"Swish... Swoosh... Splish..." Were they going to enter or not? Or were they going to just stand there silently, leaving her with that infernal dripping to look forward to.
The queen gave herself a facehoof. "Will you just enter already?" She barked at the foals standing mindlessly behind her grand steel doors. Sheesh... She'd been able to sense them for minutes already just standing there twiddling their hooves like mindless wind-up toys. She meant: they had a bloody hive mind for Flutter Valley's sake!!! It wasn't like she could hear their stupid thoughts as they hummed and hawed like mindless chimpanzees!!!
And, as normal, her so called 'guards' continued to underperform even her wildest expectations as they slowly creaked the doors open at a speed that even the slowest of tortoises would laugh at.
"Would you speed it up already!" Chrysalis howled, in agitation. Her request would not go ungranted, however, when the sounds of crashing and clanking, as her so called 'guards' proceeded to fall over each other as they rushed to fling the doors open at a frenzied pace.
Finally the changeling guards aligned themselves in two neat lines, one at each door, as a mutant cyan earth pony mare with a rainbow mane and a absurd looking cutie mark consisting of a rainbow arcing between two stupid looking clouds proceeded to walk between the two neat lines of 'guards', who proceeded to commit acts of utter incompetence against the hive by bowing, one after another as the mare passed by. "Your majesty, " stated one of her captains, taking a bow as the mare passed by, which was responded to by a low growl from the queen. "Your aunt, my queen, " the incompetent guard continued, further dimming the light of reason throughout the hive.
Chrysalis didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This was rich!!! Not just did her guards think that this moronic looking mutant earth pony was important, they thought the mutant could actually be her 'aunt'!! "Oh, " the queen chirped, disingenuously. "'my aunt' is here, you say?" She asked, sing song, holding her front right arm just over her eyes as she proceeded to 'scan' the room...
After a few minutes of 'searching' the queen opened her mouth again, dripping with equal amounts of sarcasm, and vitriol. "Where is she?"
"Right... here... my queen..." the guard stammered nervously, starting to sweat bullets as he motioned to the earth pony mutant. He hated it when the queen acted like this, it usually meant somepony was about to lose their head. And you know what was even worse? She'd had been doing it a lot recently.... Ever since her foal, princess Amaryllis, vanished a few months back... Yeah, she'd always had a temper -- probably a product of her troubled foalhood, but things had kind of out of hoof recently, as everypony in the hive began to suspect the worst.
"Oh really?" She asked 'curiously', a suspicious fangy smile adorning her face. "Let me speak to the dear..." She said, motioning with her front hoof for 'her aunt', the stupid mutant earth pony, to come close 'so she could have a closer look at her'! Sheesh! Were her guards really stupid enough to think some stupid pony was her dinosaur of an aunt! Hopefully this would be the last time she was forced to endure another one of the hives frequent 'lady sightings', a common appearance since the old vampire fruit bat had vanished decades before, shortly after Princess Larva's passing.
Ok, here was the plan, she'd have the creature come closer, and then reveal she was a worthless fraud, then she'd have the pony hung by her hooves in the oblette until she was a skeleton, and then --
The ridiculous creature opened their mouth to speak, but didn't get even one vowel out before her corrupt cesspool of a mind promptly proceeded to flood the hive's channels with complete nonsense about fashion, and rainbows... and sledging... and painting classes... and Minty... and --
The queen held her head just to ease the pain of all the nonsense that was flooding every channel of her mind as the ridiculous creature proceeded to 'accidentally' flood the hives frequencies with her nonsense.
The queen sighed... Apparently the guards were right this time, not that she'd admit it... There was no denying it. This was definitely her aunt, she could sense that cantankerous wavelength anywhere, despite the obvious 'changes' to her thought patterns. And apparently the mare had forgotten a few things in her decades long absence, like how to hide her thoughts from the rest of the hive...
... Or had pretended to forget...
Should she wait until her worthless old aunt spoke, or just go ahead and throw her into the oblette now? That question, however, was answered for her, when the brain dead mutant that used to be a princess spoke up first.
"Hello, Chrysi, darling!" The fat cyan pony said, cheerfully, being a bit too 'chummy' for her own good, as she completely forgot to give her cousin a proper bow, like she was some filly, among a large host of other infractions against 'etiquette'. And she would use the opportunity to do something she had been waiting decades to do: throw her treasonous aunt in shackles. But first, she had one all encompassing, all important question to ask of the ridiculous creature...
"Why in the hay are you taking that obscene form?" The queen exclaimed, motioning over her aunt's new bizarre form. How dare her aunt show her face looking like this. How dare she make a mockery, not just of herself, but of her family itself... not to mention the crown! What could she possibly be thinking! Had her silly aunt finally lost her mind...
Rainbow gave a slight sigh, as her expression becoming distant, her cheeks beginning to turn a bright red color.
"Well?" The queen responded, her face growing red. "Are you going to answer me, or not?" She asked belligerently, sticking her muzzle right up against her aunt's new giant muzzle, pushing it in slightly.
The rainbow pony turned away, and proceeded to rub one of her back legs against the other. Her body quivering slightly, as she struggled with her words, her lips moving, but no words coming out.
"Well, are you going to answer me imposter?" The queen asked angrily, beginning to circle around her aunt.
The earth pony remained unresponsive, her lower lip quivering slightly
"Well... are... you... going to answer... or not?" The queen asked angrily, each word being spoken more deliberate, and venomous than the last.
The gears in the earth pony's mind began to grind into motion as the words began to trickle out. "Because, Chrysi, darling..." she said, turning back to her aunt, the tears starting to flow. "This is my true form now..."
"Oh?" Asked the queen, on the verge of bursting into laughter... This was so rich! Her 'favorite aunt' was making a 'joke', how quaint.
The earth pony remained stoic...
Was it possible she wasn't joking? She had to be!
Except, she wasn't... This either had to be a ridiculous attempt at deceit, or her good for nothing aunt had finally gone completely senile. Either way, this was a poetically fitting end to that wretched old dinosaur.
"And second, darling..." The earth pony said quietly, the shame showing in her face, as she shifted her hooves around, nervously.
The queen gave bellowing laughter. "Say again?" She asked, sadistically, cupping her ear, with her hoof. "You'll have to speak up please, 'darling'!" She shouted, doing a bad impression of new Lady Rainbow.
The earth pony nodded dutifully. "And second, darling..." The earth pony dash said, hesitantly, raising her voice so that her niece could understand her.
The queen took great glee in forcing her crotchety old aunt to humble herself before the hive's true queen. That would teach the old dragon to preach at her about how she had acted 'improperly' in exacting her righteous revenge on the treacherous whelps that she once called her 'friends'!
The queen sneered. It was time to twist the knife. "Yes?" The queen asked, cupping her ear, with her hoof as she stuck it right against the earth pony's muzzle. "Why was that again?" She asked, formally. "I'm terribly sorry, but I'm having trouble understanding you!" She continued 'apologetically'.
"I can't turn back..." the earth pony admitted, looking away, her expression growing distant. "And it's not just out of lack of ability, darling, but because of the consequences if I did..." The earth pony said, falling to the ground, the tears starting to flow.
"Oh?" The queen asked, chuckling as she found humor in her aunt's sufferings. "And what 'consequences' would those be?"
"I've absorbed much too much love, darling..." the earth pony replied, calmly. "More, love then you can possibly imagine..." she continued, pounding her right front hoof, by the fetlock, into the ground.
"How much love was that?" Mocked the queen. Her aunt had just spent the last few decades in the frozen north, how much love could she really have absorbed?
"Darling, " Rainbow replied, sadly. Why didn't her niece believe her, didn't the darling know that she had no reason to lie to her. "I have inadvertently consumed more emotion, and love then is in all of Equestria, my town was practically built on dreams, and good wishes!"
"And I'm supposed to be impressed, because?" The queen replied, quirking an eyebrow, did her aunt really expect her to believe the nonsense she was spouting?
"Darling, " Rainbow replied, in frustration. "I'm not lying to you! I really absorbed that much love!"
Chrysalis gave a scoffing laugh. Such utter foolishness.
"Think about it, darling? Why would I lie to you! And could you afford to find out that I was right?" She asked, sternly. "Do you know what would happen if I were to return to my true form without letting most of it flow out naturally?" She asked, causing a wince from the queen.
The pony had to be lying! But if her aunt wasn't... 'Boom....' The queen thought to herself, with a frown. When a changeling returned to their true form, most of the love that they absorbed, past their physical limits, would be released as energy. And the further they went past their limits... Well... The more energy they released.
"Do you understand now darling?" She asked, picking up her niece's poorly shielded thoughts, which now streamed out of her mind. "There would be consequences, darling..." Rainbow around her aunt, and foolishly put a hoof over her niece's wither. "But shall we get past this unpleasantness, darling?"
Chrysalis snarled, snapping at her aunt's hoof, causing the cyan earth pony to release her grip. She took a moment to calm down, she had to be careful about what she did if that goofy mutant earth pony of an aunt of hers was right... She really didn't want to turn her hive into a crater, even to get rid of her aunt...
How dare the aunt that ended her first daughter, the great traitor of the hive, talk to this way! And how dare she try to distract her! "But that doesn't really answer the most important question of all: -- " the queen hissed, starting to make laps around her so called 'aunt' " -- what in Tartarus name made you decide to show your ugly muzzle around my nice beautiful, organized hive again?"
Rainbow gave a sad sigh, and steeled her nerves. "Because, Chrysi, " she said, sounding more like a noble person then Zsa Zsa Gabor. "I demand to know why you, and your troops decided to wreck my new dwelling place!" She said, getting up in the queen's muzzle, her own over sized muzzle squishing the queen's smaller muzzle slightly.
The queen paused for a moment, in bewilderment what in the hay was her crazy aunt going on about, and why did she suddenly sound like herself, was the whole crazy pony act just that? An act?
"Why did you attack my friends and family instead of invoking the ancient rights, that had been handed down since the before time?" Rainbow asked, referring to the ancient one-on-one duels that had been Changeling tradition since before there were any changelings.
The queen snarled, stamping for her guards. "I have no idea what you're talking about, " she replied, angrily, stamping up and down. "And I don't care!" She said, calmly, now was not the time to show her temper. "I've had just about enough of your nonsense, and just want you, and your ugly muzzle out of my beautiful presence, " she howled, sending signals as loudly as possible to her guards.
The guards didn't move, and instead stood at attention with befuddled expressions.
Rainbow shook her head sadly, and opened her muzzle. "I'm sorry, darling, " Rainbow replied, her Zsa Zsa Gabor voice returning, as she addressed her queen. "But I have a few more things to accomplish while I'm here," she said, looking back, sadly.
"And those are?" The queen asked, using an inquisitorial tone. How did her old dinosaur of an aunt prevent her guards from moving, and now that they were, why wasn't she gone already?
"Well..." Rainbow said, with a nervous frown. "For one thing, darling..." she said, her voice trailing off, as she pointed for someone standing just behind the door. "I wanted to introduce -- " she said, motioning towards as an ugly pink pony who came into view, along with a gr--
Chrysalis went from her normal chitin black, to a spooky white, as the color slowly drained out of her. It couldn't be!
"My liege?" The guards asked nervously. Something had the queen deathly afraid, but she was barely hiding what... Could it be that strange green pony? And why was her scent so strangely familiar?
The queen stood there, in horror... Those pheromones... Where were they coming from? Lies! It was all lies!! Her aunt had to be lying to her! "What trick are you trying to pull!" The queen hissed, jabbing her aunt's oversized muzzle with her hoof.
Rainbow, gave a sigh. "I'm sorry Chrysi, there's no trick, you -- "
Chrysalis started shaking like a leaf. "It couldn't be!" She announced, her thoughts leaking out to the rest of the hive. But... No! It had to be! Those pheromones were too familiar.
She turned to her guards, giving the order to the whole hive. 'BRING THE GREEN ONE FORWARD!!!' She demanded for all to hear.
"Yes! My queen!" The guards responded, snapping to attention. "We will bring the green one -- " They announced, stumbling all over themselves, literally, to surround the green pony, ending up in a pile.
"Ok!" Minty replied, trotting around the stallion pile, and up to the queen, a goofy smile still plastered to her face. "That sounds like fun!" She exclaimed, with a smile as two of the larger stallion guards approached her from behind, and picked her up by the front legs, and proceeded to drag her to the queen. "Are you taking me forward to help me find the gifts for Mama Minty?... No wait! You noticed my festive Christmas sock, and -- "
The queen turned her head, a murderous expression materializing on her face. "What have you done to her?" Chrysalis snarled to Rainbow Dash, as she already considering all the punishments she had in mind for this cyan traitor. "Tell me now!" she demanded, jabbing the cyan earth pony's breast with her hoof. "You don't want to see my oblette!"
"Well, darling... " Rainbow replied, sadly. "You see... I -- "
"Cough it up!" The queen demanded. "You're burned the last of my patience hours ago!" She shouted, mentally calling for her guard. "And you don't want me to do that, " she warned the cyan earth pony, pointing to the pile of guards by the door, who would all be excited to escort The Lady to the block...
"Well..." She squeaked, self consciously. "It technically wasn't me, Chrysi, darling, " she continued.
"I'm waiting... " The queen announced, began to tap her hoof, her temper starting to explode.
"You see, darling..." The cyan pony stated, as calmly as she could, her body shaking almost invisibly.
"Quit stalling!" Chrysalis demanded, snorting angrily. "I can tell, just by the scent!" She announced, pointing to her muzzle with one of her front hooves. "Those are definitely Larva's pheromones!" She shouted, stamping her hooves. "Now I demand to know what you did!"
Rainbow took a calming breath. "I did nothing, darling, " She replied calmly. "You see, darling..."
"Quit stalling!" The queen snarled. "Your lies won't help you here! A mother never forgets the scent of her daughters!" She shouted, calling for her praetorian guards.
The queen gave a very sinister expression as five of her burliest guards began to materialize, from seemingly nowhere.
"Now," the queen hissed calmly. "I'll ask you one final time!... What... did... you... do... to.... her!!!" She snarled, her face growing red.
"Well, you see, darling -- " Rainbow replied, only getting a few words in before the queen stopped her.
"SHUT UP!" The queen hissed, her eyes growing green. "How dare you, and your dame of a daughter practice your fiendish necromancy on my precious daughter!" She announced, seizing the green pony, by the neck, in her magic.
"Um... excuse me..." Pinkie interrupted, calmly. "Ummm.... I don't mean to interrupt, but -- " The pink pony continued, quietly.
"Then don't!" The queen shouted, causing the pink pony to step back a step. "I see that clueless expression on her face!" She said, using her hoof to motion her hoof over the green pony's face, who continued to gasp in her magical grasp. "You did something to her mind!" She shouted, her eyes growing an unnatural green for a changeling. "You poisoned her mind against me!" She continued, conspiratorially. "But we have the means to free her mind from your spell Auroras!!!"
"But darling!" Rainbow protested, one final time. "Chrysi! -- "
"Just like you did Amaryllis!" The queen continued, pointing at her guards, who dutifully snatched up the cyan and pink earth ponies. "But you'll regret bringing her back to me!!!!" She shouted, at the top of her lungs, stamping her hooves for her elite guards to grab the intruders. "And now you'll wish that I had continued to think of her as dead!!!"
The queen turned to her guards. "GUARDS!!!!" She shouted, pointing her hoof to the door. "Take my aunt and her spawn to the dungeons!!! I'll decide what to do with them later!" She hissed, finally releasing the green pony, who lay on the floor gasping for air. "Take my daughter to one of the cocoons! We have to get her out of this ludicrous form, before she sticks that way!" She demanded, as her personal guard picked up the clueless green pony like a solid piece of wood, and carted her out the door.
"But queen!" Her captain of the guard protested. "She's well over sixteen, she would have changed back, if she could..."
The queen held her muzzle with her hoof. "How you dare even imply that, you foal!" She shouted at her guards. Such utter ineptitude!!! How did she end up surrounded by such utter failures? Was she the only sane pony in this whole hive? "Just take her to the cocoons..." She demanded, stamping her hoof.
"Yes, my -- " The guards responded, all snapping to attention, including those now detaining Rainbow, and Pinkie.
"Just do it!!!!" The queen shouted angrily, causing a crash, as the legion of guards, once again. tripped all over themselves, literally, to complete her request.
"Yes... my queen..." The captain of her guard replied, under his breath, his hoof shaking silently, his thoughts well hidden...
**********
"What's that?" Wall Flower asked, turning to his compatriot, Cyprus Blossom, as a suspicious clopping sound echoed down the long hallways. "Do you hear a gallop?" He asked, craning his ear to hear the loud tapping sound as it progressed slowly down the long twisting hallways. Towards them.
"Nah!" Cyprus Blossom replied, shrugging his withers. "It's too slow, it almost sounds like somepony's -- " He remarked, being interrupted mid sentence by the approach of the prince who slowly emerged from behind the corner, his hooves dragging behind him, as they occasionally clopped against the floor as he shifted sadly along, his head held low. Maybe that's where that noise was coming from?
The prince looked up, and returned a timid smile as he, apparently, tried to put up a strong act for his sister, who was having another one of her, now infamous, episodes...
"Is my sister, the queen, available for an audience?" The crown prince asked politely, to the guards, granting the two stallions the undue respect of a courteous bow. "I heard that our precious aunt had returned, miraculously, from the great beyond, and I wanted to join her, and my dear sister, the queen, in the most joyous moment, " he said, trotting between the two guards.
The guards frowned sadly, turning to each other, before hesitantly crossing the doorway with their wings. "I'm sorry prince, " the guards replied, in unison, diligently following their duty. It was such a shame that the hive was now plagued with a mad queen while her perfectly rational brother was reduced to performed meaningless diplomatic errands.
"But your sister wishes to be left alone," they continued, their voices quivering slightly, "and has commanded that no more visitors be permitted today," continued the senior of the two, his face slightly forlorn.
"Oh, I'm certain, that you can let me: her loving brother in, " he said, tenderly, putting a hoof on the guard's wither. "I mean, who else could possibly be there to comfort her, of not me?" He asked, pleading with the guards to give him entry. "After all, are we of one mind?" He asked, stating the obvious. "Won't you please reconsider?" He asked, stooping down so low as to drop into a begging position.
If only the queen weren't more vehement. Her brother was doing everything in his power to help his sister. But... Orders were orders! "I'm sorry, my prince, " the guard responded. "But the queen is in mourning, and wishes not to be disturbed?" They said the stern tones in their voices returning.
The prince gave a befuddled expression, his form becoming rigid. "I don't mean to pry, my good stallions, " he said, formally. "But why would she be mourning, when her beloved aunt, the hero of the hive, has returned, from the dead, to us?" He asked, the concern showing on his face. "Could she--?" He asked, shaking his head 'it was improper to make such implications of their leader, no matter how sick she appeared.'
The guards shrugged, few who lived in the hive even still remembered the half drone princess, with the rainbow mane and tail, but the stories about that they had heard about her were less than flattering.
The prince gave a dismayed smile. "Couldn't you bend the rules, for me, just this once?" He asked, softly, looking the two stallions straight in the eyes, softly.
The guards shook their heads. "We're sorry, our prince, but the queen has commanded us, and we are unable to disobey, " they said, firmly, their wings now pointing down the hall.
"Very well, " the prince said, with a frown, as he trotted down the hall, his head hung in deep despair. It was a shame his mad sister was in charge and not the good prince...
The prince's back hooves slipped behind him as he slowly proceeded down the hall...
**********
Stupid hive mind! Not just had that dame of an aunt of hers, just now, ruined her day, but she would be even further behind in her the hive's work. Why? Because her stray thoughts might leak into the pea brains of those silly drones, and throw her nice organized hive into complete chaos.
Heck! She would probably be more productive in her sleep!
... Except that it would make it just that much harder to shield her thoughts from the numbskulls while she was sleep.
And it didn't help that that the general displeasure of a visit from her old dead dame of an aunt was filling her head with old memories... Chrysalis was sure of it.
She snarled, as she started to recall the last time that wretched old jane had dared darken her beautiful organized hive: the night her first daughter had passed on, or at least she'd thought at the time.
Of course, the development had not been that big of a surprise, the poor thing had been sickly and weak since birth, a common birth defect that had been passed down, off and on, through the family -- a mark of true nobility (or at least that's what they told the commoners.) And the hive couldn't seem to gather the required amount of love to keep her healthy. Leaving her, the queen, to watch in melancholy as her daughter's condition slowly deteriorated, her decline only accelerating quickly upon The Lady's return to the hive, along with her wretched mutant of a daughter.
And of course, the seeming inevitability of the bad news didn't make it any easier, as an old dinosaur from her grandmother's days had been the one to break the news: Prime Minister Wormwood.
"I'm sorry, my queen, " the old geezer stated, with dismay. "But your first daughter, Princess Larva, ..."
"Spit it out you old geezer," The queen hissed. "I don't like being awakened at this hour."
The old catcher straightened himself out, and took a quick breath. "Of course...."
"Now get on with it..." The queen demanded, drowsily.
"You daughter, Princess Larva, ..." the codger continued. "Has left for the eternal fields, " he said, with a frown.
What followed next was a riotous rout of laughter. "You've gone senile, old man! There's no way that any daughter of mine could pass on now," she boastfully exclaimed. "Where's that caretaker that I put in charge of her care?" The queen asked. "She'll be able to set you straight you old dinosaur," she said, her composure returning. "Now where is that old bat, Madragora?" The queen asked, desperately.
"She left the hive, along with Phytolacca, Belladonna, and Dulcamara, in pursuit of your aunt, who fled the hive, along with her daughter," the old fart replied. "They suspect that your aunt had something to do with her demize."
"What!!" She had exclaimed, being unwilling to accept the outcome, and, of course, a full investigation had been launched, into the matter. And, in the end, it was decided that the culprit was malnutrition, not her aunt, though doubts still plagued her mind, even to this very day. Not that it mattered, as Dulcamara successor, Solanaceae, verified the pass of his former mentor (or at least that's what he thought.)
And her luck only got worse from there.
**********
"Bad news, highness, " her advisor had stated, once again, waking her at a late hour. "But apparently, the foster parents your brother had suggested to you weren't as ... fit... as your brother had supposed they were, " the old stallion explain, with a prune like expression. "And your foal has... died... of malnutrition!" The stallion said, covering his head, with his hooves, as he anticipated a barrage of flying objects.
It just seemed like she had been cursed when it came to foals, a fact her brother had brought up endlessly...
And things had seemed so upbeat, at first, when it seemed like the gods had finally heard her pleas when a second foal was born healthy, after a seemingly endless series of stillbirths.
And not just, had she completed her royal duty, for the hive, but that her brother had found the perfect host family, loving, stable, and prone to stillbirths, saving her the morbid actions that her mother had been forced to undertake, upon her birth.
Sadly, this foal too seemed cursed as it's family abandoned it to die in their petty war with each other...
The queen shed a silent tear...
Starving her poor foal...
But not to worry, she grabbed justice by the horns, brought it home. And all it required was a few changeling imposters, a bribed judge or two, and a couple of 'well meaning' bureaucrats. Heck, even the treacherous lady's old apprentice, a young and upcoming mage of the hive, Solanaceae, had demonstrated his loyalty, to the hive, by throwing in a few spells at the time.
And as the cherry on top of her shake of revenge, the last she heard those two tightwads was that they were in locked in the tower in Canterlot, charged with first degree murder, their family name was a laughing stock, and a mark of shame, and their precious wealth was in the hooves of their first foal.
And that, friends, is what comes of those who mistreat the queen's foals.
**********
What followed next was another long spell of miscarriages, and stillbirths, before her third, and final foal was born. And her reputation in the hive, was not, having fallen considerably during her rash of failures, with the rumor that she was sick, or cursed, or something, causing her star to set slightly, and her brother's star to rise.
The good news was that before her 'precious brother' could become too much a threat, her third foal, Amaryllis, was born, 'healthy' (or at least as 'healthy' as any of her foals had been to date.)
And, she, having been dubious after her last foal's mistreatment had passed on her brother's less than helpful assistance, and had put her new prime minister Artemisia on the job. And, in a show of her superior intellect to her brother, had already assigned her foal to the perfect host family (down to the optimal time of birth, and demise of their young foal.)
The switch was made, and from there, she simply had to sit, and wait... sixteen long years... Well... Not completely sit, and wait... She had a bad habit of meddling to ensure the foal's safety, despite her advisor's wishes, and better judgement. Something about her mother's experiences, in a failed attempt to infiltrate Canterlot, in preparation for a changeling invasion -- an invasion she would attempt some day.
And at the end of sixteen years, the perfect opportunity presented itself. She'd managed to get her hooves on a princess of Equestria, and put her daughter's 'brother' under her power.
And from there, things worked exactly as expected. Replace her daughter's 'brother's' bride -- check. Butter her daughter up with kindness -- check. Learn the ins and outs of being 'Princess Cadance' -- check. Aid her daughter's 'deteriorating condition' with some 'healing magic' -- check. Convince her daughter, that the lug she called a 'brother', to take a 'nap' -- check. Obtain the dear's 'brother', to act as act as food for the hive (well the dear did need something to help her with the adjustment back to hive living) -- check. Obtain two changelings of the infiltrator class to cover her escape with her daughter and her daughter's 'brother' -- check.
Spirit her daughter, and that ridiculous stallion away in the dead of night...
...
...
Not check...
What was she thinking? What was going through her head when she decided to jail her own daughter? In a cage? What gave her the idea that her own beloved daughter had been poisoned by pony imperfections? What even gave her such a ludicrous idea?
And, furthermore, why would she drag her daughter to the wedding the next day as some kind of trophy? Pure pride? Utter foolishness?
Why all the triumphs? Why did her daughter need to see the superiority of her own troops? Weren't her mares and stallions supposed to be feeding? Why did she have them making laps? Just because she felt superior? What came over her?
So naturally by the time that pesky Luna showed up unexpected, her troops were in utter disarray, exhausted from 'showing their superiority' by marching the parameter of Canterlot in decuple time.
She still had one chance though, she'd have to flee with the cage (a cage she, once again, had no idea why she decided to stick her own flesh and blood in.) The bad news?
"Flee my children!" The queen shouted, in panic, having beat one princess, but lost to another. Wasn't this supposed to be a distraction for her real plans?... Why did she even care whether she won or lost?... "At least I'll keep my prize!" She shouted, lifting the cage. "You have -- "
"Ouch!!!" A voice screeched loudly, as a clang could be heard against the ground, and two thumps were heard shortly after.
"Thou hast lost demon!!!" The 'princess of the night' exclaimed, as she and her disheveled army were sent catapulted into the heavens.
**********
The queen paced the floors, maybe something could have been done...
And maybe kidnapping her friend's sisters, and threatening 'bad things' if they didn't arrive, in three days didn't help, either. But she desperately needed a chance to talk some sense into her daughter, and the only way to do so while she was under Celestia's protection was to draw the dear away from that dangerous old tyrant.
And the Secretariat Comet supplied the perfect opportunity, providing only marginal boosts to pony magic, but unimaginable boosters to her own magic. She'd be able to subdue the dear, and drain enough of the love energy that she'd so that she could finally safely bring her back home.
But it didn't come out right... She threatened to steal her own daughters magic, and emotional energy -- a punishment normally used to rid the hive of unwanted nobles...
On her own daughter...
No... Instead of talking sense into her she attacked her, threatened her, betrayed her daughter's trust, and tried to 'convince her to join them' like some f-grade rheel villain.
And it didn't get better when it came to the crusaders... She looked like a mental case, threatening three small fillies, and proclaiming the end of Equestria... Consuming blood in their presence... She shivered in utter fear, they didn't even eat regular food, they ate emotional energy... What could possibly have been buzzing through her head?
And, to make matters worse, she didn't want to do any harm to Amaryllis' friends, or family. She simply wanted to do was drive a wedge between them so she could bring her daughter back, then she'd let them go... Honest... But it certainly didn't sound that way, at the time... Nor would it have looked that way from their viewpoint...
And so, her final chance slipped through her hooves...
Were the episodes just the result of stress, as her advisor's claimed, or a form of growing madness as the nobility conjectured... She didn't even know anymore...
**********
A few months later.
Bzzzt.... "And, like that..." A voice echoed in her head, did somepony with independent thoughts forget to shield them?
"The queen has no heirs!" The voice giddily boomed, it's voice steeped in it's own treason.
She awoke, with a start, and turned her head to her chamber doors. Could something have happened to Amaryllis? "Guards!!!" She shrieked, at the top of her lungs demanding the dullards' immediate presence. One would think that, with their hive mind that they would already know that she wanted them before she asked, but nonetheless...
And this had been steadily getting worse since the wedding, though it was most likely due to the incompetence of her brain dead minions. Of course it could always be pressure as her ladies in waiting had claimed, but...
"Where are my guards?" She howled, the dullards still not showing themselves. Where were they? Where was her daughter?
"My queen?" Squeaked the pathetic and cowardly tones of a so called stallion.
"Oh, " she purred back. "I'm glad you could make it out so quickly, " she said, sultry in the guard's ear.
"Of course, my queen, " he replied, stoically, his body rigid like a plank.
"Good!" She shouted, full volume in his ears. "And I could have been assassinated five times in the time it took for you to arrive!"
"We apologize, our queen, " he replied, the sweat dripping down his face. "But the prime minister has briefed us of an incident, and -- "
"And you treasonous dogs forgot to inform your queen?" She snarled, in the fool's ear.
"We are sorry, your majesty, but it involves your daughter, and --" He replied back, hesitantly.
"My daughter?" The queen asked, visibly shaking. "What... About... My... Daughter...?" She asked, putting her hoof on the guard's face. "I need to know!" She begged the stallion, her voice, for the first time, in years, sounding as vulnerable, as she felt.
"Shouldn't we wait for your prime --?" The stallion asked, being interrupted, mid sentence.
"Ho, no, " she replied. "I sensed treason in the hive, and it could be the guard who wishes not to inform their queen." She announced, opening the floodgates, to the hive mind, projecting images, of this traitor, in chains.
The guard shook his head vigorously. "No, majesty, I promise on my honor that, -- "
"Then... tell... me..." she said, pulling in again.
"But, majesty, your -- " The guard announced, his voice getting very shaky.
"Guard!" She shouted, turning to the other. "Take this traitor to the oubliette! While I decide an appropriate punishment for high treason.
"No please majesty!" He begged, halfway out the door.
"Oh?" She replied, 'curiously'. "You wish to talk to your queen?" She asked her guard, who nodded back. "Then... tell... me... what... happened?"
"Very well, " the guard responded. "At oh-twenty three and three quarters hours, your daughter, crown princess Amaryllis, vanished from the hive collective..."
"And the praetorian guard I assigned to her?" The queen replied, belligerently.
"Vanished as well, " the guard replied, hesitantly. "We can only assume the worst..." He said, covering his face with his hoof.
The queen just started laughing, riotously. "You mean to tell me that you fools not just lost my precious daughter, but also some of my best stallions?" She asked, wiping a tear from her eye.
The stallions started laughing along, with the queen, almost by instinct.
After a minute of riotous laughter, the queen opened her mouth again. "I don't find your joke funny..." She said, her face turning red. "So I'll give you one more try... What... Happened... To... My... Daughter.... Amaryllis...?"
The first stallion opened his mouth again. "I'm sorry my queen, " he said lowering his head. "But -- "
"NOO!!!!" She shouted, violently, her eyes flashing an odd green color as an unearthly shriek could be heard emanating from the queen's mouth, as it would seem that she'd just lost another foal.
She turned to the second guard. "Take this foal away!" She commanded, pointing to the first guard. "His eyes need to be corrected, in the oblette," she said, a toothy smile appearing. "Because, we both know that my daughter Amaryllis is very much alive!" She replied, sadistically.
"That won't be necessary, my good stallion," Chrysalis', Vladímir, brother commanded, coming in unannounced. "I'm sorry dear sister, " he said, putting a hoof on her wither, which was quickly flicked off. "But I could feel the bad news even before you did..." He said, putting his head to hers, only to pull it back, when she tried to bite at it. "Your daughter..." He said, his voice choking and cracking. "Is gone..."
"Quite, foal..." She replied, the tears starting to flow.
"But worry not, sister," he replied, ostentatiously. "Maybe we can talk about it?"
"There's nothing to talk about..." The queen replied back, barely containing the sobs.
"Maybe I can make you feel better?" Her brother replied back, softly.
"I don't need comfort," the queen hissed back, her eyes flashing green again. "Now begone all of you!"
The prince shook his sadly, putting one hoof on one of the guards withers as he motioned both towards the door. "It hurts my heart to see her this way," he said, sadly. "This is the third one she's lost already... Maybe she's just unlucky, or... infertile?"
And you know what was even worse? Not just had that Celestia murdered her third daughter, and her guards, but that she had, somehow, replaced the poor child with a ridiculous alicorn imposter. If only she'd been able to save the child when she wanted to the first time...
She really did feel like a failure of a mother...