Queen Chrysalis has a Doom Citadel

by Erised the ink-moth

Coffee. A bit on the dark side

Coffee "Twitch" Cookie made it back to the city's shield, even though the cold outside was nearly unbearable, especially because the cold was unbearable. He was accompanied by one of the Queen's personal servants, who she sent to make sure he got the job done. And by personal servant, I mean the one random changeling that was unfortunate enough to be chosen that morning to do all the Queen's grunt work.

"Alright, here we are. I just gotta open the shield for a second... gimme a moment." Twitch said as he pressed his hooves against the solid barrier "How am I supposed to... Oh! Right!"

With the magical identification: friend or foe in his armor triggering, the steel wall became like a weightless curtain, and Twitch was able to easily lift a small section of it over his shoulders. "I guess you should come in too." he told his changeling companion, who followed without a word.

The streets of the Crystal Empire were calm to say the least, and deathly silent and deserted to say the most. Ponies had been shut up inside their houses since it all began, and they were probably hiding in fear, or maybe being brave enough to peek out the windows. But at least it was nice and warm inside the shield.

"So where to?" came a soft feminine voice behind him.

Twitch whipped around to find a unicorn mare with a tan coat and a deep blue mane standing behind him. In less than a second his mind began going into overdrive with terrible scenarios, and he frantically looked around for the changeling, thinking it must have run off to cause some mayhem, and he'd let it in! He could feel his throat start to clench and his hooves start to sweat.

"Oh no. Oh no, oh no... I let one in and now it's gone." he started to panic "Cap's gonna kill me. Excuse me Miss! Did you see a changeling here? It was with me just a minute ago- I mean I was escorting it through the city. Or maybe it was escorting me. But that doesn't make any sense. But it was right where you're standing. And- wait-a-minute..."

The mare facehoofed while the realization donned on him.

"Ooooohhh. That's scary." he said blankly.

---

"What are we doing here?" the disguised changeling asked Twitch as the to of them came to a halt in front of a building "Don't you have a message to deliver?"

"In a minute." he dismissed and walked towards the place.

She took a moment to look it over; it looked like a business or a restaurant of some kind, very welcoming, with bright flashy colors everywhere. There were chairs and umbrella-covered tables set out front, and the insides of the windows were plastered with adds pushing all kinds of drinks and pastries.

Shrugging, the changeling followed him inside, taking a second near her reflection in the front window to see if her eyes and hair looked right.

A small bell above the door tinkled as Twitch pushed it open. There was no cashier behind the register, the chairs and booths were completely vacant, yet plates of cold and unfinished food was left sitting on the table, and on one side of the floor, an entire pot of coffee had been left to spill its brown murky contents all over the floor.

"What a waste." Twitch said as he looked sorrowfully at the spilled pot. "Hello? Anypony here?" he called to the seemingly deserted shop.

"No!" came a response, ironically implying that somepony was indeed here. "And if there was, he wouldn't be hiding in the back room! So don't bother checking there!"

"Oh... well in that case I'm just going to serve myself. Kay?" Twitch said and wandered behind the counter, starting up a fresh batch of his favorite with practiced and familiar ease. "Let's see... one third crystal berry blend to two thirds Manehatten espresso... three sugars and two shots of hazelnut cream standing by..."

"This is what you came here for?" came a slightly annoyed voice from the other side of the counter, interrupting his mental checklist.

"You know it." he said simply.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why? You want to know why?" he turned to face her with an almost manic grin "I woke up this morning after trying to sleep all night in a barracks full of noisy, snoring stallions! Then I was told we were getting a tour of the Crystal Empire and I thought, Sweet, this'll be fun!" he chuckled hollowly "Oh boy was I wrong. Marching up and down the square for two hours! But if that wasn't the highlight of my day, a freaking Doom Fortress-"

"Citadel."

"What ever!" he snapped "That thing shows up out of nowhere and the next thing I know, everypony is screaming and panicking and throwing pickle jars everywhere, and I'm just trying to keep up with the Captain because I don't know what the buck is going on! I got thrown through a shield- our own shield, because neither my Captain or your Queen has heard of shouting really loud! And to top it all off, it's two o' clock, and I've haven't even had lunch yet." he finished his rant, panting "So that..." he said, spreading his forelegs around himself "That is why we are here."

*Ding*

"Ooh, coffee's done!" he said, his mood making an instant u-turn on a bit. "You want anything? I guarantee I can make it."

The changeling blinked a couple times. "I'll... just have some hot chocolate, if that's fine." she told him. She then turned away and wiped the sweat from her brow.

---

The bell rang above the door as the two of them passed through it again. Twitch had nearly finished his second cup of coffee, and was bobbing his head back and forth, humming a little tune as they walked.

"You're in a good mood." the changeling mentioned.

"All is right with the world." Twitch sighed.

"You know we've still got our Doom Citadel parked outside, right? And you still need to tell your Captain about meeting with out Queen. I wonder that will turn ou-"

"Hmmm hmm hmmmm, hmm hmmm..." Twitch hummed louder "I can't hear you over the sound of my personal zen!" he sing-songed as he finished the last of his drink and threw the cup into a waste basket. "Swoosh."

The changeling rolled her eyes and took a sip of her cocoa. It was a pretty rich flavor, better than most she'd tasted in her many times infiltrating Equestria.

"What's your name anyway?" Twitch asked, earning a questioning glance from his follower "I feel weird not knowing what to call you."

The changeling paused for a moment. "Seruli."

"Cerulean? Like the color?"

"N- no. Not like the color, it's spelled completely different. S-e-r-u-l-i." She said, accentuating every letter.

"That's a weird name." Twitch commented.

"You're one to talk. What kind of name is Twitch?" Seruli shot back "Although it does kind of fit you."

"Yeah well, the other guards though so too." he said sadly "And my classmates in school. And my parents. And my marefriend."

"You have a marefriend?!" Seruli said, flabbergasted.

"Bwuh- I- Of course I do!" Twitch fixed her with a stare that lasted for several seconds before it morphed into a frown "Or at least I did before she broke up with me."

Seruli chuckled for a moment at his expense. "Oh you're such a silly sap, you know that?" she said with a sigh and a playful nudge at his side. "Hey cheer up. There's more out there. There'd have to be, or all us changelings would starve!"

"Yeah..." Twitch sighed glumly. "I just miss her."

Seruli rolled her eyes and finished off her cocoa , throwing it into a trash can they passed like Twitch did. "Swoosh." she said, imitating him. When she noticed he didn't look up, laugh, or even smile, she got another idea. "Hey Twitch, what was your marefriend like anyway?"

"She was amazing." Twitch said dreamily "She was so nice, and caring, and sweet, and-"

"What did she look like?" Seruli interrupted him.

Twitch thought a second on the details, deciding how to quickly sum up her looks. It was harder than he thought it would be. "Well... she had these blu-ish eyes that matched her mane; light blue, not dark blue. And she liked keeping her mane sort of long, and barely ever bothered to tie it up or anything." he rubbed his chin, not noticing the flash of green to his left "What else... She was pretty slim I guess, and had a dark magenta coat that kind of reminded me of this syrup I had on pancakes once."

Another flash of green to his right, this time he noticed.

"What are you- Oh my Gee-bus!" he screamed "Will you stop changing forms when I'm not looking!"

Seruli laughed. "Well, how do I look?" she did a quick turn around so he could get a look at her. "Did I get her right?"

Twitch got to his hooves and took a few glaces at the mare in front of him, pacing around her while rubbing his chin and then giving a long thoughtful hum. "Not even close." he finally decided and kept walking.

Seruli snorted and reverted to her previous form. "No wonder she left you." she told him with a frown as they continued on.

Comments

[Mnemonic_Horse]

.....I ship it.