//------------------------------// // Good night, Queen! // Story: Siege of Canterlot; Duality // by Draconequues //------------------------------// Good night, Queen! Waking up from one of the most pleasing sleeps she had in a while, Queen and commander in chief Chrysalis stretched her chitin plates. The pleasing sounds of clicking and cracking filled her ears, reminding her of the letter she spent the last day reading.  A giant smile appeared on her face as she saw a closed envelope laying on her desk, right above the last letter and her intrusion plans. Chrysalis could almost smell the mare who sent it, so sweet it was.  How weird it may be, it was reality. She had a… crush. Not the usual one as ponies may be familiar with. For the first time in her life, Chrysalis was ready to give away some of her love instead of taking it, even if it was only for a single specific mare.  She got off her bed, stretching once again. This time, sounds of chitin weren’t as pleasing as before, but they still satisfied her black, almost empty heart, filling it with something new. Her night pleadings were immediately cut off as a soldier loudly opened the door to her room, forcing it to hit a wall and to produce a lot of loud cracking sounds. Chrysalis even felt pain in her exoskeleton when the noise reached her sensitive ears, forcing her to cringe and frown towards the sloppy soldier. All the rage she had immediately disappeared as she saw a bunch of papers balancing in his hoof. It reminded her of that sweet letter and that no one should ever see it.  With a quick burst of green magic, the table sparked, leaving a few burnt marks on her plans of Canterlot, while another flash of magic happened under her bed. Both letters weren’t in proximity or eyesight anymore and Chrysalis breathed out with relief. Soldier finally gathered enough bravery to enter the room of the queen who’s slumber he just disturbed. “S-sorry, my queen! I didn’t mean to!” He said with a trembling voice. Chrysalis could see his chitin shaking vigorously. Any second the stack of paper would fall from his hoof. Rolling her eyes, Chrysalis conjured some of her magic, lighting up both her horn and the stack, levitating the latter onto the soldier's back and anchoring it with a bit of sticky, washable, goo. “Excused. What’s the status-quo, soldier?” she said with an unusual temper. Any other day she would just blow up and the whole mobile base would hear her screaming at the newbie, but this time, something different was on her mind. Breathing out with relief, the soldier saluted before spewing his report like a robot. “Yes, Ma’am! Generals are expecting you at the meeting in T minus eleven, Ma’am! No news about Canterlot’s falling, Ma’am! And no reports from underground patrol either, Ma’am!” Chrysalis tilted her head, “What do you mean by ‘no reports from underground’? They all just disappeared or they haven’t seen anyone?” She said with a slightly raised tone. Some of the leftover anger began boiling inside of her, but the others emotions were too strong to let it take over. “Guilty, Ma’am! They haven’t noticed any activity at all, Ma’am! Foe is either invisible or didn’t appear there at all, Ma’am!” Chrysalis stood up from her bed, levitating her set of armour towards herself. “Th~ Thanks, soldier. And cut with “Ma’am’s”, it’s getting annoying.” She barely managed to speak out. New words filled with emotions were hard to adapt to. “Yes, Ma’am!” He stopped and cringed for a second, “Sorry, Ma’am!” He cringed again, before just stopping his talk and saluting to her. Chrysalis chuckled, before leaving her room. The soldier stood there for a while until she was gone, afterwards, he disappeared in the crowd of equally indistinguishable drone army filling the down floors of the mobile base. For Chrysalis however, the day anticipated much more. Not the mobs of common drones, but the whole table full of generals sitting and probably doing less than any lower soldier. At least that's how Chrysalis thought of them lately. The whole war didn’t even move for an inch ever since they came to Canterlot. Usually, Chrysalis would just come, screaming at everyone and everything and then leave, putting a few plans on the table, giving rude suggestions or just maps with strategic places. That time, things were different. Chrysalis was different. And with her sudden change of character, the winds of war were about to change too. The door burst open, letting the queen in. The room, which seconds ago was full of havok and voices went completely silent as she took her place in front of the whole table. As humble and as forgiving as she was then, she still took her usual place where she could see every inch of the room. She was more kind that day, but it wasn’t the occasion to drop her guard down, any of those changelings could’ve been a traitor.  Putting her hooves on the table, she pricked up her ears, hardened her back, and widened her eyes, waiting for answers. The silence stood unshakeable. No one was brave enough to open their mouth or to even move. That was the Chrysalis afterall. The ruthless ruler that took over half of Equestria by sheer force and determination. The one who took over the changeling’s throne on her own and later defeated the general Shining Armour in a fight one-on-one. So she sat there and waited, watching closely as the droplets of sweat fell down from their serious faces, as the tiny pieces of chitin fell down from their cowordy hooves, and how each one of them breathed deeper and deeper, trying to calm their nerves down, hoping for a salvation from their usually angry queen. Disgusted by the whole situation, a changeling inside her head grew more tired and tired at the waiting. She was about to burst open the stash her anger disappeared into, but something else happened. The changeling inside her head was overthrown by a tall and fancy white pony. With a big banner representing both Equestria and The Hive, she stood there victorious, dictating to Chrysalis to make her move. “Any suggestions on our current situation?” She finally broke the silence. The room lit up slightly as some sounds filled it. A few bodies moved slightly, taking more comfortable positions. One body finally stood up, rising above the rest with its shaking hooves and wet face. One brave soldier who was recently promoted to a general, approached the big map on the wall and pointed towards the Canterlot mountain. “Ma’am!” He saluted her, his eyes full of fear, but his heart full of determination. “Our troops surrounded the whole barrier around the Canterlot, and we have intensed our guards around all exit roads and any waypoints that may be interesting to Celestia,” he swiped his hoof around the giant Canterlot city on the map, around it was a big blue bubble — the only thing that kept the changelings from proceeding. Just one stupid strong magical barrier. With a quick and confident move of his hooves, he changed the map. On it was a giant and confusing network of tunnels. They intertwined with each other, went up and down, circled around and genuinely didn’t make sense. Those were the Canterlot undergrounds, a relic of the past and the only thing that saved the capital of Equestria in the present. With a spark of his horn, a few points on the map lit up in green light. “We put more guards in the tunnels following your plans. No reports from them yet, but as you can see all of them are alive. Which brings the problem that we need to solve — The city is still alive, without any food sources or any way of getting nutrition. Any suggestions, your majesty?” Chrysalis tilted her head, thinking about the map, tunnels and what’s more importantly — the beautiful Princess behind all of that. All those letters telling her how easily she found the way arounds for her city to survive, all that teasing she wrote in every line, all that flirting that came out of nowhere. “The answer is simple. Celestia.” “Pardon?” “She’s one of the most powerful creatures there are, alongside her sister, her little twinker of a student and whatever might be helping them. That power is enough to surpass any line of offence we may offer. Basically, they can teleport without any of us noticing,” She said, slightly sad, but at the same time impressed by her enemy and disappointed in herself. The general flipped through some other maps, looking for a solution or any suggestions. Seconds later, his face showed disappointment and he turned to his queen for hope. “But that means that there is no point in the siege. We had failed before we even began!” His voice was full of panic; his mind scared, and he himself forgot who he was talking to. Gasps and whispers began venturing around the room. Old and slightly more experienced generals were shocked at the audacity of the newbie and on how he was talking to the queen. Most of them were pretty certain that he was a goner. But fate had other plans. Rolling her eyes and not giving attention to the table, she stood up and approached the newbie. His chitin was shaking around his body and his pupils shrink when his mind realised what was going on. The queen passed him and stood on the other side of the map. “I’m going in,” she simply said, pointing towards a little cave shown on the map. “The last thing they would expect is a direct infiltration. With my abilities and magic, I might have enough to breach the barrier and take the Princess out. After I’ll take her disguise and the Canterlot will fall without even realising it.” What followed next didn’t surprise anyone. It mostly was silence, a few surprised grunts and a quick suggestion from the newbie, but any arguing towards that plan was deflected by the Queen and her frightening nature. Which was more than perfect. What Chrysalis didn’t want there for sure was someone snooping around and figuring out what she was actually planning on doing. But in reality, even she didn’t know what she would do. Usually, her plans are precise to every small detail, every single background pony. Every spike on a dragon's head and every creature in a city radius. This time it was different. She wasn’t acting in the good of her empire or Hive, nor she planned anything besides meeting her new lover. The meeting ended, Chrysalis left in a hurry and only one thought lingered in her mind, “What did she write me in that new letter?”