Chrysalis returned to the hive in a state of ignorance. She felt as if the walk to her room was quick, and without sound. every changeling that approached her was brutally ignored, and most weren't even acknowledged. Chrysalis sat down on her bed, thinking to herself the worst. Though she didn't want to admit it, Tirek's words were getting to her. She got too deep in her thoughts, and began to think aloud. "B-but he's never talked to me that way before. What does he want from me? UGH, I HATE HIM!" She yelled. She was in a state of silent rage when a few words brought her back to reality. "Umm, you ok mom?" Arachnis asked. Chrysalis' gaze snapped up to her son. "Oh...hello Arachnis. I..didn't see you, apologies." She said. "Well, it's ok, but who are you talking about? Was it a defiant pony?" He asked. Chrysalis tried to dodge the question, as she found it unsafe for her to reveal Tirek's identity to Arachnis. "Oh uhm, n-no. It was, just a rowdy changeling." She said weakly. Arachnis sensed that she was lying, but decided to respect her privacy. He told Chrysalis to get some rest, and phased through the floor of her room and into the main room of the hive.
Arachnis wandered the hive, pondering about what might be troubling his mother. This wasn't the first time he had seen Chrysalis like this, but something about her weak tone and quickness to answer questions made Arachnis think there was something deeper going on. If there was someone hurting his mother, he was going to find out and he was going to find them. The first thing that needed to get done was to find out what exactly was going on. Obviously, simply asking wasn't going to get her to talk. Part of him wanted to just pry it out of her, but then that would lead to the convolution of what to do next. Arachnis went invisible, and reluctantly decided to spy on his mother. He crept up to Chrysalis' room, and noticed that the door was locked. He phased through the door, curious of what she could possibly be doing. He walked in on Chrysalis talking to a green projection. The one she was talking to was unknown, his body shrouded by the green aura that Chrysalis was supplying.
"So, Tirek's given his take on the matter, yes?" It said.
"Yes...but he's not on board with it. He says that fighting fire with fire isn't a viable strategy. And what's more, he expressed this over-" Chrysalis responded.
"A game of chess, perhaps?"
"..Precisely. How did you know? Were you spying the whole damn time!?"
"Only near the end of the game, when he outplayed you marvelously. In that time, I sent some soldiers out to investigate his weird behavior. Turns out he was being mind controlled."
"But by who? That's high level magic."
"That...we don't know. Not yet at least. In fact, that's why I called you. I need you to send your ladybug out to find information. His ghostly abilities make him the perfect one for a stealth mission."
Chrysalis' gaze turned to the door of her room. She waited a few moments and listened for sounds. She wanted what she was about to say very private, and only for her caller to hear. Finally, she gulped and spoke. "In all honesty, I don't wan't to send him out like that. It's not that I don't have faith in him, but Tirek's pretty damn powerful, despite not being very smart. I feel like he'd be a lot to handle for Arachnis."
The unknown caller snarled and scoffed at what he had just heard. "You mean to tell me it's been fifteen goddamn years, and you're unconfident in your own child's abilities. He doesn't even need to fight! All he has to do is follow him. Is that so much to ask from your ladybug?"
"I understand this isn't what you wanted to hear, sir, but unlike you, I care for my people. Actually, I know just who I can send. I would solve two problems, both for me and Arachnis. It's gonna take longer to get the info you need, since these three aren't magic wielders."
"I guess that's fine, but we need that as fast as possible. we don't know when Tirek could be controlled again."
The projection vanished, and Chrysalis turned to leave her room. Unbeknownst to her, she walked right through Arachnis as she exited her room. As he became visible again, a look of disbelief could be seen. At first, he began to curse his mother, and whoever she was talking to. After a few minutes of silent rage, he finally sat down and recognized what he was feeling. It bothered him greatly that Chrysalis was going to chose some other people other than him. He was genetically altered for something exactly like this, and yet other people were being chosen. He felt that his mother didn't trust him, that he wasn't good enough. His thoughts led him to realize something: That if he wanted his mother to trust him, he'd need to prove himself.
Meanwhile, Chrysalis stood at her throne of hive, and stomped her hoof. Since she was their queen, she had access to to the hive mind of all changelings, meaning she could command any specific one at will to do any certain thing for her. Eventually, Zoey, Zane and Zack, all crashed through the crowd of changelings and into the throne room. They all kneeled before their queen. "You three have been chosen to go on a recon mission. I'll send you the coordinates via the hive mind, but you are to spy on Lord Tirek without being spotted nor identified. Find out who's behind his apparent mind controlling, and report back to me asap. I won't stress this enough: do not, and I mean, do not engage Tirek, nor anyone you may encounter along the way. He'd likely squash you three like bugs. You are to leave, now! You three are dismissed." She said to them. The three zetas nodded to each other and hastily left for their mission.
Now, outside the hive, the triplets were traveling the dead forest that surrounded the hive. They had never been on a mission like this before, and so their nervousness eventually kicked in. Zane was the first to break the silence with an anxiety driving question. “Y-you guys ever feel like you being followed? C-cuz I’m startin to get that feeling right now.” He said. “Well shoot, now that you mention it, I feel like I’m being watched too.” Zoey said. Little did they know, they were being watched, and they were being followed. Arachnis slowly trekked behind them, careful not to be seen.
”I’ll make sure you know what I can do. I’m ready to regain your trust.”