Thysa sat next to the window, still disguised and looking outside with a slightly bored expression. Applejack had taken Apple Bloom and Scootaloo back to Sweet Apple Acres, and she had nopony to play with. She was startled out of her musings when a glass containing some sort of milky liquid and a straw was placed right next to her.

Thysa blinked at it, then followed the claws holding it there to Spike, who was grinning at her sheepishly. “H-hey,” Spike stammered. “Um, you looked a little lonely so I brought you a milkshake?”

“Oh,” Thysa blinked at the milkshake before sipping a bit. Her face immediately brightened. “Wow! This is delicious!”

Spike blushed a little bit. “Well, thanks! I made it myself, with the best ingredients! I didn’t know if you liked strawberry, so I made it chocolate. Everypony loves chocolate.”

“Oh, Spike! I do love chocolate!” Thysa cried, giving him a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek that sent the dragon stammering back. “You’re so considerate!”

“W-well,” Spike gulped. “W-we s-silent types have to stick together, right?”

Thysa giggled. “You’re so cute!” She batted her eyes at him. “So… are you seeing anypony?”

Spike gulped.

“You know, I can turn into a dragon…”

Rarity, looking once more like a regular female drone, stopped in her tracks. The covered plate she had been carrying teetered in place for a second, but she kept the balance just fine.

“Is something wrong?” Luna asked, looking around warily.

“No,” Rarity said after a moment of baffled blinking. “I just felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. And I don’t know why.”

“Please be careful,” Hidden Tale whispered. “There’s a couple of guards up ahead an—”

“This way!” a feminine voice emanated from one of the corridors ahead. The trio stepped aside and bowed immediately when a young changeling princess walked by, followed by a pair of guards. “I just hope my sister didn’t do what I think she did…” she muttered, glancing at them but paying no attention.

“What would that be, Princess Phasmi?” one of the guards asked, glancing at the other.

“I’d better not speculate… we need to find out!”

Rarity watched one of her nieces walk past and felt her heart beat a little faster. She looked like such a capable, young changeling. It was too bad that they were enemies right now.

They watched in silence as the princess and the guards turned around another corner and waited a few seconds before moving again.

“That was close,” Hidden Tale muttered. “But that doesn’t make sense… the princesses should be in their rooms right now, why would she interrupt her schedule?”

“I’m sure that recent events have something to do with it,” Luna stated. “We should concentrate on our own plans and find the prison.”

Rarity nodded absently, following the pair. They turned another corner, walking deeper into the Hive when they noticed a pair of guards keeping watch over a door that was curiously opening very quietly.

The guards immediately noticed them. “Princess Acari has ordered that no changeling should bother her right no—”

He didn’t finish his sentence before green energy surrounded his head and that of the other guard and crashed them against each other repeatedly. They hovered in place, held by the magical energy before suddenly being released and crumbling to the floor, motionless.

Another princess, who could only be Acari, stepped out of the room and observed her hoofwork. “Good, they’re out.” She looked up at Rarity, Luna and Hidden Tale. “Now, don’t be scared,” she said approaching them. “There’s something going on and we need to hurry! My sisters are in danger!”

“But… what about the guards?” Rarity asked.

Acari gave her a sharp glance. “There’s no time to explain, we need to find Phasmi.”

“We just saw her walk down the hall with two guards,” Hidden Tale offered. “She looked to be in a hurry.”

Acari’s eyes widened. “Oh no… you three, come with me!”

Glancing at each other, the three could do little but follow the princess.

“Hm, this is odd,” Chrysalis muttered. “There’s usually more guards around.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Sweetie asked. “I mean, you don’t want to be caught, right?”

Chrysalis chuckled. “As if my dear daughters would have told anyling that they had betrayed me,” she said, grinning. “No, that’s not the case.”

Sweetie looked around. “Why aren’t there any other changelings?”

Chrysalis shrugged. “Most likely they’re asleep, completely unaware of what’s going on.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Sweetie asked. “Do we go rescue Twilight? Defeat your daughters in mortal combat?”

Chrysalis shook her head and pushed open a set of large double doors, which revealed a whole bunch of drones working in…

“The kitchen?”

“I’m hungry!” Queen Chrysalis announced, and stuffed something into her mouth. “I can’t deal with my daughters while hungry!”

Sweetie Belle simply gaped alongside the drones as Chrysalis gorged herself on some colorful food.

After chewing for a bit, Chrysalis swallowed and looked down at Sweetie, extending a hoof with an orange ball of some sort. “Fruit bat?”

Chrysalis started when the doors on the other side opened up, allowing entrance to Arachne, who stumbled from side to side, swaying until she sat rather hard on a chair and started munching on some fruit bats.

The Queen and the Princess’ eyes met.

“Oh,” Arachne hiccuped. “Yoooouuuurrre free.” She frowned. “And you didn’t eat th’ lunch I brought you!”

Chrysalis blinked when her eldest daughter fell, face-first on the table and started snoring.

“Is she dead?” Sweetie asked.

“She’s snoring, the dead don’t snore,” Chrysalis pointed out. “She’s drunk out of her exoskeleton.”

Sweetie’s eyes widened. “Wow! That must run in the family!”

Chrysalis grinned. “It does? You’ll have to tell me about it, but for now… I think my daughter is in the perfect position to learn a lesson.”

They slid into the silent homes of Ponyville, completely undetected. When a pony would wake up, they would be immediately overcome.

There was no hesitation. No time to wait.

Everything was proceeding as planned.

The town slumbered, unaware that slowly they were being decimated. And all the lights but one slowly turned off completely.

They gathered outside, silently observing the Library.

She was inside. The one they had come for.

It would all be over soon.

Author's Notes:

I know, it's short, but many other things are supposed to happen that fit better in the next chapter.

As usual: no editors and such. Sorry Trevs!