“Presenting Queen of the Emerald hive, Queen Chrysalis.” As the guard finished, Chrysalis walked through the double doors, her head held high. Scratches of various sizes littered her body, the Everfrees beasts and plants were harsh on her for sure, leaves were wrapped around her hind leg like a bandage which was soaked with her glowing green blood. If she was in pain she didn't show it except for a slight limp when she put pressure on said leg. What was odd about her though was that she looked well fed, due to the circumstances.
“Mother. Sisters. It's good to see you all again.” She said calmly, then limped towards the table and sat down in an empty chair. Nobody took their eyes off of her, their sister, the cause of so much destruction, the creature that almost wiped out the entire changeling species. So much hate was directed at Chrysalis that she started to feel sick. Earwig's eyes turned to slits as she let out a feral hiss at the horrific monster that she once called family. Anticipating Earwigs actions, Mirror placed a hoof in front of her sisters chest as a way of saying 'Not yet' while sporting a scowl herself, never looking away from the fiend in front of her. Jewel, like her mother and Mantis, put on a practiced mask of calm as she watched every movement her sister made.
"Leave us." The Empress stated simply. Without a word the guards saluted and trotted out of the room, James went to follow the retreating guards but was held back with a glow of magic coming from the Empress. "You stay James, we may need your assistance if things get...messy." She said calmly, never looking away from her daughter.Play peacekeeper, shouldn't be too hard. James thinks to himself as he nods and slinks into the shadows. As a second thought he pulled up his skill sheet and did a doubletake. Ok. Maybe not. He thought as he saw that Diplomacy was one of his lowest stats.
"Lovely decorations you have here, sister. I didn't think you liked flowers so much." Says Chrysalis as she plucks one of the flowers from off of the table and observes it in her magical field. Mantis nods as silence overcame the room once more. Chrysalis let out an exasperated growl then crushed the flower in her magic. "What do you want from me? An apology? Me groveling at your hooves for forgiveness? Recompense for what my actions caused? Well! What do you want!?" She yelled. "I know what I did and I do not feel an ounce of regret doing it. If I still had my army I would do it again and again until Canterlot is under changeling rule." A look of disgust came over Mirrors face.
"Do you have any shame. Millions died because of your actions, innocent lives are dying as we speak. You, in a single day, made changelings enemy number one on ALL hitlists."
"Pfft, please. By the way Mantises hive looks I see that we are doing fine towards rebuilding." She says dismissively. Mirrors eyes turned to slits.
"That does not excuse you from your actions." She hissed. "With that one reckless move you became the bane of all changelings in existence, and you play it off like some kind of game?" Chrysalis shrugged non-committedly.
"I would have won too if it hadn't been for Shining Armor and that pink bitch." She spat the last words as if they tasted fowl in her mouth. Mirror sighed, it just wasn't getting through that thick skull of hers.
"Alright Chrysalis." Jewel spoke. "If you think that we got off easy from your actions then tell me how many of our sisters do you see before you?"
"How is this relevant?"
"Just answer the question" She said with a little more bite.
Chrysalis rolled her eyes "Four."
"And how many sisters do we have in total?"
"Ten." As she said this, her face turned from calm to horrified as she put a hoof to her mouth. "You don't mean..."
"Yes, Onyx, Glimmer, and Nymph are confirmed dead, the other three are scattered to the wind for all we know after they broke off of the Hive Mind." Chrysalis's face fell as she heard the news. She always respected and looked up to Onyx, even though she was two years older, Chrysalis considered her like a second mother. Wherever you would see one the other was close behind, when Onyx left to make her own hive Chrysalis vowed to be the best queen just like her at any cost.
Tears fell freely from Chrysalis's eyes as she understood the weight of her actions.
"Now that we got her, what do we do now?" Asked Mantis as she looked around the table.
"I say we kill her and bring her head to the equestrian princesses, hopefully they would take it as an apology for attacking their capital and take the bounty away from all changelings." Earwig stated.
Mirror placed a hoof on her chin in thought then nodded. "I have to agree with Earwig, I cant think of anyway we can deal with Chrysalis and the Equestrian bounty."
"Jewel what do you think we should do?" Asked Mantis.
"To maximize her effectiveness we should use her as a broodmare to repopulate our species." Jewel stated simply, her sisters nodded in agreement.
"It is settled then." Said The Empress as she stood from her seat. "As punishment for almost causing the extinction of the Changeling species you will personally birth six hives worth of Changeling drones and a royal nymph for each hive. Guards!"
The door guards entered the room and bowed. "Take the traitor to the breeding chambers and start the breeding immediately." The guards rose from their bow and took a sniffling Chrysalis to her new home for the rest of her life.
The changeling royalty sighed in relief as one of there problems were gone. "Now what about Celestia?" Asked Mantis. "Earwig may be right, if we prove that the cause of their destruction was dead then they would have less of a cause to hunt us down."
"You just leave that to me." James said.
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Princess Celestia started her afternoon with court like she did everyday. She saw many ponies with many different requests, business offers, loans from the crown, the occasional gift, or some rich snob who wants to tear down several apartment buildings to build a sauna. When she starts court she prepares herself for at least a few odd or even outrageous requests from the populous. But being presented Chrysalises severed head as a peace offering with a note stuck to it that said 'Sorry. Please stop killing us.' from the changelings was a new one.