Chrysalis's Wedlock

by Diamond Sparkle

I-Queen Chelicerae's Plot

In the depths of the Badlands, far outside the domain of pony or griffin or even dragon, stood the tall black mound of a Changeling Hive, full of red-shelled Changelings going about their daily tasks of guarding, building, book-keeping, and everything else required in their society. And deep within the hive, sprawled on the satin cushions of her throne, sat Queen Chelicerae, with one of her most senior generals close by. She looked to her left, where a mirror reflected her in all her glossy glory, her carapace polished and shining in the candlelight. "General Chitinous, I am so proud of you and of the swarm in general. It saddens me that we are a bit of an anachronism nowadays." She snorted, talking to herself more then to him. "Some Queens have gone undercover permanently and dispersed their swarm across the length and breath of Equestria and the other lands. Some of their swarm have gone into trading and other such things and survive on meat and vegetables, consuming only just enough love from those around them to stay healthy. You don't think I'm too proud to go undercover, do you, General?"

General Chitinous shook his head. "No, your Majesty, of course not." He knew better then to openly contradict his Queen. Whilst she never executed or physically hurt her subjects except in the rare case of the worst possible crimes one of them could commit being committed, she was not above short-term but humiliating punishments. He had done a week-long stint of guard duty just like a common soldier once after he criticised one of her ideas; whilst nothing deeply unpleasant had happened, the boredom of hours spent guarding a gate to the outside had cured him of any desire to repeat the offence.

"I'll do it happily, but only for a good reason. It would be below me and the swarm to go permanently undercover. Other Queens have decided to live in castles modelled on pony society. Which is fine unless they get faced with an invading army, a tornado, or a sandstorm. When I visited Queen Kerrigan a year ago, her castle had been hit by a freak sandstorm a couple of days ago and her underlings were still cleaning and polishing and emptying the outer corridors of her castle after it blew her windows open and filled a large part of it with icky sand. It had got everywhere...into the sandwiches..
.sandwiches is what they were. It got into the joints of some of her swarm before they could transform to keep it out, and they had to bath to properly remove it and regain the full use of their limbs. Here, we roll and pull rocks in front of the few openings of the Hive, and no sandstorm or hurricane can do damage. Even a direct hit from a tornado won't crack it open, nor will all but the most heavy artillery. Most Queens do not care about the changeling culture like I do. They think me vulgar for sticking to the Old Ways." She snorted again.

"I suppose you want to know why I called you here, General?"

He nodded. "Yes, your Majesty."

"Recently I found that the changelings of Queen Chrysalis's Hive had been encroaching on pony territory that I considered to be in my sphere of influence, when one of my swarm was bitten on the carapace and slightly injured. When I demanded restitution or the extradition of the offending changeling to my Hive, Chrysalis laughed in my face and told me that there would be war before she would place one of her children in my hands. I want revenge, but full scale war would cost too many lives and make my swarm go hungry. Instead I want you to get a squad together of this Hive's finest infiltrators, those who can even fool other changelings. Summon them from abroad if you have to. They are to infiltrate Chrysalis's Hive, and destroy the main love source and any spares, so they only have the love sucked from cocooned ponies and the love brought in by their infiltrators. With the main source gone, they will go hungry within weeks and Chrysalis will be forced into doing something rash to the point of being stupid. And it is this Hive that will reap the reward
of her folly. If my soldiers succeed, they will get double love rations, if they fail, Queen Chrysalis will most likely kill them."

"Yes, your Majesty." He bowed and left the throne room, and orders went forth through the officer corps to find the best of the best. Half of those needed were in the Hive relaxing on leave, but the other half were deep undercover and could only be reached by the Queen broadcasting using her Royal Voice. Since when it was used it went to everyling in the Hive, the Queen used it as rarely as possible. This, however, was important.

*****
From Ponyville and Canterlot, from high Cloudsdale to the mountain-cities of the griffins, those who were summoned made their excuses, kissed their loved ones goodbye and returned to the hive with their precious cargos of stored love , where they were greeted by General Chitinous. "The Queen has summoned you here to go on a mission most perilous; to infiltrate the Hive of Queen Chrysalis and eliminate her main love source and any spares. Once that is done, their food supplies will be rapidly exhausted. If you succeed; you will receive extra love rations, raises in rank, the Distinguished Conduct Medal to wear when in the Hive, and of course the praise and thanks of your Queen. If you fail; our Queen will not have to punish you as Queen Chrysalis will do that for her. I know how dangerous it is to infiltrate another Changeling tribe, I did it myself once as a young officer. You are the best which is why you have been chosen. Do not fail, this is For The Swarm."

Comments

[Grimmjow Jaggerjaques]

Red changelings? Awesomesauce!

[verypeeved]

Queen Chelicerae's Plot

didn't realize this was going to be a clopfic

[DualKitsune]

Congrats. In one chapter you have made a very believable, complex antagonist.