The Diamond Cutter Anthology

by DiamondPrime

Prompt 3: Untitled - Mager Blutooth

“Phony.”

Queen Chrysalis peered into the creature’s eyes as she loudly proclaimed the single word. The creature just stared back at her blankly, her words meaning nothing to it. Having no time to waste on the little thing, Chrysalis broke eye contact and quickly made her way down the narrow, spiraling path. Her secretary made a note of her queen’s statement and followed closely behind.

“Faker,” the queen said, gazing down at the next creature, this one not even paying her any mind. The secretary made another note and the two continued onward.

“Um...” The queen hesitated as she arrived at number seven hundred fifty three. “I don’t know, Cookie?” she suggested, turning to her secretary who was busy jotting down every word as quickly as possible.

Her secretary paused her scribbles to look up to her queen, making a low buzzing noise to express concern toward her queen’s uncertainty.

Chrysalis sighed. “It’s nothing, Hoax. I’m just not feeling very creative right now.” She leaned on the railing of the walkway as she stared down into the ocean of her newborn subjects that surrounded the narrow pathway and filled up the majority of the chamber. Each of them had been placed in small pods to prevent them from roaming freely.

The secretary buzzed again, this time in an interrogative fashion.

“I understand the importance, but you know how much I despise this role. Why must I be tasked with the naming of every single one of my hatchlings? Surely not all of my children need names.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes as she heard her secretary buzz the same nagging lecture she always gave whenever the queen got a bit snippy about her royal responsibilities. “Do not speak to me as if I were a child. I am the ruler of all Changelings. It is up to me to decide what is best for my subjects. Isn’t that right, Cookie?”

The newborn changeling opened its mouth widely to yawn, letting out a spiteful hissing noise as it did so.

“You see, Hoax? Perhaps you need to take a lesson from the younger generation. Names are nothing but meaningless titles that give inferior species an excuse to feel special. What would we want with something so useless?”

Hoax set her clipboard to the ground and stared at it as she let out a quieter, slightly irritated buzz.

“What was that?” Chrysalis asked, hearing her secretary’s argument clear as day. “You disagree with your queen?”

Hoax shook her head and took as step backward, stammering a bit as she buzzed a response.

“You wish to keep your name? Why is that? What good does it do you?” Chrysalis inched closer to her secretary. “Why would you care if your name was taken from you? Surely you would feel honored to stand with your brethren as one of many in a collection of perfect uniformity.” She leaned forward, her fangs a few inches from her secretary’s face. “That is, you would if you are really a part of it.”

A drop of sweat ran down Hoax’s head as she began glancing away to avoid making eye contact with her queen. However, everywhere she looked, she only caught sight of the wide, glowing eyes of the newborn changelings that seemed to stare back like they were assisting her queen’s argument.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret, Hoax,” Chrysalis stated with a sinister smile. “Naming my hatchlings isn’t actually one of my responsibilities. Do you know why? Because my subjects don’t have names. My subjects don’t need names. What good is a name to a creature who can transform into anything? How can a single word properly define a creature without definite form? It cannot. None of my subjects have names. They never have, and they never will.”

The queen’s eyes glowed brightly, causing her secretary to topple over in fear. “So tell me, Hoax, why do you have a name?”

Having no response to make, Hoax sprung back onto her legs and scrambled in the opposite direction, running along the winding path as the hordes of piercing blue eyes of the newborn changelings made the chamber’s exit appear to be miles away.

As Hoax finally arrived at the double doors leading out of the chamber, her queen dropped out of the sky, landing right in front of her and cutting off her escape route. “You run fast, Hoax,” she said. “Why is that? Are your wings simply for show or does your ego just weigh you down?”

Hoax stammered as she tried to buzz another excuse, but the queen wasn’t listening.

Without another word, Chrysalis began rapidly rubbing her wings together to produce a shrill whistling sound. Instinctively, the hundreds of hatchlings around them began to do the same with their tiny, immature wings, filling the room with a deafening maelstrom of noise. Within seconds, an entire swarm of the queen’s fully grown subjects burst in through the windows of the hatchling chamber and hovered above them as they stared down, doubling the number of glaring eyes in the room.

“You certainly do look like a changeling, Hoax.” The queen’s horn lit up, and she released a stream of bright green magic that consumed her secretary’s body. “But you run just like a pony.”

The green aura gave way to reveal a purple-maned white unicorn mare wearing a silver pendant with a pink crystal in the center.

“Did you really think you could fool me?” Chrysalis asked as she ripped the pendant off the mare’s neck with her magic and looked it over.

The mare tried to respond but felt herself being strangled by the hundreds of gaping eyes watching her.

“A pony is still a pony no matter what feeble attempts you use to disguise it.” She threw the pendant to the ground and stomped it to pieces. “A weak, pathetic creature that’s not even fit to serve as my secretary.” She took a few steps forward and glared down at the intruding spy. “Tell me, pony, what is your name?”

“C-C-Candid,” the mare stammered. “Agent Candid Camera.”

The queen smiled brightly as her changelings encircled the terrified mare. “That’s a nice name, but let me ask you again: what good does it do you?”

---

The queen emerged from her hatchling chamber, glad that things were going ahead of schedule. The pony spies were always hard to resist toying around with since they were usually too frightened to say anything after their cover was blown, but luckily Chrysalis had managed to take care of this one in record time. The dragon spies and the griffon spies were much troublesome with their aggressive escape attempts and outrageous claims about ‘defeating the changelings’ and ‘stopping her plans’. It got pretty taxing when more than one showed up in the same week.

However, ponies were much simpler creatures. Their disguises were sloppy, their imitation skills were abysmal, and they always freaked out and gave themselves away after even a mellow breeze of suspicion tickled the backs of their necks.

Catching pony spies was definitely one of her favorite pastimes, but now that she was fresh out, it was time for her to attend to her less entertaining responsibilities as the queen of the changelings. She needed to deal with her kingdom’s ever-growing financial trouble. There were so many budget cuts that needed to be made, and as the queen, she was the one that needed to sort out where to make them. Things were so much simpler back when she had a more stable source of income, but there was no time to dwell on the past. She needed to stay focused and get her economy back in order.

Unfortunately, she was now down a secretary, and changeling tradition made the process of selecting a new one more complicated than it needed to be. However, before the queen could decide whether to go with a pie-eating contest or ultimate hide and seek, a messenger changeling crash landed in front of her to inform her of some pressing news.

After hearing the message, Chrysalis was a bit thrown off. “I know we captured the spy,” she responded to the changeling’s expeditious buzzing. “Weren’t you there with the rest of us? Didn’t you hear the signal?”

The changeling bowed its head and continued delivering the news as eloquently as it could.

“What do you mean you caught another one? You know it is the queen’s duty to tend to all matters of espionage personally. Are you telling me you resolved the situation on your own?” Chrysalis glared down at the earthbound changeling as a few others nearby stepped back in unison.

The changeling’s buzzing raised in pitch as it affirmed her question.

“How dare you!” Chrysalis barked, her eyes glowing in anger. “Have you forgotten how we work? Are you trying to disgrace the changeling name? What would possess you to do something so reckless and self-centered?”

The changeling buzzed five syllables that mitigated the queen’s anger almost immediately. She let out an exasperated groan and grumbled to the two changelings on her left as she stormed off, “Draw me a bath. Make sure it has bubbles. Lots of bubbles.”

---

Chrysalis crept through the damp murkiness of her dungeon alone, taking pleasure in the sight of the many sickly, green cocoons hanging from the ceiling, each one housing one of the vermin that dared to enter her kingdom without her say-so.

She could not enjoy it for long, though, for she was thrown off by the sight of their newest captive sprawled out underneath the assemblage of cocoons. Only, to the changeling queen, this particular captive was not new by any means.

“Hello, Diamond Tiara,” Chrysalis groaned, already sounding too annoyed to continue the conversation.

The pink filly was lying on a stone table, restrained by two heavy chains that ensnared her forelegs and connected to the wall directly behind her. She smiled as the changeling queen became visible from the eerie glow that reflected off the glistening cocoons above them.

“I think you mean Agent Tiara,” Diamond proudly responded. “Although, if you want to trade titles, I’d be fine with Queen Tiara too.”

“You’re really irritating. You know that?” the queen asked as she came to a stop to stand over her smiling prisoner.

“You say that to all the ponies you bring in here, don’t you?” Diamond asked with a smug grin.

Chrysalis gave her an annoyed look. “Only after the sixth time. What are you doing here? I thought I told you to never come back.”

“Well, that was your first mistake,” Diamond replied. “You should have known I’d be back after that.”

Chrysalis took a seat in her throne that one of her minions automatically slid in behind her, shutting her eyes tightly as she held back her anger. “How did you get caught this time? Did you come here dressed as a Filly Scout again?”

“Not this time. This time I wore a totally foolproof disguise, but your stupid bug things were too dumb to fall for it.”

Chrysalis looked to the changeling on her left who presented the disguise Diamond had used. It was a simple circular piece of paper with a string attached so it could be worn like a mask. Most of it was colored black in crayon on one side with two lumpy, green ovals that barely resembled eyes drawn on as well. There was also a large red mouth with several uneven, sharp teeth and no tongue. It looked like it had been thrown together in three minutes tops.

“This is your foolproof disguise?” Chrysalis asked in disbelief.

“It’s hideous, isn’t it?” Diamond asked, still smiling. “How more perfect could it be?”

Chrysalis charged up her horn and zapped the mask into oblivion before rising off her throne to respond, “I see you’re still as arrogant as you are insufferable. You even have the insolence to wear this silly little crown in my presence.” Chrysalis snagged her captive’s tiara right off, holding it up to look at it in the light.

“It’s not my fault that mine’s bigger than yours,” Diamond retorted, not even struggling to resist the queen’s thievery.

The changeling queen sneered at the headpiece. “A large crown can only fit on a large head.”

“Well a small head can only hold a small brain,” Diamond snarkily replied.

Chrysalis turned a taunting eye back toward the filly. “Remind me again which one of us is chained to a rock.”

Diamond scowled, turning her attention back to her crown. “Can I have that back? This place has like no lighting, and I don’t want you losing it in the dark.”

Chrysalis ignored her, placing the tiara at the edge of the chunk of stone where Diamond couldn’t reach it. “Tell me, Diamond Tiara, why would a spy wear such a gaudy, showy ornament on her head? Haven’t you learned that it makes you stand out like a broken wing?”

“I’m not walking around a place like this without my tiara,” Diamond replied. “What if someone confused me for one of your ugly bug things?”

Chrysalis paused, giving the restrained pony a curious look. “Is that a joke?”

“I don’t joke about myself,” Diamond said. “There’s no way I’m letting anypony think I’m an ugly bug thing, and I certainly can’t let you ugly bug things think I’m one of you. Just think what that would do to my reputation.”

Chrysalis planted foreleg into her eyebrow. “Yes, someone might actually think you’re a competent spy.”

“Shows what you know. Princess Celestia says I’m the greatest spy she’s ever seen. She told me I didn’t even need one of those lame disguise crystals all the other spies got.”

“Well if you’re such an amazing spy, why do you keep ending up in here?” Chrysalis challenged.

“I know how much you enjoy our quality time,” Diamond pleasantly replied. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”

Chrysalis angrily sat back down in her throne, mashing her teeth together and grumbling something about Princess Celestia.

“So, can I get my tiara back now?” Diamond whined, looking back toward the edge of the stone slab. “My head’s starting to get lonely.”

Chrysalis’s anger suddenly diminished and an impish smile took its place. “Of course you can. Here you go.” She levitated the crown right in front of Diamond’s face. Diamond casually leaned forward to grab it with her mouth, but the queen quickly jerked it away before she could. Then the chains attached to Diamond’s forelegs recoiled, sending her crashing back against the rocky piece of furniture.

“What’s wrong, Diamond Tiara? Don’t you want your reputation back?” Chrysalis asked tauntingly as she held it close for the filly to grab again.

Diamond jerked forward again more aggressively, trying to snag it before the queen could pull it back again, but she wasn’t fast enough, and the crown flew out of her reach as her metal restraints sent her straight back into the stone.

The queen sent a vicious uproar of laughter echoing throughout the dungeon. “I pity you, Diamond Tiara. So haughty, so sure of yourself, yet look at what you’ve been reduced to.”

“I could grab it if you stopped pulling it away.” Diamond strained as she rubbed the back of her head.

Chrysalis smirked. “You still don’t even realize it, do you?”

“Realize what? That your throne’s just a swivel chair with a block of wood taped to the top?”

“No,” Chrysalis replied, glancing at her throne, “I mean you still don’t realize why Celestia keeps sending you here.”

“Is it mind game time already? You really think they’ll work on Equestria’s best spy?” Diamond asked challengingly.

“I’m not sure,” Chrysalis replied, “but I’m positive they can work on you. Celestia’s already made that clear.”

“Really? You mean you two talk about me at your weekly tea parties?”

“Oh yes,” Chrysalis affirmed, walking around to the other side. “She simply won’t stop telling me about that obnoxious pink nuisance she simply can’t get rid of.”

“I’m not surprised,” Diamond said, turning on her side. “That party-crazed mare is always doing the most annoying things, and she’s not exactly the shiniest gemstone in the dirt mine if you know what I mean.”

“I think I do,” Chrysalis mumbled to herself.

“So what does Princess Celestia say about me?” Diamond asked, looking back to the queen. “Does she tell you how special and talented I am?”

“Stop speaking to me like that!” Chrysalis barked. “We’re not friends! You’re my prisoner. You’re supposed to be begging me to not lock you up in a cocoon for the rest of your meaningless life.”

“Me beg you?” Diamond asked, sounding insulted. “I’d rather take my chances with the cocoon. Besides, Princess Celestia would never send me somewhere that could happen.”

“You vapid swine, don’t you get it? She keeps sending you here because she wants that to happen! She’s trying to get rid of you!”

Diamond raised an eyebrow. “She’s trying to get rid of her best spy and the most amazing pony in her entire kingdom? I doubt that.”

“Fine then, Agent Tiara,” Chrysalis said, trying to stay calm, “since you’re so spectacular and apt at spying, let’s see you escape from those shackles that hold you in place. Go ahead. Show me how special you really are.”

“No, that’s okay,” Diamond replied, gazing up at the chains.

“What’s the problem?” Chrysalis said with a smile, placing her leg to her ear. “Are you not amazing enough to escape from a few measly chains?”

“No, that’s not it. It’s just that these chains are the only nice things you have in this place. I would hate to leave you with nothing.”

“Why you-” Chrysalis paused before exploding. “Fine.” Without another word, she flared her wings and began vibrating them, creating her cacophonous signal.

“What are you doing? That’s too loud!” Diamond asked, dropping her ears to her head to drown out the noise.

“Since you won’t show me how special you are, I’m going to show you,” the queen shouted as the sound of her call echoed throughout the chamber. “Make sure you pay close attention.”

In a matter of seconds, her army of changelings swarmed into the dungeon and hovered above the two. At the queen’s nod, they all dropped to the floor, their eyes all focused on the concerned filly.

Diamond regained her smug grin after the noise stopped. “Oh, I see. You brought all your bug things in here to show me how much prettier I am than them. How thoughtful.”

“Are you sure you’re prettier?” Chrysalis asked. “Perhaps you should look again.” The queen turned to her changeling army and extended her porous leg towards the relaxed filly. In response, all of them swiftly transformed into exact duplicates of Diamond Tiara, matching everything from her paradoxical mane to her mischievous smirk.

“Take a good look, Diamond Tiara,” Chrysalis proclaimed as she rose up off the ground, looking over the sea of purple, white, and pink. “This is what your beloved reputation will truly get you in life. This is the futility of your entire kind in its purest form. You can boast of your talents and claim to be as amazing as you wish, but there will always be an endless crowd of others like you attempting the same. All you offer is words, and those words can be imitated by anyone. You may think you shine brightly, little Diamond, but your shine is dulled in the presence of the uniform glow of your equals. You are nothing special. You are just a rock that thinks itself a gemstone. That’s all you are. Understand?”

An empty silence was all the queen heard in response.

“You have nothing to say? Where’s your sarcastic-”

The queen stopped as she caught sight of the filly’s face. She was expecting to find a look of teary-eyed speechlessness or horrific realization but looked down to find the filly wearing a jubilant, grandiose smile instead.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Chrysalis scathingly inquired as she flew back down onto the table. “You’re looking at your inferiority personified. How can you possibly enjoy this?”

“It’s...it’s just so beautiful,” Diamond replied, almost sounding choked up.

Chrysalis reached out and grabbed one of the Diamond clones, and plopped it onto the table in front of the genuine article. It looked confused for a moment before it went back to glaring at Diamond. “What is the matter with you, you ignorant piece of bubble gum? Are you even listening to what I’m saying? There’s nothing special about you. Everything you claim that makes you unique is commonplace. All of it can be duplicated. Your appearance, your mannerisms, your talents...” She picked up the tiara that lay on the table and placed it on the clone’s head as it proudly smiled. “Even your tiara. None of it has any significance, and it’s time you accepted the truth. You are an unremarkable pony...and a third-rate spy.”

Diamond squinted her eyes and leaned forward toward the queen. She vigorously held her gaze, unblinking as she silently stared at the fanged monarch’s smiling face. Finally, she broke the silence by pointing one of her back hooves toward the queen’s face. “Your crown’s made out of grass!” she exclaimed accusingly as the chains pulled her back onto the slab.

“What?” Chrysalis asked, taking a step back.

“I couldn’t tell at first, but it’s totally made of woven grass! What kind of kingdom is this? It can’t even afford a decent crown?”

Chrysalis growled and smacked the Diamond clone off the table, causing the tiara to fall to the ground. “I take it back. You are special, Diamond Tiara. Of all the ponies I’ve ever brought into my dungeon, you are by far the most disgusting.”

“Don’t feel bad. I’m sure you’ll catch another one someday.”

“I’ve caught more ponies than you’ve even met! That’s why I know exactly how meaningless your lives really are. Every single one of you is utterly obsessed with that egotistical marking you each wear on your hindquarters.”

“Aww, is someone bitter because she doesn’t have a cutie mark?” Diamond asked with pseudo-sympathy.

“I want nothing to do with those ridiculous little symbols of yours. They’re nothing more than an extension of that sense of pride that oozes from your pointless names. In fact, to most of you, the two are one in the same.”

“Are you going to be like this all day? You’re starting to bore me.”

“But your name doesn’t stop there, does it, Diamond Tiara? Your name extends beyond that. It goes so far as to take the form of a physical object that I can take away from you.” She lifted the tiara back into the air, placing it tauntingly close to Diamond’s face again. “Answer me this. How does it feel? Having your name held in front of your face while you lie there, helpless to get it back? What does it feel like to lose your name?”

“Lose my name?” Diamond asked, taking a moment to let that thought sink in. Her eyebrows narrowed the second it did. “Don’t make me laugh.”

Chrysalis frowned. “Did I say something funny?”

“You can’t take my name from me. It’s my name.”

“Your name is a an object you wear on your head. What does that make you?”

“It makes me great! It makes me special! It makes me better than all the cheap imitations of me you brought in here.”

“You’re still clinging to that lie? Why don’t you open your eyes? All of my changelings can impersonate you entirely. They can look like you, they can act like you, and guess what? All of them are capable of wearing a crown. What do you have that makes you any different than them?”

Diamond smirked. “My name. I’m the only one here named Diamond Tiara.”

Chrysalis’s face went blank. She started shaking in anger before looking bitterly at the ground. "You ponies and your names. Why do you worship them so much? What purpose do they serve other than give something for your mommy to call you by when you’re in trouble?”

“What do you mean ‘us ponies’? You have a name too,” Diamond argued.

Chrysalis jumped. “I have nothing of the sort," she sharply exclaimed. "Where did you hear such nonsense?”

“Princess Celestia said you had one. She wanted me to ask if I got the chance.”

“Celestia,” Chrysalis growled in pure hatred.

“It’s something embarrassing, isn’t it?” Diamond laughed. “Like Limp Noodle or Buggy.”

Chrysalis slammed down on the table next to Diamond’s face. “You little imp! I could have you stuffed and made into a scarecrow for saying that!”

“Yeah, right. You let me go the last eight times I was here. Why would the ninth be any different?”

Chrysalis thought for a moment, then smiled again. “Perhaps I should keep you here this time. You’d be a lot less trouble if you were locked up.”

“Listen, Buggy, I know you think you’re all powerful and all because I let you capture me all the time, but now you’re just talking crazy.”

“Am I? You’re a spy. According to you, you’re the spy. As far as I know, you know all of my secrets. I can’t let someone like that roam free.”

“Your secrets? What do I care about your dumb secrets?” Diamond asked.

Chrysalis’s eyes went wide with shock. “You cannot be serious! Are you telling me you’ve invaded my kingdom nine times and haven’t even made an attempt to learn what we’re planning?”

“I didn’t come here to learn stuff. I get enough of that at school. I'm just here to have fun and be a totally amazing spy like always.”

Chrysalis slammed her head against the wooden plank attached to her throne.

“You know, maybe if you had an awesome name like mine, you could-” Diamond’s boasting was interrupted as she felt her chains unshackle. She was consumed by a green aura, jerked off the table, and set upright on the ground.

“Here,” Chrysalis huffed as she shoved Diamond’s tiara back onto her head and pushed her toward the exit. “Get out of my kingdom. I never want to see you here again, understand?”

“Okay, see you next month, Buggy!” Diamond confidently strolled past the ocean of her clones, oblivious to the angry stares all of them were giving her. She kept going until she was out of sight, disappearing into the sunlight that seeped into the cave.

“She still has so much to learn,” Chrysalis mumbled to herself after Diamond had left. Then she heard a meek buzzing at her side coming from one of her subjects that had reverted to its normal form.

“I’ve already told you. She would make a worthless prisoner. All of her love is directed to nowhere but herself.” She turned to face the crowd of Diamonds beside her. “Is my bath ready yet?” she asked, causing them to quickly speed off and return momentarily with a large platinum basin filled to the brim with a thick, bubbling, green liquid.

Chrysalis apathetically flew into the tub, not even bothering to take her grass crown off first. “Leave me,” she commanded. “I wish to enjoy the serenity of my chamber in silence.”

At her command, the hundreds of changelings around her all reverted to normal and flew off through the many crevices that led into the throne room dungeon cave.

Chrysalis leaned back in her royal tub, letting the acidic slime burn her tension away. Checking to make sure she was completely alone, she reached to the bottom of the tub and pulled out her special black hairbrush that was still in good condition even after all these years. She looked down at the handle, scowling at the inscription written across it.

To Chrysalis With All My Love - ¢

“I can’t believe she told her about my name,” she muttered to herself. “I swear, if Celestia sends my granddaughter to spy on us one more time, I’m launching a full-scale invasion on Canterlot just to tell her off.”

Author's Note:

This story was supposed to be called From Equestria With Love. Then Chrysalis found out about it.

Comments

[Mattricole]

I'm in love with this story, please make this into a full blown multi chap story full of awesome !!!!

[Themaskedferret]

oh god yes.

[ServingSpoon]

“I can’t believe she told her about my name,” she muttered to herself. “I swear, if Celestia sends my granddaughter to spy on us one more time, I’m launching a full-scale invasion on Canterlot just to tell her off.”

that was AWESOME!