteness’ and actually comes in a few levels, and usually dulls as they get on in years. This little cutie here,” she nuzzled Violet Emerald again, to the visible disdain of the visiting changeling rulers, “was born with an increased capacity for ‘cuteness’ and currently sits rather high on the level of cuteness known ‘adorable’ and with this natural defense she’s able to preemptively avoid intentional harm, in fact with entities that are rather high on among the cuteness levels a common reaction among those that unintentionally hurt something ‘cute’ is to take it somewhere safe and care for it until it has healed and then let it loose or continue to care for it.”
“I highly doubt anything could have such an effective defense through the portrayal of its own vulnerability,” said Cicada.
As if on cue Violet Emerald took out her gem and started suckling on it. To Chrysalis and the gathered Equestrian representatives, this had a reduced effect due to their increased exposure to such things. The visiting queens and their visible guard, on the other hand, were suddenly struck with what cuteness could do. Cicada, despite her viciously self-serving tendencies, was hit with the sudden urge to see that the young changeling filly was unharmed. Culicidae, despite her tendencies towards ruthlessly feeding on all vulnerable creatures, felt the strong urge to not do what she would normally do. Vespa, despite her ruthlessly callous nature, actually felt sympathy for the changeling filly that proved so overwhelming she dared not see her harmed, she didn’t like it but couldn’t control her reaction as much as she wanted. Nymph displayed a desire to comfort the young filly, which given her nature was completely out of character. Arachne surprised everyone with just looking content to watch the young filly in a safe environment. Their guard, all of them, just made a heart-clutching motion and fainted from the cuteness overload.
To the surprise of the visiting queens Chrysalis showed the same level of care for the filly she did earlier, “Looks like my little girl is feeling a little uncomfortable,” said Chrysalis in a motherly tone as she picked up the changeling filly, “do you want to go back to being with daddy?” Violet Emerald just nodded, while still suckling on her gemstone. Chrysalis handed Violet Emerald over to Spike and said, “since the impromptu demo is over, maybe you two should head outside for a bit, we’ll probably be joining in a few minutes anyway.” Spike nodded and stepped out of the room with Emerald, shutting the door as he did.
“You all had a reactionary response to her, we could all tell,” said Twilight.
“And most of you probably didn’t like it very much,” said Rarity, “none of this was planned, the only plan was to have you all sit down and actually have a conversation without any falsehoods was the only plan.”
“Regardless of whether that’s all true or not, I still don’t believe what you said regarding the truth spell,” said Cicada in her usual voice, “that little display was impressive, a defensive measure that triggers involuntary responses to ensure safety to the one imposing the sensation is impressive and useful.”
“That’s just her natural defenses doing what they’re designed to do,” said Chrysalis, “the real astounding part is her natural ability to locate potentially valuable resources. Her father observed the first case, that’s where she got the gem she goes everywhere with, and the second time was before Princess Twilight and her friends and led to the construction of the fountain out front of this building.”
“She also helped locate some water that enabled us to help Applejack’s family establish a few more wells,” said Rainbow Dash, “she’s quite the amazing little filly.”
“Eeyup,” said Applejack, “an' et doesn’t ‘urt tha’ she’s a real agreeable sort. She may bae a little rambunctious bu’ she’s alsa really friendly like.”
“Not to mention Photo Finish herself is working on how to bring Spike, Chrysalis and all their girls together in an upcoming family themed calendar,” said Rarity, “she’s still trying to decide what month the little cutie-pie,” this earned bit of a giggle from Pinkie, “will be the centerfold for, and that’s not to mention how her cuteness has helped my business and various others.”
“Yeah,” said Pinkie in an excited voice, “you would not believe how many folks change their travel and business plans when they see something adorable near or in a business. Why I bet something like her could easily…” the rest descended into an incoherent babble.
“Point is,” said Fluttershy, “her appearance and mannerisms are more than enough to garner our love. And Chrysalis reassures her almost daily about how much she’s cared about.”
“I suppose I do tell her how much mommy loves quite a bit,” Chrysalis with a little smirk, “that’s another thing I’ve found about my current state, a strong sensation of genuine emotions. Dragons have a rather intense emotion spectrum, especially after they reach certain points in their maturation cycles. I fully experience emotions far greater than before and have been told more so than most ponies as well. It’s a point of pride for me, maybe not you, and also part of the reason I’ve formed the relationship with Equestria that I have.”
“You really have fallen a long way,” said Cicada with a tone that was a mix of annoyed and disappointed, not even bothering to address what was said about the changeling filly.
“So, she’s brought a good harvest for a few months,” said Vespa, “that’s not very impressive.”
“Actually, I haven’t made a go at feeding off the emotions of Equestria's citizens for the past five years,” said Chrysalis, “my husband is more than enough to sustain me if I want to go that route. Of course, I haven’t really done anything like that in the past few years either. I’ve managed to sustain myself, and current hive members, on a diet modeled after that of Equestria’s citizens.”
“Speaking of models and citizenry,” said Twilight, “Chrysalis has displayed the properties of being a model citizen. She’s done quite a few helpful services for many of Equestria’s citizens.”
“Some of which were more than happy to provide her with compensations,” said Celestia.
“And her attempts to make her daughters,” said Luna, “and Equestria’s citizen’s comfortable with each other are highly appreciated. Of course, I’m quite insistent on forming connections with Equestria’s youth, I simply adore foals, Chrysalis’s are no exception. They’re all quite cute at very young ages, but the daughter she brought into this meeting seems to have a natural aspect to her that causes her to continue to be cute as she matures. It’s actually quite fascinating, in fact after this is all over… oh, I got a little off topic there for a moment. Point is, Chrysalis has made the extra effort to atone for her past deeds.”
The visiting queens all huffed before Cicada said, “Chrysalis may have been a failure, but at least she knew how to play the long game.”
“That seems almost comically accurate for you, Cicada,” said Chrysalis in a deadpan serious tone, “considering Nymph, Culicidae, Vespa and myself were all your little testing projects,” this of course caused the named queens and Arachne to turn their attention to Cicada with bit more interest than was usually shown, “five years ago, ironically the same day I began my reformation, I took an involuntary look at my memories and realized something. Something monumental, at least s far as I can tell. When you created new queens you altered the chemical composition of their egg sacks, that’s nothing new since to create a queen you add and thus alter their chemicals, but that’s not what I mean. I mean you adjusted the chemicals after you confirmed the Queen Chemical was part of the mix, in particular, altered the mix for each of us to amplify what you determined the ‘perfect’ changeling to have. Nymph was altered to be more effectively display seductive attributes, Vespa was altered to be more aggressive, Culicidae was altered to be more ruthless, and you altered me to possess more defined intellectual capabilities while we were still in the development stage when we were still getting ready to hatch. Nymph, Culicidae, and Vespa you deemed a success, but I was deemed a failure because of the unforeseen side effects that came with saturating my larval state with the chemical mix responsible for heightened intellectual capabilities. I get it, when it’s your hive then things are done your way, and since queens naturally don’t act or operate as drones or workers to do it properly it would be easier to have developing queens and observe their properties. But you didn’t think the same chemical mix for Intellectual traits would have a definitive effect on physical properties or capacity for empathy. You think I wouldn’t figure at some point, I will admit it took me longer than it probably should have to piece it all together but how else can you reasonably explain four queens that each exist at extremes of the spectrum all being born to the same hive. One or two, maybe even three, but after that, it starts to get suspicious. I will admit I primarily have my personal memories to go off, but there were just too many inconsistencies in what I knew about changelings for it too all be a bit too convenient.”
“I had wondered that myself,” said Nymph, “but I just thought it a minor trifle, but the fact that there were as many as we were couldn’t just be explained away as ‘competition’, and now I would like to get a straight answer, Cicada.”
“So what if you were all part of my experiment to create my vision of the perfect queen? After the reveal of unnecessary and detrimental traits in Chrysalis, I decided to scrap the project.”
“Callous as ever I see,” said Chrysalis. Spike and Emerald returned at around this time, “something wrong, honey?”
“Nah, she just wanted to be near mommy again,” said Spike as she took an empty seat near Chrysalis. At the same time Flash also entered the room and made a show of guarding the door, he wanted to at least give Twilight some moral support.
Sensing an opportunity to catch the Equestrian delegates off kilter Nymph said, “This a question for the males only,” all the mares in the room gave each other some uneasy looks, Chrysalis had mentioned on a few occasions it was common for changelings to try and catch other delegates at meetings off guard, “what is the sexiest thing you have ever seen?” Nymph wanted to turn the truth field to her advantage, even if the responses were rehearsed the truth field would prevent them from being an issue.
“Well, Tia pulling pranks of course,” said Discord. Lucent looked embarrassed for some reason, likely taking something out of context, and Celestia gave her husband a big smooch right on the lips. Luna just huffed, in all the time her sister had been married and started raising a family she had yet to find anyone with whom she had that special connection.
“Twilight’s awkward dancing,” said Flash, “sorry dear, but you just look so cute when you’re awkward.” Twilight just gave him a sexy wink, which likely said she didn’t take offense to what her husband said.
“I’ve seen a lot of sexy things from Cadance,” said Shining Armor, “but if I had to pick one it would have to be seeing my wife go on about foals, kind of makes me want to have a few myself.” Cadance gave her husband a peck on the cheek while Skyla just gave a little giggle.
“Chrysalis dancing in the kitchen,” said Spike, “easily the sexiest thing I’ll ever see. And when one or more of our girls join in it goes from sexy to just plain cute.” This earned ‘ah’s from the pony mares, blanching from the ‘visiting’ queens and a peck on the lips from Chrysalis.
“Not that I’m complaining,” said Chrysalis, “but what are you three doing in the meeting room?”
“She let us know something felt off, and she really wanted to be near mommy,” said Flash.
“Sometimes you’re just a hopeless s filly,” said Chrysalis playfully as she took Emerald from Spike and gave her a loving kiss at the base of the horn and an affectionate nuzzle, both actions triggered disgusted reactions in the ‘visiting’ queens, “I suppose now is a good time to give a little demo of her abilities then we can break for lunch. This opening segment seems to have run a bit longer than any of us would have really liked, this event could run for quite a while.”
A few minutes later they were halfway to the town hall when Chrysalis set Emerald down and told her to show everyone what she could do. As before Violet started sniffing around, once again causing the cuteness reaction in everyone watching, the reactions were not as severe for Twilight and her friends as they had been last time they had witnessed the act. The changeling filly halted half way between where Arachne and Celestia were standing and began to dig, “Well, at least the tunneling part of your claims are proven,” said Cicada with false interest.
“Just wait for it,” said Twilight with an eye roll. A few minutes later Emerald reappeared in a surprisingly clean outfit, Rarity had made sure to put anti-dirt enchantments on all of the filly’s attire after learning of her capabilities, with a small damp clawful of dirt. Chrysalis accepted the prize and carefully fingered through it to see if it contained anything else, a small indigo colored gem around the size of green gem the filly had a strong attachment towards was lifted from the damp soil. Chrysalis gave a curt nod and handed the gem to the filly, who promptly started suckling it and triggering another cuteness response.
“And that, ladies, is why we enjoy having her around so much,” said Discord, “as much as I like setting off random events, she takes the cake when it comes to getting some of the best responses.”
“How about we get ready for lunch,” said Twilight as Chrysalis picked up Emerald and held her lovingly next to her shoulder, “Rarity, I’m sure you have a few quick ideas you want to run through in your workshop, it might take some time to get meals for everyone ready to go.”
“Especially since mom banned dad and me from just magicking up something to eat,” said Lucent.
“At least until noon tomorrow,” said Discord, “we need to be reasonable after all.”
“Like how you took a piece of the gem embedded cake at the wedding for Chrys and I and changed it to something more edible for you? I’m on to your tricks, mister,” said Spike.
The other queens just stared at the filly with a more vested interest as they heard everything else play out.