Gone Mustang

by BurningBright

Chapter Eleven: The Madness of Queen Chrysalis

Dawn woke up with a happy little yawn, and a big stretch to relax all her muscles and waken herself up a little bit. That rabbit last night had tasted good and really hit the spot. As an added bonus that one hadn't had the same effect on her as her previous meal of rabbit had.

That was a relief, waking up where she was supposed to, with nothing surreal, melty, tingly, or otherwise unpleasant happening to her. Or her surroundings for that matter, as interesting as being able to smell colours and see sounds had been she really really really didn't want it to happen to her ever again. It would have been nicer to have woken up to find all that stuff had been nothing but a thoroughly unpleasant dream, but she couldn't have everything her way and this was nice. At least she didn't have to hunt for breakfast today.

After checking around for signs of any of those larger Hardshell she trotted over to the pods and eventually found exactly what she was looking for, a nice juicy pigeon, she could feel her mouth watering already at the thought, She carefully extracted her meal from the bubble and carried it back to her lair. Trying her hardest not to gag at the repulsive flavour of the green goo it was generously slathered in. Then rinsed it off, making sure to get every last drop of the disgusting sludge from it with a water bottle she had retrieved from one of the drained Hardshells during the journey here. This was the life, she thought to herself, all this prey she didn't even need to hunt down for herself. She bit into her meal with a contented sigh , right now it felt like she really didn't have a care in the world.

Chrysalis was absolutely furious, was total bare faced sabotage. Last night not only had another pony vanished without trace, even the makeshift food supply she had her drones gather had been pillaged. The changelings unlucky enough to be in the room for the epic royal tantrum that was starting here were doing their level best to slip off before she noticed their presence.

“And just where were the guards I assigned to ensure this didn't happen? Off chasing bucking shadows while our larder ,the very thing we depend upon above all else for the survival of our entire race was robbed “ there was a sound of shattering glass as one of the trinkets Chrysalis was in the habit of collecting was slammed into the wall hard enough to leave a crater. “Get out of my sight, all of you before I have you all drained” she hissed angrily at her underlings, the commanding officers of the once great Changeling Armada. Hah that was a laugh she thought to herself bitterly as she planned what actions she could take to ensure this didn't happen again.

Unfortunately for Captain Razorback, currently in command of the guards in question he did not slip away quite quickly enough. She had become quite unstable since the incident at the wedding. Whether it was from the over abundance of love that she had flooded her body with during her time posing as Princess Mi Am-ore Cadenza, the famine immediately afterwards. How hard she had hit her head on the landing after the bubble of love had struck her and launched her back to the badlands (she had left quite an impressive crater in the hive wall upon impact, and had even cracked her horn, the fracture could still be seen actually.) Or if she had been mad for quite some time who was to say.

“Oh Captain?” she whispered sweetly, her voice honeyed with love and desire.” The captain turned back to face his queen barely suppressing a shudder of horror at the look in her eye, more monster than changeling “Where are the captives being hidden? You can tell me, I know you're keeping them all to feed for yourself. Just tell me. I promise if you do I won't hurt you, we'll just split the love eh? So tell me Captain.

Razorback barely held back from screaming at what he felt as she reached into his mind , searching, probing every last inch of his psyche, carelessly stripping away the safeguards he had in place like a child searching for a misplaced toy. Then to his horror he found himself floating in her magic. “You're blocking me out somehow aren't you? “ She snarled, “You're slipping away and shielding yourself you traitor.” By this point her voice had risen to a barely coherent screech , spittle flecked her muzzle and her fangs were bared. He knew now that he was doomed. Maybe it wouldn't be today but some day, probably quite soon she would order him drained of all the love his body held. The queen had gone completely insane and he knew it. What mattered right now though was getting out of here alive.

“My queen” he said trying to keep his voice calm and steady. “I do not know yet who is stealing your love providers, but I am doing my level best to find out. I know they are an insider but I suspect there may be an accomplice.” Then the world went red as the queens horn pierced his chitin shell.

“LAIR” she screeched at him, her eyes impossibly wide . Then suddenly her expression softened on him once again , almost in an instant, all the hatred was eliminated wiped completely clean like a blackboard. He was lowered as gently as could be back to the floor. When he looked up at her he found he was gazing once more into the eyes of the old queen Chrysalis looking concerned and worried for him. “oh poor Razorback, you're hurt, what on Equestria happened to you? ” Every word she spoke was radiating shock and dismay at his condition.

“It is nothing my queen” he said gritting his teeth and breathing deeply to ignore the pain. “Just a scrape, if you'll excuse me my queen I'll go and get it treated right away”

“But of course, you should get it looked at immediately.” Chrysalis replied, she almost looked genuinely distressed about his wounds. Razorback bowed politely and left. But rather than heading to the healers he went straight to the surface. Once there he thought for a moment before limping towards the mountains. Once he was clear of them he could sever the connection to the hive mind without too much pain. He felt a pang of loss and tried to cheer himself up. Apparently Zebrica was really nice at this time of year.