”...And finally, two infiltrators were able to successfully establish themselves in Tall Tale as town hall records manager and as postmaster, respectively. Both pony replacements and subsequent cleanup have gone smoothly thus far.”
Chrysalis nodded at her infiltrator advisor. Intelligence in the backwater town might not be the most valuable, but if it would allow additional collectors to more easily take root there, the allocation of two experienced infiltrators would undoubtedly be worth it.
“Understood, Odonata. How soon do you anticipate we will be ready to introduce collectors?”
Odonata winced. “As much as I would like to say soon, the records manager we were able to replace was a fairly new hire. No others were viable with either an abundance of family or friends, or other complications. I would estimate two to three months before she has enough rapport with her co-workers to get the level of unfettered access to records that we would need.”
A grumble left Chrysalis's pursed lips. “That timeline is too long. How feasible would it be to push it to one month?”
“Your majesty,” Odonata began, caution clear in his voice, “I understand the reasoning, but I don't think that would be wise given the circumstances. These ponies are not quite as trusting as we would have hoped. It seems they had a bad experience with a previous manager and are wary of the newbie. She needs time to prove herself as a competent individual.”
Chrysalis merely rose an eyeridge. “And what is your failure estimate if we proceed at the one month point?”
“Honestly, seventy to eighty percent. Her role is fairly introverted, so pushing to integrate herself faster will likely only raise suspicion.”
“Seven weeks, then. We cannot afford to wait any longer.”
Odonata took a deep breath, pausing for a moment, before nodding slowly. “Very well. It isn't ideal, but I will pass on instructions that she is to expect collectors in seven weeks.”
“Good. What else did you have?”
The advisor’s horn lit up and a paper floated in front of him. “The last update is the upcoming infiltrator graduation in just over two weeks. For the final evaluation, we have scoped out locations and this year I have chosen the abandoned village in the Hayseed Swamps, northeast of the hive. With Winter wrap up having passed a few weeks ago, we have begun minor repairs and expect the village will be suitable before the evaluations begin.
“Per your request last month, I passed on to the instructors that you would be attending the final eval as the capstone townspony target. The instructors are confident and anticipate all four remaining trainees will pass even with the additional challenge you pose.”
“Very good. With the volatile social climate in Equestria, especially with the recent addition of a fourth princess, I expect they may face harsh difficulties from the ponies. I will not go easy on them.”
A smile grew on Odonata's fanged muzzle. “I look forward to the show. It has been quite some time since someling other than myself took that role.”
“I hope the trainees do not disappoint.” Silence hung in the air for a few long seconds. “Was that all?”
“Yes, your majesty, unless you have any further questions.”
“I do not.” Chrysalis rose from her seat.
Odonata quickly rose with her, scooting back his chair and going into a stiff pose at attention.
“Carry on,” she said and turned, stepping towards the exit. She lit her horn and pulled the wooden door open before stepping out into her advisor’s foyer. Outside to her left was Odonata’s assistant, seated at his desk. Beside it was another changeling who swiftly rose and faced Chrysalis, a pair of slim saddlebags on her back.
“Greetings, your majesty,” the changeling offered a short bow before rising and looking up at Chrysalis, a clipboard floating out of her saddlebags. “Are you ready to depart?”
“I am, Alary.” Chrysalis continued to the advisor's hallway door, her aide at her side. Alary opened the door and Chrysalis stepped out into the administration hall. “How much time do we have before the hive health meeting?”
Alary floated out a stopwatch. “Just under ten minutes, ma'am.” She put the watch back in her bag and exchanged it for a love crystal. “Would you like to consume your daily love ration while we walk?”
“No, I will have it after the meeting. There is a planned forty-five minutes break in my schedule afterwards, is there not?”
“Assuming the meeting doesn't run long, that would be correct.” Alary placed the crystal back into her bag.
“It won't.” Chrysalis continued out of the administration hall and turned back to the main tunnel. “These rarely last more than fifteen minutes.”
“That does seem to be the trend, lately.”
The pair continued and, along their walk, other changelings stepped out of Chrysalis's way and offered bows as she passed. They made their way further downward into the hive and soon came to the throne hall. Passing the throne room doors, they continued past a couple other rooms before stopping in front of a planning room. Alary stepped to the side and her horn lit, once again opening the door.
Chrysalis gave a small nod to Alary and proceeded inside. In the room, Chrysalis noted that all of the meeting's five attendees were present, all of whom rose from their seats, eyes following her. She continued around the table to the far side of the room and took her seat at the table's head. Alary took her place next to Chrysalis and levitated out a notepad, a quill, and a jar of ink.
She looked over the group of advisors that had gathered. “Take your seats and let's get started.”
Once they were settled, Chrysalis turned to the first changeling on her right. “Tergum, let's begin with you.”
“Certainly, your majesty.” The changeling shuffled and read from the papers in front of him. “Medical is set to receive another two changelings from training, boosting our numbers to twenty-six in total. That will leave us fully staffed in all specialties except for surgeons.”
Tergum paused for a short moment and when Chrysalis said nothing, he continued. “Moving on, we have no shortage of medical supplies and are continuing to receive regular restocking from the couriers. Finally, the total number of changelings under our long term care has fallen from three to two, with the release of a fully recovered changeling.”
“I see. That is excellent.” She still found herself relieved months later that she no longer had to hear of the increasing number of changelings that had been found, brought back, and placed under medical care. Even more so that she didn't have to hear of nearly half those who could not be saved. For months, it seemed every week there would be another of her children succumbing to their wounds.
Fifty-seven in total. She had no doubt that number would haunt her for years to come.
Chrysalis looked to the next changeling at the table. “Cercus, how are the caretakers?”
“Yes, ma'am, I'll start with morale.” Cercus peered down at his papers for a brief moment. “We've received new shipments of books, games, playing cards, and other entertainment stock. I'll be going over them within the next week to ensure they're appropriate according to your guidelines. Next, we've had to cancel the meal portion of our monthly morale event again due to shortage of love. It seems cancelling our last meal had a fairly negative impact overall as changelings were excited to get an extra helping of love. I imagine we will see significantly less participation if this continues.”
“The concern is understood,” Chrysalis began, “however, if we are to survive until we have become a distant memory to ponies, we cannot spare any additional love at this time.”
Cercus nodded. “I understand, ma'am. I have told the other advisors to send word to their hive-based castes that we are aware of their disappointment and that we will be continuing morale event meals as soon as feasible.”
“Very well. What else?”
“Same as usual, there are no changelings or ponies in our prison, so the caretakers have no resources dedicated there. Regarding our captive ponies, we remain at forty-three in pods with no change in number since last week. We have had zero incidents during their walks and, of course, no escapes.”
Chrysalis was far more pleased about that than she knew she should have been. Shortly after the invasion, caretaker staffing had been low enough that they had to take two or three ponies out on walks at a time. It came as little surprise to her that one woke up from their induced haze and attempted to flee. When she'd returned to put the pony back into a love-producing sleep, she was informed the attempt was quickly quelled. She still held suspicions that they had softened the true extent of the incident.
“And the young?” Chrysalis moved on.
Cercus cycled his pages. “Your most recent batch of eggs is developing well. They appear to be on track for hatching in just over two weeks. Both the grubs and the nymphs are continuing to be fed full sized love meals. This generation of grubs are also on track for a metamorphosis in approximately three to four weeks.”
Chrysalis hummed. “Everything seems to be going smoothly for you. Was that all?”
“Yes, it is going quite smoothly indeed. That was everything.”
“Good.” Chrysalis looked to the opposite side of the table. “Katydid. What of the workers?”
“Hello, your Majesty.” Katydid bowed her head. “Keeping the subcastes relevant to the meeting, as always, I will start with the cooks. As you’re aware, our solid food supply was fairly diminished from Winter. Earlier this week, we received our first Spring delivery of foodstuffs. This has brought us back to reasonable quantities and I expect the next few weeks will replenish us to an excess that we can begin preserving.”
Chrysalis nodded. “And of variety? I am growing fairly tired of oats, nuts, and bread.”
“Absolutely. We’ve requested additional foods to include beans, dried fruits and vegetables, preserved fish, high protein grains, and a variety of edible seeds.”
“Good. And what is the status of our culinary students?”
Katydid flipped a few papers over and shored up her sheets. “So far, so good. No change in status from last week. Both gatherer transfers are excelling in their classes at the Manehatten Culinary Institute and are still expected to graduate on time this Summer. Until they return, our single qualified chef will continue passing on her knowledge through on-the-job training.”
Chrysalis nodded. “I believe I speak for the entirety of the hive when I say that everyling would be happy with fresh recipes in the cafeteria,” Chrysalis hummed and put on a smirk, “Actually I do speak for the entirety of the hive.”
Her joke garnered a few, modest chuckles out of her advisors and she had to catch a growing frown with an indifferent expression. As was usual when she attempted to relate to her children, she couldn’t help but feel they were merely placating her. It was more frustrating than she cared to admit.
Mother never had these kinds of problems. But mother was also content with changelings merely existing. Never did she push boundaries.
Her mother also didn’t attempt and fail at an invasion.
Be quiet, traitorous thoughts. She mentally shook herself and focused back to the brief at hoof. “What else do you have, Katydid?”
She flipped to the next page in her stack. “Next, the physical fitness area remains fully functional with only minor equipment failures. All damaged equipment have already had requisition requests placed for them. The track remains usable and in good condition from its resurfacing last Fall. Finally, mortuary services and cleaner capabilities remain fully staffed and trained. And that’s all I have, Majesty.”
“Very good. I’m pleased everything appears to be in order.” Chrysalis raised an eyeridge at the next advisor. “We will come back to you Arista.”
Arista gave a small smile and bowed his head. “As per usual, ma’am.”
Chrysalis skipped to the next advisor. “Kairomone, how is the finalization of search and rescue?”
“It goes well, ma’am,” Kairomone replied. “As I briefed last week, all search and rescue teams have been disbanded. We have passed all records to the infiltrators of the final four unaccounted-for changelings from the invasion force. This week we are finishing documentation of all our actions and will submit our records to the controllers for archival. At that point it will merely be upon your word that the search and rescue caste be dissolved back into the recovery caste.”
“This is good news.” Chrysalis nodded. “Once you have finished your tasks, schedule a meeting with the controllers and coordinate with Alary for my attendance.”
“Understood.”
And then it came time for Chrysalis’s least favorite part of the week. “If there is nothing else, all but Arista may leave.”
She swept her eyes across each of her advisors, seeing nothing but shuffling of paper and changelings standing from their seats. A few moments later and the only ones left in the room were her, Arista, and Alary.
She took a breath and turned to her final advisor. “Alright, Arista. What news do you have to ruin my day with this week?”
Arista chuckled and gave her a smile she couldn’t help but find irritating. “I would consider this week’s news to be more… neutral rather than negative. No collectors have been discovered or captured and no crystals intercepted from the gatherer side. However, we still have sourceless collectors at Hoofington, Trottingham, Las Pegasus, Manehatten, Cincinneighti, Vanhoover, Canterlot, and Applewood, leaving us where we were last week with twelve collectors without sources.”
Chrysalis let out a growl. “Twelve last week, and the week before, and the week before that! Oh wait, my mistake, three weeks ago we were only down eleven.” She slammed her hoof on the table. “We’re seven months post-invasion and we’re still losing sources!”
“I apologize, ma’am. Our collectors are doing what they can. With our new procedures requiring very high fidelity information before replacing ponies, many collectors are being stonewalled by the lack of pony individual’s history. Some have reported anxiety and unease over merely maintaining their sources. We are working, but only as fast as Equestria allows.”
“Arista, time is not a luxury we have. All of us are already on half love rations and our reserves are rapidly dwindling. Either the collectors shape up and find sources or we have to kidnap more ponies. I shouldn’t have to tell you which carries exorbitantly more risk.”
Arista shook his head. “No, you don’t, Majesty. I have already instructed lead collectors to assist in potential source identification. The infiltrators are assisting where they can, but they are limited in number and already overtasked.”
“I am fully aware of the status of your fellow advisor’s caste,” Chrysalis spat. “We are discussing your caste’s lack of productivity, not his.”
Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed at the flakes of frustration Arista was letting through and his following, near imperceivable huff.
“As I said, your Majesty, we are trying. My—our collectors are pushing to be as social and sociable as they can. I know we don’t have time, but time is the only thing that will prevent even more collector losses.”
“Then what would you have me do?” she nearly pleaded. “We are all starving. If we don’t come to a solution in a few months’ time, there won’t be a hive left to feed.”
“I—” Arista cut himself off before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “I was planning on bringing it up with you today. I… have been toying with an idea for the last few days, now that the hive is relatively stable again. However, I suspect for what I'm suggesting, we will need to make use of a squad of specialized infiltrators. And, of course, it will require time.”
That had her attention, but it brought equally as much skepticism. “Hmm, very well. Go on.”
“The other day, I went to retrieve my daily love ration. What I was given was one of the rare delights,” he levitated up a bag and upturned it onto the table, a loud clatter as a single object fell out, “a love-dense crystal.”
Chrysalis immediately understood. “I see. You suggest we attempt to solve this puzzle ourselves.”
Arista nodded. “This has been going on for years now and there is no time like the present to figure it out. Somehow, these crystals have nearly twice the amount of love that every other collector produces. They can be split into twice as many meals of equal nutrition, just as this one was. If we can understand what is happening and make use of that, we could double the output of every collector.”
“You mentioned including infiltrators. I presume that means you wish to keep this from the resident collectors. You don't think their assistance would be helpful?”
“Honestly, no.” Arista shook his head. “In my opinion, if they had the capacity to solve this on their own, they would have done so by now. I say we try to get an outside perspective and, if need be, request their help afterwards.”
“I suppose I cannot fault the logic. And where would you suggest we start? Hoofington or Ponyville?”
“Hoofington, definitely,” Arista immediately answered. “There were only two deliveries from Ponyville before the dense crystals stopped and neither of the collectors in town had any knowledge of it. Not to mention there’s a brand new princess there. In Hoofington, however, we know specifically who is producing them.”
Chrysalis nodded, expecting exactly that answer. “The collector in Hoofington, what was her name again?”
“Firefly, your Majesty.”
Chrysalis hummed. It was certainly a conundrum she’d been requesting be answered for quite some time. And if they didn’t do it now, there was the chance they’d never know. Plus, if it turned out profitable… “Very well. I would like to keep that crystal.” She levitated her own out of Alary's saddlebags and swapped it with Arista's, bringing the dense crystal up to her gaze. “Coordinate with Odonata and get on my schedule later this week.”
“Absolutely, I will meet with him today. I will also reiterate to the collector leads the severity of our love situation. Was there anything else you wished to discuss?”
Chrysalis momentarily lowered the crystal from her vision. “No, that will suffice. You may leave.”
Arista nodded and began shuffling his papers into order. He then took the normal crystal before standing and leaving the room.
Firefly… Chrysalis thought, gazing at the crystal once again and taking in a tiny taste of the rich flavor. Just what secrets are you holding?