They're EVERYWHERE!

CH: 5/13 - Venom

"Words are growing insufficient for how much I hate that couch," Chrysalis, standing in the doorway, measures the offending piece of furniture with narrowed eyes. She'd spent a big part of the night outside, because while 96 and 68 did their best to keep her fed, she decided that more preparation was in order before the next dive into the hive memories.

If you want something done right, do it yourself.

So, with 68 giving the stallion whose apartment they're still occupying a good time and 96 out gathering "love", Chrysalis locks the door, drops her disguise, and plants herself on the cheap couch into which she's already managed to imprint a groove in the shape of herself.

Damn cheap-ass furniture.

Brimming with energy, she closes her eyes, slows her breathing down, and relaxes. She doesn't want to force anything, so she simply waits until darkness claims her. Navigating the reflection of the hive mind inside her head has grown easier since her original defeat of her shade, like slowly clearing the house where a hoarder has lived their entire life, and this time she can skip the step of reappearing in the "central hub" - the pitch black area with silvery circles and lines spreading into infinity and marking the nonexistent floor. Instead, she materializes on a wide dirt road during a downright shockingly pleasant, sunny day. Birds are singing, a soothing breeze is moving the tall grass on both sides of the road reaching all the way up to her belly, and she can see the grassland spread towards the forested hills in the distance. The only relevant landmark seems to be a small town towards which the road is headed.

Pony architecture.

However, Chrysalis is looking for a changeling, namely a changeling queen, and likely an infiltrator one. While the encounters so far weren't overly dangerous, she can't afford to get complacent.

The whispering of the tall grass goes out of sync for the tiniest moment with the rhythm of the wind, making her ears flick on their own. She can't sense any hive links nearby, though, so unless the reigning queen of the time was a seriously skilled infiltrator, the multiple whatevers slowly moving towards her from both sides aren't changelings.

So far, I was only an observer in these memories. Is it possible that she can manipulate them to have the constructs attack me? That would certainly be a novelty.

While any conflict before reaching the queen herself would be a waste of resources, a small part of her simply can't resist showing off the difference in power and her own inevitable superiority, and she starts heading towards the distant town. With her casual walking, which would still prove rather brisk for a pony due to her size and long legs, the movements in the grass following grow even more audible.

She smirks to herself.

"Get her!" calls out a voice with a slight buzzing undertone.

With her level of control over the hive mind, it's easy to slow the time down to the point of nearly stopping, much more so because there doesn't seem to be anyone resisting her. The time stop gives her the time to process several things - the voice belonged to a changeling, it's one of several, and she can't sense their hive links even now.

Her analytical focus shatters completely when she looks around, resulting in time resuming its flow.

The five changeling drones pouncing at her from both sides with wide smiles and excited looks find themselves hovering in the air, enveloped by the green glow of her telekinesis. Their freezing in the air doesn't seem to faze them as they exchange glances, start giggling, and wave their legs at Chrysalis.

"Wheeee!" they laugh.

What the...? A distraction?

No, there doesn't seem to be any real threat around.