I wasn't sure for how long I slept after fainting, but it couldn't have been any longer than half a day. Before even opening my eyes, my ears started picking up a voice. It sounded like a somewhat harsh mare's voice overlapped with a creepy mare voice. To my surprise, the voice was familiar as was the song she was singing.
---s -ay --- b--n -st ---fect.
--is --- ---t I ----ned si-ce not -g ago.
P---cess Sparkle -ade a ---t-r,
Th- -irth of my --ious daughter,
I hardly believe that this is all so.
Thanks to the mention of my name, I was completely awake by the end of the song. I opened my still heavy eyes and looked upon the face of one that some part of my subconscious had already feared would be there: Queen Chrysalis.
There looking down at me was one of the many enemies of myself and everypony I knew. I couldn't move against her magical grasp; heck, I could barely keep my eyes open. There was also the fact that she was much larger than I could remember and I could not seem to access my magic. I did what any sane pony would do in that situation and screeched at the top of my lungs.
With my eyes closed and my voice turned up to eleven, the only information I could process was through feel. What I felt were the sensations of being shaken in every imaginable direction, being flipped upside-down, and being poked in the cheeks. Those were clearly attempts to quiet me down, but there was one lesson from a friend that filled my thoughts at that time: If it isn't getting you hurt or killed, cause your captors as much grief as possible and milk them for all they're worth.
"YOUR MAJESTY!" The sudden voice eclipsing mine stopped my screeching. I opened my eyes to see what I assumed was the floor. "WHAT ARE YOU...ahem. Pardon me for my directness your majesty, but what are you doing?!"
"I, I was singing. She woke up. She kept crying. I tried to make her stop." I couldn't see the queen's face, but I easily imagined it being as dumbfounded as her tone.
The other voice sighed in exasperation. "I understand that your majesty is new to this, but you must never shake a larva."
'What larva?!' I found myself thinking. The one being shaken ... was me?'
I was suddenly pulled into direct contact with Chrysalis chest and was flipped right-side-up before I could follow through with my train of thought. "I was not shaking my daughter!" she half-yelled in indignation.
'Daughter?!'
"Then why was she facing the ground?"
"I wished to give her a new outlook on life," she responded with almost no hesitation.
That...off comment stunned the other changeling long enough to allowed me enough time to think. 'Larva, daughter. Larva are the infant stages of many arthropods; especially those with hive systems. Larva, daughter, shaking. She was shaking a larva that was her daughter. Daughter, shaking, me, Chrysalis.' My eyes widened as much as they could. 'A nightmare, that's all this is. Princess Luna will show up any moment, get rid of all this, then we can laugh about it in the morning.' I laughed at the absurdity of my situation, though my laugh was squeaker than I remember. 'It’s nothing. My brain's just trying to get the details right.'
It was then that I heard a little gurgling in my belly. Thankfully, relief came in the form of a foreign object being jammed into my mouth. I bit down on it in surprise then suddenly found my mouth filled by a delicious fluid. "Here you are, Princess. I wouldn't be much of a Caretaker if I let you miss out on your first meal," she said with a motherly tone and a touch of pride.
I finished the bottle quickly and immediately felt an onset of drowsiness. I closed my eyes and tried to let the sleep within a dream take me. Unfortunately my desire to sleep with my full stomach was impeded by Chrysalis's nuzzling and cooing. "Oh what a healthy appetite you have my lovely little aphid. I can't wait to see you grow up big and strong." She nuzzled me more firmly and her tone shifted. "I know that you will become a splendid queen."
My heart skipped a beat at her tone. It was one I was certain I never heard before; yet some deep, instinctual part of me knew what it was. The dread I didn't know why I felt didn't last long as my exhaustion was revealed through a yawn. "Your Majesty," I heard the other female changeling saying, "perhaps we should lay the princess to bed so that she may get some rest. It'll be some time ‘til she can remaining awake for long."
Chrysalis emitted a quiet snarl for a few seconds before huffing. "Very well. You are the finest caretaker in the hive after all."
"Thank you Your Majesty, and excuse me for saying that I am honored to have the opportunity to aid in raising the future queen."
"Yes, well I expect that you will live up to the honor I've bestowed upon you. I am sure you understand what fate shall befall you should these expectations not be met" The underlying venom in her tone and the following silence reminded me clearly of the evil she was capable of. "Contact me the instant she wakes." After a few more moments, I was transferred between two different levitation auras then was wrapped in a soft blanket. It took me only a few seconds to fall asleep.
In my next waking moment, I found myself still wrapped in a warm blanket's embrace. A mild stinging pain around my stomach told me that I was hungry again. I opened my eyes with slightly more ease than previously and looked up at the same cave-like walls from before. I tried to vocalize my distaste for the fantasy's persistence, but the sound came out as an adorable mew. It didn't even take five seconds when I heard a whoosh sound coupled with seeing a torrent of green light.
"Where is my daughter so that I may spend time with her?!"
I managed to quickly squirm around enough to lay eyes on the smaller changeling holding her hoof in front of her lips. "Shhhhh. You mustn't arrive so loudly, Your Majesty. You could startle the princess."
Chrysalis chuckled back at her dismissively. "Nonsense, she is my daughter and, like me, is ready to deal with any and all surprises with poise befitting one of noble birth."
'Yes, because you responded so well against my brother's love-powered spell shield that 'didn't' completely foil your Canterlot invasion schemes.' Dream or not, I would have loved to see her reaction to such a comment.
I was unfortunately denied the opportunity to imagine what her expression would be when I was picked up in Chrysalis's magic. She nuzzled me then chuckled. "You agree with me, don't you my darling little aphid." I chuckled back at her tone and expression: Anypony would when watching one of Equestria's terrors treating them like an infant.
"Your Majesty, it is time for the princess to feed."
Chrysalis gave the smaller changeling an annoyed glare. "Then instead of wasting our time telling us this, present to me her meal Caretaker." I tried to groan at her rude behavior, but the sound once again came out as adorable. "I know little one, but we must show our subjects patience. She will learn soon enough."
I rolled my eyes at her continued sense of superiority. Chrysalis may have been the mother in this fantasy, but I could clearly tell that she knew less about raising a foal ... or larva as the case may be, than the other changeling. I decided to absentmindedly suckle on the bottle I was given while mentally running through the details I picked up on. Chrysalis has so far acted like a dotting parent with only hints of her maliciousness cropping up in place of what could otherwise be called hammy behavior. My caretaker, which also seemed to be her name, seemed mostly submissive to Chrysalis's whims, yet she still exhibited some small level of authority.
Then there was myself. Despite the fact that I was really supposed to be an alicorn pony, nothing about being a larva felt out of place. There was a complete lack of phantom sensations and every movement I made felt completely natural. I honestly had to admire how well the dream inserted me into the role of a changeling larva.
The last detail that ran through my mind was how long the dream was. I knew that every second that passed in this dream was a second in the waking world. The only place I've heard of dreams forming a shift in temporal speed was in fiction: usually as a plot convenience. It’s actually something that has irked Princess Luna to no end.
I finished the bottle and my thought then enjoyed the full sensation while trying to ignore Chrysalis praising my appetite again. My digestive system had other plans in the form of an uncomfortable pressure in my belly. I tried to work it around for safe expulsion, but it couldn't be so. The inevitable result was a stream of liquid shooting out of my mouth and all over the changeling queen's face. 'I'll have to look into figuring out how to do that at will sometime.'
"Your Majesty!" yelled Caretaker as she used a towel to start wiping the bile from my mouth then from Chrysalis's face.
She only wiped the queen twice before the towel was taken from her magic. "Enough! Your purpose is to care for my daughter, not me; I am more than capable of that."
Caretaker bowed. "Of course Your Majesty." I scowled at the oppressive queen: Yes Chrysalis could take care of herself, but that is no excuse for snapping at somepony…someling, somebuggy…someone who's only trying to help.
'Hmm, I wonder what term changelings use in addressing strangers or a group?' I shook my head and returned my thoughts to the length of the dream I found myself in. If I've yet to wake after days worth of mental activity, then I can't be sleeping naturally. That meant that this had to be an induced dreamlike state. 'Then what's happened to my real body?'
'Scenario one: Everything that happened prior to waking up in that egg was real and this reality was the construct of the most advanced dream projector available.' The problem with that theory was that the would be much happier and Luna would've revealed herself by that point.
'Scenario two: The attack was real and I was taken to one of my enemies while, changelings most likely. This dream exists as a way to incapacitate me further with the possibility of inflicting Stockhound Syndrome.' The problem there was in how I was transported without bleeding out.
'Scenario three: The attack was also a fabrication on top of the rest of scenario two.' The issue there was that I remembered the attack: the pain, the bleeding, the shock. It felt as real as anything I ever felt, but so did being a changeling larva.
'Scenario four: I really died and this is some freaky afterlife that I am going through as some kind of joke: a very unfunny one.'
I was pulled from my contemplation by a hoof nudging me on the side. I turned towards the source to see Caretaker and Chrysalis looking at me with worried expressions that shifted to relieved. "Caretaker, what was that?"
"I … I don't know. She's not blind. There's nothing wrong. It's like she was lost in thought."
"Lost in thought?" Chrysalis asked while blinking dumbly. She blinked a few more times before smiling widely and pulling me in for a firm hug. "What a brilliant larva you are! Already you are learning to plot the downfall of your enemies!” I saw Caretaker raise a hoof to interject, but she decided against saying it; though, if I had to guess, she would've mentioned how infants don't have enemies to plot against. "We must foster this budding brilliance. What stories do we have to read to her?!"
"We can read to her Ants and Aphids."
"Of course! What young changeling's life would be complete without hearing that tale?!" She raised a hoof towards Caretaker and waved it dismissively. "Go and fetch a copy so that I may share this tale with my lovely daughter."
Caretaker departed as Chrysalis cuddled up to me with uncomfortable closeness. I distracted myself with what little anticipation I could drum up for what I knew would be a children's book. I was curious about what kind of story this construct would form for me. I only wished that I would be able to read it under my own power, but I knew it was impossible in my condition. That left me hoping this dream Chrysalis could read a tale properly.
It only took a few more seconds for Caretaker to reveal herself levitating an unfortunately thin book. As the book passed between the two changelings, I got a clear view of the title: "Ants and Aphids."
'Whaaaaa?!" I blinked, then blinked again. Over and over I blinked only for the words upon those covers to remain unchanging. 'That's impossible! The parts of the brain responsible for dreams are completely separate from the parts responsible for recognizing writing. You can not read in a dream.' Quick, shallow breaths tried and failed to provide the air needed to fuel my ongoing panic. 'There has to be an explanation!'
My thinking locked up as a horrifying thought pervaded my mind that I would have easily dismissed had I been calm. I tried to silence it; tried to quell the idea, but it had already come. 'No, can I really be…?' I couldn't be sure if it was either my mind or my body playing some kind of prank, but in that moment one of the two decided to make me feel another, more familiar pressure in my digestive system that I knew would not be denied with my current bowel control. I had no choice but to let it happen and to tune out Chrysalis' shocked and mildly horrified expression in favor of figuring things out.
'This can't be! Reincarnation is nothing more than a superstitious concept! Even if it was real, memories are stored in the brain. How can I remember? No-no-no-no-no! This can't be happening! There's no way I'm a baby, and not just any baby: Chrysalis' daughter! So what if everything adds up. Things like this don't happen to anypony! This joke has gone on long enough Princess Luna...Princess Luna!' There was no response.
My panic continued as every attempt to think of a reason this wasn't real only ended at evidence proving the contrary. "What is happening, Caretaker?!" yelled the queen with a panic that didn't help my own.
"I-I...I think she's hyperventilating."
"Then what do we do about it?!" Chrysalis yelled threatening.
"We need to calm her down!"
'Then why don't you two stop yelling?!' which is what I would have loved to yell out loud if changeling larva had functional vocal cords.
"Try talking or singing to her," Caretaker suggested oh so helpfully.
'Great idea, because a song is exactly what a pony needs when dealing with an existential crisis!' I thought sarcastically. 'Got any better ideas?!'
My thoughts went unheard, leaving Chrysalis to pursue the idea. A stroke of inspiration flashed in her eyes then she started humming a tune that I found oddly familiar. My breathing normalized very slightly, emboldening her into song.
This day has been just perfect.
This day that I planned since not long ago.
Princess Sparkle made a martyr,
The birth of my precious daughter,
I hardly believe that this is all so.
...
My breathing did a full 180 from being completely erratic to being nearly as dead as every bit of deniability I had left. What was left in its place was a level of emotion that could not be described with one word, so I used all of them: abhorred, agitated, angry, antagonized, antipathetic, bitter, displeased, enraged, furious, hateful, hostile, irate, infuriated, irked, loathing, malicious, miffed, nettled, outraged, peeved, pissed, piqued, rancorous, resentful, revolted, upset, vengeful, venomous, vexed, vindictive, wrathful, and any other unmentionable synonym.
Chrysalis, my mother, looked at me with a hopeful smile. I glowered at her, took a deep breath, then screamed with all my might.