Chrysalis scoffed under her breath as she read the latest reports from her scouts. "Tch... More about the Archmother and whatever it's building now," She remarked, sliding off of her throne. "Soon I will be able to send them to spy on something else..." She muttered, pacing along her throne room to elsewhere in her hive.
The hive, for all its activity, was fairly cold. It sat at the fringes between a few Auroras, staying lit, but not well-heated. Chrysalis shivered a bit as she walked through the tunnels, carefully weaving through. "Soon we will have our in, and then things will finally warm up," She muttered.
After some more crawling around, she found the chamber she'd been after.
The gestation room of Chrysalis' hive had needed some adjustment for her latest project, with even alicorn-sized chrysalises proving too small for the creature needed. But, sitting in the middle of the room was a particularly large vessel, containing the particularly portly form of some sort of changeling.
Chrysalis stepped forward, circling around the vessel to inspect her drones' hoofiwork. The creature was taller than her, and yet much larger by build and mass. "Tch... Such a waste of biomass," She murmured, taking in the features. While making a non-gnarled horn had proven unfeasible given what changeling horns were typically made of, the rest of the creature was a surprisingly reasonable facsimile of a large puppet, sporting a couple of orifices, three side-heads, and an appropriately heavy figure. While some adjustments had been made in response to arrival of Cardion, the idea of replicating such a powerful creature had been irresistible for the changeling queen.
Chrysalis licked her lips, before turning to one of the drones who'd been tending to the creature's development. "You," She sniped. "How long before she is ready for hatching and training?" She asked.
"She will be ready very shortly, your highness," The drone replied. "We are just ensuring her shell is set."
"Excellent," Chrysalis smirked. "Soon we will have what we need to make our mark..." She remarked. "Have the guards bring the prisoner in. I want to test her connection before we waste too many more resources on her."
"Of course, your highness," The drone nodded, scuttling off to share the orders.
Chrysalis leaned against the large vessel, stroking a hoof along it. "You have a great responsibility to our hive, young one... You had best not take this effort forgranted," She remarked.
After an hour or so of preparations, including bringing a captured Reconcilant to the gestation room, the vessel had finally been drained and was ready to crack open. Chrysalis neatly slit the casing with her horn, puffing softly. "Rise and shine, creature..." She murmured, reaching in to lightly smack the equine awake.
The large beast's eyes slowly opened, blinking a few times. Its eyes were compound, but the colour had managed to match that of Hyacinth's own irises almost perfectly. It looked down at Chrysalis, sitting cumbersomely in the crumbling vessel.
"Good. You are awake," Chrysalis puffed. "Speak, puppet. You will do us little good if you cannot communicate."
The large creature blinked slowly, opening its mouth. The voice that came out was a harsh, unpracticed croak: "Mm...oth...er..." It managed.
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "We will work on it," She muttered. "Now, for your next task, assume control of your sibling," She stated, pointing behind her at the bound Reconcilant currently being held in place by a group of guards as it tried to squirm free of the ropes around it.
The large creature glanced over at the Reconcilant. It squinted, tilting its head. It did not come naturally to the large creature, but eventually, the Reconcilant went still, glancing back neutrally at the large beast. "Sss...cared..." The creature murmured.
"It is a prisoner," Chrysalis remarked, rolling her eyes. "But you will keep it calm. Bring it close to you," She commented, nodding at the guards to release their grip on the puppet's bindings.
The large creature strained as it directed the Reconcilant, clumsily standing up to meet the puppet halfway. It gently stroked the Reconcilant's head, trying to calm the smaller creature.
Chrysalis was unmoved by the display of tenderness, but seemed satisfied regardless. "Good. You seem to be adequate," She remarked. "Your name will be Ester, do you understand?" She asked.
Ester nodded. "Yes... Es...ter," She replied slowly, her voice starting to lighten up some as she "woke up".
"Now, keep control on that thing," Chrysalis puffed. "They are the safest puppet we could find you. It will be your sibling."
Ester nodded, rubbing the Reconcilant's head again. "Sibling..." She murmured softly. After a moment, she scooped the Reconcilant into a hug, nuzzling it. "Sibling..." She repeated.
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "You didn't need to glomp the thing," She remarked, turning away. "Come, Ester. You will need to be taught some things before we 'return' you to the Archmother."
Ester set the Reconcilant down, following Chrysalis with her puppet in tow. She and it both had some trouble navigating the tunnels designed for narrower, more flexible changelings, but she managed to follow Chrysalis up to the throne room.
"Now," Chrysalis began as they arrived. "You will be expected to disguise yourself for extended periods of time, including when you are sleeping. Your disguised form should remain similar to your natural shape. A transformation like this," She interrupted herself, transforming herself into the spitting image of Celestia, "Is much easier to maintain than something like this," She continued, transforming herself into a large spider, before transforming back to her original shape. "Use your puppet for the colours. That will be important for you to match," She puffed. "And make sure it does not see you transform."
Ester rubbed her chin as she made the Reconcilant turn around. Her form already looked fairly close to it, really. She just needed fur and some colour changes. She allowed herself to transform, keeping more or less the same shape and size, only now her horns were more unicornish, and she was appropriately pastel blue and pink for the job. "What about... This?" She asked.
Chrysalis rubbed her chin. "Good, you listened to my instructions," She remarked. "Hide the horns on the heads on your side. They seem to be featureless in most cases."
Ester nodded, making the adjustments as needed. It was only three short horns to hide, and the result was fairly convincing. She effectively looked like a large Reconcilant.
Chrysalis smirked. "Good. This should fool them," She remarked. "Now that you are disguised, there is only one more thing to test," She added. "Prepare yourself. This must be authentic," She commented. She reared up on her hind legs, throwing a punch at Ester's cheek.
Ester flinched and stumbled back, whimpering as she was hit. From her leg, however, came a pupa, hatching into... Decidedly not a puppet. At least not one of Hyacinth's. A modestly sized changeling-ish creature, with pale pink eyes. By changeling standards, it was fairly nondescript: A horn, a pair of insect wings, and a moderate build. Effectively a drone, adapted to settle neatly under Ester's command.
Chrysalis rubbed her chin as she settled down. "You will have to disguise it on the fly. Your connection is also via some obfuscated magic, not the psionics, so be careful if ponies get suspicious of you and start trying to sniff out the spells used. Finding a way to bind you to their gestalt was difficult enough..." She muttered. "Oh, and you must be wary of the puppets with the purple shells. No doubt, they would have a field day indoctrinating you and breaking your cover," She added.
Ester blinked and nodded, providing a similar transformation to her own to the small changeling: Horn and wings replaced appropriately, and colours adapted accordingly. It almost passed as a small alicorn, save for the eyes.
Chrysalis rubbed her chin. "We will iron out the kinks, but you are learning quickly," She cocked a grin. "I will train you into a proper infiltrator, Ester. When you leave this hive, you will be an ideal tool for us to manipulate the Archmother with," She expressed.
Ester nodded, just patting the head of both the small creature she'd just spawned as well as the captured Reconcilants. There was a disconnect in her mind, as thoughts of gentleness flowed into her from her psionic connection while her mind tried to heed Chrysalis' instructions. Why did she have to manipulate anyone? Couldn't they just be friends?