“You want to what?!” Stealth exclaimed at what Ryan had just said.
“You heard me. So can you get me a meeting with her or not?” Ryan asked the changeling.
“Okay. First off how could I?” Stealth asked as he walked away from Ryan. Before pausing a few feet away. “So you want to walk and talk or not.”
“Got it. Well Stealth, as for how you could get me into a meeting with your queen well it’s quite simple. From what I know changelings are quite similar to insects and some species of insects such as bees are connected to their queen and hive through a hive mind. So if my guess is correct you changelings are connected to your queen telepathically via a hivemind.” Ryan explained as he walked beside Stealth.
“… That was…” Stealth began.
“Smart?”
“Not really more so it was accurate.”
“So I’m right about you being connected to Queen Chrysalis?”
“Yes your correct.” Stealth said before his horn began to glow slightly. “How about we go discuss this somewhere else.”
“How about we go check on the Princesses? Celestia probably wants to see you about the whole lack of an anti-magic ring.” Ryan said before trying to remember where the Throne Room was.
“If you want I could lead the way y’know able to read ponies emotions and tell where they are.” Stealth said before changing his direction by 180 degrees. “C’mon let’s go.” Stealth said as he made his way towards the Throne Room.
“Ah Ryan, Stealth good to see you two.” Celestia said as Stealth and Ryan entered the Throne Room.
“Morning Celestia.” Ryan said as he and Stealth walked towards the thrones. “I’m guessing Luna’s told you about why Stealth isn’t wearing his ring.”
“Yes she has. And I have to agree with why she allowed Stealth to go with out the ring, so Stealth doesn’t have to worry about my approval.” Celestia said nodding to Luna as Ryan noticed her drinking from a jug of coffee as she sat on her mixture of ebony and sapphire throne.
It was then Ryan levitated the jug of coffee out of her grasp and over to himself. “Thanks for sharing.” He said before drinking out of the jug and walking over to the two sisters. “Hey I need to talk to you two about something.”
“What would you like to talk to us about?” Luna asked before she stole the jug of coffee back from Ryan.
“It involves our little plan with Stealth.”
“Ah I see.” Celestia said before her horn let off a glow before the glow disappeared. “You can talk now Stealth can’t hear us.”
“Let me guess sound proof bubble?” Ryan asked before Celestia gave him a nod. “Cool. Okay now for what I wanted to talk to you about. With Stealth not having to wear his ring anymore he can now talk to Queen Chrysalis via a hivemind.”
“And so you wish to use this hivemind to meet with Chrysalis.” Celestia asked.
“Yes. And with that hopefully I’ll be able to convince her to discuss peace with you two.” Ryan said.
“Sounds like fun.” Luna said before looking to Stealth. “So then sister shall we drop this little bubble and let Ryan tell Stealth to talk to Chrysalis.”
With that said Celestia’s horn glowed once more as the sound proof bubble dissipated. She then shifted her focus to Stealth. “Stealth if we may my sister and I have a favor to ask of you.”
After a few seconds of silence Ryan noticed that Stealth’s horn was giving off his signature Amaranth Red glow. “Yo Stealth you okay?” Ryan asked as he waved a hand in front of his eyes.
“Huh?” Stealth said as he jumped back slightly at how close Ryan’s hand was to his face. “Did I miss something?”
“No not really. But we need you to get me an appointment with your Queen.”
“Heh about that. While you were talking to the Princesses I spoke to Queen Chrysalis and she said she’d want to see you as soon as possible.”
“Really.” Ryan asked disbelief coating his voice.
“Really. She also said that we have to go alone.” Stealth said before looking to the Princesses. “As much as you would wish to keep Ryan safe by sending a guard with us, the Queen would probably kill them on sight.”
“Are you certain your Queen would be able to find the guard that we would send with you?” Luna asked Stealth with a raised eyebrow.
“No she wouldn’t because you won’t be sending any guards right Luna?” Ryan said walking over to Luna. “I’ll be fine Luna. So don’t worry.”
“I can’t help it.” Luna said as Ryan pulled her into a hug.
At this a small flash of light appeared in the room. As the flash faded everyone looked to see Raven appear with a scroll floating above her head. “Here’s the spell you wanted Princess.” She said as she floated the scroll over to Celestia. Before anyone could give her a proper greeting she was gone in another flash of light.
“What’s on the scroll Celestia?” Ryan asked before Celestia gave the scroll to him.
“A simple recall spell.” She explained as Ryan looked over the piece of parchment. “This spell is quite similar to a teleportation spell but unlike your everyday teleport spell this recall spell doesn’t require you to visualize where you’re teleporting as it already has a set place to teleport you to.”
“Cool. So let me guess if I get into danger I can simply use this recall to teleport somewhere more safe?”
“Precisely.”
“Wow thanks Celestia.” Ryan said before giving the Alicorn a small hug.
“No problem Ryan.” She said before turning to Stealth. “Well you two best say your goodbyes and leave as soon as possible.” She said causing Ryan to go back to Luna’s side and giving her a kiss.
As Ryan finished the kiss he made his way towards Stealth. “C’mon then buddy we got a long train ride ahead of us we need to go pack.”
A few hours later.
“So the changeling hive is in the Badlands?” Ryan asked as he and Stealth made their way out of Appleloosa.
“Yes it is. Now before you ask I cannot tell you where exactly it is.” Stealth said as his horn gave off a small glow. “Okay they now know we’re coming.”
“So they’re getting a party ready for us?”
“No. They now know not to attack us on sight.”
“Oh well that’s nice to know.” Ryan said before letting his thoughts wonder as to how he was going to get Chrysalis to agree to meet with the Princesses.
“Hey Stealth.” Ryan said as a particular thought entered his head.
“Yeah Ryan?”
“What’ll happen to you once we get to the hive?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well for one you haven’t been reporting to the hive or causing problems for the Princesses. And for two you’re probably full of emotions such as love.”
“Well for one I’ve already explained to the Queen how I’ve been under careful watch by the Princesses so I couldn’t do anything against them. As for the stored emotions well all I have to do is give any excess emotions that I have gathered to the hive’s emotion storage so that the emotions can then be distributed throughout the hive and feed it.”
“Okay then. Also the reason why I asked is because I gotta make sure that you get back safe to Twilight.”
“Good to know you care so much for me.” Stealth said before taking a sharp right hand turn. “C’mon this way.”
“Hey Stealth I gotta ask is the hive above ground or below?”
“Below. It helps against the sandstorms that roll through the Badlands.”
“So I’m gonna take a guess and say that changelings hate the storms?” Ryan asked as they passed a few stacks of boulders.
“Not really. We can survive storms perfectly fine thanks to our chitin and also a layer of skin that covers our eyes.”
“A layer of skin?”
“It’s not really skin more so a thin see through membrane that protects our eyes from the sandstorms. Besides we really made the hive underground for our young, as for the first few years of their lives they don’t have the membrane to protect their eyes.” Stealth explained as they approached a large cave.
“So I’m guessing that this isn’t the entrance to the hive.” Ryan said sarcastically.
“Exactly.” Stealth said as they entered the cave. “Oh okay then.” Stealth said before turning to Ryan. “Ryan I’m really sorry about what’s going to happen. It’s the Queen’s orders.”
“What’s gonna… Argh!” Ryan exclaimed as he found himself pounced on by a large changeling.
“Drone #254 what are you doing bringing this thing to the hive?” The changeling said as he placed a hole covered hoof on Ryan’s head.
“Queen’s orders.” Stealth said as more changelings appeared in the cave.
“You idiots the thing is still awake!” One of the new arrivals exclaimed pointing to Ryan.
“Not for long.” The changeling that was standing atop Ryan said before brining the hoof that was pinning Ryan’s head to the floor crashing down and filling Ryan’s vision with darkness as he flew into unconsciousness.
As Ryan slowly awoke from his unexpected nap he found his vision was a lot greener than usual. ‘What the hell?’ Ryan thought to himself as he found something was keeping him from talking.
“Start struggling and you’ll get your answer.” Orion said giving Ryan a reason to begin struggling against what he figured to be a green goo.
After a few seconds of continuing to struggle Ryan found himself dropped onto the floor from a few feet in the air. “Oof!” Ryan said as he hit the floor. After managing to get his bearings Ryan found that he had a layer of green goo covering his form. “Eww what the hell is this crap!?” Ryan exclaimed as he took in his surroundings.
As he looked around he saw that he was laying on the ground in a puddle of the green goo, he then looked above him to see what looked like a ruined version of the cocoon that held Celestia during the wedding invasion. As Ryan took his vision away from the ruined cocoon he saw that he was in a large bedroom, to his left was a large circular bed which Ryan guessed could seat 4 Celestia’s on it.
He also noticed that the other furnishings in the room were left to a few bookshelves, dressers and drawers. As he got up he saw that the main light source in the room was a large green crystal that illuminated the room like a chandelier. Ryan also noted that everything had a green hue to it.
“Huh guess whoever owns this room really likes the color green.” Ryan said out loud. “Okay Orion what the hell happened that got me stuck in a cocoon?”
“Well after that big drone knocked you unconscious, you were carried through the hive by the big lug whilst Stealth went off to God knows where. You were then brought here and put into a cocoon by order of Chrysalis as the large drone said, then him and a couple of other drones who helped him string you up left.” Orion explained as Ryan could hear the sound of hoofsteps coming from the other side of the main entrance to the room.
After a few seconds the double doors swung open to reveal Queen Chrysalis. “Ah good to see that you’re awake Ryan.” She said as she entered the room.
Before Ryan could give her a greeting of his own Chrysalis stumbled forward. Before her face could meet the floor Ryan stopped her mid-fall with a levitation spell as he held her in place. “Chrysalis are you alright?” Ryan asked as he levitated her onto the bed before releasing his magic.
“I’m fine. And you shall address me as Queen.” Chrysalis said weakly.
“I’ll start doing that when you tell me what’s wrong.” Ryan said before placing a hand on her forehead to check her temperature.
“Why would you care! Drone #254 told me of how you’re allied with the Princesses.” Chrysalis spat as the green in her mane faded slightly.
“My allegiance may be with the Princesses yes. But I’m not going to let something bad happen to you.” Ryan said as he racked his brain for a cause of Chrysalis’ sickness. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. ‘Emotional starvation.’ Ryan thought to himself. “Chrysalis can you shape shift?”
“Of course I can.”
“Then how about you prove to me that you’re okay by disguising yourself as Princess Luna.” Ryan proposed to her.
“Fine then.” She said before a green flame covered her body. When the flame subsided Luna was sitting next to Ryan on the bed instead of Chrysalis. “This prove you wrong?” ‘Luna’ said.
“Yes it does.” Ryan said before pulling ‘Luna’ into a deep hug.
As she was pulled into the hug Chrysalis’ disguise disappeared as she was exposed to the wave of emotions that Ryan output.
“There that help?” Ryan asked as he finished the hug noting that Chrysalis had ended her disguise this allowed Ryan to see the color return to her mane.
Before Ryan could get an answer he was pulled into another hug by the Changeling Queen. “Thank you.” She said as Ryan could feel a few tears on his back. “Thank you.” She said weakly.
“Your welcome.” Ryan said as he returned the hug. After he finished the hug Ryan saw that her eyes were red and puffy from the crying. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Thank you for that by the way.”
“No problem Chrysalis. Hey by the way would I be able to see Stealth?”
“Stealth? Oh you mean Drone #254!” Chrysalis said before her horn began to glow. “He’s on his way. He’ll show you around the hive.” She said before a knocking could be heard at the door. “That’s him now.”
“Thanks for that.” Ryan said making his way towards the doors before stopping and turning back to Chrysalis. “Hey Chrysalis just wondering when’s dinner?”
“I’ll let Drone #254 inform you.” She said as Ryan left the room.
As Ryan left the room he ran into Stealth. “So how’d the meeting with the Queen go?” Stealth asked.
“It was…nice.” Ryan said as they made their way away from the Queen’s room. “So you gonna give me a tour of the place or what?”
After Stealth had given a Ryan a tour of the different caves that the changelings called their home, Ryan had found himself summoned to the Queen’s personal dining hall.
“So your taking me to a dining hall correct?” Ryan asked Stealth as they made their way through the tunnels of the hive.
“Not any dining hall Ryan. It’s the Queen’s personal dining hall. So it’ll only be you and her having dinner.”
“Ah got it.” Ryan responded as they found themselves outside a large set of ebony and emerald doors with a changeling guard on either side of the doors.
“Well in you go.” Stealth said looking to the doors.
At that the doors swung inward to reveal a large dining table with Chrysalis sitting at the head of it. As Ryan entered the room the doors swung closed behind him as he walked the length of the table to take a seat to Chrysalis’ right.
“Ryan glad you could make it.” The Queen said a warm smile on her muzzle as Ryan took his seat.
“Wouldn’t miss it. But I gotta ask Chrysalis why do you have such a large table if you’re the only one at it?” Ryan asked as her horn gave off a light glow as a changeling walked into the room through a side door.
“Well this dining hall belonged to my mother. She used to use it whenever she had dinner with important guests or on the rare occasion family.” Chrysalis said in a slightly grim tone. Before Ryan could say anything she adopted her smile from before. “Now nymph #367 here shall take your order.” She said gesturing to the changeling.
“Cool. So what’s on the menu?” Ryan asked as Nymph #367 pulled out a menu. “Oh thanks.” Ryan said giving the Nymph a smile as he looked over the menu. “You guys have steak?” He said as he noticed a T-bone steak on the menu.
“Yes we do.” Chrysalis said as she was looking over her own menu. “Drone #254 told me that you eat meat so I don’t see what the problem is.”
“I don’t have a problem with it. I’m just wondering why you would have those on the menu.”
“What did you expect we have to have a little variety on the menu rather than just have a large list of salads.” Chrysalis said with a small chuckle.
“Ah I see.” Ryan realized before turning to the Nymph who still stood between the human and the changeling Queen. “Well I’ll take the T-bone please.”
“Of course sir.” The Nymph said before retrieving the two menus and leaving the room.
“So Chrysalis I gotta ask what exactly does the great Queen Chrysalis do for the hive?” Ryan asked wanting to know how the hive worked.
“Well as the Queen I carry the responsibility of ensuring the hive’s safety and wellbeing.” Chrysalis explained as Nymph #367 returned with their dinner.
“One salad for the Queen and a T-bone steak for her guest.” She said before taking her leave.
“Weird I don’t remember you ordering anything.” Ryan said before taking a piece off his steak.
“Well as the Queen I am connected mentally via a hivemind to every changeling within my hive. So using that hivemind I placed my order mentally.” Chrysalis explained as she took a stab at her salad her horn glowing slightly.
“You having fun there feeding off my emotions.” Ryan said taking a pause from his steak.
“What gave you the idea I would be doing that?”
“Well I’ve been hanging around Stealth for a while so I know the feeling of a changeling feeding off of my emotions.” Ryan said before turning back to his steak.
“So do you want me to stop?”
“No it’s basically your dinner. But I do want to know what emotions you were feeding off of.”
“Well in that case the emotion was joy. I’m guessing you’re a fan of the steak.” She said with a chuckle.
“Well when you factor in that I live around herbivores and the additional fact that I am a great fan of steak and other cuts of meat, it brings me a great joy to have a steak.” Ryan said as he finished off his steak.
“Good to see that you’ve finished your dinner.” Chrysalis said as she stood up from her seat and moved behind Ryan. “If you’ll follow me I shall take you to your room.” She said before making her way towards the dining room doors.
After a few minutes of making their way through the tunnel network Ryan found that Chrysalis had led him to what seemed like a bedroom similar to the Queen’s but slightly smaller.
“I’m guessing this is my room?” Ryan asked as he took a seat on the bed.
“Yes it is. My hive knows not to disturb anyone who resides in this room.” Chrysalis said as she walked around the room. “It’s not a problem is it?”
“No it isn’t. Heck If you didn’t offer I’d probably go bunk with Stealth.”
“Or you could bunk with me.” Chrysalis said with wiggle of her eyebrows.
“Hmm. Tempting but I’ll have to pass. Maybe I would have if you hadn’t of given this me room.” Ryan said as Chrysalis made her way towards the door.
“Well if you get lonely you only have to come and visit me.” With that said Chrysalis left with what seemed like more sway in her hips then usual.
“So still not going to admit you have a crush on Chrysalis.” Orion said after Chrysalis had left.
“Shut up!” Ryan said out loud as he fell back onto the bed a slight blush on his face.
“You gotta at least agree with me when I say she’s got one hell of a flank.”
“SHUT UP AND LET ME GO TO SLEEP!!!”