//------------------------------// // The greenies // Story: Cutiemark Crusaders 10k: The fourth deity // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// Chrysalis fumbled around in the underground caves where her new brood of changelings resided. The old brood had partaken in the royal jelly when they were most famished, turning them into 'mini-queens', for lack of a better term. The old queen tapped her hoof against the ground in the hatchery, watching her few new workers meticulously taking care of the new eggs. "Uff..." she sighed. "So much work left to do. All the others are like the...ponies," she cursed. "They are lost to me, and even my own daughter Phyrissus has joined the ponies...the 'Sweetie Sisters of battle'." Chrysalis dropped her head and sighed, but when she saw her other daughter, Pupa, looking at her with a sad expression, she couldn't help but smile a little bit. "Don't worry, Pupa. You will be the one to inherit the changeling hive that I leave behind for you." "Why? Where are you going to go?" The tiny Pupa asked. Pupa, being a newly hatched queen, was about the size of a newly born pony foal. However, unless them, she was fully fluent and capable. She even sported similar physical features to her mother, including mane and tail color, and the same crooked horn and holes in her body. Her mane was much shorter in comparison, and her tail was curled and transparent, giving it the appearance of kelp. "Nowhere yet." She patted the youngling on the head. "I still be here to help you grow into a strong changeling queen without worrying about...these ponies and their ponyisms." Pupa stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Ew. Ponyisms." "That's my daughter!" Chrysalis cheered. A changeling rushed down from the tunnels and slid to a stop once it finally reached its queen. "My queen," it started. "Your first daughter, Phyrissus, asks for you." Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "What for?" "She wouldn't tell me." The changeling queen tapped her hooves on the ground multiple times as she thought about what she wanted to do, and so she decided to reluctantly meet with her first daughter. Climbing through the tunnels to reach the surface was not hard, but readjusting to the light was. The changelings had made a multitude of different tunnels underneath the bricks of the city streets and floors, and only the 'true' changelings, and Phyrissus, knew of their locations. The tunnels would often be filled and switched to prevent the miniqueens from finding their way back, not that many even wanted to. "Hi, mom," Phyrissus greeted. The changeling in question had a brighter, sea green mane that only reached to the bottom of her chin. She woe a pink robe and pointed hat, indicating that she was part of the Sweetie Sisters of Battle, and she seemed quite eager to impart some information to her mother. "What do you want?" Chrysalis asked from beneath the bricks she held up. "I have something to show you." "Do I have to go on the surface with the...the ponies?" "Mom, you've been living with them for years now. Maybe it's time you change your perspectives about them?" "NEVER!" Chrysalis snarled. "I need to keep the purity of the true changelings intact." "Yes..." the daughter looked away for a moment before resuming her speech. "Anyways, you should come with me. It involves a certain changeling that you and I mutually hate." "Oh? You've pique my intrigue. Let's go see this, then." The Queen carefully placed the bricks back down and eagerly followed her daughter down the alleyway and into the wide open streets. Vanhoover had never been so big. The streets were wide enough for four wagons to stay side-by-side, and the lights were so bright. Thousands of ponies were talking, transporting, working, peddling. Even multiple refugees from other races were here and mingling with the ponies. While Chrysalis still hated hem, even she could only agree to the weariness she had with this anger, but it was one of the only things keeping her from going to sleep for a thousand years...or so she wished. "Whats goin on over there?" Phyrissus grinned. "That's exactly what I wanted to show you." There was an assortment of ponies and other creatures, including the 'miniqueens' gathered around something. The closer the changelings got, the better they could see what was going on. At first view, Chrysalis could see wooden barriers with law enforcement there to keep everyone back. Then a white wagon with silent, flashing red lights; And finally, a group of ponies and griffins looking at a changeling plastered into a brick wall. The stones around her were completely shattered, and the rest around them were cracked. The doctors were trying to figure out how to pull her out of there. "Is that?" Chrysalis spoke with a hint of giddiness. "Yes it is." The miniqueen in the wall had an orange-peach mane and tail, and her green dress was in tatters. The doctors on site audibly spoke about how she was somehow still alive, but with only dust serving as bones. "What happened to her?" Chrysalis asked. "Well, I heard from witnesses around that she was patronizing Abstract," Phyrissus explained. Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at this. "Is she stupider than before?" Chrysalis shook her head in disappointment. "What did she do exactly?" Phyrissus scratched the back of her neck. "Well, she thought that she could convince Abstract to work for her." "She was always obsessed with her business since she became a miniqueen." The changelings around grumbled at the term. "Please don't call them that," the daughter sighed. "Anyways, she tried offering him a low-paying position, saying that it was natural and wouldn't be fair to the others if he immediately appeared as a ceo." "And he said nothing?" The changeling shook her head. "Then she started upping the ante, giving him more lucrative rewards. She was walking next to him and the...other one. So she kept upping and upping her offers, even doing the ceo bit in the end." "And he still didn't answer?" "No. She got angry and jumped in front of him, poking him multiple times in the head and saying how he should be working for her and that there was no way he could get anywhere without having some 'professionalism of the modern world' under his belt." "...So she basically told him to serve her." The queen nodded. "I see what happened...but I sense Celestia's magic." "That happened after...You see, Abstract crushed her in a vice of his magic then threw her against the wall there. And then..." Chrysalis furrowed her brows. "And then?" "Abstract's daughter jumped at her full speed with her forelegs and plastered her into the wall, nearly destroying the building in the process." "But what does that have to do with Celestia's magic?" "Geez. Where have you been living? Under a rock?" Chrysalis looked at her first daughter with disdain. "Oh...Right..." Phyrissus chuckled nervously. "Anyways, Abstract created a daughter from draining Celestia's magic, or so I hear." "Really now? Maybe then I can find her and kill her for everything she did to us before the fall." "You really need to let that go," the daughter suggested. "Plus, I saw the original changelings fluttering about at night. Why are they here? They're out of place," the changeling whispered. "What? I'm a QUEEN! It's part of the job! You didn't seriously think I would just sit by and watch thousands of years of changeling traditions be cast aside because I was forced to feed my changelings royal jelly just so they could survive another day, did you?" Phyrissus shook her head. "It's not healthy to hold all that anger though, and I worry for you despite your distancing from me." "That's because you fraternize with the ponies. You went further than just living among them." "I had no choice! Without helping out, none of us could survive the onslaught of things outside these walls. It's thanks to our contributions that you're even here to complain about it!" The changeling looked at her mother directly in the eyes. "I--" "Mom, I love you, and I do still consider you as the queen, but you really need to let all of this hatred go. It's eating you from the inside. New enemies are here that aren't the ponies, and we need your experience to fight them. You're the best one here to know how to command large groups of soldiers at once and how to coordinate them." "I..." Chrysalis looked away. "I'm sorry, but I can't let go." "And why not?!" "...It's all that I have left..." "But that's not...!" Phyrissus groaned loudly. "Fine. Be that way, but I won't give up on you." She walked backwards and pointed at her mother, determination on her face. "I'll show you that you can live differently!" she announced cheerfully. Chrysalis hid a smirk that her daughter had created with her silliness. "If only she knew..." the changeling queen mumbled. The queen returned to her nest and met back up with her daughter who already had plenty of questions ready again. "Mom, I have some questions," Pupa started. "Oh? What are they?" "I thought you liked the miniqueens. Big sister told me you helped them at one point." The queen gritted her teeth. "Yes, but that was a long time ago. I gave them all I had, but my rage never faded. I thought I could have a fresh supply of love, but..." "Big sister said you had a coltfriend," Pupa smiled cheekily. Chrysalis blushed and slammed her hooves angrily into the ground. "I do not!" she shouted. "I've just been...busy above is all. Too busy to learn about what that weirdo has been doing." "Abstract? I like Abstract. He looks cool," Pupa said happily. "I thought you thought mommy was cool." The queen pretended to stick out her lip and let it tremble with sadness. "Mommy is the coolest! But Abstract is the second coolest. He's made of shiny rocks. I bet it's rock candy!" she laughed. "Yes, rock candy. Now it's time for your royal jelly, Pupa." The tiny queen's belly grumbled hungrily. "How did you know?" she wondered. Chrysalis put a hoof to her chest. "I just do. I'm your mother, after all," she spoke proudly. "Now come along, time for foods."