//------------------------------//
// The Queen's Justice 
// Story: The Bug in The Cave 
// by Skijarama 
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Thorax struggled with all of his might as he was pulled along the ground. He tried to twist and turn, to thrash and bite. He even tried to change form into something else just so he could fight back and run. Unfortunately, the queen had dealt with enough defectors in her time to have established counters to anything he could conceivably try. All he could do was scream into his gag, powerless to stop the imminent arrival of his fate.

It was made so much worse by the hostile glares of the drones they passed through the tunnels. His captor was making no effort to be discreet or fast. No, he was savoring Thorax’s agony. He was practically taking the longest, most scenic route he could manage through the hive as if to parade his catch to all of his peers. The drone who caught the thief, and who could it have been but the pathetic, lowly runt of the hive?

It was humiliating. All of those glowing eyes, glaring at him from the darkness. The directionless insults that had long been snipped back out of fear of reprisal from Pharynx were now unleashed like a hoard of feral dogs that tore into his heart and his mind. Never before had Thorax felt so small and weak, despite those two words defining his entire existence.

At long last, though, his torture was brought to a merciful end. The wall before his captor opened up to reveal a colossal chamber. A chandelier made of green resin hung from the ceiling, providing eerie illumination that made the whole room feel sick and putrid. Small tunnels and holes lined the walls in unsettling patterns that sent his instincts crawling in fear. In the center of the room, a jagged throne made of shadowy stone rose up like an imperial pillar, flaring out with spikes and ridges as if to reach out and eclipse the world in its grasp.

There were only a few drones in the chamber, all of them looking on as Thorax was unceremoniously hauled inside with a wide range of expressions. Only one of them appeared to be surprised…

Thorax’s heart fell into the pits of his stomach at the sight of his big brother’s horrified gaze boring back into him. Pharynx took a step back and blinked as if to dispel some sort of visual hallucination. Thorax would have looked away, but he could not turn his head in this darned cocoon. So he settled for closing his eyes and quieting his screams.

A moment later, he was thrown at the base of the throne. He grunted through his gag on impact, keeping his eyes tightly shut. His captor stepped up beside him. “Your majesty!” he called up to the seemingly empty throne. “I have found the thief that’s been stealing our supplies!”

Several seconds passed before a single sound broke the silence. A disappointed sigh from Pharynx. “...Oh, Thorax…”

“Oh Thorax, indeed,” a new, feminine voice echoed, each word dripping with a mixture of cold hatred and sadistic amusement. Thorax’s eyes snapped open out of primal fear, a cold sweat already blanketing his body. He tried to shift himself around to look up, but all he could see was the floor. He could see the other drones bowing just out of the corners of his eyes. His heart all but stopped in his chest.

Chrysalis was here.

“He was picking through our herbs and harvested plant-matter, my queen,” the drone explained, not coming up from his bow. “Enough for a very hearty meal, I’d wager.”

“Is that so?” Chrysalis’ voice cooed from above. Thorax stiffened when he caught sight of the tips of her hooves touching down in his field of view. She slowly began to walk around him. Every step she made echoed deafeningly in his ears, like a clock ticking down to his demise. “I must admit, I am impressed, Thorax. You must be resourceful indeed to steal from your own kind for as long as you have before getting caught…”

Thorax whimpered into his gag, trying in vain to shake his head and speak.

“Your increased security measures have proven most effective, Pharynx,” Chrysalis went on with a notably smug tone. “Well done.”

There was a moment of hesitation before Pharynx replied. “...I was merely doing my duty, your highness.”

Chrysalis hummed in response. The room fell silent. She paced around Thorax for a full rotation before coming to a stop directly in front of him. “Well, then… I suppose I have to hear what you have to say for yourself, don’t I?” she asked in an almost impatient manner. A flicker of magic slapped across Thorax’s face like a static shock, tearing away his gag. “Well, then, out with it. Give me one good reason why I should let you leave this throne room alive.”

Thorax opened his mouth, but no words came out. He was guilty as charged, after all. What could he possibly say that could save his life right now? He was not likely to succeed if he tried lying to her, as she had heard them all a thousand times before. Sob stories, elaborate lies, attempted framings, and redirections. She was a master at the game of deception, and he was barely even an ant on the side of the board.

Inconsequential. Pathetic. Worthless.

“Nothing?” Chrysalis asked after a moment, starting to pace the other way. “Not even an effort to beg? Not a word at all?”

“Thorax,” Pharynx’s voice called out tentatively. “Just talk. You can’t make this any worse…”

The room practically darkened as Chrysalis turned on the head of patrol. “I am sorry, but did I give you permission to interject, Pharynx?!” she demanded.

The discolored drone immediately clammed up and backed away a few steps.

Chrysalis pressed on. “As true as it is that your own efforts were what caught us this whelp, it cannot be ignored that your only brother, one you are notorious for defending in spite of his uselessness, is the culprit behind the thefts. Are you going to leap to his defense again?”

Thorax’s eyes widened, his pulse quickening. He struggled against his cocoon for a second before finally finding his voice. “H-he had nothing to do with it!” he called out in desperation. “It was only me! I didn’t have any help, and I never told anyone! I was operating alone!”

“Ah, and the grub finds his voice,” Chrysalis remarked with faux excitement. She strolled lazily back to his side, always just out of sight from his downturned eyes. “Well, then, Thorax, since you’ve now confessed to the crime, would you perhaps enlighten us as to your motive?”

Thorax licked his lips, his mind wandering to Twilight. If he told Chrysalis the truth about why he had been stealing, if he revealed her, then… she was probably going to die. Or worse, be turned into food for the hive. But the revelation of an interloper so nearby would probably do wonders to grant him at least some leniency…

...But she was his friend. His only friend. He couldn’t turn his back on her and sell her out to save his own skin. Not like this…

“Tick tock, Thorax,” Chrysalis purred, her voice right in his ear. A shiver ran down his spine as a lock of her long, ragged teal mane fell into view in front of his eyes. “If you don’t speak soon, I might run out of patience…”

“I…” he choked out, his fear of death struggling with his desire to protect his friend. His eyes darted this way and that, desperate for something, anything that might help him. Finally, he managed to screw his eyes shut and start talking. “I… I w-was hungry, your majesty,” he whimpered pathetically.

“We are always hungry, Thorax,” Chrysalis sneered. “What you meant to say, is that you were greedy.”

“N-no!” Thorax protested, trying to look up at her. “No, please, listen! I… I’m the runt of the hive… I’m always last to get fed. I’m never given room to myself, I’m never given any kindness or recognition. I’m… I’m weak. I’m pathetic, and everyone shoves me down without a care in the world… I’m lucky to get any scraps whenever the time comes to eat, and with how short the hive’s been on love recently…”

He shuddered as he pushed the half-lie past his lips. “...I was starving. Every day it got worse and worse… I couldn’t be of any use to the hive if I starved, but I’m not strong enough to earn any respect… no respect, no food… I just… I h-had no choice… I had to feed myself somehow… I swore I would stop stealing as soon as I had the strength to earn my keep… to pull my own weight…”

Several seconds passed in silence. He heard Chrysalis let off an unimpressed scoff. “Is that your story? Really? Honestly, Thorax, I was hoping for something far more engaging,” she drawled out before turning and leaping back to her throne, out of his line of sight. “I had hoped for some soul-stirring tale of another drone dumb enough to take pity on you, and your misguided attempts to foster a bond over stolen assets. I could have even done with a spiteful tirade about your hatred for me and all I stand for, an open act of rebellion to warrant the complete collapse of your skull. But all I get is this… you’re starving, and you got desperate. How absolutely pathetic…”

Thorax screwed his eyes shut and gave off a humiliated whimper.

“I do not know what else I was expecting,” Chrysalia sighed. “But alas, it is too late for you to change your tale. Your confession is made, and now it is time for you to face the consequences.”

The sound of Chrysalis’ horn lighting up with distorted magic filled the throne room. Thorax sucked in a deep breath, bracing himself for the end. “I’m sorry, Twilight,” he thought, struggling to contain his whimpers. “I am so, so sorry…”

	He heard the spell go off, and he flinched in anticipation of incineration. However, to his surprise, the cocoon he was trapped inside of was peeled away with a bone-chilling squelch. He fell to the ground, dripping with foul-smelling green slime. His eyes snapped open in shock, and he looked up to see his queen chucking the already disintegrating prison aside.

“Y-your majesty?” he croaked.

“I did not give you permission to look at me,” Chrysalis snapped, her horn flaring up. Thorax felt it on the back of his head, forcing it down into the cold stone floor with shocking force. Stars exploded across his vision, a dazed grunt slipping past his lungs. “You have stolen from the hive, Thorax. Your crimes would, under any other circumstance, be punishable by death. However…”

Thorax heard her landing on the ground in front of him, stepping forward slowly. “To do so for as long as you did without getting caught is, as I said before, quite impressive. And indeed, the results of your labors speak for themselves…”

Thorax shuddered when he felt her hoof on his back, lightly tracing his frame with a feather-light touch that promised agony if he dared to resist.

“You have become rather plump, haven’t you?” she went on in an almost affectionate coo, drawing another terrified whimper out of him. “You’ve stuffed yourself to the brim… And your time in the wasteland alone, where you gorged yourself, I do not doubt, has certainly improved your physique. You’re stronger than you were…”

“I…”

“Shh,” Chrysalis shushed him, placing a hoof tip on his lips without letting his head rise. “No talking. Only listening.”

Thorax held perfectly still, save for a near-petrified nod of his head.

“I commend you on your skill. It isn’t any drone who is capable of such an elaborate scheme for so long. I will have use of such abilities in the future, and so your life shall be spared,” Chrysalis went on. Her magic then snaked to completely encase Thorax’s throat, hauling him up to hover before his queen in the air. His eyes were forced shut by her magic without his consent, drawing a choked gasp out of him.

“But you still stole from the hive. To steal from one is to steal from all, and your actions shall be punished…”

And then came the pain. Thorax opened his mouth to scream, but through the vice-grip Chrysalis had on his throat, nothing escaped save for a choked squeak. He kicked, and he thrashed, trying in vain to lift his hooves up to his chest and stop what Chrysalis was doing to him.

She was draining the love out of his body, forcefully tearing it right out of his stomach, his muscles, his very soul. The air was filled with a horrifying crunching sound as his body began to shrivel and compress, and the starvation he had thought to have gone since he met Twilight returned a hundred times worse than before. 

Finally, the pull ended, and he was dropped to the floor in a gasping, crying heap. He curled up into a ball, clutching his hooves up to his belly in an instinctual effort to protect his innards. He heard Chrysalis give off a content hum before she spoke again. “Do you feel that pain? Don’t worry, it’s only going to get worse from here. That, Thorax, is the pain you would condemn your fellow drones to if you continued stealing from them. The pain of starvation,” she spelled out slowly, making sure each word resonated with the quivering drone. “Maybe now that you know that pain, you will think twice before bringing it upon the rest of my subjects.”

“Y-yes, my queen…” he stuttered out in response. 

“Good boy. Now… from this moment forth, you are not to leave the hive under any circumstances without my explicit authorization, nor are you to go anywhere unattended. You shall always be accompanied by at least one other drone at all times, until such a time as I see fit to release you from your penance. Finally, your standard allowance of rations is to be suspended for the next week and halved after that until further notice. You will know the pain of starvation, Thorax, but you will not succumb to it. That is the extent of my mercy.”

Thorax, still shivering and gasping in pain at how empty he suddenly felt, was only able to offer a stiff nod. “Y-yes, my queen…”

Chrysalis stared down at him for a moment before snorting and turning away. “Pharynx, do be a good brother and take this slime out of my throne room. He is under your watch until further notice. Is that clear?”

“As you command,” Pharynx replied quietly. He stepped over to Thorax and helped him to his hooves. “Come on, you idiot. We’re going.”

As his elder brood mate guided him for the exit, Thorax managed to look up to him with tears in his eyes. “I… I’m sorry,” he croaked out, barely any strength in his voice.

“Shut it,” Pharynx shot back. “You brought this on yourself…”

Thorax looked down, closing his eyes in shame and regret. The wall sealed up shut behind them with a sickening crack. And with that, he knew he wasn’t going to be seeing Twilight again…