“How did I forget my phone?” Sunset grumbled. She hustled through the empty school, making a beeline for her locker. It was already too late to take the bus, but Rarity promised to give a ride if she called before five… not that it helped, with the number in the missing phone.
This was bad. Sunset kept the phone in her purse, stored safely in the locker during school hours. Hopefully it had fallen out and was still there, because she had no idea where to look if it wasn’t.
Sunset sighed as she opened her locker. Nothing but books.
Maybe it was behind the books. Stupid, of course, but the faint chance was all she had. Sunset pulled them out one at a time, not even hopeful enough to be disappointed as her phone failed to appear.
“Looking for this?”
Sunset’s eyes lit up at the deep, familiar voice, and she turned. Iron Will approached down the hallway, her red-cased phone in hand.
Grinning, Sunset retrieved it from the burly teacher and swiped her finger across the screen. No reaction came, and her grin faltered. A dead battery meant no ride to the arcade, but that was nothing compared to the phone’s retrieval.
“Thank you so much!” Sunset breathed out, feeling her fear pass away.
“No problem,” Iron Will returned, at a sensible volume.
That… was a little odd. The normally-boisterous teacher shuffled awkwardly, picking at his pinstripe suit. “Lucky break, I guess.”
“What’s up, Mr. Will?” Sunset thrust her hands in her pockets, matching his gaze. Something was transparently wrong with the man; best to get it out and over with.
Iron Will chuckled, shaking his head. “That obvious, huh? I must be getting old. Look, the long and short of it is…”
“…We need to talk.” His lips moved with the words, but it was a regal woman’s voice that emerged. Iron Will’s peach-skinned body slimmed and shrunk, blackening as it took the familiar form of Chrysalis.
Sunset had been through enough tricky situations to keep her cool. Her hands remained in her pockets, one closing around her switchblade, the other slipping into a set of metal knuckles. A discreet glance around revealed… nothing. The two of them were alone.
Maybe. “Is this the part where I find out the lockers are really changelings?”
With the transformation complete, Chrysalis… actually was shaped a lot like Celestia. A slim, leggy build that gave the illusion of great height, and a face that scratched the door of middle age. She crossed her arms, frowning.
“No, this is the part where we act like adults.”
Sunset wasn’t born yesterday. “Adults steal phones and drain their batteries?”
“Pardon me for playing it safe.” Chrysalis gave a grumpy, aristocratic sniff. “I won’t walk into an ambush any more than you will.”
“I think I just did.”
“You think wrong,” came the prim correction. “I’m trying to avoid a fight with your little band. We both have bigger fish to fry.”
“Like what?” Sunset ventured.
“An open hallway is not a good place to exchange secrets.” Chrysalis shook her head. “No, you’re going to have to play ball. Come to my mansion and we’ll talk.”
Sunset wasn’t born this morning, either. “Come into my web, said the spider to the fly.”
“I don’t eat people,” Chrysalis groaned with the irritation of one who had said so before. “Look, kid, isn’t it enough that I passed on a perfectly good chance to ambush you?”
“And conveniently made me unable to call for advice.”
Chrysalis waved off the words. “Look at it from my perspective. I’m not one of your ‘monsters;’ I have a good thing going with my life, and I’m keen on protecting it. Between your mad bomber of a spy and your easily-traced internet scouting, I know I’m in the cross-hairs, and I want out.”
“So why not hit us first?” Sunset asked, still guarded.
Chrysalis shrugged. “It’s not profitable. In fact, it would be actively bad. I’m not a big fan of the restless dead, and I want your little band of psychotic teachers keeping them down. Preferably in a different city, but a girl can’t really have it all.”
“Huh. So by ‘bigger fish,’ you mean the undead?”
“Maybe.” Chrysalis smiled coyly. “As I said: you need to play ball.”
“Uh-huh.” Sunset had relaxed over the conversation, but only barely. “Okay, now look at things from my perspective, and tell me how much of a spider you look like right now.”
“Well I’m not letting you call in your gang,” Chrysalis said. “I came for you specifically, Miss Redeemed Villain. From what I’ve dug up, you seem like the only one who would even talk to the likes of me.”
“Celestia–”
Chrysalis gave her rebuttal before the name even left Sunset’s mouth. “–Has been in the business of hunting monsters for a decade, and thinks I’m one of them. No. You and me, my place, or we are enemies.”
“I can’t just disappear,” Sunset countered. “Let me text her about this.”
“So she can call in the army?”
Sunset shook her head. “She’ll understand. You need to understand, too. If you want me to trust you, you’ll need to trust me back. This is a deal-breaker.”
A stiletto-heeled foot tapped once on the ground, and Chrysalis sighed. She removed a cell phone battery from her pocket and handed it to Sunset. “Let me see what you write.”
“No,” Sunset replied. A power play, and she won. Chrysalis grimaced, taking a step back and looking away as Sunset fiddled with the battery.
Despite the privacy, subterfuge wasn’t on Sunset’s mind. It would’ve felt wrong, after earning this tiny bit of trust. She simply, honestly told Celestia where she was going, who she planned to speak with, and to not storm the place with machine-guns.
…Okay, she added a little subterfuge, just to be on the safe side. [My password is… ‘Sunflash.’ In case it’s not me that comes home.]
And a third text. [DON’T WORRY! I got this. I love you, and I’ll see you soon.]
A reread, and a slight edit to the words before sending it off. [DON’T WORRY! I got this. I’ll see you soon.]
“Done. Thanks for trusting – it’s a two-way street.”
“Indeed,” Chrysalis replied indifferently. “Alright, come along. We’ll talk over dinner. I hope you like panda steak.”
“Panda steak?” Sunset frowned. “Aren’t they–”
“Endangered, yes. I’m tobacco royalty; I never said I wasn’t evil.”
7130777
...
I STILL SHIP CELESWHINNY!!
Also, how quaint. This Chrysalis actually HAS half a brain!
dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/76216/panda_hat.jpg
Yay Chrissy may or may not be evil and may or may not be an ally. I was going to write MOAR but then I read "more tomorrow" in the A/N so I shall wait. also I really hope that sunset is carrying a sidearm or some kind of weapon
7130823 How can you create such good stuff?
Love that twist ending.
Tobacco Changeling is best fhangeling
Never trust anyone that eats panda bears, they are the most despicable of evils.
Updates!
Genuinely interested to see how this turns out. I can see some people will not be happy about this!
Great. Chrysalis in the Human World, missing Equestrian or not, is still an arsehole.
Wow. Celestia couldn't be Sunset's mother any more if she tried.
As for this latest development... well, I actually think this may work out. Unless the changeling replacement thinks to check Sunset's texts. Still, definitely an intriguing development.
Ok, I think Chrysalis' choice of cuisine is already grounds for war. How can she eat something that adorable?! Actually, did this fic say whether Sunset was a vegetarian or she was ok with human world meat?
Interesting twist, curious to see whether this is all a trap (Chrysalis already mentioned tracking Sunset's internet search), so text messages may or may not be secure. And/or how pragmatic Chrysalis turns out to be. Not to mention if Celestia will be willing to compromise with her, depending on the terms. And yeah, Sunset better watch she doesn't slip up like that, or it'll just give the "adopt her already" camp even more ammunition. Now we just need Chrysalis to call Sunset Celestia's daughter too to really drive the point home.
"I was the lamp, all along! MWHAHA HA HA!"
7131359
I never specified if she was a vegan or not, and I don't really plan on it being an issue.
For what it's worth, I'd say no. Veganism is more than just "eating what ponies eat;" human bodies are built differently and require different means of subsistence. Maintaining your body on such a diet requires education and income the pony refugee would lack. While she might've had some trouble initially, I easily imagine Sunset settling into the same "don't think about where it comes from" mentality that the rest of us enjoy.
Thanks for the feedback.
7131359
7130828
Aren't Bronies supposed to HATE pandas?
All of China hates you,
7133818
You know, part of the reason giant pandas are endangered is less due to deforestation or poaching, but because they are literally too lazy to reproduce.
7131772 It took me a moment to realize, why pandas?
No, you're just PANDAing to us.
You'd think that during the process of losing her cellphone, having it given back, and given the opportunity to text someone on her cellphone, Sunset would remember the existence of cellphones, and that nobody has to expose themselves to an ambush to talk.
Sunset, it is not "Come into my web," nor is it "Step into my parlor, said the Spider to the Fly". It is, in fact:
Now, before you shout "NERRRRRD", I only looked it up because I heard it a lot.
Now you may shout "NERRRRRRRD!".
7610244
Not sure I'd want to eat one but, sad as it is, all the ecosystem that the Chinese took over isn't coming back. The pandas themselves basically don't even procreate enough to sustain a population. The time and money being wasted to keep pandas around could be used to help other species that we've fucked that we actually can save in the long run.
Sell the last ones to some rich nutjobs to do whatever they like, and use that ridiculous amount of money to fund more realistic ecological endeavors for years.
I don't buy it.
7703018
And in doing so ruin the already upset delicate balance even further. The loss of a single species, no matter how big or small, effects the balance of the ecosystems. We’ve made several extinct already, and the Earth is still trying to adapt to those losses. No need to make it worse.
The quote you're looking for is step into my parlor said the spider to the fly
10632907
Eeeh, same difference as they say.
7130827
Approximately half a brain
Aww Sunny, that’s why before you do any spy searching on the Information Super Highway, you make sure you are preordered with EXPRESSVPN
Yeah, we gathered that already Chrissy.
Okay, any teenager, but especially Sunset keeping her phone in her locker all school day is by far the most unrealistic thing to happen in this story!
Chryssi has a point that having someone around to deal with all the supernatural small fires so they dint get large or numerous enough to be an issue for you is valid. But given who this is, no, no.... she is totally planning something.
And/or they should take her out anyway since, we'll... tobacco baron... she's more evil then like 90% of the things you all fight normally
11657569
School rules.
Enforced by Miss Harshwhinny.