//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - The Inspection // Story: The Chrysalis Letters // by A bag of plums //------------------------------// Dear Queen Chrysalis, After some scouting around inside Canterlot Castle, I have determined the number and armaments of the ponies that are being sent to the badlands. In the best possible scenario, you would no longer be in the badlands at all and the ponies would be wasting their time. However, should you still be in the area, I recommend a disguise. A rock, a burnt out tree, a lizard, anything to conceal yourself from their searching eyes. A fight is not something we want on us right now, win or lose, it will bring back unwanted attention. There will be eight Lunar soldiers in the pack, lightly armored and armed in reconnaissance gear. They will be arriving in the badlands come morning. Just this once, if you can manage that, please just listen to your advisor and go along with her plan. She knows better than you and she knows how to deal with situations such as this. Stay down, and this will be over before you know it.  Psithyra put down her pen and looked over the letter. It seemed to convey the right degree of urgency without being too disrespectful that her sister would just huff it aside. There were less than seven hours until morning and she had spent the time between her arrival back at the spa and now drafting letters and throwing them into the trash one after the other. This one, at least, seemed to be satisfactory.  There was no time to waste. It would not take very long for the letter to arrive in her sister’s hooves, that wasn’t the issue. The issue was whether Queen Chrysalis had managed to rally any other changelings to her. Getting them all to hide would be a task in itself, and Psithyra’s confidence in her sister’s leadership skills had taken somewhat of a severe blow in the last week. At last, the changeling princess lit up her horn in an emerald glow and the letter was whisked away toward its addressee in a shower of green light. All she could do was wait now and hope that her sister would at least have some shred of common sense to do as she said. She had no doubt that even in her weakened state, Chrysalis would be able to hold her own against a squadron of eight royal guards, but that wasn’t the case here. Should she win, Canterlot would simply send more until even the Changeling Queen couldn’t keep up. The best thing to do is to lay low and let this whole event blow over. Pony minds were short-lived. Should they be unable to find her, Psithyra had no doubt they would go back to their everyday lives and allow the changelings to recuperate. Surely even my sister could see that this plan is our best plan? Then she shook her head. Chrysalis could defy any kind of common sense thrown her way.  Never mind. It’s bad for my health to focus on the negative. There was nothing to be done until Chrysalis replied to her letter, so the changeling princess left her room and went into the storeroom where the secret passage to the crystal caves was. She pulled the hidden switch and the shelf swung aside silently to reveal the tunnel downwards.  Psithyra buzzed her wings into motion and flew down the passage and soon found herself in the caverns. She lit her horn and activated the flameless lanterns that had been installed around the filing cabinets which held the secrets of countless ponies in Canterlot.  She smiled to herself. It always calmed Psithyra down to see the fruits of her labor, and she sat herself down on the cavern floor and opened the nearest cabinet, drawing out a random file with her magic. This was the file for a pony named Cobble Stone. A prominent member of the city planning council, and also a pony with a hidden, and crippling salt addiction. He hid it from the public quite well, but often came to the Metamorphosis for sauna sessions to sweat out the distinctive smell of salt. If the council caught wind of his vices, he would be kicked off the board for sure. Psithyra shook her head in amusement and slid the file back into the cabinet. Then she chose another file at random and licked her lips in anticipation. Oh, this was better than any tabloid magazine in Equestria. To hold a pony’s reputation and way of life in her hooves was power that you couldn’t buy. Psithyra stayed there for a good hour, reading various files that Aeon had neatly documented and positively squirming with glee at each biography she drew out to peruse. By the time she felt a yawn coming on, the changeling princess was in much better spirits than she had been when she had written the letter. After putting the files back in order, Psithyra flew back up into the spa and shut the secret door behind herself. She went for a quick shower, then went to bed, her head still buzzing with ponies’ secrets and foibles.  Her dreams were just as good. The first thing that Psithyra noticed when she woke up the next morning was a small scrap of paper resting on her face.  “About time,” she said and rubbed the sleep from her eyes before picking up the scrap. Her face soured. I don’t know where you get off lecturing me all the time, but it ill becomes you. Eight little ponies whose military hasn’t fought a real war in centuries is no match for the Queen of the Changelings. I will not run and hide from these juice-drinking milksops, and you should be ashamed of even suggesting I do it. There was no signature at the bottom this time. The letter dropped from Psithyra’s telekinetic grip and fluttered onto the sheets. “That. Utter. Moron!” Psithyra slapped her forehooves onto the bed, making the sheets ripple. She let out a scream of frustration and fell back onto her pillow, seething. There was a knock on the bedroom door. “Mistress? Is everything all right?” Aeon’s voice came. Taking a deep breath and counting to five, Psithyra answered back, “I’m fine, thank you. I’ll be right with you all.” This seemed to satisfy Aeon, and he didn’t say any more.  Psithrya in the meantime, left her bed and went to the bathroom for a shower, all the while muttering under her breath about just how dense her sister could be and whether that tiny brain in her head had actually ever been used before. At this point, it’s probably just up there collecting dust and cobwebs… She thought of writing another letter, to try and convince Chrysalis to abandon her thoughts on engaging the small team. She would surely win, even in her weakened state, but it was the aftermath she was worried about, and which the Queen was too stubborn to comprehend. In the end, she decided it wasn’t worth her time. “What a mess,” Psithyra said as she dried herself off with a towel and morphed into Spirit Wave for the day’s work. There really wasn’t much she could do now but wait to see what happened. Ponies were dumb and dense creatures, but they would never forget an act of atrocity against them. If Chrysalis were to end the lives of the guards sent after her, there would be repercussions, not just for her, but for all changeling kind. As of now, there were already guard patrols going about, investigating the occurences of the siege. That was already unwanted attention on them and Chrysalis was all to blame for their failure in the first place. As Spirit Wave came out to help with opening the spa, the rest of her employees seemed to be as relaxed as normal, with Aeon manning the front desk while the other four bustled about, arranging piles of fluffy dressing gowns and towels for the customers.  Spirit Wave trotted to the front desk to speak with Aeon.  “How many reservations do we have today?” she asked, peering at the ledger. “Four today.” Aeon tapped a quill along the left side of the parchment. “I guess ponies are finally leaving the wedding behind. At least, the townsfolk seem to be.” “Life must go on,” Ruby Gleam said bracingly as she cantered by after switching the door sign from ‘closed’ to ‘open’. “Even ponies know that it does no good to focus on the past for too long.” “Though all changeling kind now have an even worse reputation…” Silent Moon huffed. “Like it wasn’t bad enough already.” “We only have one to blame for all this.” Ruby narrowed her eyes at no one in particular. “It’s because our oh so great Changeling Queen can’t listen to her advisor for even one second that we’re even in this mess today.” “Yes, well… we’re open now,” Aeon said, tapping the tip of his quill on the edge of the inkpot to dislodge any excess ink. “So enough of this talk of changelings. We have ponies to pamper.” “Aye aye, captain, sir!” Golden Lily raised a hoof to her brow and snickered. “Bring on the ponies!” Spirit Wave looked at her employees and managed to crack a small smile. No matter how troublesome and petulant Chrysalis became, it was good to know that she had these six on her side. For now, life would go on and they would just have to make the most of it as best as they could. She hoped that things would soon be able to go back to the way they were, but that was highly unlikely. Their first two customers came and went in a swish, with almost nothing interesting to tell about their lives, though the second one did mention he owned a vault full of bits at the Canterlot Bank. He was even kind enough to disclose the location of his secret key. “Did you hear what he said?” Golden Lily rolled on the ground as she laughed. “He thinks he’s the richest pony in town. Not for long, huh?” “Be sensible, now,” Snowy Skies said as she came in from the cocktail lounge. “Secret vault or not, he clearly has a drinking problem. Not only did he go for a vodka cocktail, he also bought the entire bottle. So that’s an extra twenty-three bits for us.” “Could be a lot more if we get to that vault of his.” “It’s a good piece of information, but we don’t need to raid that vault, at least not anytime soon.” Silent Moon wiped her hooves on a towel. “At least we know where it is and how to open it if we need it. Like the mistress says, we don’t need more unwanted attention.” “Wisely said, Silent Moon.” Spirit Wave grinned. “Now come on, clean up before the next guest arrives.” Just then, the glass front double doors were pushed open, accompanied with the glint of sunlight on golden metal. Aeon looked up from his ledger. “Welcome to the Metamorphosis Spa and Massage Parlor,” the white unicorn said. “Are you here for a session of rest and relaxation, Misters…?” The one in front, a grey coated pegasus with an eyepatch, shook his head, then gestured with a hoof to his companion. He was a grizzled looking earth pony with a slightly unshaven face and a light purple coat. What caught their attention was the pony’s neck. It was incredibly wrinkled, almost like that of a dried fruit. “Hello,” the earth pony greeted. “My name is Agent Plums, and this is Agent Cinders. We’re on her majesties’ service,” both the guards produced a badge with a sun and a crescent moon engraved on them. “Would you mind if we had a look around?” Spirit Wave blinked. She hadn’t thought they would already be here to investigate. “By all means, good sirs, you may look around. But I do not suppose you would find anything of worth. We are but a humble spa for ponies to come and forget the troubles of the world.” Agent Cinders nodded. His partner’s face brightened and he said, “Fantastic. We won’t get in the way of your work. All we’re looking for is maybe some clues.” “Clues about what, may I inquire?” Spirit Wave asked curiously. “That’s classified,” Agent Plums said. “I can’t tell you.” Then he seemed to think it over. “But it is pretty interesting, so maybe I’ll tell you. I’m going to tell you.” His partner flashed him a weird look, but said nothing. “O… kay…” Spirit Wave said slowly. “Yeah, okay, yeah, okay,” Agent Plums said before leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. “We have reason to believe that this spa was one of the last places Princess Cadance was at before she was taken and switched out for that changeling queen. Now, we know that good, hardworking ponies like yourself wouldn’t have had a hoof in the act itself, but we need to see if maybe there are any changeling clues around. We’ve been to two other places already, and there are three more on the list after this spa.” “Gee, I always thought ponies were brainless…” Lily leaned over and whispered to Ruby. “But this is amazing.” The owner of the spa nodded twice at the guard’s explanation. “I see. You are more than welcome to have a look, but we clean the spa every day, so if there was any evidence, we might have mopped it up already. Shame of what happened, really, with the wedding.” The two guardsponies split up and went deeper into the spa. Thankfully the next pony to have reserved a spot there today had not yet arrived, so all that was being done was a quick but thorough wipe down of the equipment in preparation for the next guest. “What’s up with the armor?” Lily nudged Ruby again. “I’ve never seen Solar Guard armor like this.” “Quit it.” Ruby shoved her back. “Eclipse Guard, remember? They handle the investigations.” “I’ve heard of them.” Snowy Skies nodded. “I’ve seen some of them. Batponies. They’ve gone door to door questioning everypony. I got back to the spa as quickly as I could to avoid them talking to me. Supposedly, they answer straight to the princesses. Some special sect.” The guards, true to their word, did not get in the way of the spa ponies’ work. They carefully examined every room of the establishment, running their hooves over the sinks and looking under piles of towels which no doubt meant that everything would have to be cleaned again. Spirit Wave kept a close watch of them from the corner of her eye to not appear so suspicious or nosy. There would be no clues left from their abduction of the Princess of Love, which had been very easy. All they did was use their usual incense trick and the secret passage to the mines, and their work here was done. The entrance to the caves was well hidden and thanks to the strict scouring regimen, there would be no physical evidence left behind to find. “No sign of anything changeling,” Plums called to his partner as he descended the stairway to the basement and living areas. “I’m going to look below.” Spirit Wave didn’t like it that he would be going down there where she couldn’t see him, so when his one-eyed partner wasn’t looking, she moved for the staircase, her form shifting and melting until she was just a little rat, hopping its way down each step after the guardspony. She spotted the wrinkled neck guard snooping around her room, even checking under her bed. The rat smiled. He wouldn’t find anything in there. She had even disposed of the letters her sister had sent her, just in case something like that would ever happen. Being the queen’s advisor, being prepared for anything was something she needed to be good with. Ducking into the corner, she then transformed herself into an empty pot, stopping beside a row of other empty pots in the storeroom. This was the only place she needed to make sure the guards wouldn’t find. Should they find the entrance to the mines now, they would surely come back again. Once Agent Plums was done investigating the living quarters, he again appeared around the corner, peeking his head into the storeroom where Psithyra was now positioned. The changelings had blocked the entrance with a large board that was painted to look like the wall, followed by three shelves of ceramics and various ointments, just to put off anypony should they want to check behind them. Plums slid a hoof over some of the pots, then scratched at his gnarled neck. “Doesn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary down here.” He clicked his tongue. “Nice. I knew these gentle spa workers won’t be hiding anything. It’s because my brain started doing things.” And with that, he left to return back upstairs as Psithyra resumed her rat form, a satisfied smirk across its little mouth.