Chrysalis was confused, to say the least. She and her changelings had almost conquered Canterlot and yet Marnthian - her most- well... only advisor - had been able to live among the ponies of a town - undisguised of all things!
He had apparently been living with... a Zey-bruh? What was that? More importantly, why was it willingly giving him love and had not turned him over to the guards by now? Why weren’t the guards trying to arrest him at all?
She groaned and put her head between her hooves. All these questions with no answers were making the Hive hurt and she didn’t have an advisor to ask.
“Maybe it would be best to seek the answers from Marnthian himself?” A changeling asked from the Hive.
Chrysalis focused on him. Such a changeling would be a great stand-in until Marnthian was rescued! She called him to the throne room. When he arrived she said, “You are my temporary advisor for now. What was that thought you had?”
“That we should get our answers from Marnthian. I doubt we shall learn them just sitting in the caves thinking about the questions,” The changeling said, stoic like his several thousand siblings.
.... How smart was this changeling?! Chrysalis gave him an awed look. “Okay, you’re not a temporary advisor. You’re....” She tapped her chin in thought, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth.
“Your second advisor?” The changeling asked.
Chrysalis gave him a toothy grin and nodded. “Yes, my second advisor! .... What were we talking about again?”
“Visiting Marnthian, my Queen.”
“Right!” She called eighteen other changelings to the throne room as she stepped down from her throne, giving it a loving stroke. Her mother had used her own chitin for the black throne, killing herself as she tore her heart out for Chrysalis’ own crown. Chrysalis knew that her mother hadn’t done it out of love for her, but she cherished the gifts from her very first day out of the egg.
“Our queen,” said a chorus of voices, making Chrysalis not-jump as she turned to see eighteen changelings bowing at the bottom of the steps.
Why had she called them? Oh yes, rescuing Marnthian from the zey-bruh! “Rise, we fly to-” She pulled the letter Marnthian had sent her over in her magic and read, “Pony-vile.” She tossed the letter over her shoulder and continued, “to free Marnthian from his captivity!”
Ugh! Why was flying taking so long? Chrysalis looked over to her second advisor and asked, “Are we there yet?”
“Almost. The coordinates he gave us are only three minutes away now,” The changeling said, his voice a bit strained. Chrysalis could agree with him on how tiring flying was. Too bad teleporting wasted precious love-magic, otherwise she would have had them there in a flash.
Well, at least she could continue to enhance her vision. She looked down at the trees they had been flying over and said, “I spy with my slitted eye... something... brown.”
“Tree,” One of the changelings to her left said.
She gave him a little glare, but looked down again. “I spy with my slitted eye something-”
“Tree,” Another changeling said, this time from her right.
Chrysalis gave that changeling a glare as well before sighing and looking over at her second advisor. “Are we there yet?”
“Two more minutes, Gwarn, just two more until Marnthian is watching over her again,” He muttered, pulling ahead slightly.
After what felt like hours to Chrysalis, they finally landed in front of what looked to be a witchdoctor’s hut. Or what she thought a witchdoctor’s hut would look like at least.
“Ah, what do my eyes perceive? Why Queen Chrysalis and her busy bees. What brings my lover’s queen, so far out into the Everfree’s darker green?”
Chrysalis’s ears perked up and swiveled to the open door a second before her head turned enough from her to see a strange pony standing beside Marnthian. The pony had a striped coat of grey and darker grey, her mane and tail were also striped.
Chrysalis tilted her head in confusion. “What happened to you? Did a potion blow up in your face and give you stripes?”
She chuckled lightly. “No no no, nothing so extreme. I am no ordinary pony, despite what it seems. I am a zebra of stripes, and it is a typical stereotype.”
“Oh, oka- wait...” Chrysalis summoned Marnthian’s letter again and looked through it. “That’s how you say that?” She shrugged and tossed the letter to one of the changelings behind her. “Anyways, we’re here to rescue Marnthian.”
Marn sighed and shook his head. “I told you in my letter that I was okay and that I talked with Celestia and Luna to clear up a few things,” He said, his left foreleg twitching. “I got them to give up on trying to capture changelings, so I invited you here to participate in a pony holiday.”
“.... So... afterwards I can rescue you?” Marnthian’s shaking hoof suddenly shot up and met his face.
“I do not believe a rescue is in order, but perhaps we may speak of this once we reach the town border. The celebrations are to begin soon, and the foals are looking forward to the legend of the princess of the moon.”
Chrysalis clapped her hooves together and smiled. “Neat! Is there going to be cake?” She stopped suddenly and thought a little. “I hope I don’t have to bake.”
Nineteen more hooves met faces.
A long walk later, Chrysalis stared at the ponies and the decorations they were putting up. Most of the decorations had a dark color of some sort, but then there were the... orange things that some ponies were cutting and then putting candles into. “What’s all this?”
“The ponies call it Nightmare Night, a fun celebration of mare that once filled all with fright. In the memory of the mare in the moon, who we all hope will provide us a boon,” Zecora said.
“Huh....” Chrysalis looked around, a thoughtful expression on her face as she took in the spider tosses, the catapults, the apple bobbing, the face painting.... It all looked fun, but what was the point of it all? “So... what’s the story behind this?”
“If you wish to hear the tale, then you shall have to wait as well. The offerings are not until tonight, why not enjoy the festivities to relieve your spite?”
Chrysalis pouted, but turned to go join everypony. “‘M not spiteful,” She muttered to herself.
Later when Marnthian found her, Chrysalis had been banned from doing anything. “Stupid ponies and their shoddy building. How is it my fault those three knocked down everything with that catapult? They even destroyed the catapult I gave them!”
“Zecora is about to start her tale, my queen,” Marnthian said, gesturing to the edge of the Everfree.
Chrysalis nodded and followed him to where the foals were gathering around the zebra.
A green glowing fog slowly spread around them as they headed into the forest, almost reminding Chrysalis of changeling magic. But that was shoved aside when she caught sight of a certain purple mare in a pointy, blue hat with bells hanging from the edge and a star-studded cloak. A growl made its way up into her throat as she glared at the pony who glanced uncertainly in her direction.
Chrysalis huffed and looked away, a green blush making its way onto her cheeks as she muttered, “Stupid sexy Twilight!”
She was so absorbed in trying to not continuing to stare at the mare that shook her flank in her face that she completely missed the entire story, only catching the ending as a green version of Nightmare Moon dove straight at the group. Acting on instinct, Chrysalis shot a hasty fireball at the apparition only for it to pass right through and strike a tree on the edge of the clearing. There’s no way that high-pitched scream of terror came from her. Nope, it was one of the fillies... who were laughing.
“Okay, I get the why of the holiday. It’s here so children can be scared,” Chrysalis said before turning to Marnthian. “You can come back to the hive whenever you want, I’ll just have to get used to Second Advisor giving me advice.” She called the other changelings to her and said, “Back to the hive!”
A minute into the flight, though, Chrysalis became bored again. “Are we there yet?”