After the freezing cold and sun bright air outside, the darkness and the warmth of the Changeling hive was almost comforting. Enough at least that I could see why changelings would prefer it to being in a more brightly lit and spacious pony style building at least, even if I'm not sure I'll ever really be comfortable with their preferred 'xenomorph hive' building style of dark resin and softly glowing balls of green hardened goop.

But it was warm and not too damn bright which made it alright in my book, at least at the moment.

The sound of my hooves echoed softly against the tunnel walls as I followed the changeling guide before me deeper and deeper into the hive as he brought me to Queen Chrysalis. Not in the throne room like usual, we were deeper into the converted mine now. Much deeper. Deeper than I had ever been before, actually.

We finally reached the end of the tunnel where a quartet of changeling drones were waiting by the sides of a gate. They were actually carrying spears and heavy resin armour, not something even the drones guarding the entrance to the hive did. They had not even used any of those when they attacked Canterlot.

"The Queen is inside," He said and gave me a small bow.

I nodded and looked at him, "Thank you, Thorax.... what's inside?"

"The Queen."

Well, ask a stupid question...

I gave him another nod before I walked towards the door, half expecting the guards to stop me, but instead they simply stepped to the side to allow me past, the closest one lighting his horn and pulling the door to the side, allowing me inside.

I wasn't sure what to expect really, but what I saw inside, was not it. It wasn't overly big as chambers went, just barely bigger than the tower Luna and I had as our private rooms. It was warm inside, almost hot and the air was very moist. It almost felt like I had walked into a rainforest or a greenhouse. There was no furniture, just... eggs. A dozen eggs, a big bigger than a hoof along one wall.

Chrysalis was in the middle of the chamber. She was laying on the ground, three white and fat larva on the ground between her forelegs, inching around and wiggling. She didn't even look up as the door closed behind me, her eyes focused on the larva before her.

I slowly crossed the chamber to her, "You asked to see me, Queen Chrysalis?" I asked as I looked down at the larva. They were kind of... ugly cute. While they were white and soft, that's where the maggot comparison ended. They had four little stumpy legs they barely used and a tiny little horn, but I could see changeling traits in their forms.

"You have never seen this place before, little predator," she answered, not even glancing in my direction.

Oh. It's going to be one of those meetings.

Suppressing the urge to roll my eyes, I sank down to lay on the floor opposite to her, "Can't say I have," I answered.

"This is the safest, most protected chamber of the hive," she answered quietly, "More than the throne room, the love reserves. Nobody but a changeling is allowed in here. Ever. Not even all changelings are allowed in here. Not even to feed the little ones."

One of the larvae started to inch in my direction and I eyed it curiously, "So why am I here?"

"So you could see what is at stake," she said and finally lifted her head to meet my eyes, "If this foolish idea of my daughter does not work out as she hoped."

"It's not a stupid idea, merly a dang-hey, stop that," I said, looking down at the larva starting to try to gnaw at the edge of my hoof, "I have been walking around on that all day," I told him and lit my horn, pulling him gently away before shifting slightly and extending my wing. The larva quickly started to gnaw uselessly at the tip of my wing again before I returned my attention to Chrysalis.

She had gone stock still, her eyes locked on me, her fangs half bared in a way that suddenly made me very aware that she considered me food. But I also refused to be intimidated and showing fear to her could very possibly be lethal, no matter how she was playing along.

So I raised an eyebrow at her instead, "Yes?"

Chrysalis blinked twice and then looked away, "...You do not understand changelings, not if you think it will be merely dangerous. For a Princess to approach another hive will be seen a weakness. A weakness that can be exploited to destroy or take the hive over... and their hunting grounds. Especially when we are now... working with the... ponies."

"I know changelings better than anypony else," I said and looked down at the larva. It had rolled onto its back, wiggling and trying to paw at my wing. Okay, that's actually pretty adorable. I shifted my wing a bit to give it something to wrestle with before I looked back to Chrysalis again only to find her watching me intently, "I know perfectly well how changelings think and act," I continued, meeting her gaze, "Which is why I haven't given Skitter the exact position of the other Hives. For this to even have a chance to work, it needs you to step up and back her up."

"It's foolishness!"

"The same foolishness that let your hive live where so many others had been defeated?" I asked, "The same foolishness that let you not only live, but flourish with ponies, not against them? To stop starvation? To stop the fighting? That foolishness?"

Chrysalis hissed at me and surged to her hooves, pacing around the chamber, "You were meant to talk my daughter out of it!"

"I'm not going to do anything of the sort," I told her firmly, "Do you know why?"

She just glared at me.

"Because she really is your daughter," I continued, glancing down at the larva wrestling with my wing tip, "And she has inherited your stubbornness... and it's not like she's wrong. Sooner or later the other hives will buck up and be discovered and unless they do like you did, they will fall."

"Let them! They're not my hive!"

"No," I agreed and looked at her again, "But they are changelings, just like you. Just like this one," I continued and glanced down at the larva again. His littermate had joined him and they were now both trying to claim ownership of my wing tip. I lit my horn and picked them both up, gathering the third one before holding them against my shoulder for a second, focusing on my love for Luna and Sunset. Of my friends.

Then I gently put all three of them down onto the floor, only to find Chrysalis watching me strangely again, "Oh, come off it," I told her, "You know you can trust me. If you didn't, you had never let me in here in the first place."

She hissed at me.

I bared my fangs and hissed back. I found that after my entire battificaton, I had gotten a pretty good hiss.

She blinked in surprise before she sighed and sank down by the larva again, gently gathering them close between her forelegs with her hoof, "What do you propose, my little predator?"

"Let things continue. Support Skitter, help her instead of trying to stop her."

Chrysalis hissed softly before leaning down to nuzzle at the closest larva before she answered me, "...Even if it had a chance of working, they would kill any messenger sent. I would have. They will. Even if they listen, it will be seen as a weakness. They will come for us."

"Not if handled right, figure out a plan," I told her, "And if they do come for you, I'm afraid they will find the entire matter a bit more difficult than they had anticipated."

She looked at me with a small frown, "How do you mean?"

"Allies work both ways," I told her as I met her eyes, "You stood beside Equestria when we were attacked. The might of Equestria would stand beside you if or when it's your turn."

"I do not want my daughter to get hurt. Or any of my children."

"Neither do I."