//------------------------------// // Chapter III // Story: I, Chrysalis // by Scarheart //------------------------------// "Hmm,” said the doctor as he peered with his otoscope into a certain Queen’s ear. He had a bay coat and a short, dark mane. A white lab coat was draped over him like a last minute addition. “Looks clear. A little bit of wax, but nothing to be concerned with.” His name tag read ‘Whooves’.         Chrysalis was currently tied down in chains on her back, her muzzle muzzled, while four unicorn guards sweating profusely held her on the examining table. Her eyes bulged in fury. She could not speak, though her mouth moved in the rapid pace of one who was letting the doctor know exactly what she thought of him, his family, his pets, and anything else that sprang to mind. Machines and wires filled the room. They made noises. They smelled strange. Ponies kept putting odd patches to various parts of her body. They also had wires. Those wires went to some of the machines surrounding the bed. Chrysalis hated them.         Thank Celestia for silence spells! The words were actually mouthed from one guard to another. Naturally, Chrysalis caught that and, of course, could read lips. Her eyes flared with anger again and she struggled even harder against her bonds.         The doctor simply sighed and moved on to the next item on his checklist. Setting down his otoscope, he hefted up a small flashlight in his grip and shined it boldly in the Queen’s right eye. “Hmm,” he said again, looking absolutely professional. “Reaction is very good. Light sensitive, as expected. Most certainly a nocturnal young lady, aren’t we?” The same process was done to her other eye. Chrysalis was not a happy girl. He smiled at the temporarily blinded changeling. A stethoscope hanging around his neck was brought into use as the flashlight was set aside.         “Let’s hear your lungs and your heart. Nurse Tendermane? Are you still recording?”         An unseen voice piped up pleasantly, masking apparent irritation. “Of course, doctor.”         Chrysalis had been adamantly against the examination. However, under the horrible belief of ‘for the good of the patient’, she had to be bodily dragged from her cell, down the hall, up several flights of stairs, through another long hallway until her less than glorious journey ended in a large and sterile examination room. Her titanic struggle against having a doctor poke and prod her had exhausted the magic of four other unicorn guards and had attracted something of a crowd. She was living proof that, if angered, there were creatures who could struggle against magical bonds with some success.         Two guards had migraine headaches from overtaxing their mana pools. One had been kicked in the face when he had gotten too close to the thrashing Queen. Add one broken jaw to the tally. She noted the doctor upon being bodily hauled into the room. He was with a second team of unicorns awaiting her. Just as she thought she felt the field holding her against her will weakening, it was renewed as fresh horns took over.         Her cursing resounded throughout the building. And made the silence spell come into play. “Doctor, we’ll need to swap soon. She’s ungodly powerful,” commented one of the unicorn guards with growing alarm. “Then I suggest you do something about it,” came a disturbingly calm reply. The doctor breathed on the end of his stethoscope and pressed it against Chrysalis’ ribcage. “Be a dear and breathe in deeply for for me, please.” He bedside manner was impeccable. The Queen inhaled and unleashed an unheard diatribe in his face. It was a pity there was no sound. “Thank you. That’s perfect!” She jerked her head (a futile effort) and stared at him incredulously. Was he insane? Most ponies quailed in fear at the sight of her! The guards were certainly terrified of her, but they had their professionalism and duty preventing them from running away like proper prey. “Again, please!” He smiled at her. Chrysalis puffed her cheeks and held her breath in childish defiance. “Now, now, my dear. Please don’t act that way. You’re a queen. Act like royalty. Just less noisy and thrashy, if you please. None of the guards really want to be here. You don’t want to be here. Just co-operate and you’ll be put back into your room as quick as you please.” The doctor’s cheerfulness made Chrysalis want to vomit. He was uncomfortably close the whole time. Seething, she did as she was told, reminding herself it would eventually end and she could count on planning her revenge in the meantime. Chrysalis hated doctors. Especially ones with impeccable bedside manners. Anything acting nice usually wanted something, in her experience. “Very good. Now, I am going to remove the silence spell and ask you a few questions. It’s been nearly a month since I treated you and I want to see how everything is healing up. Can I count on you to behave like a lady? Hmm?” A deep, familiar voice joined the fray. “Do you need help with the patient, doctor?” “Ah, Nightstorm. There you are! Yes, I think we might need you to restrain our lovely queen. She seems to be exhausting our poor unicorns. Very strong girl. I am most impressed!” Somehow, Chrysalis was able to move her head slightly enough to notice the mountain of a thestral she had seen before. His golden and slitted eyes had narrowed upon her. She felt for his emotions and was met with a wall of black. Chrysalis recoiled mentally, her pupils dilating as her eyes went round. His willpower was a force of its own! “I can hold her,” he said with the same sort of professionalism he had when he had escorted Princess Luna just yesterday. At least Chrysalis thought it was yesterday. “I am fully trained in restraining prisoners and will assist if needed.” “Ah, there we go! Someone with confidence!” The doctor smiled again. “Oh, did somepony remember to bring the little one? She’ll need a looking at, too.” “A pediatrician is looking at it now. We thought it best to leave the child in her room as it is familiar to her. We don't want to distress her more than absolutely necessary.” Atalanta? “Doctor, the patient is experiencing anxiety.” “Oh? Well she shouldn’t. Nopony's going to harm a hair on that adorable little pale creation of life!” chimed the doctor. “Oh, that’s just perfect! Ten… blast! Ah, nurse...erm, what was your name again?” “Tenderhoof. I’ve told you a thousand times before, it’s Tenderhoof.” “Right! Right! Now, let’s see what we have here. Ah, Tendernerf, could you elevate the table? Would not be right if she could not see me without the awkwardness. There we are! Now, let me tell you something, my lovely lady. Not a single hair will be harmed in any way, shape, or form of your daughter, Chrysalis. I promise you. Now, I know all of this is against your will, but this is all for the greater good for your future health. Your daughter’s, too. Everything must be set to rights or made sure they are right. Understand? Good!” He had completely ignored the dangerous scowl on the Queen’s face. “He’s brilliant, but dreadfully stupid,” muttered the nurse as she raised the bed up. Chrysalis slowly became better able to see the sterile examination room and the ponies within it. “Or is he dreadfully brilliant? Ah, well.” The Queen whimpered, and quickly discovered she could hear her own voice. “Don’t harm my daughter.” “My dear lady!” exclaimed the doctor. “I just told you I would never harm a hair on your daughter! None of my staff would do so! She's adorable and innocent! Absolutely not! That would be wrong and I would not be much of a doctor if I went about harming my patients, now would it? The nerve! You have a lovely daughter. Her manners to this point have been a stark contrast to yours, young lady.” He pointedly looked down his muzzle at her. “I would never forgive myself. Life is precious. All life. Well, some less so, but that’s not the point!” “Against my will!” snarled Chrysalis. The chains clinked against each other as she tried moving. Nightstorm dismissed the unicorn guards and resettled his wings. Calmly he looked at the Queen. “Behave,” he warned. Well, threatened professionally. The changeling glared at him, shoving her own fear aside. Why am I afraid of you? “Leave my daughter alone,” Chrysalis pleaded. “You will not take her from me! You cannot take her from me!” She started thrashing again, trying to break free and get to Atalanta. What were they doing to her? Fear was replaced by rage and the Queen roared. Her inhibitor glowed as her horn lit up. Sparks flew from the enchanted metal. “Oh, dear,” understated the doctor. He was backing away from Chrysalis with beads of sweat forming on his coat. “Nightnap, be a good fellow and calm the girl, if you please.” The aggressive queen grabbed the suddenly frightened doctor with her magic, her inhibitor now sparking madly and glowing. Smoke began wafting dangerously from the base if her horn, through her mane. “Celestia! Hold her fast!” Tenderhoof tried applying her own telekinetic grip against the Queen’s in a futile attempt to free Doctor Whooves. “Do something, you lummox!” she screamed at the surprised thestral. Nightstorm pushed his way in front of the Queen’s field of view. His golden eyes were on fire. “You will not.” Fear laced from shadowy tendrils in his glare and into Chrysalis’ own. He flared his wings out and imposed his will upon the struggling monarch. Chrysalis hissed at him and snapped her jaws, her fangs inches from his face. He did not flinch. “Yield, Queen Chrysalis.” His eyes began to glow brightly, a golden color like the heart of a forest fire. “Please.” Her own flared green in defiance. The doctor fell to the floor, gasping for air as Chrysalis focused on this new threat. Her chains were beginning to snap. Cries of alarm were going throughout the building. The Queen was stubborn. She knew the odds were stacked against her, but her daughter was alone and with one of these filthy ponies! She shrieked with rage. One of the plates holding the chains fast to the table broke, popping the tops of bolts.  Another threatened to go. The table wrenched from the force and nearly toppled over. With one hoof free, Chrysalis kicked awkwardly at Nightstorm. He deflected her blow with one of his own, but winced. He was bleeding from a shallow cut. Chrysalis’ efforts was damaging her own limbs. Her chitin was beginning to wear against the steel holding her fast and blood was trickling down her face and neck. More unicorns flooded into the room, taking stock of the situation before firmly placing themselves between the unarmed ponies and the raging changeling. “Stun bolts, now!” commanded Nightstorm. He broke eye contact with the Queen and flickered momentarily at the doctor and his nurse. “Get them out of here!” Chrysalis was pelted. Again and again. At first, they seemed to do nothing more than stoke her fury, but after the fifth stun bolt, she began to waver and move with less and less violence. Eventually, she became lethargic, glaring hatefully at the ponies as she slowly slid to the floor. Tears were falling down her cheeks as her strength slowly ebbed away. “Atalanta,” she whimpered. The last thing she remembered hearing was, “Did anypony bother to ask the Queen if she would come willingly or did you idiots make assumptions and  just rush the room and take her forcibly?” Then, there was the awkward silence, possibly a ‘no’ squeaked out by one of those rude ponies, then blackness... When she came to, she found her wounds were dressed and she was comfortably on her bed. Chrysalis lay on her side, her body throbbing with new aches and pains. The world at the moment was nothing but dull pain as she tried to recollect what had happened. A blanket had been pulled up to her shoulders and she clutched them to her chest tightly. Her head rested in a pillow as soft as anything she could recollect. The mattress was like a cloud. A warm, fluffy cloud. Groggily she sat up and found her limbs uncooperative. As she collapsed back into the bed, she gave out a yelp. It felt as though her limbs had been bludgeoned by dive bombing prepubescent changelings in flight training! A familiar and welcome chirrup sounded next to her. It was a sleepy sound, complete with the irritation of having a nice, comfortable nap interrupted by a yowling Queen. Something bumped into the Queen’s neck. A little snout attached to a wobbly head butted against her again. Another chirp. Chrysalis focused her eyes as she rolled her head, bending her neck so she could see her daughter. The poor little thing trembled as she curled into the crook of her mother’s neck. Atalanta was traumatized and needed reassurance. Chrysalis, as gently as she could manage, considering, forced herself into a semi curled position, wincing as she moved with aching slowness. When she wasn’t making a pained expression or muttering under her breath about the stupidity of ponies, she was running her tongue over her daughter’s head and back. Atalanta responded, slowly calming as her cries became less and less. Chrysalis offered her some love. It was more than enough. With a squeal of sudden needy hunger, Atalanta was soon feeding, her fears quickly banished away.         It took some moments of focus for the Queen to fully grasp several changes done to her room. For one, the bed was new. Secondly, more furniture had been brought in. The most prominent feature was a fancy-looking crib set next to her bed. She stared at it for a few moments, numbly wondering why it was there. Oh, right. For Atalanta. Chrysalis stared at the thing blankly. She preferred keeping Atalanta close at least until her first molt.         The second thing she noted was a gigantic white stuffed plushie seated at the foot of her bed. Chrysalis blinked owlishly. No, that was no stuffed animal. As her eyes focused, a lump of what was definitely not fear formed in her throat.         Princess Celestia, Lady of the Sun, Diarch of Equestria was smiling down at her.         “Hello, Chrysalis. How are you feeling?”         “What do you want?” the Queen croaked regally.         The alabaster beauty who sported a perpetual sunrise in all its forms in her mane ran her magenta eyes over the bed ridden form of the fallen body snatcher. “Well,” she began, pausing to watch the tiny child of Chrysalis feed. “I really wish you would cooperate with my ponies. We would like to help you and be prepared to deal with any future encounters with your kind with diplomacy instead of this.”         Chrysalis snorted. “I would rather be dead than help you ponies.”         “We don’t want you dead, Chrysalis. We want to understand and perhaps come to some sort of agreement. The idea of the hearing is to figure out how our species can establish a connection mutually beneficial for all.” Her voice had a soothing lilt to go with her smile.         “Never separate me from my daughter again,” growled Chrysalis as she came more into her senses. She thought it odd Celestia would have no guards. She thought it even odder to find herself in comfort after trying to fight her way out of... wherever she was.         “All wounds can heal. Broken bones can be mended. Buildings can be repaired and made stronger. Time can make the pain lessen and reveal in its wake the lessons we can all learn from. Life is precious to me, Chrysalis. All life. Even yours. Why can you not understand that?”         Chrysalis said nothing. She tended her daughter instead.         “Do changelings need to keep their children close to them at all times?”         “The first few months are critical,” gave in the Queen, shifted her muzzle to the Princess. “We must Bond. It begins when she is in the egg, between mother and child only. It was so with my mother and me, and so it has always been from mothers to their children. This is the only time when they are innocent, when the world is big and terrifying. We need our mothers and our mothers teach us through our minds, helping them to find the spark of what they might become. By separating a mother from her daughter, you make the mother feral and the child anxious and terrified. The Bond is only good up to a certain distance, up until the first molt. I do not think the damage is permanent, but you idiot ponies simply cannot separate a mother from her child for any reason!” She ended in a pained hiss, staring off into the past before shaking her head from it. Her cheeks felt wet.         “I did not know. If you had but told—”         “You have enslaved me! You have taken my freedom! I fought to free my hive from the true monsters in this world! None of that matters anymore because I cannot sense my children! I am responsible for them and you…you dare to lock me away. They are more than likely dead, now. If I was free, I could call for them, but it is far too late.”         “You attacked my ponies and tried to steal—”         “How many of your precious ponies died, Celestia?”         “I hardly find the question—”         “How many?” screamed Chrysalis, clutching her daughter closer to her. “I’ll answer that question for you: Far fewer than what I have lost. You think to punish me? I failed my changelings, Celestia. All of them. And now they are dead. Two thousand, four hundred ninety-seven. Their deaths are on my head, princess. There is very little you can do to make me feel any remorse for whatever transgressions I have against you.”         Atalanta had curled into a ball, going absolutely still. She was now in between the forelegs of her mother, carefully guided there. She trembled, and Chrysalis nuzzled her sadly.         “You’ll have your hearing, Celestia. Damn you for your self-righteousness. Damn you for your perfection. Damn you for your power. I escaped monsters only to fall to the likes of you.”         Celestia considered the changeling and her daughter. She was as still as a statue, her ethereal mane flowing in contrast. After a long moment of silence where the two mares stared at each other, the alicorn nodded. “Very well. I shall leave you be for now. You’ve done considerable damage to yourself and your assault did quite a bit of harm to the guards. If you were asked politely, would you do as you are requested?” She waited as Chrysalis glared angrily, pausing in her ministrations to Atalanta long enough to give a stubborn nod. “Excellent. I want for us to reach at least an understanding, Chrysalis. You will be punished in some fashion, make no mistake about that. I have a nation to consider. I have a worldview to face. Details of what you did have trickled out, despite my best efforts to quell them. The world thinks you are dead, Chrysalis.” Celestia rose to her hooves. “Well, those who were even aware you existed.” Chrysalis would not look her in the eye. “I would recommend you to worry about healing. You did quite some damage to yourself. Please don't do that anymore. Write for your daughter.” —Chrysalis grew an accusatory expression, but was ignored— “And please do try to be a bit more polite. It also would not hurt for you try just a little cooperation. No harm will ever come to you and your daughter, save for what you do to yourself.” The Queen’s visage soften just a bit. “I will ensure the guards never again rush in and treat you as you had been. What they did was wrong and outside of proper procedure. They will be dealt with accordingly. You were to have been escorted to the infirmary for examination. Perhaps if we had them done in your room? Would that make you more amiable, Queen Chrysalis?” A nod. Nothing more. “Very well, then. I will take my leave and leave you and your daughter to your devices.” Chrysalis did not even watch her leave. After the door had closed and several minutes had passed, the changeling queen whispered, “You are a benevolent tyrant, Celestia.”