It was the day after the capture of Queen Chrysalis. Her prison was not what the changeling had expected. She slept on a queen sized bed, in a well kept room.
The bed was too soft, and the blankets too cozy. It would be dangerous to become overly accustomed to such comforts in her present circumstances.
Chrysalis had been told to stay in this room, and not attract any attention. She had been visited only once, by a maid who dropped off her breakfast. She tried asking questions, she was even nice. The maid refused to answer. She did ask if Chrysalis needed anything else, and on a whim, the queen asked for a newspaper.
There was a full length mirror. She looked herself over for a minute or two, then decided that a gold necklace really did not suit her skin tone. It was not the four walls that took away her freedom, it was this magic item, coupled with Cadance’s watchful eye. As it stood, Cadance could supposedly see everything that Chrysalis does, and punish her with powerful magic at any moment.
What could Cadance possibly be planning to do with her? Surely not all the prisoners were eating Eggs Benedict.
There was a bookshelf. Princess Cadance must have chosen the titles herself. It contained two types of books: harlequin romance novels, and texts from Twilight Sparkle’s friendship school. She only read her newspaper. There was nothing about her capture in the morning edition.
The position of the sun told her that it was already close to noon, when there came a gentle tapping upon the chamber door. It was that maid again.
“I have instructions from zee princess. Transform yourself, so you look like me. Exit zee room, turn right until you find zee stairs. Go up two floors. Head left, then take your second right. Look for a room with a red door, and climb another staircase. Zee princess will meet you at zee top. Speak to no pony. Am I needing to repeat any of dis.”
“If any pony speaks to me, do I need to copy your ridiculous fake sounding accent?”
The maid was a petite thing with a grey coat and a black mane. She was cute enough, despite the bland colour palette. The bows and ribbons of her frilly uniform were more difficult to copy then her body. Chrysalis considered pretending she couldn’t copy her outfit, and demanding that the timid little thing strip for her. She opted not to be so bold, since Cadance was surely watching. She transformed into the maid, and tucked her gold necklace under her apron.
Between the newspaper and this rendezvous, Chrysalis realized that her capture was being kept a secret. She wondered if even Shining Armour knew. Surely he would have stopped by to visit, if he were aware she was in the castle.
The maids instructions led her to the tower where the Crystal Heart was kept.
Cadance was doing something rather odd. Laid out upon the floor was a full scale map of Equestria. Daylight, passing through the Crystal Heart had made several bright spots on the floor. She was moving the map around, so that the bright spots shined upon the locations on the map.
If one bright spot hit the Kirrin Village, and another touched Manehattan, then a third spot was in the middle of the ocean. She decided this was wrong, and tried pointing the first bright spot at Ponyville.
It was obvious to Chrysalis first the sun and moon could be used as marking waypoints to position the map, and second, the map needed to be brought higher, so that the magnification of the Crystal Heart fit with the scale of the map. Chrysalis had no interest in pointing this out.
Chrysalis coughed to get her attention.
Cadance turned. Despite knowing it was there, Chrysalis was surprised by the sight of her own evil eye, the one that watched her at all times. Cadance greeted the Changeling queen in a bit too friendly a manner, then made her way to a table with a mirror, and put on a contact lens, to hide her evil eye.
“So master, what is your wish?” Chrysalis’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“Stay disguised as a maid for now.”
“Transformed,” Chrysalis corrected. Apparently the distinction between a disguise and a transformation really got to her, and it was a knife Cadance was actually quite willing to twist.
“Transformed. Anyway, we’re going to visit Twilight’s school.”
Queen Chrysalis raised a single brow upon hearing this.
“Princess Cadance, if you plan to enrol me at that school, then I’d sooner be put to death.”
The train ride was surprisingly pleasant. They had a private booth, the view was quite scenic, and the lunch cart was serving cucumber sandwiches. Her only complaint is that she actually did have to copy the maids stupid accent.
At the station, Starlight Glimmer and Trixie Lulamoon, appeared to carry bags and escort them to the school.
Chrysalis had a little trouble keeping up her act in the presence of Startlight Glimmer, partly because of her role in the mutiny of the changeling hive, and mostly because she kept trying to make insufferably boring smalltalk.
When they reached the school, Cadance whispered to Chrysalis: “I’m going to confide in Twilight Sparkle. She might overreact, so stay outside until I call for you.”
Chrysalis nodded.
“And don’t make any trouble.”
Chrysalis just stood outside, hooves crossed, and an impatient expression upon her pony muzzle. She looked conspicuous dressed as a maid, but not as conspicuous as a changeling queen.
There came a voice from above.
“It’s really you, isn’t it?”
Chrysalis looked up, and recognized, little Ocellus, the odd little changeling that was attending Sparkle’s school. She hovered more like a hummingbird then a Pegasus, even making a buzzing noise.
“Are you going to expose me?”
Ocellus looked down, a little bit shamefully. Under her rule, changelings were taught that outing a transformed changeling was the worst thing you could ever do.
She hovered downward, and stood near her.
“No babies have been born in the hive since you left.”
“Obviously not.”
Ocellus inched a little closer.
“Thorax told me, if you don’t come back, by the time I’m grown up, then I might be the one who they give the royal jelly.”
Ocellus looked up with frightened eyes. “Does it hurt to become a Queen?”
Cadance had taken out her contact lens, and shown the evil eye to Twilight Sparkle. She explained the events of the night before.
Twilight listened carefully, and thought for a time before giving her reply. Now she was giving some lecture on how you can’t help others until they choose to be helped, with the possible exception of Nightmare moon.
Cadance was about to insist she had the situation under control when she suddenly held her hoof to her eye.
It was clear that she was in great pain. She was also the cause of her own pain. What Chrysalis did not know, is that Cadance could not use the subjugation necklace without feeling pain herself.
She was using it.
At that moment, Queen Chrysalis, who still looked like a maid, leapt at little Ocellus, and pinned her to the ground. She was about to rip into her neck with horse teeth, when she was overcome with a convulsion.
The necklace flew in the other direction, acting as a leash to pull her back. She fought against it, and was wrought with yet another convulsion.
“You think you can replace me!” She screeched. “You’re mine, you’ll never…”
Chrysalis passed out, her hoof still reaching towards Ocellus.