Chrysalis’ throne room wasn't worthy of the name by the standards of anycreature with a sense of aesthetics: it was just a large chamber carved into the sandstone that comprised the Badlands Hive, with an obsidian dais and a throne crafted from darkened iron in the center of the room. There were the requisite banners, flags, and heavily-armed elite guards one would expect from a royal court, but almost nothing else to give a sense of majesty or opulence. The walls were bare of any real decoration, and the closest thing to a red carpet leading up to the throne was a rut carved neatly into the floor where someling would walk along when entering Chrysalis’s’ presence. The recession was just deep enough to force you to look upwards to meet the Changeling Queen’s gaze...and given that said monarch’s throne was also on a raised dais, the whole affair was quite intimidating. It made all who entered feel thoroughly dwarfed.
Just like Chrysalis liked them to feel.
Especially if she was angry at someling. Like the cringing, shivering little drone sitting before her now, looking very much like he was considering chewing through the chains binding him. I’m almost tempted to let him try, Chrysalis sneered mentally. The infection this twit would get would be cathartic enough. But she wouldn’t let the Changeling before her suffer such a mundane punishment. Oh no, for what he’d done, she had something special in mind…
“Er...Your Carapace Majesty?” The simpleton squeaked out. “If I could just say--”
“Silence.” Chrysalis hissed, cutting him off. “After what you did, Cricket Chirper, you don’t have the right to make an excuse for not brushing your fangs every night, much less disobeying a direct command from your Queen!” She finished the brief triade by shooting to her hooves, towering over Cricket and glaring down at him from above.
Cricket shut up immediately, trembling on the floor.
“Allow me to remind you of what you did. Some time after our...incursion into Canterlot, we launched a plan to lure Twilight Sparkle here so I could absorb her magic as the Secretariat Comet passed by this world. You were part of the force of drones sent to attack Ponyville to cover the foalnapping of...those three brats, yes?” Chrysalis interrogated, trotting down towards Cricket. Her hooves made loud, high *clack*s on the stone floor as she approached Cricket, who was still cowering before her. The chains may not have even been needed then; his fear was restraint enough.
“Y-y-y-es, but…” Cricket blubbered, trying to find his voice.
“I said, stay quiet!! Your mission was to attack Ponyville and draw the Elements out, so I could deliver my message and get them all to come here for those...annoying...fillies,” Chrysalis continued, growling at the memory of those blasted brats. Dear Faust, they had never stopped talking! “...is that correct, Cricket Chirper?”
The terrified drone could only nod and whimper, bringing a fanged smirk to Chrysalis’s muzzle. She had always liked seeing other beings fear her--ponies, griffons, Changelings (of her own Hive, or from others)--it didn't matter. Fear wasn't food, but it was oh-so-satisfying all the same. Chuckling like a devil out of Tartarus, she began circling the worm’s prostrate form, making sure to stomp a bit, to make that clacking sound right in his ears. “But you did none of that, didn't you? No; you weren't even in Ponyville! You slipped away towards Manehatten and hid there for weeks! Even when that LITTLE WHELP SPARKLE MANAGED TO DEFEAT ME AND LEAVE ME TRAPPED IN MY OWN LAIR!!!” She roared, getting in Cricket’s face. “I was stuck in that blasted castle for WEEKS, with that hideous pony-suit of the Pink One singing ALL! THE! BLOODY! TIME!!” By now, Chrysalis was pressing her face into Cricket’s, the sheer force of her rage and physical strength actually lifting him a few inches off the ground.
“I came back…” Cricket offered, weakly.
Chrysalis got out of his face, sending Cricket crashing back to the ground. From his yelp on impact, he probably cracked the chitin on his jaw. He whimpered and cringed in on himself, trying to rub his battered muzzle with a shackled hoof.
Chrysalis scoffed at his pain. “Yes. After you spent a few weeks lazing about Manehatten, after--I'll remind you--disobeying my direct order to attack Ponyville...and no, being scared of those six is no excuse. You fought them in Canterlot, you already knew what they could do, and that they wouldn't go out of their way to kill you. And yet, when you were to go up against them again...in a simple diversionary strike, a hit-and-run attack...you. Ran. Away.”
Chrysalis stopped circling him, coming to a stop before the disgraced drone, leering down at him like he was something she’d scraped off her hoof. “And do you know what I hate more than Celestia and that pink songbird, little drone? Hmm?” she asked in a faux-sweet tone, fangs bared in a slasher grin.
Cricket somehow managed to make a whimper sound like a negative.
“That would be cowards,” Chrysalis finished as her serrated horn sparked to life. “What was it that you said you thought the Element Bearers would do to you… Ah, yes! They would ‘squish you like a bug which you kind of already are’; that’s how you put it!”
The sickly-green glow from her horn intensified, tiny bolts of lightning sporadically arcing out. “And so...I think your punishment should fit that fear!”
The magic lanced out in a beam of power, striking Cricket square in the chest. The spell engulfed him, leaving behind a glowing green silhouette that lingered in place for a second, then vanished in a flash.
There was no trace of Cricket, not even a burn mark. Even the shackles had vanished along with him
Chrysalis giggled, her anger quenched. “Enjoy Ponyville, Cricket! You’ll grow to like it eventually!”
=== === ===
When the Queen had charged her horn with magic, Cricket had suspected all sorts of horrific fates: set aflame to burn to cinders as his sovereign watched, forced to transform out of control until he burst from the sheer stress, or just being erased from reality completely, noling even remembering he had existed at all. Terrified beyond all reason, he had slammed his eyes closed and waited for the end.
But now….Well, his eyes were still closed, but he could tell he was existent enough to know that, at least.
And he didn’t feel on fire, nor was he transforming against his will.
In fact, he felt just fine. Comfortable, even: he wasn’t standing on the stone floor of the Hive, but on a rather soft...and slightly sticky...surface, that smelled like some tasty treat. Something with blueberries, his favorite! Maybe the Queen was just trying to scare me?Cricket wondered. Yeah, maybe she was just bluffing, or I got sympathy from being so scared! Calming down, he nodded to himself, eyes still closed. He’d gotten a second chance; that was it! All that scary-evil-queen-going-to-kill-him-horribly stuff had just been an act. Show an example of what happened when you chickened out and whatnot, scare you straight.
--Wait a minute, why did it feel like the ground was...moving? And that something was watching him? Something very big, and very scary?
Confidence drooping, Cricket opened his eyes.
...And found himself looking up at an impossibly large equine face. A unicorn mare’s face, to be exact. A white unicorn mare, with blue eyes and a purple mane styled with fancy curls. Her expression was one of utter surprise, eyes wide as saucers and jaw dropped. Or maybe she had been about to take a bite of the cupcake when she spotted him. And 'she' was Rarity, the Element of Generosity. The mare who’d broken three of Cricket’s ribs during the invasion, with one right hook.
And now, she was towering over him like a feminine colossus.
The white terror spoke, her eyes wide. “Twilight? There’s a Changeling on my cupcake.”
Wait, cupcake?! Cricket looked down, and saw the unmistakable surface of a miniature baked treat--though at his new size, it was easily big enough to stand on. His hooves were also suck in the icing, trapping him where he stood. His little wings gave a useless buzz, unable to lift him, and the Changeling began to shake; new terror seizing him. Oh no, this is bad. Bad,bad,bad,bad! And...did she say--
“A Changeling?! Where?! ...Wait, on you cupcake--?” The second mare’s voice came from behind Cricket, her breath a gust that pushed his shrunken form forward. Trembling, Cricket looked behind him...and came face to gigantic face with another giant unicorn, this one lavender in coat.
Twilight Sparkle. The Element of Magic. Protege’ of the Alicorn of the Sun herself, and the one who discovered and freed the real Princess Cadence from her cave prison. And also, a young mare with a very good reason to hate Changelings.
“What the--how did it get there?! Why is it so small? Was...Pinkie using him as a topping or something?” The purple titaness spluttered, snatching up her friend’s treat in her magic and turning it over in the air.
Cricket Chirper gulped, realizing what his punishment was. Helpless and tiny, at the mercy of the very same mares he’d defied his Queen to avoid. Looking between the two mega-mares, he said the only thing he could think of.
"Um...Hi, ladies. Please don't eat me?"