Time is no longer a blur of fire and screams. I'm resting on some kind of large cushion or pillow, my face buried what feels like soft, warm leather. Someone's arm is around my shoulders, and I can't stop crying as my nerves haven't realized they're not on fire anymore. I don't even care that I'm trembling like a little boy in his grandma's embrace - the residual pain is just too much to worry about manliness, or anything else, right now. A sweet voice coos soothingly in my ear, and I take refuge in the comfort and safety to pull myself back together.
Slowly, sanity asserts itself. I'm alive, I'm sure of that much. There's no way being dead hurts this much, and I'm pretty sure I'd be a human ghost, or soul, or whatever, but I still have four legs. I was just on fire, but looking down at my forelegs - I notice they're white, in the dim lighting - I seem to be completely uninjured. I'm also unbound, so I suppose I should figure out where I am. Not willing to relinquish my current warmth and safety, I barely turn my head to look around, and immediately regret it.
I'm in a cave, with some sort of bio-luminescent moss or fungus providing the light on the walls, but that barely registers next to my present company. All around me are undisguised changelings, going about their business with little more than the occasional curious glance in my direction. To the immediate left and right are four larger changelings, heavy with chitin plating and all watching me intently. Their hungry looks make me shrink in place, huddling closer against ... against... I look up, knowing I'll regret it.
"Queen Chrysalis," I squeak out, trying to pull away from the sudden iron-firmness of her embrace. The changeling raises an eyebrow, and looks down at me with an amused smile. My response is a flailing hoof in her face as I struggle to get free. She catches it easily with her magic, however, and holds it there. Now I'm even more trapped, and I feel a bit like a bug struggling with flypaper.
"You can't possibly fight me, silly little pony." It's kind of true. She is stronger than I am, she has magic, and she can fly. Plus, she's had four legs all her life, compared to ... however long I have. What am I supposed to do against that? I stop struggling with a sigh.
"Fine." She lets go of my hoof, and I let it fall next to its twin.
"You could make this easy, you know. This does not have to hurt." I want to give her a defiant glare or something of that sort, but being on fire and then completely overpowered has sapped my energy and will. All I have now is questions.
"...alright." I sigh. "Look, if I don't fight, could I have a few answers before you kill me?" Chrysalis looks at me like I'm some sort of special child.
"I'm not going to kill you. My children can't feed on the love of a corpse. However, I have nothing to gain by catering to you."
"And if I fight, I will lose. I... I know." I look down to the pillows and sigh, then an idea strikes me. "Still, if I fight, not only will I be hurt, but I might manage to hurt someone else, and if I understand correctly, a hurt pony isn't as good for food anyway, right?" I look up to see her nod, curiosity etched in one brow. "And, well... I wouldn't even be here, if one of the questions hadn't made me come looking for you."
"You came to us?" I'm quick to hide my smile, because she actually seems angry. "Are you an idiot?!"
"What do you mean? I would have thought - "
"Silence!" Chrysalis interrupts. Her sudden change of tone - and loss of volume control - brings the entire cavern to a standstill. There is no sound but her voice. "I send my children on dangerous gathering missions, expend nearly as much effort and energy acquiring food as we get from it, because ponies fear and hate us. And they are right to do so! We must kidnap them, we must imprison them, we must make them dream endlessly and feed upon them just to survive! And..." She takes a deep breath. Calm sadness spreads across her features as she finally lets go of me entirely, and I only take a half-step back to sit down, not wanting to alarm her or her guards.
"And it's horrible," the Queen says. Her volume returns to a conversational level, and the cavern begins to turn animate again as the other changelings go back about their business. "Why? Why would a foolish little mare like you ever come to us?" I wince at the mention of my new condition, but try to ignore it. I have an opening, and I'm not going to waste it.
"I want my boyfriend back. I know that's not going to happen now, and I didn't know who I was dealing with at first..." I sigh for effect, before looking up and giving her my most plaintive expression, or at least what I hope serves that purpose well enough. "But if you have any information at all, I'll rest a lot easier knowing what happened to him."
"Very well," Chrysalis says, rising from her pillows with assistance from her wings that makes the whole movement seem to flow beautifully. Something makes me feel it would be unwise to stand up with her, however. "Hold still, girl - " I wince. Is this how Greg feels all the time? " - and let me have a look. It will be easiest if you close your eyes and think of him."
I don't know what she intends, but that's alright. I'm already at her mercy. I shut my eyes, and try to imagine him again. I've kept a picture of us together on my desk, next to the computer monitor, since he disappeared, and that's the first place my mind goes. We're back in San Francisco together, sharing a kiss on the Golden Gate Bridge like every silly tourist ever. It's only a week before he vanished, and in the middle of the best day of our lives.
I feel the picture grow out around me, becoming my world. No longer a pony, I can feel the breeze in my then-short hair as I savor his lips on mine. Something nags at me about time and memory, but in his arms and under his lips, I could simply cherish the moment forever. And I will, when our photographer sends us the prints...
"Not just yet." I try to push away the foreign voice, but the picture is fading. I gasp for breath as my vision turns outward again, and I see Chrysalis standing over me, her horn bright green with active magic - though I can't see what she's doing with it. "But that was delicious. Strong, sweet, and sappy... how does maple syrup sound to you?" I have no clue what she's asking. I really just want to go back to... whatever happened with the picture.
"Um, it's good on pancakes and pigs-in-blankets, I guess?"
"Silly filly." I wince again, but she's smiling. Do I really want to challenge that? She murmurs something that I don't quite catch, and extinguishes her magic before continuing, "Your old names aren't really suited for ponies, so I sometimes give you former humans new ones. It takes a little magic, but it might become useful if..." Her face falls. "If I can ever find a better way. I am sorry, Maple. It is time to prepare you."
"But, what about my boyfriend?" Something in the back of my mind nags me. I shouldn't have responded so easily to Chrysalis's silly pet name for me. Maybe she's been messing with me. It doesn't take long to find everything in order, though. Where I grew up: Check. The car I drive: Check. My dad's name: William. My mom's name... I shudder. My name: Maple Syrup. No, that's not right. My name: Adrian. Better. I turn my attention back to her.
"Wait, what did - "
"A touch of name magic. Nothing too invasive; you should still remember your old one. As to your boyfriend..." She actually giggles. "One of my harvesters, in fact. He was reprimanded at least four times, that I know of, for getting too involved with the prey. Not that it ever stopped him." My heart twists in place before dropping through the floor.
"But, I - " I start to stammer out, though I'm interrupted.
"He loved you. Really and truly. Do not mistake secrecy for betrayal."
"And I should trust you to tell me the difference?!" I snap. "Maybe you've forgotten a certain wedding in - "
"Silence." This time, her commanding tone is absolutely compelling, and my mouth shuts mid-sentence before I can even think. "I do not forget my mistakes, but you are in no position to challenge me on them. Do you understand?" A nod from me, again before thinking. I try to ask what's going on, but my mouth won't move at all. "Now, ask your question, and mind your tone."
"What happened to Dom?" The question pops out, as gentle and polite as I'd imagine an old lady asking for the sugar for her tea. I grimace.
"I didn't ask for details." Her tone has returned to something normal, something I can actually talk to instead of obey like a puppet. "I only know that he was... lost... in an unpleasant part of your city. I can't imagine a race as xenophobic as yours left much evidence of what happened." The return of sadness to her voice barely registers. There's a pressure in my head, my brain struggling to reject what I'm told. I have to trust her, and I can't accept what she's said.
"No," I say, though it comes out as a whimper. "No, no no no..."
"My apologies won't mean much to you, but you will be with him again when your overdue preparations are complete. Now, rise." I don't feel the compulsion this time, but I get up anyway. I can't see the point in resisting. I feel a hoof and something cold between my shoulders, and flinch.
"Hold still," a voice beside me rasps. I turn my head to see a drone rubbing something out of a pail into my fur. The spot she rubbed it on tingles for a few seconds, then goes numb. I look up at Chrysalis with another sigh, though this one is provoked primarily by the tension I can feel leaving the muscles surrounding the numbness. The drone continues to coat me in the stuff, and I risk another question to give myself a much-needed distraction.
"What is it that you're doing to my world, then?" I note my voice is unwillingly gentle and polite once more, but at least the words are my own.
"I am doing nothing," Chrysalis replies, her tone clearly humoring me, "but the magic of Harmony that surrounds and permeates Equestria leaks through every time a portal to or from your... Earth?" I nod. "... is used. And what it doesn't recognize, what does not fit the Harmony of Equestria, it changes. Your kind arrives here as earth ponies, and I suppose that's fitting."
"Is it also fitting that I'm a mare?" Damn it! With this voice I'm forced to use, it sounds like an honest question. Then I squeak involuntarily, my train of thought broken by a cold, slick hoof in a place I shouldn't even have. I whip my backside out of the worker's reach, stumbling a bit when I find I can't feel three of my legs. I can actually feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment.
"Hold still," Chrysalis repeats for her drone. The difference is that when she says it, I can't disobey, and I find myself frozen in place like a statue. The other changeling simply continues her work as though nothing happened, and I am grateful for the distraction of Chrysalis's voice (even if it isn't nearly enough) as she casually explains... something. Even after I go numb... back there, I can't stop feeling it in the back of my mind. This is... it's just... ugh. If I ever get the chance, I am going to hug Greg for a year.
"You're almost ready, now. Go ahead and eat what's left."
"Eat wha--mmph?!" I snap back into the moment when the pail is shoved in my face. This routine is getting familiar, but it's not like I ever get a choice about it. I discover the goop in the bottom is faintly honey-scented, and just start eating, as I was told. It's sickly-sweet at first, but my entire mouth is numb after the first couple swallows of the pudding-like stuff. It's difficult to make my tongue cooperate now, and after a few failed attempts to swallow properly, I just stop trying.
"That should be enough. Take the pail away," Chrysalis instructs her drone. Turning her attention to me as the other changeling obeys, she says, "Try to walk, Maple Syrup." I nod, and promptly faceplant. It's probably lucky that I can't feel anything now. I try to get up, but my legs don't seem to work properly without the sense of touch. Maybe not so lucky.
"As I thought. Guards, bring her with me."
I feel like I'm slipping into a warm haze as two of the royal guards get me up and, one on either side, help me stumble after Chrysalis through a twisting maze of identical passages. I hear myself giggle something about "chasing the Queen's tail," but the world around me is starting to feel distant and unworthy of concern.
I am escorted into an enormous cavern, and actually pay attention for a few moments. One side is filled with sparkling green chrysalises - like those of monarch butterflies, only much, much larger - and they are piled high, almost to the ceiling. I spend a couple of moments staring before I hear the Queen's voice.
"Wrap her up." I don't bother to protest, and allow the guards to put me on the floor. They begin to roll me up tightly in the green... stuff... those chrysalises must be made of, and some part of my mind likens it to slipping myself into a sleeping bag, only even more snug and safe.
... safe?
"You are going to hibernate now," Chrysalis says. I barely realize that she means me; I feel like I could rest for a hundred years. I can already feel myself shutting down. As the world disappears, my head wrapped in green, it is replaced with one special picture, though I think I can still hear her as it grows out around me once more.
"I am sorry, my little pony. As to all my other charges, I promise you..." The queen sighs. "One day, I will find a better way."
I dream.