"A queen?" Glimmer blinked at the announcement. "But Chrysalis is the only queen." The moment she said the phrase her terror returned. In the back of her mind the pony that Thorax had started to free screamed in pain. Huddled against Thorax, however, made that lost pony a bit stronger; she might be terrified, but it was better than not being there.
"Well, now there is me, too." Thorax chirped softly to Glimmer. "Try not to think about Her."
"Easy for you to say." Clenched teeth were never the easiest thing to talk through, but Glimmer Wing managed. "What did She do to me? To us?" She pressed her snout into Thorax's neck and felt some of her pain ease.
"What I am doing now." Thorax was focused on what she wanted Glimmer and the others to be able to do: be themselves. "I tested it out on the nymphs," she tried to look apologetic, "and it worked. There is something about this place that makes it harder to be yourself, and I am sure it has something to do with…" she almost said Chrysalis, "with Her."
"Wait," Shining cut in on the private conversation and stalked up on the two cuddling changelings, "so something is mind controling us in here? You are fighting it with… well, if you say it is the same thing then 'it' must be the Queen's doing, and you are stopping it?" With her thoughts still a little scrambled from thinking there was a direct line from Shining's thoughts to her mouth.
"Pretty much." Thorax blinked and shrugged. "Most aren't so bad, their memories end up distant. I have been testing others. But you…" She hugged Glimmer a little tighter. "She took all of you, Sunset Shimmer."
Glimmer shook her head. "N-n-no… I said not to say…" Tears started to pour from her closed eyes. "I didn't even realize I was targeted; didn't even know what a changeling was, when I first met one."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"My new private student will be..." Princess Celestia looked around the group of fillies I was sitting in. One eye was hidden in her ever-blowing mane, but the other rested on me. "Sunset Shimmer."
"M-m-me?" My eyes widened more than I had ever thought they would and I stared at the Princess. "ME!" Hugs came from all around, other foals hugging me—I barely felt them. My spirit soared, everything had been "work work work" until this moment, and now I had done it. Pulling free of the celebratory hugs, I raced up to the Princess' forelegs and hugged her tightly.
"Yes, Sunset Shimmer, you. I have not seen another pony as dedicated to their study as you. But don't think books are all you will be studying." Celestia's words put me into my element, literally. It felt like the warmth of the sun was pressing down around me, and my own cutie mark responded.
I didn't hear a single word the other fillies said. Enamored is a big word for a little filly to know, but who wouldn't want to do their best for Princess Celestia. She promised to test me, to push me, and she did every day. Soaking up magic and learning like a sponge, I didn't have time for friends—except for Te Amo.
"Hey, nerd!" Te Amo always greeted me the same, it only ever annoyed me the first million times she said it. "What did you do today in nerd-school?" The pink unicorn—who was my best, and only, friend—trotted over to table I was sitting at.
The old reply came easily. "Pfft. Nerd stuff." I stuck my tongue out at Te. "What about you? Learned to use that thing coming out of your head yet, or are you finally going to get it amputated?" Slurping on my milkshake, I gave my friend a grin.
"Oh, sure. Rub it in. Hey! Can we get another of these over here?" Te called out to the waitress passing us. "I was wondering, did you want to come around to my place tonight? It's… well, it's my birthday and—"
I didn't let her finish, driving a hoof into her shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me? Duh, of course I want to come over! I haven't seen your place before, where do you live again?"
Te slipped me a scrap of paper with the address on it. "Here you go, but don't bring any of your dweeb friends; it will be bad enough with one dweeb dweebing the place up." Sometimes, when Te's usage of dweeb got too high, I promised myself I would tie her horn in a knot.
"Yeah. You know I can't stand them, Te." Rolling my eyes, I slurped up more of the tasty drink. "They are terrible at magic. Teleport spells that make me shudder, shields that seem more like a ball of jello… Don't even get me started on their—" I cut short at the laughing from my friend. "Yeah, well you might think it is funny, but they are hopeless!"
"Well, if they are that dweeby, I don't want any more of it rubbing off on you. Got anymore classes today?" Te's own drink was placed on the table, and with a swish of her platinum mane she started to slurp on her drink.
"Nope, all done with school. I am meant to do some homework…" I trailed off and saw that if Te wasn't drinking her 'shake she would be groaning. "But I can ignore that for one night." Her look immediately turned into a grin.
"Dweebs can grow up. Awesome." Te slurped more of her drink and looked right at me. "So let's ditch this place, mom is probably setting things up already." She stood up abruptly.
"Hold on, I want to finish my drink first." I had never seen Te so pushy. Slurping for all I was worth, I noticed that she had barely even started on her own. Getting to the bubbles at the bottom, I gasped in delight. "Okay, lead on."
"This is going to blow your socks off."
"You just see, this will be awesome."
"Your dweebiness is getting lower already."
"Okay!" I groaned loudly and shook my head. "I get it. How much further?" Almost walking into Te, I followed her head to see the nice-looking house.
"This is it. Come on in." Te opened the door and walked inside, leaving me to follow. As soon as I was past the door my eyes adjusted to the dimmer light and I saw black, pony-like monsters. Charging my horn, I was about to put up a shield when a weight landed on me and pain blossomed in my neck. "Such a dweeb." The monster that spoke like Te was huge and grinning down at me.
It was hard to focus, hard to think. They dragged me deeper into the house and bound my hooves together.
"Sunset Shimmer. Prized student of Princess Celestia. Future hopeful for ascendance to alicornhood. Food for my hive." The monster I thought sounded like Te leaned down over me and opened its mouth. A chill ran from my nose all the way to the tips of my hooves. I tried to scream, I tried to yell, and I tried to use my magic. "You aren't very tasty; I guess it is because of all the dweebiness."
"T-T-Te… what…?" My mouth barely worked, the whole thing felt full of cotton wool.
"What am I? I am Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings." I was trying to memorize everything she said, every word and every shape. Counting the damn bugs was impossible, but I know there is at least her plus another. "And I have a very important decision to make. Do I drain you away and leave you dead, or do I let one of my drones grow inside you."
There was a hooful of things she could have said, but none made me want to be sick as much as what she did say. Throwing all my magic into it, I tried for a teleport spell, but I just couldn't get any magic together; glaring was apparently my best bet right now.
"Well, that made my mind up for me." Chrysalis grinned in a way that made me want to throw up more. "With that much anger I can't feed off you." To my confusion she turned around and lowered herself to her belly. "Probably the better way to go. No inconvenient body lying around to be found, and I get to play with you; break you down."
I got a front-row seat as her body seemed to heave and undulate, pushing out a leathery-looking ball of slime about the size of a small bowl. My mind raced to the only conclusion I had left. She had said, "Drone grow inside you," and it seemed like that was going to be my fate. I stared at her with the hate of somepony who is sure they are going to die, until the goop moved. Staring now at the thing she had deposited in front of my face, I had the urge to lunge forward and bite it in half.
Managing a groan of success, I clamped my jaw down as hard as I could. The thing broke, splitting in my mouth satisfyingly. My victory was short lived. My eyes narrowed in fear as I felt something squirm and push into my mouth.
"So eager!" Chrysalis stalked around into my field of view. "Feel it squirm down your throat? I have heard many ponies tell me this is the nicer way, the more relaxed way. It should be biting about—" Scrunching my eyes closed, I blocked out the rest of her words as the thing squirming into me bit through my esophagus and pulled its way deeper into my body. Nothing I could do would stop it; I kicked and bucked—weak as my movements were right now—but all too soon I felt a chill spread over my body, and then…
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Then I heard Thorax's voice for the first time." Sunset Shimmer looked into her twin's eyes. "You told me I was safe, that I should sleep."
"Princess Celestia's lost student! I still have a guard detail covering that horse-apple of a mirror!" Shining Armor stood up—to all her nymph height—and pointed a hoof at Sunset. "You didn't run away?"
"Run away?" Sunset shook her head and had a hard fight to not get angry. "She boasted and laughed at me, while I was turning." She looked at Thorax. "You were there."
"Yeah. That is why I…" Thorax trailed off, looked around at the nymphs gathered in the cave. "That is why we are going to get out of here and take as many of our pail with us as we can." She turned her eyes back to Sunset, grinning. "But first," she turned to Shining, "you said you 'have a guard detail,' I need your story."
Shining looked at the other nymphs and took a deep breath. "My name is Shining Armor," when Apple Bloom looked about to say something, she lifted her hoof in a placating gesture, "and my name is also Vinyl Scratch… DJ Pon-three too, technically." She giggled to herself.
"You were a guard? Undercover?" Thorax's wings buzzed in excitement, then chirped. "How long until the Royal Guard come and stomp this place?" The look on Shining's face caused her to tone down a little.
"My undercover persona, Vinyl Scratch, is a lot more than just that. Since I was a filly, I loved being Vinyl. She was a happy filly, she got to play fun games with her little sister without worrying about being a responsible stallion. The night when I was caught, I was trying to find… well… this place." Shining gestured at the hive. "I saw the fillies being carried away, and tried to stop them."
Thorax pulled Shining into a hug with Sunset. "But if we get you out, you can speak on our behalf, right? I don't recognize your name; my information is a little out of date however…"
"Shining Armor," Shining sat up straight and lifted a hole-filled hoof to her head in a sharp salute, "Captain of the Royal Guard." She giggled at the stunned looks on Thorax and Sunset.
"Hold on a minute here!" Apple Bloom stomped forward and poked a hoof into Shining Armor's chest. The gesture only drew more giggles from Shining. "You mean to tell me, it is your weddin' that Applejack and her friends were going to?" The moment she said it, she regretted it.
Everything sunk home for Shining. It was meant to be "his" wedding, she wasn't even sure if it had happened yet. Tears started before she could try to stop them. "I miss my Cady…" She was swarmed in dark-carapaced bodies, all trying to hug her, but the pain inside chewed at all the confidence she had felt moments ago. "How can she love me now?"
I bet she does. Shining's head jerked, it wasn't her voice, but rather it was Vinyl's. But there is only one way we can find out. We have to get out.
"We have to get out." Shining repeated her twin's words. "We have to find out..."