Celestia

Luna, Chrysalis and I left the throne room, Chrysalis shedding her robes on the way. Luna and I shared a look of discomfort as the queen of changelings walked next to us, nude.

"Um… Queen Chrysalis?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"Why are you naked?"

"Why do you ask? Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"A little bit." said Luna. "It feels weird to be walking through the halls while the queen of a rival kingdom has her breasts out."

"I don't have breasts right now." she said. "Nor do you two. We're disguised as drones."

"We're males?" I asked.

"No. Drones are genderless. So are guards and workers. The only changelings with gender are the ones who lay eggs; The Kings and Queens."

"Kings lay eggs as well?" I asked, pushing the main door open.

"Sure do. For us, gender doesn't really matter, except that we need certain organs, you know, reproductive organs and mammary glands."

"That's gross and oddly intriguing." I said.

"Well, what do you ponies do?"

"When a mommy pony and a daddy pony love each other very much…" began Luna.

"I know how that works! What I don't understand is the importance of gender."

"Pony birth requires a mare and a stallion." I said.

"Plus, mares are the only ones who have breasts for feeding infants." chimed Luna.

"Huh. Learn something new everyday." said Chrysalis as we headed towards town. We moved in silence for about ten minutes until we were outside of the borders of Canterlot. That's when I had a thought.

"Why are we walking? Can't we teleport? Or fly?" I asked.

"My children are loyal, but not very bright. All they know is what I teach them, and I never explained teleportation to them. Unless they see me teleporting in, they'll freak out. We can't fly because that would make them think that we're under attack. They only get in the air for emergencies."

"So we have to walk all the way to your kingdom?" asked Luna.

"It's not actually that far. A mile or so north." said Chrysalis.

"How is that possible? I've never even seen your kingdom before." I said.

"You'll see. I have a question. Why is Twilight still a unicorn?"

"She refused to transform. When the process started, she stopped it. Don't know why she would ever want to do that, but Mom always has her reasons." said Luna.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Chrysalis. "Why do you care?"

"We just want to help out however we can." I said. "Why did you ask Mom for help?"

"I couldn't do this alone and all of my allies are either dead, untrustworthy or both." she said, stopping in a grassy meadow just to the left of a river.

"Why did we stop?" asked Luna.

"We're here." said Chrysalis.

"Are you crazy? This is an empty field." I said. Without answering, Chrysalis stomped her left hoof hard on the ground. The grass swirled beneath her, revealing a long staircase that led into the depths of the planet. The queen directed us down the cool stone stairs, which went down for quite a while, at least a mile down. When we reached the bottom, my jaw dropped. A huge cavern, many times larger than Canterlot, with homes and buildings carved from stone and some web-like substance. Luna and I looked around in wonder, blown away by the strange beauty of the changeling kingdom. Around the city, hundreds of changelings were bustling around, fixing houses and running errands.

"Queen Chrysalis?" I said. "This is breath-taking."

"Truly awe-inspiring." said Luna.

"I know. It's wonderful. Now you see why I wish to be able to rule it properly." said Chrysalis. "Let's hurry this up so that I can go back to my throne."

"What do we do, Chrysalis?" I asked.

"I have a spy in the city somewhere. We should probably meet up with him." whispered the queen, looking around uneasily. "Oh, and ix-nay the hrysalis-Cay. Call me Transfus while we're in the city."

"What about us? Don't we need aliases as well?" I asked.

"Contorta and Innovo." she said, pointing to me, then Luna. Princess Contorta. I liked it. Cool name. For a changeling.

"Okay, Transfus. Where do we find this… friend of yours?" I asked.

"Contra is somewhere by town hall."

"Wait a moment." said Luna. "If all drones look the same, how will we know if it's Contra?"

"I'll ask him a question. If he answers it properly, that's how I'll know its him." she said.

"What's the question?" asked Luna.

"'Have you seen the queen lately?'" said Chrysalis. "The answer should be 'Yes, and she looked lovely.'"

"Interesting." I said. "Where do we go?"

"Just ahead." said Chrysalis. "Walk quietly and don't brandish your weapons around. Don't look at anypony, don't talk to anypony and don't touch anypony. If a changeling touches a brother, they get a sort of mental spark. They'll know you're imposters."

"Okay. You don't have to tell us twice." said Luna, following behind Chrysalis as she led us through the city. We moved quietly, Luna and I being careful not to reveal our weapons. I inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of musty earth. It was not as I expected, this deep into the planet. It was surprisingly cool and moist.

"Innovo?" I asked. Luna took a minute to realise that I was talking to her, then turned and gave me a quizzical look. "How is it so cool?"

"You mean the temperature? I'm not sure." she answered.

"Changelings are cold-blooded. We cast a spell on this cavern to keep it at an ideal temperature." whispered Chrysalis. "Stop asking dumb questions. We're nearing town hall." She pointed to a tall, round building made of gray stone and that web stuff. Blocking the main entrance was two changelings that looked very different than us. They were larger than us, about 7 feet, and they seemed to be organically armored. Instead of the thin plating that the drones had, these changelings had thick, gray, bony armor.

"Guards." whispered Chrysalis. "I'll deal with this." She walked forward towards the guards with purpose and poise.

"State your name and business." said one of the guards.

"Colonel Transfus of the C.A.C third division. These are my subordinates, Privates Contorta and Innovo. We're here to prepare the First Company for Operation Checkmate." said Chrysalis, saluting.

"I'll need to see some ID." said the other guard.

"Oh, but of course." She opened her mouth wide and shoved her hand down her throat. She reached around for a while, me and Luna trying not to puke, then pulled out a plastic card. She waved it in front of the guards who looked at it very briefly. They seemed pleased enough, because they stepped out of the way.

"You seem to check out. Go on ahead." said the first guard.

"Thank you. Contorta! Innovo! Fall in!" shouted Chrysalis. Luna and I rushed in next to her as she walked in.

"Down with Chrysalis." muttered the guards. I didn't think about it, I was much too focused on following my sister. Chrysalis stopped next to a changeling standing near the far wall.

"Have you seen the queen lately?" she asked.

"Yes, and she looked lovely." replied Contra. That's our man.

"Excellent. I need you on the First Company. Where is the rendezvous?" asked Chrysalis.

"In the basement. I will lead you there." said Contra. He brung us to a flight of steps that descended into darkness. Uneasily, I followed spy down the stairs. When we reached the landing, he snapped his fingers, sending a small ball of green light out of his horn. It hovered around near him until her flicked it with his index finger. The ball flew up, then expanded to illuminate the entire room.

"We don't have a lot of time, my queen." he said, dropping to a quick bow. "Even less time than before."

"Why is that?" asked Chrysalis. Contra got to his hooves quickly, then transformed his right hand into a blunt club.

"Because there are two Equestrian spies behind you!" he shouted, smacking me on to of my head. That's the last thing I remembered before blacking out

---

Luna

"What the heck!" I shouted angrily, watching my sister crumple to the floor, unconscious. "Is that how you treat your royalty?!"

"Contra, that was the cavalry. I'm very aware of who I'm working with." asked the queen. "That was Princess Celestia of Equestria and the Crystal Empire. Please tend to her and make sure she wakes up."

"Apologies, your highness. I'm just a little jumpy. C.A.C is becoming a household name, Operation Checkmate is happening soon, and I don't know how we're going to stop them." he replied, throwing my sister over his shoulder. He made his way over to a large war table and threw my Celestia onto it.

"Yes, they do seem to be amassing followers. Are there any who oppose them?" asked Chrysalis.

"Besides me? No. I'm the only loyalist. All of the others are with the C.A.C."

"Someone better explain to me what the C.A.C is!" I said angrily.

"Changelings Against Chrysalis." said Chrysalis. "The rebellion."

"And what is 'Operation Checkmate'?"

"My capture, public torture, and execution. Something that we don't want to happen."

"How do we stop them?" I asked.

"First, you have to understand what we're up against." said Contra. "There are 4 companies. Company One is the planning squad. Company Two consists of capture squads and hit teams."

"Company Three is reserve army. They deal with the torture and execution, intelligence scouting and etcetera. Company Four is public relations." said Chrysalis.

"Why do they need a PR department?" I asked. "Aren't they all in on it?"

"Not for the changelings. For the Equestrians." said Contra bitterly. "You didn't seem to notice for the past six months."

"This has been going on for six months?" I asked.

"Of course, the pretty little princess of Equestria didn't notice. This is unfair. My queen shouldn't need to ask you for help."

"Sometimes life gives you lemons and you have to make lemonade." said Chrysalis.

"But still! I thought you were supposed to get Twilight Sparkle."

"Twilight Sparkle is too busy to help us out. We had to settle for her daughters. They'll have to do for now."

"Yes, mother." he said.

"So we have four companies to deal with." I said. "What's the plan?"

"Well, there's Companies One through Four, which are the enemy. We are Company Zero. The point of Company Zero is to cripple the C.A.C and prevent Operation Checkmate from falling through."

"How many enemies are we dealing with?" I asked, taking in every little piece of information I could.

"2 million in each Company." said Chrysalis.

"So it's 8 million versus four?" I asked.

"That about sums it up."

"Hahaha!" I chuckled. I laughed and laughed, leaning against the wall for support. "8 million changelings!"
"What's so funny?" asked Contra angrily. "We're royally screwed and you're having a giggle?"

"8 million changelings!" I repeated, snapping my fingers. Celestia sat up instantly, a faint blue smoke leaving her ears. "Tia! Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" she asked, rubbing the top of her head. "Ow! That hurt!"

"We have to take on 8 million changelings!" I laughed. She took in what I said and burst into laughter as well.

"Ha! 8 million! That's hilarious!" she said.

"What is so funny?!" asked Contra angrily.

"It's just that you said 8 million. I thought this would take us a couple of weeks." I said.

"Now you know the severity of our situation?" said Contra.

"I'll be surprised if this takes us more than a day!" said Celestia.

"If you're so confident, what do we do?" asked Chrysalis.

"Luna, can you give me a sitrep?" asked Celestia.

"Four companies, two million each. Companies consist of planning, capture, intel, and PR squads." I listed. "What do you got?"

"I'll take out intel." said Celestia.

"I'll deal with planning."

"Then we can band together eliminate the capture squad and take over PR. After we have that…"

"We convince the rest of the changelings to accept Chrysalis as her queen!" I finished. "Such a brilliant plan! If I didn't know any better, I'd say we came up with it ourselves. Oh wait, we did!"

"That is not a plan." said Contra. "That is a very vague goal."

"Hold on, Contra, they still think they got it." said Chrysalis. "Let me drop something else on you: You can't kill anypony. I want no casualties at all."

"You just love making things interesting don't you Chrysalis?" I said with a smile. "It'll take a few small adjustments to the plan, but we can make it work."

"Are you sure? Because this is important. If any of my children are harmed, I will kill the both of you!"

"You don't have to threaten us, Chrysalis. We know, and we'll be sure that they all make it out alive." said Celestia. "Now, if you would give us a little more information, we'll be able to get started, get finished, and get out of your mane."

"I'm not joking. I will kill you, your friends, your family, everyone you've crossed in the streets and use your bones to make a new throne! Don't kill any of them!" said Chrysalis hysterically.

"Contra, what else do you know about the rebellion?" I asked, ignoring Chrysalis.

"Well, Company One normally bases around town hall. Companies Three and Four are in the castle. We have no clue where Company Two is." reported Contra.

"I'm sure Company Three knows." said Celestia. "Who goes after them?"

"I'll do it. You'll get Company One?" I asked.

"Okay. Contra will accompany me." said Celestia.

"Yes. Chrysalis, with me." I said, dragging the queen upstairs. When we reached the ground floor, we were grasped by two guards.

"Colonel Transfus?" asked one.

"Yessir!" said Chrysalis, saluting.

"We need you to lead the scouting platoon. Are you ready?"

"Um… Of course. Where's the rest of the squad?"

"Right outside. Do you need a sitrep?"

"Yes, please."

"Queen Chrysalis is thought to be on the surface. You have to find her and figure out what she knows. You are not to let her know that you're tailing her. Do you understand?"

"Yessir!" said Chrysalis, saluting once more.

"Godspeed, Colonel." said the guards, releasing us. "Down with Chrysalis!"

"Down with Chrysalis." answered Chrysalis half-heartedly.

"Down with Chrysalis." I muttered, leaving town hall behind the Queen. Outside was a gathering of a couple thousand changelings, all of which saluted on the sight of Chrysalis.

"At ease." she said. "Okay. I'm new to this platoon, so who used to be in charge?"

"That'd be me." said a changeling, stepping forward. "Lieutenant Mite. How may I serve?"

"Stick with Private Innovo here." said Chrysalis. "Don't let her out of your sight."

"Yessir!" said the Lieutenant. "What do we do?"

"To the surface. I have questions and I want answers."