“The perimeter is secured” Moss Fiend announced.

“Excellent work, Lieutenant.” Chrysalis answered, slowly sliding her hooves across her lieutenant’s chin, to which he did not move. “You’ve done good work today. You shall be…handsomely rewarded.”

“I live to serve you, my Queen.” The lieutenant bowed his head low.

Chrysalis smiled. It was good being queen, surrounded by such obedient subjects, hanging on every word you speak. Such passion in their hearts, such drive in their souls, willing to serve in any way you command.

And of course, Queen Chrysalis was nothing if not a generous and deeply caring queen, wanting only the best for her subjects, whatever that may entail. At this point, it entailed an espionage stealth squad doing reconnaissance on Ponyville. More specifically on Twilight Sparkle’s castle. The unicorn was a bane on the Queen’s existence, ever since her humiliating defeat in Canterlot. But the Queen had a new plan this time around. Infiltrate Ponyville, eliminate all possible threats and to assume the place of the newly crowned princess. Placed in a position of power, she would slowly integrate her changelings into the town, in the guise of immigrants attracted by the prosperity of working and living in a royal town, slowly expanding Ponyville. She would begin sowing seeds of mistrust, propagating insubordination towards the two rulers in Canterlot, culminating into a civil war.

Her changelings would naturally feed on the everyday love of the ponies, but no love is greater and tastier than the love between ponies in danger, in turmoil and in torment. In their miserable state, their hatred towards Canterlot would only increase their love for Ponyville, their families, their neighbors. And their Queen. And with that, her forces would be bolstered, slowly outnumbering and overpowering Canterlot’s defenses.

Queen Chrysalis looked towards the horizon, the crystal castle shining brightly. As the wind waved her green locks, she let out a vile smile. She reached one leg forward, covering the castle. Someday, someday soon, it would all be hers. Not just Ponyville, nor Canterlot. But the entirety of Equestria. And all that lies beyond the great oceans. An empire over which the sun doesn’t set.

“We will return to the base, discuss all information you’ve gathered – populace, guards, weak points. Everything you have gathered on Twilight Sparkle and her circle. Entry points in the castle, routines of the princess as well as her guards. We will leave nothing to chance. We will discuss the best plans of action and infiltrate Ponyville tonight. Nothing will stop us.”

The Queen’s orders were absolute and no one dared question her. But one young recruit, a newcomer in the squad, seemed uneasy.  Queen Chrysalis eyed the little changeling, piercing him with her stare. His obvious lack of comfort was simply delightful, his darting eyes and meek stature. The Queen might just have thought that he was cute, if she wasn’t currently planning her domination of the world.

“You may speak...” she uttered in a demanding, yet sensual tone.

“Um…my Queen…there-um…seems to be ah…a…”

“When the Queen tells you to speak, you speak!” Lieutenant Moss Fiend hissed.

“Let the boy catch his breath, Lieutenant” Queen Chrysalis purred.

“My Queen” Moss Fiend stated, placing a hoof to his chest.

“What is bothering you, youngling?”

The changeling didn’t answer, too intimidated by his leader, so he simply pointed upwards and everyone turned their heads.

“A hot air balloon?” Queen Chrysalis said, shielding her eyes from the sun.

“Probably a passerby, my Queen” the Lieutenant said.

“Most likely. But I do not want to risk it.” The Queen turned towards two of the eight changelings. “You know. Fly up there and kill whoever is that balloon.”

The two changelings gave a salute and flew up into the basket.

“I hope this won’t take long, Lieutenant.”

“Certainly not, my Queen.” Lieutenant Moss Fiend said, unflinching. “Shadow Tongue and Cave Glow are my top assassins. They excel in quick, pragmatic and precise target eliminations. They’ll be back within a heartbeat.”

“I should hope so.” Queen Chrysalis slowly turned her head to the young recruit. “And what about him, Lieutenant? Is he within your ranks of assassins?”

“I’m afraid not, my Queen. Dusk Walker is a fresh face in the squad. Sadly, he lacks the speed and accuracy for the job. But where he lacks in killing potential, he more than makes up in information gathering and camouflage.”

“Oh, do tell…” Queen Chrysalis said with a low voice, gazing with half closed eyes into Dusk Walker’s darting ones. She found his anxious uneasy adorable.

“He can discern useful information with tremendous efficiency. Aside from complete visual mimicry, he can also mimic a target’s mannerism, speaking patterns, voice intonation and body language at an exceptional level. He might be new, but he is a valued member.”

“Is this your first mission, Dusk Walker?” The Queen asked, not breaking eye contact.

“Amm…ye-yes.”

“Why are you so nervous, little one?”

“Well, I-I, that is…”

“Do you feel unprepared for the mission?”

“N-no! It’s not that-“

“Is it because you are speaking to your Queen?”

“Um-um…”

“Well?” Queen Chrysalis asked, her tone slightly devilish.

“Answer your Queen, Dusk Walker or, so help me, I will snap you in two!” Lieutenant Moss Fiend barked at the young changeling, making my close up even more.

“Please, Lieutenant. Let me talk to my subject.” Queen Chrysalis said with a stern tone.

“Yes, my Queen! Forgive me” the Lieutenant instantly changed his tone and took a step back.

The Queen stepped forward towards Dusk Walker, who sank backwards at the presence of his ruler.

“Do I make you nervous…Dusk Walker?”

“Y-yes…” his voice was solemn and quiet.

Queen Chrysalis leaned in closer.

“Are you afraid of me?” she whispered in his ear in a predatorial tone, her hot breath sending a shiver down his spine.

“Y-yes…” he barely managed to say.

“You shouldn’t be.” She whispered in his ear once more, this time with a nurturing tone. “You have done well today. You have served your Queen and you shall be handsomely rewarded, little Dusk Walker.”

“I-“

“Shush.” She gently cut him off. “Do not speak. I will be expecting you in the bed chambers of my new castle tonight. After you’ve finished your duties, of course.”

The Queen stepped back, observing the confused and bashful changeling. She smiled slightly and turned once more to her Lieutenant.

“I thought you said they were the top assassins.” Queen Chrysalis talked with a stern, yet very controlled voice. “I sincerely hope your standards have not fallen so low.”

“Dust Wing! Night Tooth! Get up there!” Lieutenant Moss Fiend barked his orders, to which two other changelings, without uttering a word, darted upwards towards the passing balloon, into the basket. And immediately were thrown out of the basket, crashing into the ground.

In an instant the Lieutenant flew up, followed by his squad and Queen Chrysalis trailing behind them. When they reached the basket, they saw one pony, with yellowish-brown fur wearing an aviator hat and goggles, holding a wrench in one hoof. Shadow Tongue and Cave Glow were lying unconscious by her side, from which fact the Queen extracted a small amount of amusement, but which sent Moss Fiend into complete frenzy.

Without giving any sort of orders, or even thinking, he charged towards the pony. It took the Lieutenant less than a second to close the distance between himself and the aviator, but the pony didn’t even flinch. As he charged, the pony swung her wrench, smacking him across the face and sending him spiraling down.

The changelings stood still, unsure of how to proceed. With an exhausted sigh, Queen Chrysalis flew forward, in front of the squad, and stared down the pony.

“And who, pray tell, might you be?” Queen Chrysalis spoke with her most regal voice, trying, and almost succeeding in hiding her annoyance.

The pony looked up and down, examining the figure in front and spat overboard.

“Wuz bout to ask ya the same thing” the pony answered with a ruggish accent.

The statement ticked the changeling queen off.

“I am Queen Chrysalis. Ruler of the changeling kingdom and heir to the Equestrian empire” she said with a mocking tone.

“Huh…go figure.” The pony spat over the basket once more. “I didn’t think I might ave been itting royal guards ere.”

“And are you a guard?”

“Nah, can’t say I am.”

“So, you were just passing through?”

“That I was.” The pony looked over the knocked-out changelings. “Sorry bout these guys ere. Didn’t really mean to.”

“I’m sure you didn’t. Soldiers! Serve your Queen! Slice the balloon to shreds and kill this pony!”

Dusk Walker darted upwards, passing through the balloon, ripping right through it and turning around, slicing more holes, while the two other changelings dashed at the pony. She smacked one across the jaw with her wrench, spun around and as the other got closer, she grabbed him by the neck and bashed his head a few times on the metal skeleton of the basket and threw him over.

As the fight occurred, the balloon had already begun to deflate, loosing altitude. Dusk Walker fired downwards, through the scoop, heading straight for the pony. She met him head first, smashing his face with a headbutt, sending him overboard.

Queen Chrysalis let out a deep sigh of disappointment. This was supposed to be here special stealth ops, for infiltration, sabotage, espionage and assassinations. And here they were – knocked out by a pony with a wrench.

Chrysalis landed with the balloon. From the torn-up envelope crawled out the pony. She took off her aviator hat and goggles, revealing a light-yellow, almost white mane, and piercing blue eyes.

“You really don’t know in how much trouble you are in…” Chrysalis’ voice was like ice and venom.

“In my defense, the came outta nowhere.”

“That’s no defense.”

The queen lunged forward. She was ready for the pony’s first strike with the wrench. She dodged it by flying under it, what she didn’t expect was the second attack, which came as an uppercut. Chrysalis barely managed to dodge that one, but turning to one side. And with the return of the wrench, which she did not expect, nor did she see, she was knocked out.

A few hours later, the changeling awoke. Groggy and disorientated, she tried to move, but found herself tightly bound, all except her wings. When she came to, she saw that she had been tied onto the metal railings, just above the basket.

“You came to, huh?”

Chrysalis tried turning around, but barely could. The pony walked around from behind her.

“Yo.” She said with a cheerful smile.

“Release me! Release me now, and your death will be quick! Disobey me and I’ll make sure that it will take a decade of torture until you die.”

The pony nodded slowly.

“You can cut that crud out. You can’t do nuthin here.” The pony sat on the ground, the wrench by her side. “Here’s the thing. My name is Inkie Wild. I’m a traveler. Explorer. What you might even call a vagabond if you’d like. And I was just about now headed for my special, little home-away-from-home to the far north. But, ya see, you and yer little…bugs…you kinda ruined my trip homewards. Now I aintent got a balloon. So I figured, you might just repay me by being my balloon. What da ya say?”

“What in Tartarus are you blabbering about?”

“Just kiddin.” Inkie laughed as she jumped into the basket. “Ya ain’t got a choice. Now fly!”

“I won’t be doing anyth-YAAAAAH!!” the queen screamed as Inkie Wild pulled the cord of the burner and a stream of fire flew upwards, burning the queen’s posterior.

“Come on now. There’s a place I know bout an hour from ere, where I can get me a new envelope. The faster we get there, the faster you can get back to yer queenly duties.”

“I won’t be flying you an-YAAAAHAHAAAA!”

Another jet of fire engulfed Chrysalis’ butt. She tried to jump, but the ropes were too tight. She fluttered her little wings and the basket barely lifted.

“Come on! Don’t dilly-dally!”

Another scream of pain as the fire once more licked the queen’s behind. This time around she managed to get the basket completely off the ground.

“At a girl! Yer doing great!”

This time, with a steady stream, Chrysalis flew up, managing to reach the clouds, her yells echoing throughout the valley and her butt almost catching fire.

“Right then! Go that way!” Inkie pointed and pulled the cord.

This voyage lasted about forty minutes, but to the changeling Queen, it might as well have been an eternity. Far worse than the exhaustion of pulling a basket and the pain of getting her butt burnt every few seconds was the humiliation. The humiliation that her elite squad was beaten so easily by only one pony. The humiliation that she was beaten by one pony. That she was now a make shift balloon, flying through the sky and yelling constantly. It was degrading. There was nothing great bout her anymore, reduced to a joke, a beast of burden, she tried not to think about it. But how could she?

“Ya can land us over there.” Inkie finally said, giving the cord one last tug, darkening her butt one more time.

The managed to land safely and Inkie cut the queen down. Chrysalis fell over on the ground to one side. She then finally noticed that her crown was missing. She tried jumping up, but her pain and exhaustion were too great, so she settled for sluggishly pushing herself up. To her up most surprise, she saw Inkie Wild wearing her crown.

“You like mah new hat? I think it suits me quite well!” Inkie laughed.

“Give…it…back…” Chrysalis spoke, trying to sound intimidating, but it sounded more like she was out of breath.

“Nah. I think I’ll keep it. Ya ain’t much of a queen either way. Queens don’t pull baskets around the sky, now do they?”

Chrysalis was ready to attack, wanted to attack, but she couldn’t do much of anything.

“You can go. I doubt I’ll be seein ya soon anyway. Hope ye have a safe trip.”

With those words, Inkie Wild trotted off, passing by the changeling queen and slapping her on the burned behind. Chrysalis yelled in pain, but she couldn’t do much of anything now.

She slumped her head down and began the long walk back to her kingdom. With heavy steps she trekked backwards, each one accompanied by silent yellp of pain.

She’ll get her revenge for this humiliation one day. Until then, she had a castle to conquer.