I woke to the sensation of rolling down a hill... opening my eyes, I was greeted to everything spinning. "Did I get drunk and wind up on the ceiling fan again?"

"Nope." Oh, hi Ribbon.

"Can you put me down please...?" I feel myself stop spinning, and am slowly lowered to the ground.

"Thank you."

"Hmmmmm..." I notice Ribbon staring at me intently.

"What?"

"I was thinking about your miasma, why it's so terrifying. Twilight was breathing the stuff, but yours flows out of you mane."

I take a good look at my mane. "Are you saying my mane is made of miasma?"

"Well it's certainly in it." Okay now I have to wonder, can I manipulate it? Feeling for my miasma, I don't release it, but instead follow its path to my mane, and feel the miasma in my mane itself, before manipulating it, and feel my mane twitch a bit. When not much else happens, I can't help but scratch my chin and try to figure out what I did wrong. I hear Ribbon snickering, and look at her, before realize I still have all four hooves on the ground... then what am I scratching my chin wit- I notice that my mane has been scratching my chin, and how I can FEEL it scratching my chin.

"Aright, my mane counts as a limb, go figure."

"What about your tail?"

Good point. Feeling towards my tail, I receive the same twitch and feeling, before arching my tail.

Ribbon begins laughing. ""It's a good thing I put that door there, or you'd be flashing the guards!" After getting her giggle fit under control, she resumes. "Maybe don't use the tail." I nod, before an idea hits me.

I smile. "You know, if I could become indistinguishable from a normal changeling, I don't think griffons would eve try to capture one again, out of fear that it might really be ME."

"You think it's worth trying? In that case, I'll be right there to bail you out when you're caught." I immediately feel something get put in my brain... ah, changeling biology, interesting... a silk spinner under the tongue? Did not know about that, at least Ribbon told me how they stick to walls and produce gel. Hunter class... interesting, venomous fangs. Okay, If I'm going to look like one, I need a distinguishing feature... oh yes, that will do nicely. Focusing, I transform, but my eyes remain unchanged, other than a second pair of transparent eyelids, that mimic what a changelings eyes normally look like, and open vertically instead of horizontally. "You did good, for your first try. You look like any other hunter." She looks me in the eyes, and I open the inner pair of eyelids. Ribbon jumps back, surprised. "Now you look like a Proto Queen..."

"Apparently, my eyes don't change when I shapeshift, so I had to improvise the second pair of eyelids as a workaround."

"Clever, and you could use it to trick others into think you ha-" something catches Ribbons attention, and she looks off to the side, smiling.

"What?"

She hums, something having earned her approval. "Nothing." She looks me in the face. "You did a good job on your disguise."

"So, what do you wanna do?"

"Wanna just go for a walk?"

"Works for me."

Following Ribbon, I made sure to close the inner pair of eyelids, and kept close to her, as we trotted off in the direction of Ponyville. Upon getting there, we were greeted by Lyra and Bon-Bon.

Lyra is quick to point out my apparent absence. "Oh hey Ribbon, wheres Chi? I've practically never seen you without her nearby."

Ribbon quickly bullshits her way out. "I'm supposed to get out more."

"Fair enough, whos your friend there?"

I snap to attention and give Lyra a salute. "Juri, ma'am!" Hehe, didn't think I could be serious, could you?

Bon-Bon tilted her head in curiosity. "Why do you even bother? Everypony knows, and you've even got a guard with you..."

"Ponies are more likely to notice the guard, but not who she's following." I swear, she's gonna start pulling tanks out from behind lampposts with that kind of tactical brilliance.

"Hey Ribbon! Who's your friend?" Ah, that be Dash. While shes busy talking to Ribbon, I formulate a plan.

"Lean and firm, just how I like em..." I lick my lips, giving Rainbow a lusty look. "Names Juri cutie, and we might be having some fun later..." Rainbow literally drops to the ground blushing and trying to force her wings back down.

Ribbon barely manages to suppress a laughing fit, and turns to Lyra and Bon-Bon. "This is why I brought her." By this point, Rainbow had run off to hide in shame.

Lyra coughs into her hoof. "Well, that happend..."

-Think we should go see Scoots?-

'Yeah, she's been staying at our house instead of the orphanage a lot lately.'

-I feel for the filly, I really do.-

'... You gave her a key, right?'

-More like made a dupe out of that metal I can make, THAT took a lot of concentration to get the shape right.-

'I can bet.' The house came into view. "The house is still standing, so no Cutie-mark crusaders: house sitters has happened."

-But what about interior designers?- Ribbon quickly picks up the pace, worried.

When we enter, theres no horrible furniture or eldritch abominations, Just Gary, curled around Scootaloo, both of them sleeping peacefully.

"Aww, do you think the smell of food will wake them up?"

At the mention of food, Scootaloo bolts upright, with Gary still curled up on the floor. "FOOD! WHE- Oh hey Ribbon."

"Nevermind then."

Scootaloo looks at me intently. "Who's this?"

"Its just Chi, Scootaloo." When Ribbon said that, I opened my inner pair of eyelids, causing her to stare at me in awe.

"Woooooaaaaaah."

I chuckled. "I know, right?"

Somepony starts knocking on the door, and Ribbon goes to open it, only to be greeted by a worried Celestia. "I am sorry for the unannounced visit, but this was too sensitive to even reference in a letter."

Ribbon appears incredibly nervous. "What about?"

"There is something wrong with her, ever since we put her in confinement, she hasn't moved except to breath, and recently she has begun showing signs of severe malnourishment despite being fed via tube."

-I thought she was dead?-

Ribbon quickly glances to me and then back to Celestia. "Food is only used to make gel. H-how is she still alive if she doesn't move?"

"Thats why I needed you Ribbon, and Chi as well." She glances at me when she says that.

"Uh, yeah. I guess we can try and help. You said she can't move right?"

Celestia nods. "I'll teleport us there myself." Her horn cast a golden glow, before we are teleported to Canterlot. When the spots disappear from my eyes, I close the secondary eyelids, and notice that we are just outside a padded room. Looking in the small window on the door, I spot and unnaturally thin Chrysalis, tied to a bed, with several tubes leading into her body, as well as a heartbeat monitor. There was some kind of ring on her horn, I guess to suppress her magic. If it weren't for the monitor and the rise and fall of Chrysalis's chest, I would have assumed she was dead, as her eyes had not only turned a dead icy blue, but were no longer reptilian, and instead looked like a drones.

"Oh, my. She looks absolutely starved."

Celestia sadly shakes her head. "We tried feeding her. Tube, IV, nothings worked."

"Again, we only eat so we can make gel. She needs love."

-I think she needs a love transfusion, Ribbon. You're probably going to need a lot of love to do that.-

'Pretty sure I'm good on love.' Ribbon gulps, loudly. "Could you let me in?"

You ain't going in there alone. "I'm going in there with you."

Celestia nods. "Very well." She uses her magic to unlock and open the door. We walk in, and stand on either side of Chrysalis, who hasn't moved an inch. Ribbon audibly gulps, before several tendrils of pink magic flow from her horn, and into Chrysalis, who's breathing slowly becomes steadier and deeper.

"That answers the malnourishment, but what about how she hasn't moved?"

"All changelings have a hivemind, even rogue changelings. The stronger the connection the clearer our eyes are. she's a Queen type, but her eyes are still foggy. I don't know if her connection to her own hivemind is just that weak, or if it's gone. if it's weak, I could move her around like a puppet, because I'd be stronger than her. But if its gone..."

Celestia had walked in behind us at some point. "What do you mean 'our eyes become clearer'?"

"If its gone...?" Yeah, thats the more important question.

"She'll be stuck in this bed until... until she dies." Oh my god... both me and Celestias faces morph into a look of horror.

"Try and move her then."

"I'd need to connect to her." .Ribbon takes a deep breath. Soon, Chrysalis' eyes slowly turn from blue to green, and she lifts one of her hooves... Ribbon backs off and Chrysalis' eyes turn blue again. "She's not weak, she's very strong but her hivemind still does what I want."

"Why would it do that? I would think she would fight you tooth and nail."

"I-i don't know. It's like she wasn't even there." She's practically in a waking coma...

"She's locked herself in the depths of her own mind." I paused thinking of what I could do to get her out of there. AHA! "Ribbon, I have an idea, I'm going to use the sleep spell to put her to sleep, and enter her dream."

"Just be careful. You're giving her the advantage."

"I dont care, I wouldn't wish her current fate on my worst enemy." Casting the spell, I watch as Chyrsalis's eyes close, and her breathing slows. Holding a hoof to her forehead, I close my eyes, and let myself drift...

I was standing in an empty expanse of whiteness. Choosing a random direction, I began walking. After what felt like hours, I heard a faint crying. Trying to locate its source, I eventually discovered a small black pinprick in the endless sea of white. Approaching it, I heard faint whispering. When I reach it, I absentmindedly poke it, causing a small series of cracks to spread from it.

A huge blast of wind hits me, and in it I hear a multitude of voices, while two particular phrases stand out from how many times they are repeated. 'Ponies are food and enemies, and that is all they are.' and 'A Queen never shows weakness.' As well as an intense feeling of sorrow. Before the wind increases tenfold, and everything fades.

I reel back, feeling like I had just been punched in the gut, and watch as Chrysalis blinks and twitches a few times, before beginning to stare at Ribbon, who was too afraid to look away. "Chi, what did you do!?"

"I poked the one thing in the dream that wasn't an endless void of white, and it spread cracks, before assaulting me with what I think were memories and emotions... I'm starting to think Chrysalis was conditioned to be the way she was, as that emotion was sorrow and intense regret, while the two phrase from the memories that stood out to me were 'a Queen never shows weakness', and 'ponies are enemies and food.' I think what I did in my confrontation with her finally got through to her, and the guilt of what she did was too much."

"So you woke her up? Then why are her eyes still glazed over?"

"It wasn't that big a crack, and I think her consciousness is behind it."

"So she's only a little bit there."

"Yeah."

She stares back at Chrysalis, curiosity in her eyes. "Are you there, Chrysalis?" Chrysalis opens her mouth, and a long, low gurgle escapes from it.

Wow. THAT little got through!? "I'll take that as a yes..." Crysalis just continues to stare blankly at Ribbon.

'Why is she staring at me?'

-I have no clue.-

"S-stop staring at me..." upon Ribbon saying that, Chrysalis slowly rolled her head so she was staring at the ceiling instead.

"Now what do we do with her?"

"We can't just leave her like this..."

"... We could put her in a pod. If I'd known she was in this bad a condition, she'd already be in one."

"One question, how would the hive react to this?"

Ribbon sighs loudly. "Not well. looks like you're about to learn of to make a pod."

We eventually got the pod containing Chrysalis into the basement, once again confused as to how Scootaloo slept through such racket. Ribbon was just finishing hanging it, when I felt a familiar sensation in my nethers...

I hate heat...

...