Life was good for the newly crowned Queen of the Changelings.
The revolution was nearly over, with only a few small sects still sympathizing with their ex-king. She had been crowned that day, and had decided that her first order of business would be to increase morale and unity by taking a long walk through the hive, inspecting repairs and visiting those who had been injured.
Not only had she grown stronger upon her coronation: she had gotten taller, as well. For changeling royalty, coronation instigated a physical change as they became the central hub of the attention and adoration of their subjects. Though she could feel their hunger, as well, the pain was overwhelmed by the joy and hope of their new ruler. As she walked, she found herself in the room where Twilight and Pennington had been held until their trial.
"Welcome, your highness..." A voice muttered from within the cell.
Chrysalis peered into the darkness, seeing through it with ease of spot a battered-looking changeling sitting in the cell, glasses shattered and hanging awkwardly from the side of his head.
"You... you're the lawyer who was protecting those ponies!" She cried, quickly unlocking the cell door. "What are you doing in there?"
"Well, I stayed here to buy Pennington some time... I only managed about three seconds." Ace continued to mutter, stepping out of the cell with a forlorn smile. "After that, I was tossed in this prison cell to be dealt with later..."
"Well... They didn't take much with them, did they?" She asked, looking around at the scattered items on the floor. Obviously, the changelings who had come through had been searching for some kind of clue of what the two ponies had been planning. She picked up a small scrap of paper from the floor.
Clientele: Twilight Sparkle.
Commission: Short Story, Action/Adventure Genre
Plot: A pony (unspecified character) finds their way into the changeling hive and uncovers a vicious plot: to replace one of the princesses with a changeling in order to invade Canterlot discretely.
Ending: Unspecified. "Spooky."
Chrysalis blinked quietly to herself, folding the paper into a small wad and silently slipping it into one of the holes in her forelegs. Replace a Equestrian princess? Ambitious, but not impossible...
"Did you see whether or not they got out?" Ace asked quietly, not taking note of the new Queen's actions.
"The purple one seemed to use a long-range teleport to save herself, but Pennington was injured and Entropy was advancing..." Chrysalis closed her eyes as she remembered the battle that she had walked in upon. She shuddered as she recalled the blood, flames, and near-broken changelings raging around her. "I got him into friendlier hooves, asked the nymphs from the nursery to take care of him and get him into a stasis pod until we could get him better help... Maybe a pony physician."
Ace nodded quietly. "Well, I may look to see if I can find him, later, then."
Chrysalis hesitated to smile again. She could feel that something was wrong. There were an almost immeasurable collection of new senses and sensations that came with the new position as the leader of the changelings, and in the back of her mind, Chrysalis was beginning to feel a rising sensation of some kind of struggle. One that she was losing. She closed her eyes again and focused in on the problem, trying to bring it to the forefront of her mind.
What she got was an impression: an impression of a struggle. The will of the hive was pushing against a mind that refused to cave in to it. She opened her mind to the hive, taking direct control in order to give the subconscious drive and focus. Breaking a mind was the most important part of a conversion, whether from pony to changeling or from one state of mind to another.
Instead of a blunt force, she lashed out in a whip-like attack, and smiled as she felt the troublesome mind beginning to give way. She applied the final, crushing blow when she felt that it was at its most weak... But somehow, it grew stronger than it had been before. Its individuality that she had been working so hard to eliminate surged up, and Chrysalis heard a tangible voice in her own mind.
Let... me... GO!
Chrysalis took almost a full minute to recognize the voice. When it finally dawned on her, she immediately called off the attack, praying that the damage that she had done wasn't permanent. She quietly cursed under her breath as she stormed out of the room, knowing exactly where she had to go.
"I said to put him into a stasis pod, not a conversion chamber..." She growled.
Twilight woke up tired. An unfortunate side effect of dream-jumping, she discovered, was mental exhaustion. While her body was awake and rested, she felt as if she had pulled one of her infamous all-night study sessions. She managed to still act chipper and cheerful as she walked out into town, and she quickly remembered that she needed to pick up Spike.
"He's over with Rarity..." She muttered to herself, trying to shake off her lingering tiredness, just as she had so many times before. "I hope that he's not letting her use him for a pin cushion again..." She rolled her eyes as she remembered Spike's lovestruck tendency to do anything that she asked.
As she trotted through Ponyville, the town that normally filled her with joy and happiness seemed to be missing its usual charm. Everything seemed empty, without much happiness under its exterior. This joylessness came to a peak as she passed the street where Pennington's small shop stood. As she turned her head to look down the way, she saw Inkwell Commissions, dark and empty, seemingly lifeless, and she noticed a pink pony standing outside the door, trying to look up into the window. Even at a distance, Twilight could see that the pony was a unicorn with a long, black mane, and a cutie mark of a needle and thread.
"Penn! Pennington! Where are you?" The stranger called, craning her neck to try to see into the upstairs window.
Twilight shook her head, veering off course to meet the other pony.
"He's not here! Sorry!" She called out, catching the other pony's attention from a distance.
"I know!" The stranger replied, turning to Twilight with a depressed look on her face. "But he's usually back after a month, and he told me that he would be done with the next chapter of my story by now! So, I'm yelling at his store, instead!"
Twilight blinked in confusion at the words, which sounded more like something Pinkie Pie would say. "Well, he's not going to be back for a while, so you're going to be doing a lot of yelling..."
The pony let out a long sigh and turned around, walking into a building across the street. "Whipstitch's Repairs," said a small sign in front of the building. Twilight made a quiet note of the store before turning around and walking back towards the carousel boutique.
When she finally reached Rarity's shop, she was surprised to see Applejack waiting in front of the door, giving her the same disapproving look. Twilight let out a long sigh, remembering the Applejack had wanted to have a "talk."
"I'm sorry, AJ, but I really need to pick up Spike..." Twilight muttered, trying to walk to the door. Applejack stepped in front of her, of course, forcing the tired unicorn to stop short. "Really, Applejack, I didn't sleep well, and now is not a good time..."
"Twilight, we need ta talk, whether you wanna or not. Spike can wait, Rarity's lettin' him help out making a dress." Applejack sat down and looked Twilight in the eyes, doing her best to show honest concern.
"Pennington is bad news, Twi. You gotta listen to me! As glad as Ah am that you finally got a stallion friend to pull ya outta that library now an' then, he's no good!" Applejack put a firm hoof on her shoulder as she turned away, already fed up with the conversation. "Twilight, he don't even love his own family!"
"From what Front Page told me last night, it sounds to me like you didn't give him much to love..." Twilight let out a long sigh, accepting that she was stuck talking to Applejack. "And Pennington is not a bad pony..."
Applejack rolled her eyes, giving her a warm smile. "Twilight, who are you going to believe to tell more of the real truth? A reporter talking about his own son or the Element of Honesty? Just listen to me..." Her face grew more serious as she settled her gaze on Twilight's. "Any time Penn comes up to the farm, he winds up starting a fight! He openly hates me, his own cousin! Not only that, but every Zap Apple Season and every year at Cider Season we call him for help, but he never comes. Not once has he ever tried to help on the farm, not even when those Flim Flam brothers showed up and nearly put us out of business! Ever since he was old enough to be out on his own, he's stopped coming to family reunions, despite the fact that he lives close enough to walk there!" Applejack pounded her hoof on the ground to emphasize her point. "He's rude, doesn't care about his family, downright hateful, and you shouldn't be dating him!"
Twilight blinked, feeling a wave of grouchy wrath welling up.
"Well, Applejack, I don't know what you did to make him hate you so much, but that is not the pony I just spent a month travelling with, and you're a fool for thinking so!" She rose from her sitting position, this time shoving her way past Applejack. "Everything that I've seen points in the exact opposite direction, actually! Sure, he can be a little full of himself, and more than a little irresponsible, but he is not hateful without a good reason! In fact, he doesn't seem to do very much at all without a good reason! Now, if you'll excuse me, I don't think that who I choose to be with is any of your business! So, take it with my most tired and grouchy intent when I tell you that this isn't something that you can change, and I don't need your approval!" Using her magic, Twilight shut the door behind her, cutting her argument with Applejack short. As she let out a long sigh to release her remaining tension, she looked around Rarity's main show room, taking pleasure in the brief moment of silence. Why is it that, ever since I got back to Equestria, some of the ponies closest to me have been trying to stop me from dating Pennington... I've never had a real argument with Applejack before.
"Twilight, darling! What was all of that about?" Rarity's voice called out from one of the upstairs rooms.
Before she could respond, a purple-and-green blur ran down the stairs, slamming into Twilight and knocking her backwards, almost to the ground.
"TWILIGHT! I missed you SO MUCH!" Spike laughed as he nuzzled his cheek against Twilight's chest, gripping her tightly in a massive hug.
"Spike!" Twilight laughed, feeling her tiredness and stress melting away as she wrapped one of her front legs around the dragon, returning the loving hug. "I missed you, too!"
"Why did you have to be gone for so long? I mean, seriously! A whole month?" He asked, pulling away from the hug only enough to look up at her face. "What were you doing that could have taken a whole month?"
Twilight chuckled to herself as she thought of the massive adventure that she had just completed. "Well, Pennington, my host, is actually going to be gone even longer... But it's a long story. I'll tell you the whole thing after we get back to the library... and maybe after a nap."
Spike blinked, slightly confused. "Before noon?"
"I'm really tired, Spike..." She whispered, nuzzling his cheek.
"Hey, I wasn't complaining!" He replied with a smile. "It's about time somepony taught you how to relax!" He gave her a wink, then returned to his hug with a giant smile across his face.
Finally, that emptiness that seemed to have filled Ponyville disappeared as Twilight held the tiny dragon, smiling and knowing that things were going to be alright.
Amidst the green haze, he could hear voices. Life was becoming simpler, now, with only a few essential sensory inputs being the only things that truly mattered. He was warm, hunger was barely kept at bay, and his name...
A small spark of alarm lit up in his mind as he tried to remember this crucial detail.
My name... is P.
No. It starts with P.
Pe- Pen. There was definitely "Penn."
Penny? No...
Penni- Penning...
His slowly-moving, utterly apathetic train of thought was cut off as he heard voices, and dark figures appeared outside. One was tall and lanky, and she seemed to be shouting at the smaller ones. He could feel the wrath radiating off of her, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth. On a whim, he made an attempt to listen, trying to force his sluggish mind to pay attention. Instead, though, that quiet twinkle of fear lit in his mind, pulling him back to the issue of his name. I have to remember... For some reason.
"What is this?" Chrysalis hissed, pointing at the large cocoon that she was standing next to.
"A... soon-to-be changeling, your highness?" The nymphs that she had called to her presence gave the answer reluctantly, knowing that the only logical answer was probably the reason for her anger.
"No... this is a pony. One without whom your younglings would be starving to death. Without whom, King Entropy would still be ruling. Without whom, none of you are going to receive food for a month! I want this pony removed immediately and given medical attention to ensure that he is not converted!" Chrysalis leaned down, shoving her face forward until she knew that her angry countenance was the only thing they could see. The three nymphs in front of her glanced unsurely at one another, Chrysalis felt the new power of her position welling up in her horn, making it glow near-blindingly with rage. With a single, violent movement, she turned and ripped the sharp edge through the delicate capsule, spilling slimy conversion gel all over the floor. Along with the gel slid out a pathetic creature that Chrysalis could hardly recognize, coughing up green slime and gasping for air.
"P-Penning...ton? Pennington?" Were the first words he sputtered, more to himself than to anyone in the room. "I'm... Pennington."
Chrysalis felt a wave of relief wash over her. After conversion, a pony always would forget their name and be assigned a new one. If he still remembered his name, there was still hope for him.
His body seemed to be in even worse condition than his mind, however. His fur had fallen out over several portions of his body, replaced with a changeling's smooth, black, armor plates, and what did remain of the fur and hair of his mane and tail had turned jet-black. Holes had travelled up the majority of his legs, and portions of his horn looked as if they had been eaten away by acid. As his eyes blinked open, Chrysalis saw that they had retained their violet color, but the pupils themselves had lengthened and narrowed to a reptilian slit, and seemed to be looking at everything around him as if seeing it for the first time.
She gave the nymphs a seething glare, and Pennington cringed at the sudden rise in her anger. He's become sensitive to emotions...
"If he does not recover, I will hold all three of you personally responsible... Send an emissary to the Plains to find a pony doctor if you need to, but make sure that he is given constant. Attention." With these words, she gave the piteous almost-pony a sympathetic look, then turned and walked away, doing her best to keep her temper in check.