//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - To Lead and Mislead // Story: The Chrysalis Letters // by A bag of plums //------------------------------// Several generations ago, the Metamorphosis Spa and Massage Parlour had been bought by Spirit Wave’s grandmother, Spirit Wisp. It was an immediate success, with word spreading quickly across Canterlot about how luxurious and relaxing a session there was. The structure had been completely overhauled from an auditorium to a station of pure indulgence, and run by some of the nicest ponies in the city, if not all of Equestria. Or so the public was led to believe. In reality, the building had been well on its way to becoming a social hub, when the owner had retired, leaving everything to his son. He had run the auditorium well enough, until he had decided to get into gambling. Of course, there were no casinos in Canterlot, but after receiving a VIP pass to Las Pegasus, the new owner of the building that would become the Metamorphosis had quickly sunk into a rut of loss after loss, punctuated by the occasional victory at the card tables. Month by month, year by year, he frittered away his savings and eventually fell into debt and the once-proud auditorium descended into a state of disrepair as he could no longer afford to pay for its upkeep. It was at this point in time, that when this pony was in a hole that he had dug with no way out, somepony offered him some help. A mare called Spirit Wisp had approached the young noble and offered to buy the auditorium off his hooves for a high price. Ecstatic at the prospect of getting out of his gambling debts, the son had taken the deal without a second thought. And so the first stage of Princess Psithyra’s plan had been set into motion. Ever since the fateful siege on Trot and the changelings’ defeat at the hooves of Princess Celestia, Queen Chrysalis had been fixated on one thing only: the city of Canterlot. And at the time, the queen’s younger sister had been happy to scout out Canterlot. Getting in had been foal’s play, and with her trusted six infiltrators at her side, creating new identities was all too simple.  Getting the funds to buy the Metamorphosis had been slightly more difficult. They had stayed in the caves beneath Canterlot at the start, but using their changeling magic, they had started an underground relic-selling business, with various infiltrators morphing into rare collectors items that mysteriously ‘vanished’ a few weeks after they had been purchased by somepony. It had only been too easy to send the previous owner of the building a VIP pass to Las Pegasus, along with a generous amount of free chips to start off with, and everything had gone like clockwork from there. The Metamorphosis had one other advantage that only a few other buildings in Canterlot had. It was built on top of an old mine shaft to the crystal caves below. It had taken almost a month of discreet digging and chipping away at the foundations in the basement, but once it was clear, they had a direct passage to the caverns, as either a place to keep things in, or a place to run and hide in, should things go wrong. The entrance was hidden behind a shelf and had a secret switch to open it. And now it was theirs. A veritable changeling lair right in the heart of Canterlot, under the collective noses of Princesses Celestia and Luna. And that was only the beginning. The idea to set up a spa had been agreed on by all seven of them. Not only would pampering the nobles of Canterlot net them a generous amount of positive energy, but it also paved the way for them to exploit Canterlot’s weak point. Its citizens. Sharing most of the abilities and powers of her older sister, Princess Psithyra made excellent use of her skill with the hypnosis spell to subdue ponies who had come to the spa and make them spill their secrets. Of course, it had not always gone as smoothly as it had now. Before, when they had first begun extracting the secrets from the ponies, it had been more of a strain on the princess and her infiltrators, as they had to use spells to ensure the ponies being interrogated remained comatose and yet coherent enough to speak and remember. It was a delicate balance of hanging a pony’s consciousness in limbo and sometimes they had nodded off into a slumber that only cold water could rouse them from, and in other cases they had woken up, only to be assured by the staff present that it was all a nightmare.  After only a couple of months into this routine, they had accumulated a sizeable stash of secrets, blackmail, and tidbits that could, under the right circumstances, be used to ruin the pony they were attached to. But it wasn’t enough. And that was when Nahara had discovered something while working in the castle. As the only changeling who wasn’t regularly working at the spa, she had access to the royal library, and she managed to use her connections and her persona’s good looks to secure a position in said library. It was there that she uncovered an old book of alchemical recipes that had been used in Equestria’s old days. The ingredients were quite easy to come by, and after a few alterations to the formula, the Metamorphosis’ renowned ‘exotic eastern aromatherapy’ was born. The sticks of incense served not only to cloud a pony’s mind and render them completely open to the princess’s hypnosis spell, it also relaxed the muscles and mind, revitalizing and refreshing anypony that was exposed to it. Changelings, being immune to toxins, were completely unaffected by the fumes. And so the spa worked itself into a comfortable routine. Anypony who came to visit was treated to a five-star session of total relaxation, ending with an incense-augmented massage. The stash of secrets and scandals grew and grew, until the seven changelings were sitting on a veritable goldmine of data on just about anypony who was anypony in Canterlot, short of the diarchs of the city. Princess Psithyra had put Azal, whose persona was Aeon and the most senior of her infiltrators, in charge of managing all the information that they gathered. He was meticulous, as well as the fastest writer among the six infiltrators. Down in the crystal caverns, several huge filing cabinets had been sequestered, with all of the dirt on Canterlot’s citizens sorted out by date, name, and cutie-mark. It was a rather dangerous sort of thing to keep, the changeling princess had reflected more than once. In fact, she had heard about a similar incident that had happened in the faraway town of Ponyville, where some school-aged fillies had taken to spreading secrets and lies about the townsfolk. The fallout from that incident had almost torn the town apart, and Psithyra had marveled at how quickly things had spiralled out of control. If three little fillies could bring a whole town to its knees with just some well-placed gossip, then imagine what would happen should all her collected information see the light of day! Canterlot would never recover from such a blow, and there would be nothing anycreature could do to fix it. It made Psithyra feel a little gooey inside with sinister glee when she pondered how much damage it would do. And as the changeling princess settled down in her bed for the night, she wondered if Chrysalis had received her letter yet. She had yet to get a concrete report on what had happened up there in the castle, like most of the ponies of Canterlot. The spell she used to send the letter should have deposited it into her sister’s hooves by now. Oh well. Tomorrow the spa would open again, and more ponies would come to be pampered by her infiltrators’ gentle hooves. Psithyra pulled the sheets over herself and went to sleep. The next morning, Princess Psithyra opened her eyes slowly, finding that there was something on her face. It was a rolled up sheet of parchment.  “About time,” she said to herself, sitting up and picking up the letter in her magical field. A quick glance at the clock on her wall told her that she had just a little over  half an hour to spare before she was due to get up, so she carefully unrolled the parchment and looked at the contents. It was short and to the point. What do you mean, what happened to the plan? Where were you when I needed you? I put you in charge of keeping watch on the love princess, and you failed. If you had been here to watch the ponies, I might yet have won. Do not think to place the blame on me. Psithyra’s expression soured as she scanned the letter. She could feel a small ember of anger flicker into existence in her belly, mixing with the slow burn of hunger. She threw the letter aside into the wall and hopped out of bed, breathing heavily. “My fault, is it?” she said, stepping into the bathroom and activating the flameless lantern in the ceiling. “Of all the- Mmph!” Psithyra stopped herself before anything explicit left her lips. She was clearly too sleep-addled to think on this properly right now. Psithyra put the letter out of mind at least until she had eaten breakfast. The changeling princess turned on the shower and stepped under it, letting the hot water wash over her face and body. After a few minutes of this, she left the shower and used a drying spell to get rid of all the water. As she reentered the room, her eyes fell upon her damaged armor. “Can’t leave that lying around, now can I?” Picking up the armor in her magical field, Princess Psithyra made her way to a room that was fairly nondescript. Extra towels lay neatly folded on shelves, and there were bottles of massage oil and shampoo decorating the cabinets. There were flameless lanterns here too, but they were rarely used.  The princess reached out and pulled on one of the lanterns with her hooves, something which she would normally not have done with a regular one, as the lanterns could cause serious burns if they were breached. In the corner, one of the towel shelves swung open, revealing a yawning hole in the wall that were followed by some stairs. Armor still in tow, she trotted down the steps and shut the door behind her. Changelings had natural dark vision, but any pony who might have come this way would not have been able to navigate the pitfalls and forks in the road that Psithyra was now traveling. Before long, she came out into a sizeable cavern, glittering with crystal formations. This was the heart of her little operation: she could see the filing cabinets tucked away inside and alcove, and several large wooden crates and other paraphernalia lying about.  The princess opened one of the crates and looked inside. There were a pair of sheathed swords inside, her own. Forged from pure orichalcum, these blades never lost their edge and were able to cut through most magical obstacles. She had considered using them to slice through Shining Armor’s protection spell, but that would have given her away, and was not part of the plan. A nerve twitched in the princess’s head. The plan.  Why, of all the thrice accursed times to deviate from a plan, why had her queen chosen now? She would not have minded nearly as much were it some meager village that they were trying to take, but this was Canterlot. The capital of Equestria! The jewel in the nation’s crown! If they had just followed the plan, all would have been theirs. Annoyed, Psithyra dropped the armor unceremoniously into the crate and replaced the lid. Then she buzzed her wings into motion and flew back up the passageway. Unburdened by her armor, the trip back was quick, though she remained fuming at how everything had gone wrong. The princess re-emerged in the storeroom and closed the secret passage, making sure to pile some laundry baskets on the shelf to disguise it further. Next, she had to get into character for opening the spa, as she did every day. Closing her eyes, Psithyra visualized the pony she wanted to be, and in a flash of green fire, Spirit Wave replaced the princess’s hole-riddled form. She had also played Spirit Wisp, and Glow Shade, Spirit Wave’s grandmother and mother, respectively. Passing down the spa from mother to daughter was a necessity if ponies were to not notice her eternal lifespan. It was time to start the day. Monday was always a slow day, as not many ponies felt like relaxing only to lose the effects come Tuesday, but the spa would be open nonetheless. Maybe they would attract at least one customer, and that would make it all worth it. Spirit Wave levitated her apron and headband over, but did not put them on, instead draping them over a chair and going to the kitchen.   Aeon was already inside, sitting at the table with a mug of coffee and a newspaper. He saw Spirit Wave enter and nodded. “Good morning, mistress,” he said respectfully. “Good morning, Aeon,” the spa owner replied. “How was dinner?” “Not all that good, to be honest,” the white unicorn folded up his newspaper and deposited it on the tabletop. “Ponies are still nervous about the invasion.” “I can imagine,” Spirit Wave trotted to the pantry and took out a box of oat cakes. “I got a reply from the queen, by the way.” “Oh? What did she say?” The spa owner didn’t reply, instead opting to take a dejected bite from her breakfast. Levitating a mug over, she put in a teabag and poured in some hot water. “That bad?” Aeon said sympathetically. “You know how she is,” Spirit Wave said in a deadpan voice. “It’s never her fault. Even when it is.” Aeon sighed. “You cannot expect the queen to freely admit her faults,” he said staunchly. “She is supposed to be the best of us.” Spirit Wave grunted and continued to eat her oat cake. “Even so…” She finished her breakfast in a brooding silence. When she finished, Spirit Wave levitated her dishes to the sink and stood up. “I’m going for a walk. Just around the district to gauge the general mood.” Aeon wasn’t fazed at all. “Of course. I will get the others up and see to Nahara.” Leaving her trusted lieutenant behind to see to the day’s preparations, Spirit Wave trotted out the front doors of the spa and began her circuit around the district. At a quick canter, she would be able to finish her stroll in about twenty minutes. The sun was still hanging low in the sky, having only risen about an hour ago. Ponies were trotting around, hurrying to their respective workplaces as the day dawned. Spirit Wave nodded good morning to various ponies as she passed them, before turning the corner and running right into something hard and metallic. “Oh, sorry about that, Miss,” a stallion’s voice said.  Spirit Wave looked up into the concerned, blue eyes of a Canterlot castle guard. He was clad in the trademark golden armor that all castle guards wore, though he wasn’t wearing his helmet. He looked relatively young, and there was a fresh-faced gleam in his eyes. The guard pulled Spirit Wave back up onto her hooves. The spa owner eyed him carefully. There was another guard behind him, currently speaking to another pony while holding up a sheet of paper that he was reading from. “Don’t worry about it,” Spirit said to the guard. “I should have been looking where I was going.” The guard smiled and seemed about to turn away when his face changed.  “I don’t want to keep you here, but my partner and I have been tasked with asking around this district about Princess Cadance.” Spirit Wave leaned back a smidgen. So they weren’t just going to leave it alone. “You mean the newly wed Princess Cadance?” she asked with polite curiosity. “The very same,” the guard nodded. “Do you live around here?” “I own the spa over there,” Spirit Wave pointed at the dome of the Metamorphosis. “It’s also my home.” “Splendid, splendid,” the guard said. “We have reason to believe that Princess Cadance was swapped with the changeling queen while out shopping. Her retainers said that she liked to frequent this district. So I just wanted to ask, did you see anything suspicious around here in the past week or so?” Inside, Psithyra cringed. The guard spoke with some semblance of truth. Princess Cadance had frequented this district. In fact, on the morning of her abduction, she had been anonymously gifted with a voucher entitling her to a free spa session and makeover at the Metamorphosis Spa and Massage Parlor. Cadance had been treated to the aromatherapy incense, and once she had fallen unconscious, Chrysalis had taken her shape and left the spa with nopony any the wiser. The real Cadance had been spirited down through the secret passage to the caves below and imprisoned.  Spirit Wave put a hoof to her chin and pretended to think. “I do recall seeing some strange ponies lurking around near the far end of the district. I saw them while I was out to lunch,” she lied.  “Is that so?” the guard said, visibly excited. He leaned closer. “What made them stand out to you?” “Well, I have been living in Canterlot for many years now,” Spirit Wave continued. “So I know just about everypony who is anypony. And I had never seen these ones before. They were lurking around across the street from Zesty Gourmand’s.” “Excellent, excellent…” the guard nodded so eagerly that had he been wearing his helm, it might have fallen off. “We’ll go investigate immediately,” the guard thanked Spirit Wave for her time, then galloped after his partner, braying, “Sir! Sir! I think we’ve got something!”  “Glad to be of help,” Spirit Wave murmured, then continued on her walk. She saw two more groups of guards, all of them questioning commuting ponies about Princess Cadance, she guessed, but made it around and back to the spa with nary a bit of trouble. Slipping back inside, Aeon was there to greet his boss as she flipped the ‘closed’ sign to say ‘open’. “Did you have a good walk, mistress?” Aeon asked, straightening his bow tie.  “There are guards sniffing about, looking into Princess Cadance’s abduction,” Spirit Wave informed Aeon. The edge of his mouth twitched, but otherwise the white unicorn did not give away anything. “It’s a good thing the princess’s memories were tampered with. Remind me to thank Hafet for doing that.” “Certainly. You should go and get changed, mistress. Everyone else is up and ready, though I don’t really anticipate a lot of guests today.” As Spirit Wave cantered to the back room to get her apron and headband, the front doors were pushed open by another pony. “Welcome to the Metamorphosis Spa and Massage Parlor,” Aeon said, turning to the newcomer from behind his desk. “How may I help you?” “Oh, I’m just here for a full work-over,” the white unicorn said, taking off her hat and coat before handing them over to Aeon with magic. “Are you very busy today?” “Oh, not at all,” Aeon inclined his head “You’re the first customer of the day, so we can begin immediately. May I have your name, please? For my ledger, you understand.” The customer fluffed her deep purple mane and gave Aeon a glittering smile. “Certainly. My name is Rarity, darling.”