Maternal Instinct

by Magic Man

Chapter Sixteen

The months following ‘the incident’ passed on swift and busy hooves. The Sun Princess returned to her homeland with her miracle bird as promised the morning after her encounter with Princess Pupa, leaving behind her best wishes, the foundations for a brighter future and a family who could now heal in peace.

Queen Chrysalis had resumed her neglected duties the day following Princess Celestia’s departure, starting with a meeting with her cabinet of ministers. The cabinet was understandably relieved, not only by news of Princess Pupa’s safety and their Queen’s return, but more out of an assumed end to the uncertainty that had disrupted their otherwise comfortable and ordered world.

However, they were to find this was ultimately not to be the case, for shortly thereafter, the Queen unexpectedly made an official royal announcement regarding the government policy that would go down as one of the most important in the history books. In her throne room, before an audience of politicians, nobles and the international press, Chrysalis declared the launch of a brand new policy of modernization, specifically designed to “secure both the future of her people and the military’s ability to function in the modern world, not for us but for future generations.”

The unprecedented announcement sent shockwaves across the kingdom to the lands overseas. The international reaction was overwhelmingly positive with most nations, despite their skepticism, seeing a modernized, less belligerent Changeling Kingdom as one they could better work with. The conspiracy theorists did their job of course, the most popular being that the Changeling Queen had in fact been supplanted by another changeling all as part of a coup.

As anticipated, the reaction at home was less jubilant. Not too many of the changeling crème de la crème were particularly warm to the news, especially those changelings unsettled by the likelihood of Prince Pincer’s ideas of contracting their miltiary’s numbers now becoming a reality. Some details such as the possible trade deal with Equestria were even kept strictly under wraps. But despite their discontent, there was little the dissident minority could actually do, less they wished to risk their reputation and careers and even their lives for coming out against their monarch, the fate of General Antenaka still fresh in their minds. Chrysalis herself made it clear to her cabinet that those who irreconcilably disagreed were free to tender their resignations, and while some did, the others were effortlessly browbeaten and bowed their heads.

The ‘Lawful Revolution’, as media and later historians would baptise it, was free to steamroll ahead unimpeded and Chrysalis naturally lapped up the national and international praise being heaped upon her. The euphoria faded soon enough when the reality set in that a lot of time and money were going to be needed to get this project rolling and off the ground. The whole thing came to dominate Chrysalis’ work schedule indefinitely as a result.

It made an easy trap for the Queen to fall back into overworking herself to the breaking point, but she quickly proved to have taken the experience to heart. Therefore, whilst she unquestionably stayed leader of this new modernization doctrine and assumed all key leading roles, her new doctor’s orders ruled out anything that would tax heavily on her health.

As part of her new personal health plan, among others things, Chrysalis’ weekly working hours were restricted to allow more time for hobbies, diet and exercise and, most of all, spending more time with her family. A considerable amount of time had to be put aside, especially for her sessions; after giving Celestia’s suggestion some consideration, Chrysalis reluctantly decided to try seeing a therapist concerning her problems. Her opinions on therapy remained largely unchanged, but she was lucky to have found a mare willing to put on with her stubborn attitude. Given how they were now seven sessions in, she thought it was going better than expected.

Chrysalis’ physical health also took a turn for the better as time carried on. A new exercise and diet regimen helped to trim away at all that excess flesh she had gained over these recent years. She felt good getting herself fit and strong again. She felt good and she was starting to look good too. After a few solid months of steady exercise and dieting, her bloated, rounded stomach and the set of thick, heavy curves that were her haunches sizzled away and tightened. Her figure once more began to resemble the tapered, slender look she was famous for beyond the citadel walls.

Her medication was her biggest hurdle to overcome. She had been taken off her precious red pills shortly after her daughter was discharged from hospital, being replaced by lower dosages of milder drugs which her doctor felt more ethical in supplying her. They mostly did the trick in weaning her off the devil pills, even if she did feel the overwhelming urge now and then. But they were nothing in the face of her family’s ire upon being informed of her secret dependency. Chrysalis thought she had seen it all, that she had seen the worst of the worst, but nothing could compare to the livid and long lecture Pincer gave her. She had no leg to stand on.

All the while, safe outside of the whirlwinds of politics and grownups’ problems, Princess Pupa went on to make an expected full recovery.

The tiny royal was confined to her chamber for some time, tended by Cerci around the clock, who nursed her back to full health on a diet of hugs, kisses and love soup. By the time her bandages came off and she was allowed to crawl on the floor like she used to, the jubilant palace held a feast in her honour over her “return”, to which she was too young to be allowed to even attend.

A lot of things changed in Pupa’s idle little world from then on, and it did not go unnoticed by the filly. It went beyond her being pampered and coddled more than she already was. For example, she now slept in her old crib again, complete with her buggy mobile that played her favourite songs. It was just like when she was a hatchling, and the best part was they granted her more naps and lay-ins, not forcing her to get up from her cosy slumbers if she did not desire to, even if it was for something important. Also, and perhaps the most surprising, she found herself now spending a lot more time with both Cerci and her mother.

True to her word, Cerci no longer let Pupa out of her sight; wherever the Princess went, her nanny was always by her side, playing with her, speaking on her behalf, and guarding her with the ferocity of a mama tiger. They and Chrysalis now met up twice a week for tea, sometimes in one of the palace sitting rooms, sometimes in the tea houses in the garden. They were awkward small occasions, where they sat together mostly in silence while Pupa noisily stuffed her face with sweets and cakes.

Pupa should have been so happy. Her nightmare was over and she was back to her lifestyle of indolence and play. Best of all, she got to spend time with her mother, something she had yearned for ages. And yet she was not.

It was Cerci, of course, who picked up on it first. The filly had changed a lot since her ordeal, growing introverted and lethargic. She no longer possessed the desire to go out and play in the gardens or to draw her little doodles as much, mainly preferring instead to slummock in her crib and mindlessly wolfing down whatever dish Cerci put in front of her. She also became prone to bad moods, taking up new habits like stomping her hooves and throwing tantrums at minor provocation.

Nochangeling was even remotely aware of the voices that bothered her still. They were not as loud as they used to be, thank the Kami, even though they kept cropping up. On her worst days, they were always accompanied by a bad headache.

These developments were cause for worry for the royal family. It broke Chrysalis’ heart unspeakably every time she tried to wrap her legs around Pupa in a hug or pet her on the head, only to feel her muscles tense up. Despite repeated assurances from everychangeling around her—and herself—that it was a phase that would take time to pass, Chrysalis took to indulge her daughter even more in hopes of raising her spirits. Pupa’s bedroom subsequently filled with stores’ worth of new toys and clothes. Her own personal chef was imported from the Griffin Empire to prepare her favourite meals at any time of the day, even in bed if she wished. Chrysalis even had toyed with the idea of buying her her own pet, probably something exotic. She heard a zoo in Manechuria had recently come into ownership of a pair of baby pandas.

Cerci admired the Queen’s passion to make right by her daughter and was always there to give her support, though she could not help but think the avalanche of gifts were a tad much. She did not question the good intentions behind it, but could not help but fear its detriment to Pupa’s growing up, which the filly was already at a disadvantage. Chrysalis buying her a pyramid of new plushies and dresses was one thing, another if she actually got her an endangered animal for a pet who’s cleaning up would undoubtedly be left to Cerci herself.

As part of her new employment contract, Cerci was given extra powers that would set her above her counterparts: now she was Pupa’s sole carer. This meant she had full access to her at all times (her own private quarters was being set up down the hall from her room) and that those conniving and incompetent harpies could no longer get their mitts near her baby.

As some six months rolled on, the Princess’ condition improved in the constant presence of her family’s love, the Changeling Kingdom moving from its blistering winter into the brief, refreshing respite of spring and finally, reaching one of its notoriously long, humid summers. The time came for the royal family’s summer retreat.

The historic city of Honeycomb had come a long way since its devastation during the Second Griffin-Changeling War. Over the course of the decades it was reborn as no longer just a city of bee farming and the production of fine honey and mead, but also a spa town popular amongst the rich and powerful, rivaling even the capital city in its high quality sentō bathhouses and onsen springs. The owners had not been reserved about the cost, though Chrysalis did not object them, seeing it as an investment.

The royal family had owned a private estate in Honeycomb for the last two hundred years, a grandiose mansion located neatly at the foot of a small mountain, surrounded by pruned cherry blossom trees and complete with a quaint river running along the backyard. It was a perfect getaway and it was here Chrysalis brought Pupa and the rest of her family in order to primp, relax and revitalize their essences.

“Gah! Shoo, shoo!”

Chrysalis raised her head from her stack of folders and newspaper with disinterest to see her sister furiously but daintily swatting at a bee buzzing close to her head.

She lowered her new chained reading glasses, saying, “Don’t aggravate it, Daury. It’ll sting you.”

“If that thing so much as touches me, I’ll burn it to a crisp!” the younger, ganglier sister growled as she kept on swatting at the pest. If it so much as stung her son, rest assured she would magically combust its whole hive herself.

She soon got so fed up that she snatched Chrysalis’ newspaper, rolled it up and gave the bee such a wallop it sent it flying through the air. Chrysalis roughly snatched it back, inspecting it for traces of the insect’s remains.

“I detest those horrid little things,” Danauria bristled, tightening her pristine white bathrobe, reclining back in her chair and readjusting her sunglasses in preparation for absorbing more rays.

“Well, what do you expect? They do still breed a lot of them here,” Chrysalis reminded her as she went back to perusing through her paper and documents again.

They were sat out on the mansion patio at a round table beneath a white parasol that protected them from too much of the rays beating down of this particularly hot, sunny morning. They wore matching fluffy bathrobes and their still wet manes were tied back, both of them fresh out of the spa and the onsen. All they needed to do now was sit back, bake in the sun and listen to the sounds of the birds and the babbling river while the children played down by the riverbank.

The sisters were on significantly better terms than they were all those months ago in the wake of ‘the incident’. Chrysalis was on the receiving end of Danauria’s silent treatment for a weeks until they returned to talking terms. Things between them now were, in a word, “frosty” and Chrysalis was fine with them at least being able to sit together and have a pleasant chat on a holiday.

Danauria lifted her sunglasses, eyeing her sister’s pile of documents irritably. “I thought you were supposed to leave your work at home.”

“I’m not working, I’m just reading,” she replied absentmindedly, shifting her view from her newspaper to an open file. “There’s a difference.”

“Is it related to work?”

“Most of it,” Chrysalis picked up a purple envelope from the pile which bore the Equestrian royal seal and gave it to her. “Another letter from the Princess.”

“And what does she want?”

“Oh, not much, more of the usual,” She had been receiving a flow of letters from Celestia since her visit. Most of them were about asking how Pupa was doing (she had really left an impression on the alicorn) and offers of support and information in her plans. Chrysalis always wrote back; she wanted to keep this relationship nice and cordial, after all. “‘Auntie Celly’ would like to know when Pupa’s birthday is; my best guess is she’ll want to send her a gift.”

Danauria looked over the masterfully penned letter as she magically brought over a porcelain cup of tea and biscuit, sighing fawningly, “Aww, how sweet of her.”

Sensing her sister satisfied and the subject diverted, Chrysalis resumed her reading undisturbed. She knew Danauria was technically right; bringing them here somewhat defeated the object of going on holiday in the first place. At least she was only reading with no long meetings in stuffy boardrooms to bore her halfway to death.

Chrysalis’ focus fixed on the newspaper—a copy of the Equestrian Times no less—she had been going over so thoroughly, with no story text, but a single bold headline.

She rolled her eyes, breathing a sigh of tedium.

“I think I’ll need a coffee.”

Down by the riverbank, another familiar pair of changelings were unwinding themselves. Cerci had set up a blanket on which she and Pupa, the latter cradled in the former’s legs as usual, were enjoying a picnic. The miniature buffet included traditional fare like bowls of rice and ramen noodles and plates of chicken and vegetable gyōza dumplings which Cerci was busy popping non-stop into Pupa’s mouth like it were a bottomless pit. Cerci did not even bother with using the soy dipping sauce.

“Okay, open wide, here comes the choo-choo train.”

The filly did so and sucked the fat, doughy ball right off the chopsticks, leaving a trail of saliva. She only chewed once or twice before gulping it down and opening wide again for another helping.

“Slow down, honey,” Cerci cautioned, giggling and shaking her head. “I don’t want you getting indigestion again.” Pupa, confirming her suspicions, drew a frown of discomfort. Knowing it was some trapped wind and with a tired sigh, Cerci put down the plate of dumplings and began rubbing steady circles and patting Pupa on the back until she forced a teeny burp out of her. She had not the foggiest clue where she was packing it away, but what she did know was that Pupa grew stouter and heavier with each meal. Soon enough, they were going to need one of those foal carriers from Equestria to lift her about.

Pupa pulled a faux grumpy frown and twisted in Cerci’s legs, tucking her face into her warm, cushiony bosom like a pillow. Fatigue was creeping up on her again and soon she would require her second nap of the day, once her second breakfast was finished.

“You know, sweetie, it’s still early in the day,” Cerci tapped her on the side, trying to keep her awake. “Maybe you’d like to go for a dip in the onsen? Get some exercise.”

A grunt the mare deciphered as a “nah” emanated from the thick ball of grey fur.

“Then perhaps you’d like to go the spa? Ooh, we can get you a hooficure.”

“Mmm.”

“Okay… what about drawing? I know you like drawing.” When all she received was indifferent silence as a response, Cerci had had just about enough of this impertinence and decided to put her hoof down. “Young lady, you are not spending this entire holiday doing nothing but eating and sleeping,” she told her, her tone firm and her head raised proudly. “You do plenty enough of that back home as it is.”

Pupa was surprised when she was sat upright on the blanket and saw Cerci standing sternly over her on all fours. Pupa balled her hooves up and looked like was about to throw a fit; she really had neither the energy or interest in going for a swim or drawing right now, but the older changeling was quite clearly standing her ground.

“Uh-uh, none of that.” She wagged her hoof admonishingly. The nanny magically opened a satchel and out came a hatchling bottle of fresh, glowing love juice which she gave to Pupa. “Now you wait here and have a drink while I go and get the onsen ready for us. It’ll do you a world of…” As she gazed up ahead, her stern front dissolved and words seemed to leave her. “Oh.”

Pupa looked in the same direction and her mood soured further. A mare was approaching their picnic sight along the riverbank with a colt riding on top of her back. She and Cerci recognised the colt as Prince Morphin and the mare who dutifully carried him as his own nanny, Silverfish.

“I know, I know…” Cerci bent down to tickle the hissing Princess soothingly behind the ear as their equivalents arrived, Morphin’s nanny bearing a weaved picnic basket of their own.

“Good morning, Princess, Cerci,” she said neutrally, dipping her head, showing neither inclination of pleasure or distaste.

Bowing back, she returned the sentiment, “Greetings, young Prince, Silverfish.” The two adults exchanged glances that supposedly indicated some secret acknowledgement unbeknownst to the children.

The young Prince bounced up and down petulantly to get Silverfish to dismount him who, heaving a sigh, did as she was commanded.

“Prince Morphin was feeling a touch lonely and he—” she winced at Morphin yanked her mane as he found his footing on the ground, “—would very much like to spend time with his cousin.”

Hearing this was cause enough to make Pupa want to throw up her lunch, and she clung to Cerci’s leg, glaring daggers up at them, hissing. She could think of nothing worse than having to spend time with Morphin; dipping in the onsen and drawing were suddenly looking like much better alternatives.

“That sounds like a fine idea,”

Pupa gawped at her bug-eyed, her jaw dropping so far it nearly hit the ground. Meanwhile, Silverfish proceeded to take something out from the basket and gave it to him discreetly, at the same time whispering something to which he did not react beyond nodding stupidly.

A still thunderstruck Pupa felt Cerci take her under the chin and turn her head so their faces were inches apart.

“Pupa, listen to me…” Cerci braced herself for the oncoming tantrum. “You’re going to stay with your cousin while I go with Silverfish, okay?” The instant the filly’s mouth opened, she pressed her hoof over her lips. “It’s okay. Just for a little bit, then we go to the onsen. He won’t act up this time, don’t you worry.” She removed her hoof and cupped her ear, telling her with a smirk, “And if he does, I’ll smack him.”

This brought a devilish grin to the Princess’ podgy countenance as she suckled on the teat of her bottle.

“Come, let’s give our future royal couple some privacy, shall we, Cerci?” Silverfish pecked her own charge on the crown of his head, murmuring to him to “be good” before heading off up the slope.

Cerci took her little one in her legs and gave her one last fat, wet kiss on her cheek. “I’ll get you some ambrosia later…”

As soon as their loving carers were gone, leaving the children to their own devices, Pupa huffed and dragged her belly along the ground as she crawled to the farthest corner of the blanket so to create as much distance between them as possible.

Pupa just kept her back to him and stuck her muzzle high in the air, imitating the style of the many times she had witnessed her mother do it, while she continued to noisily slurp her love juice. She was not scared of him anymore. All she wanted to do now was ignore him and wait for Cerci to come back for her.

She did not notice (or care for) the distinguishable change in Morphin’s normal appearance and behaviour. He looked like he had been recently well-groomed with his long, matted mane now neatly brushed and a fruity aroma radiating off his cleaner, plushier fur coat. His teeth seemed less jagged and yellow, as if he had recently undergone dental work. If anything, he appeared a lot more… princely.

Perhaps the most odd of all changes was his uncharacteristically introvert behaviour. His demeanour seemed a far cry from the reprehensible, screeching little howler monkey who shoved Pupa to the ground six months ago for the crime of touching him.

He opened his mouth nervously to speak, but whatever words he could muster only spluttered out like the noise made by a bad exhaust pipe. Pupa only harrumphed louder in response, sticking her muzzle so high she was almost staring straight into the sun.

Then she smelt something that stood out from the pure, fresh air and the sweet, sweet scent of the love juice she was still chugging. It was a pleasing, delicious aroma that caused her to salivate and her taste buds to do somersaults. She sniffed the air a bit in search of the source and soon looked behind to see a timid Morphin holding a large rice ball wrapped in nori seaweed, or an onigiri, as her people called them, out to her as some sort of offering.

Feeling her spacious keg of a belly whine with hunger still, Pupa allowed her uncontrollable desire to stuff herself some more to overwhelm her dislike for her cousin, and she crawled over to him with wide-eyed fascination for the treat he was holding. Her bottle of love juice was left abandoned, droplets leaking out the teat onto the fabric. She snuffled the onigiri, eyeing it with curiosity in vague fear that there was something wrong with it, like maybe it was poisoned.

“It’s for you,” Morphin mumbled, holding it out to her further. “It’s got pork and chicken in it.”

Pupa’s face livened up. She loved onigiris filled with juicy pulled pork and roasted chicken. Grinning from ear-to-ear, she hungrily snatched it from him and dug right in, chewing down the juicy meats and getting rice all over her face.

“I’m sorry.”

She looked up from her gorging, cheeks full, her head tilted to one side. Morphin was gazing down uncomfortably at his hooves as he poked around on the blanket.

“I’m sorry I’ve been mean.” It was obviously a rehearsed apology, but he sounded like he meant it for the most part.

Pupa was not sure how she was supposed to react. Her loud munching slowed down, finishing with one more awkward gulp. Seeing there was still one last clump of rice and meat left, she reluctantly offered it back to him to finish off.

The tension and hostility on the blanket faded away. The Princess remained wary around him and she might have returned to her corner if not for her sensitive nostrils picking up the intoxicating smell wafting from the basket Silverfish had left behind.

“There’s more if you want.”

Morphin reached up and lifted the basket’s lid open to reveal, to his cousin’s eye-popping delight, it was completely packed with freshly made onigiris. Their pleasant warmth hit them in the face like a hug, and a busted faucet’s worth of dribble tumbled over Pupa’s bottom lip.

Once he scooped up as many of the rice balls as his legs could carry, the two cousins rested on their haunches and enjoyed their new picnic in the sun. Pupa scoffed away at her heart’s content, dooming all knowledge that her rushing and lack of chewing would undoubtedly result in a bad case of indigestion.

Morphin spent most of the time practically hoof feeding her the marvelous snacks, while making sure to set just a few aside for himself. He was not all that hungry. There was something else he wanted instead.

“Can I…” He raised his voice loud enough to get her to pause for a moment. His hoof was outstretched slightly, reaching seemingly for her face, “Can I touch your mane?”

Instinctively, Pupa shrunk away from his hoof. She remembered what happened the last time he wanted to put his grabby hooves on her mane.

“Please?” he asked, sounding worried he had made a fatal mistake. “I-I won’t be mean, I promise.” When it looked like she was not going to budge, he whipped out an exceptionally large onigiri and presented it to her hopefully as some kind of trade. “Hmm?”

Taking the rice ball in her hooves, Pupa looked from it to Morphin and back. As she took the first bite into it, she very hesitantly and gradually dipped her head, allowing her mane to drop before him.

Morphin saw his chance and started stroking through her gossamer locks. They were just as luxuriously smooth as he remembered, topped off with the strongest hint of pomegranates. But even then, there was something that had him fixated besides a wonderful mane. Morphin did not know what it was, but recently he was starting to see Pupa and fillies in general in quite a different light. Whenever he looked at or thought about her lately, he got a stomach full of butterflies. It never occurred to him before, but Pupa actually looked kinda… pretty to him.

“I…” he stammered once he worked up the courage. “I like you.”

Those three words, squeaked so meekly by such an otherwise normally brass and insolent colt, genuinely surprised Pupa. True, she did not fully understand the meaning of his words; he was probably unsure himself. It was more the way he said it that left a lump of sticky rice laying in her mouth.

Beyond the mane that still veiled her face, for some reason, she could feel a couple of warm, green circles blushing through her cheek fur.

As he ceased grooming her mane and twiddled his hooves, in a voice carrying some greater confidence, he then requested of her, “Can we hug?”

Pupa lifted her head again, shaking her mane from her eyes like a wet dog drying itself. Her widening grin showed the rice and meat still sticking out from between her sharp teeth. It did not take her too long to make up her mind.

“Wait, I’m sorry, what’s it called?” Danauria removed her sunglasses, now squinting from the intensity of the sun’s glare and balancing awkwardly against the backrest of her recliner chair. She had given up on her attempts at sunbaking, having unwittingly been roped into a serious conversation with her sister, whose ostentatious reading and mumbling proved too distracting.

“I haven’t actually come up with our own name for it yet,” Chrysalis licked the cream of her latte from her lip, the cup itself staining the newspaper she was using as its coaster. “The Pegasi had something similar back in the days preceding Equestria. They describe it nowadays as “stratocracy”. I’m strongly considering having it divided up by prefecture. That should make it more easy to manage, wouldn’t you agree?”

Blowing a distasteful little raspberry at her use of ‘political speak’, Danauria deflated into her chair, sipping from the tall, sweating glass of strawberry daiquiri she ordered. “Hmm, I don’t think I can say much about that.”

“Well, there’s no surprise there,” she chuckled, totally ignoring the glare the remark earned from her younger sister.

“So what did Uncle say, when you offered him…”

Chrysalis’ chuckling died out and her smirk thinned out. “The capital?” she spoke as she magically stirred the spoon in her coffee. “Well, you know, he said that he was “very flattered” and that he’d “think long and hard about it”, but I don’t know… he didn’t sound all that enthused by it.”

“That’s strange, I’d thought with all that he preaches, he’d be the first—”

“What—oh no, no, it’s nothing like that. I mean, I’m sure he does. He just, well, don’t go spreading this about, but I think he’s planning to retire soon.”

“Ohhh,” Danauria nodded slowly and understanding. She sipped her drink again. “Well, that makes sense. I mean, he’s an old stallion, Chryssie, and he’s not getting any younger.”

As much as Chrysalis as well as many changelings in the higher-ups disliked to think about it, their Uncle Pincer was part of the next fading generation. Some day, and it may be some day quite soon, he would leave both this world and his family behind. It left a depressing feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She made it her goal to have it he lived long enough to witness the political rebirth of their country and its fruits himself.

And this would be her crowning accomplishment, Chrysalis knew this to be true. The Changeling Kingdom was going to molt its old, haggard skin as a third-rate power and out will emerge an effectively-militarized, modern state where the military would become immersed into the daily lives of her subjects.

The basic principle involved the kingdom’s prefectures becoming regionally administered, substituting the need for the capital’s constant interference with new military councils, naturally headed by her own hoof-picked officers of high-rank and lineage. Similar future legislation included local law enforcements being merged with her soldiers into a new efficient, disciplined gendarmerie force. Plus, when war broke out yet again, the changelings would still be the quickest and easiest to the front lines.

The closest Chrysalis could compare it to was killing two birds with one stone: political responsibility spread out and the military redefined in its purpose. The kingdom would be able to still play ball with her limper-wristed neighbours but flex her huge muscles at the same time. Chrysalis might actually see her legacy going down not as the Queen who recklessly tried and failed to conquer Equestria, but instead as the founder of… ‘Changeling Stratocracy’? ‘Chrysalism’?

‘Ugh, I’m really not good at coming up with names,’ she thought before chucking down the rest of her double shot latte. She shook her head a bit, having realized the conversation had been lost in her musings and wanting to return to it. “Regardless, Danauria, even if he doesn’t, there are plenty other Gensui who’ll eagerly take the position—” She cut herself off midway upon turning her head to see her sister no longer lounging next to her. “Daury?”

Chrysalis looked around bewilderedly for her. The search proved short-lived when she spotted Danauria standing a short distance away at the edge of the pateo, flanked to her left by two mares she easily identified as Cerci and Silverfish.

They were staring out at something in silence, all wearing relaxed and loving smiles on their faces. The two nannies sat side-by-side, shoulder on shoulder, sighing contently.

Driven by her curiosity to see for herself what had them so enthralled and slightly annoyed by Danauria’s rude departure, Chrysalis climbed out of her chair and joined them, stopping at her sister’s side.

“What is it? What the hell are you three...” A misty-eyed Danauria raised her hoof to Chrysalis’ mouth to shush her and took her under the chin to direct her attention downwards at the river bank.

Chrysalis’ heart melted on the spot.

Down at the riverbank, safe on their checkered picnic blanket, she saw her daughter and nephew, their legs locked around the other in a hug. The two held each other tight as they laid on the blanket, nuzzling their cheeks in the most tender of ways. Little Morphin, who Chrysalis had thought of in the past as an ill-mannered brat at best, was even stroking her Pupa’s hair with visible tenderness and care.

It was the most adorable thing Chrysalis had seen in her entire life. Her breath caught in her throat. Tears rimmed her eyes. She held a hoof over her mouth to hide her insuppressible smile.

Her and Danauria’s eyes met and whatever animosity that had lingered fully evaporated. The royal sisters lifted their legs over each other’s withers and leaned closer, watching their hatchlings with unwavering maternal pride swelling in their hearts. For a brief moment, Chrysalis and Cerci matched gazes as well. Cerci just gave her a simple nod, which Chrysalis returned.

All the while, the future royal couple rested peacefully in their snuggle, paying no attention to the world outside their little bubble. They only quietly enjoyed this time in each other’s company, listening only to the soothing babble of the river. All was well.