Honey Cupcakes

by Someguy458

(ACT 2) «Anything to report yet?»

«Negative, my Queen,» the drone sent back through the Hive Mind.

The Queen slumped back in her hiding spot. She didn't like being this close to civilization, but given how relatively young she was, she had to be at such close range for the Hive Mind to work.

But there were more pressing matters at the moment. It'd been 4½ weeks since the invasion, and still, Chrysalis hadn't come back. They knew roughly where she'd landed, but by the time they'd recuperated enough to send out a search party, there wasn't a trace of her - not even a corpse. And they couldn't reach her through the Hive Mind, either; something had cut their connection.

But they all knew her; if there was even the slimmest chance that she was alive, then she'd no doubt be fighting until the very end. Rhizophage had found that trait quite admirable, but Mothra had expressed concern that it might spell disaster if channeled in the wrong direction.

'Oh, how right you were,' Strigae thought to herself, recalling how devastating the Invasion had been. She hadn't participated herself, but given the state of the drones that managed to return, she didn't doubt for a second how capable the ponies were when they needed to be.

«My Queen!» The drone's sudden urgency pulled Strigae out of her thoughts. «I just saw something!»

The drone was currently walking down Main Street, disguised as an average Earth Pony. He'd seen a flash of green just as he was turning his head, but by the time he looked back, it was already over. He then relayed this all to Strigae.

"That almost certainly confirms it," the young monarch muttered to herself. She told the drone, «Alright, stay in the general area, but don't break character. I'll send in a couple more scouts to covertly sweep the area.»

The drone sent back an affirmative, before the line went silent.

"Just what are you up to, sis?"

---

ACT 2: The Search For Blueblood

---

"Just what are we up to, Twilight?" Chrysalis asked, her voice shifted to fit her disguise.

"I've already told you, Rarity," Twilight acted the part, "we're just going on a quick trip to Canterlot."

"And what of my... You know?" The former Queen couldn't help but let some worry slip into her voice as she glanced back at the Library.

"Spike's already taking care of it."

The eggs lay in a protective basket as Spike sat in a nearby chair and watched, Peewee perched atop his head.

"So," Spike started, still looking at the eggs, "you guys doing alright?"

The eggs said nothing.

Spike chuckled to himself. "Yeah, I get that. I came from an egg, too, so I know how that is."

The eggs remained silent.

Spike then sighed. "Not much for conversation, are they?" He rhetorically asked his little pet phoenix.

Peewee chirped in response.

Regardless, doubt still nagged at Chrysalis, even after they boarded the train. She kept pacing back and forth along the car, while Twilight watched from her seat. It was odd for her, seeing the former invader so nervous (even if she was disguised as Rarity, who she was far more used to seeing like this).

"Look," Twilight finally piped up as soon as she figured out the words, "I know you're worried, but right now, we need to focus on the task at hoof. What're we going to do once we arrive in Canterlot?"

Chrysalis finally stopped pacing, but still didn't take a seat. "Well, one thing's for sure; we need to figure out why Blueblood was there in the first place."

Twilight nodded. "If we can't find him directly, we'll need to ask Celestia —"

Chrysalis held up her hoof to stop Twilight. "I, uh... I don't think I'm ready to face her again. Not after remembering...." She cut it off there because there were still other passengers in the train car with them.

Twilight nodded. "Then how about Luna?"

Chrysalis hesitantly nodded. "Yeah, I think I can handle that."

"And if she doesn't know?"

The disguised queen gulped. "Then hopefully, I'll be ready by then."

---

The day was still young when Applejack entered Sugarcube Corner. She briefly scanned the tables until she spotted the prismatic hair of Rainbow Dash, and headed over.

When the pegasus noticed her approaching, she sighed in relief. "About time; I've been sitting here for three whole minutes, just staring at the menu."

AJ took note of the subtle teasing tone, and shot back: "Just imagine if'n it were four minutes; who knows what you woulda done?"

They both chuckled a little, before Rainbow Dash got up to order their treats (a glazed apple donut for AJ, and a lemon cupcake for Dash). Once she sat back down to wait, they started some small talk — mostly normal stuff, like how Dash was preparing to apply for the Wonderbolts Academy.

Then the topic changed. "Have you heard anything about Chrysalis lately?" AJ made sure to speak in a more hushed tone.

Dash shook her head. "Nothing you haven't. I'm still really worried that I screwed up big time."

"We were all suspicious at first," AJ reminded her. "Ah don't exactly agree with how ya went about it, but Ah can see where ya were comin' from."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't exactly fix what I did."

"Ah know..." They fell into an awkward silence for a moment, neither knowing what to say.

Thankfully, they didn't need to figure it out yet, because Pinkie chose that moment to bring them their food with a chipper, "Hope you girls enjoy!"

"Thanks, Pinkie," they both replied, before digging into their confectioneries. They were tasty, but couldn't distract them from the conversation forever.

"AJ...?" Rainbow finally continued.

The country mare raised an eyebrow in response.

"Do you think... even if she is telling the truth, and were willing to put everything behind her... would Equestria even be ready to forgive her?"

AJ thought for a moment. "Well, maybe in places like Dodge Junction, where they're far enough removed. As fer places like here... Ah'm not sure. Ah s'pose it's still too soon t' tell."

"Yeah, I thought so, too...." Once again, they continued to eat, now more unsure than ever.

---

After what felt like years, Chrysalis finally felt the train roll to a stop at Canterlot Station. Her anxiety made her shoot out of her seat faster than Twilight could even blink, but she paused when she caught sight of somepony out the window.

"Twilight? I know we agreed to see Princess Luna, but is she supposed to meet us here?"

Author's Note:

I finally got back to writing this! I was stuck on the AJ and RD section, then started focusing on getting my YouTube channel back up and running, and because of all of that, I lost a lot of that original momentum.

But I've finally broken through, and here we are! I've got a good majority of it planned out, so hopefully, the next chapter won't take so long (no promises, though).

Comments

[Stahlseele]

oooh an update! o.o

[CharonX]

Yay, update! I'm curious to see where this goes:)

[Ralanost]

Just found your story and I'm a fan. I love Chrysalis getting a chance to be good.

[hmaf43]

[Yoshifan30]

The eggs lay in a protective basket as Spike sat in a nearby chair and watched, Peewee perched atop his head.

Hey peewee it's really nice to see him again so this is during the time the aftermath of the Dragon Quest

[Yoshifan30]

"Do you think... even if she is telling the truth, and were willing to put everything behind her... would Equestria even be ready to forgive her?"

Maybe not right away especially the attack was pretty fresh so it's going to take a long time but maybe someday they will

[Yoshifan30]

So it looks like three things are happening also nice to see the story coming back again but anyway first Twilight and Chrysalis is going to Canterlot probably talk with Luna about the situation and she's pretty nervous about meeting one of the princess but hopefully things will go well meanwhile it looks like the other changelings are looking for their Queen but it looks like one of them is following her and meanwhile Applejack and Rainbow Dash are talking about how Equestria are going to react to chrysalis being here and whenever happens I'm sure it won't be easy but slowly they will come to pass well we'll find out next time

[Doctor_Den]

It's funny that Prince Blueblood, who is not usually considered an outstanding fighter, was somehow able to kill the changeling queen while running away. This even in itself sounds absurd and ridiculous.

[Wild Stallion]

Sweet!

I finally got around to reading this and it looks promising!

I can't wait to see how it goes!

[DarkSnowGaming]

This story is really interesting, I hope it gets continued.