Livewriting tonight: new CSP! (Patreon)

Next session Sunday 12/23, 7 PM Central. It'll be my attempt at a pony Christmas story.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LLwfG7t_f1afA1MX3ARmBUm7SSANV3yVZXDPLgRnE_o/

Here's the little I got written tonight:

CHANGELING SPACE PROGRAM

by Kris Overstreet

Chapter 14: Mission R4: CEO and Chief Bottle Washer

Chrysalis graciously nodded her head to the air traffic control changeling who frantically waved his guide wands to stop all the flyers to give her top priority for landing. It was nice, when returning from a two-week sabbatical, to receive the recognition and respect one was due. 

An hour later, she would look back on that moment of respect and hug it in her mind, because it was the last she got upon her return. 

Her first stop, naturally, was the administration building to relieve Cherry Berry(338). There were changelings, scientists, and the inevitable construction ponies (339) passing by her almost every step across the grounds, giving her barely a polite “ma’am” or “my queen” as they scrambled on one errand after another. That didn’t bother her (340), eager as she was to see Cherry Berry, ready to collapse under the weight of all that unwanted responsibility, greet her return with tasty, tasty gratitude.

But to her surprise, Cherry Berry wasn’t breaking under the strain. When Chrysalis found her she was standing in the throne room / office, using the telepresence spell there to speak with Elytron back at the Hive. “I don’t care if you are short-hooved,” the pink pony was saying as the queen opened the door. “We need everypony we can get at Appleoosa making rocket parts. We’ve got two Minmus missions to build, and Twilight Sparkle just put in an order for a ton of boosters and fuel tanks! And you know there are business ponies headhunting our best trained changelings for their own businesses!”

Chrysalis hadn’t known that, herself. She’d thought Cherry Berry and Goddard were just expanding, expanding, and expanding the Rocket Parts and Odd Jobs business. She didn’t remember ever being told that her changelings were getting hired away from their duties to the hive for mere money.(341) It was one thing to have some misfits put in make-work jobs across Equestria as part of the “integration” cover story, but the really skilled drones should have stayed put, darn it!

Elytron obviously agreed. “So stop them!” the head warrior drone barked. “The hive can’t function with our best bugs all gallivanting off somewhere!”

“And what am I supposed to do about it?” Cherry asked. “It’s all part of your queen’s plans, remember? She wants you all to get along with ponies, and getting hired at high wages is part of that!”

Again, this was news to Chrysalis. 

“Now,” Cherry continued, not letting Elytron respond, “either you send me one hundred decent trainable changelings to Appleoosa by tomorrow, or I come down to the hive and pick your fifty best myself! And if you have problems with that, just ask yourself: what’s more important to your queen- getting to the moon, or guarding a cave under a mountain of dirt in a desert nopony wants to go anywhere near? Think about that while you’re picking out my new workers!”

Chrysalis waited until Cherry cut the connection before saying, “Well done, pony. I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Cherry didn’t jump in fright or surprise. She didn’t wrap her forehooves around Chrysalis’s leg and fall into tears thanking her for returning. She just turned her glare to the queen, said, “You’re a day late,” and walked towards the door. “I assume you heard the conversation. I’ve got to get to Appleoosa and get production back up to speed. Goddard’s got his hooves- I mean his talons full with all the problems on the Skipper and Mainsail engines.”

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow as Cherry walked past. “Excuse me?” she asked. “Don’t you have anything else to say to me?”

Cherry paused. “Oh,” she said. “I’m sorry. Did you have a good vacation?”

“Yes, quite restful,” Chrysalis said, and would have continued except for the pony’s immediate response.

“That’s nice,” Cherry said. “If you can catch Occupant, he’ll give you an update on where things stand. I’ve got to go. Try not to let things fall apart until I get back.”

And the pony was out the door and gone, leaving Chrysalis to stare after her, the pleasant imaginings and anticipation of the prior three days crumbling to dream dust.

Footnotes:

(338) Who, Chrysalis expected, would be terribly relieved indeed. She’d been looking forward to that moment for the prior three days.

(339) Current top priority: new buildings for the research and development complex. Enhancements to the tracking station and the launch pad were also on the agenda, to be followed by a revamped air control tower with the newest in radios and magic rangefinding systems. 

(340) Yet. In retrospect it bothered her a great deal.

(341) It wouldn’t have made Chrysalis feel better to learn that the amounts of money being waved in her subjects’ highly skilled faces could not be described by the adjective “mere” except as irony. Granted, most ponies were still suspicious of changeling employees… but certain very wealthy ponies admired their dedication to labor, their general disinclination to ask questions, and a certain free-wheeling attitude to matters like legality and morality. They were happy to pay for that kind of employee for certain tasks. They didn’t know that, once the well-paid but still loyal changelings reported home, they would be paying a lot more than they had budgeted for… this time, for silence...