//------------------------------// // Chapter Seven - Stranger Danger // Story: One For The Archives // by ArtaFactia //------------------------------// "How is it going, dear?" Arta looked up from the codex over which she'd been squinting, thankful for the interruption. Though she could read the script with little difficulty at this point, the squiggly, jagged characters started to run together after a while. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, letting out a yawn. "It's...going all right, I guess. You weren't kidding when you said the archives room was a mess. You said that this was the accumulation of generations worth of material, right?" A nod from Chrysalis. "It looks like it'll take a few generations just to sort it all." Chrysalis let out an amused click. "I know it's bad, but I think you may be overexaggerating just a little." "Yeah, maybe. But hey, we never did hash out what my wage would be, did we?" She asked, absentmindedly rubbing at her belly, which had swollen even larger as the eggs grew and matured in her womb. "'Wage to be determined upon hiring' the ad said, if I recall correctly." "Oh! Oh...um...I didn't expect that you'd press on that after all this time." Chrysalis shuffled nervously in the doorway as Arta hauled herself up onto her hooves, her belly swaying gently with every step she took towards her love. "What did you have in mind? We do have bits, of course. Necessary for buying things during love harvesting miss-mmff!" Arta cut her off with a forceful kiss, and their tongues entwined, mare and changeling moaning together. "I think that is sufficient payment," Arta said with a smirk after terminating the kiss. "You'll use just about any excuse to kiss me. Not that I'm complaining." "Can you blame me? Your saliva is sweet like honey, and addictive. If my love is your drug, then all your secretions and toxins are mine." "I'm fairly sure you like the secretions from my ovipositor the best, dear." "Heeheehee. Yes. You've got me there." She sniggered and flicked her tail, her feminine scent spreading through the air of the musty archive room. She turned to look at the daunting task ahead of her, and deflated a little, then turned back to Chrysalis. "Hey, Chryssy, I think a break is in order. Want to go out for some fresh air?" "Let me just check my schedule." Chrysalis closed her eyes and pretended as if she were sending out lots of messages over the hivemind. "Hmmmm...I think I can work you in sometime next week." Her cheeky grin told all, and Arta giggled at the joke. "But seriously, yes, that would be nice. I've been enjoying our 'fresh air' time." Tarsus, clever changeling that he was, had worked out a solution for the sunlight problem, creating a pair of sunglasses that mimicked a changeling's nictating membranes as closely as possible. He had refined changeling ichor several times, gradually working out the colour of the fluid, turning it from an opaque green to a nearly clear state, transparent but bordering on translucent, and then poured it into molds, the ichor solidifying into lenses. After a bit of polishing, he attached the ichor lenses to a frame, and voila! Changeling sunglasses. Arta had stepped out into the light with some trepidation during the initial test, but the glasses were a success. Tarsus claimed to be suffering a 'love hangover' the following day, saying that 'it was worth it'. Arta immediately started cajoling Chrysalis to come outside with her. Chrysalis resisted at first, not wanting to draw undue attention to the hive, but Arta gradually wore her down and she finally caved, agreeing to go out. She insisted on being in disguise, however, and Arta readily acceded to that, just happy to have Chrysalis with her. They had been out several times over the past two weeks, and Chrysalis agreed that the world outside her hive was very beautiful indeed. * * * Arta looked on as the green fire of changeling magic washed over Chrysalis, turning her from the tall, slender changeling queen she knew into a shorter, fuller pony. She'd dropped in height to somewhere between Arta's height and Celestia's height. She kept that slender form she naturally had, only it was rounded out by soft flesh and fur. Black chitin had given way to a dark grey coat whilst her turquoise mane had stay much the same, with the exception of the gaping, noticeable holes. Her long, jagged horn was now a straight, smooth unicorn horn (majestic to be sure, but Arta had fallen in love with that jagged horn). Chrysalis waited for Arta to give her the once over before they stepped outside. "Your disguise checks out, Chryssy. I think everypony would be none the wiser if you strolled on into the city." "I have worn this disguise in Seaddle, actually, as well as a good many other disguises. But this one is near and dear to me, since it isn't too much of a change from my normal appearance." The two strolled carefully down the hillside from the hive entrance and into the thick of the trees, falling into a companionable silence as they listened to the leaves gently susurrating in the gentle wind. Chrysalis' current hive was situated several miles outside of the bustling city of Seaddle in the Hock Rainforest, which grew wild and untamed, the growth spurred onward relentlessly by lots of rainfall. All that fecund flora filling the forest helped to prevent perambulating ponies from perceiving the changelings' position, and it was for that reason that she had situated her hive there. Chrysalis was well aware that there were ponies who enjoyed hiking through and getting lost in the forest, and she made sure to have her scouts to keep a careful watch of the movements of anypony who got a little too close to discovering their whereabouts. In the old days she'd have no compunctions about capturing hapless and nosy hikers and keeping them captive in her hive, draining of them their love and then erasing their memories, leaving them at the edge of the forest for them to be found. A few she forcefully converted into changelings to help further swell the ranks of her hive. But her views of ponies had been shaken upon her bitter defeat in Canterlot, and her drones noticed subtle shifts in her behaviour that, over time, became patently obvious. Where she had been ruthless, she was now reasonable; her fits of rage had become nigh extinct, as she often bit her tongue and went away to cool off; she was gentler and more affectionate, and could be seen with a genuinely happy smile on her muzzle. Her drones did not object to this one bit, happy to now have and to serve a ruler who no longer ruled with such a heavy hoof. Some of them had posited that the love blast that had driven them away from Canterlot had overloaded their systems with love and somehow rewired their brains. It was definitely food for thought. As the path they were on got more narrow, they had to switch to walking single file, with Arta in the lead. Chrysalis knew where they were going: Arta's Clearing. On her first outing "alone" (there had been a scout following her at a good distance to make sure she was safe), Arta had wandered for hours, both on and off the path, smiling all the while. In what was about a fifteen minute jaunt from the hive, she had found a small clearing, and she'd been heading there ever since, laying down and enjoying the nature around her. Chrysalis had never really been one to stop and smell the roses — or in this case, the moss-covered trees — but Arta had opened her up to doing just that, and she found herself with more contentment than she knew what to do with. It was scary for her, since she was not used to such feelings, but it was also quite thrilling. Being with Arta was like throwing herself off a cliff, feeling the exhilaration of the fall, and knowing that she'd have a soft, gentle landing. "Ahhh." Arta collapsed gracelessly onto the soft grass in the clearing, patting the spot beside her. Chrysalis giggled and curled her hooves beneath her barrel, snuggling close and draping her long neck over the back of Arta's neck. "Could there be a more perfect moment?" "Not at all. I want this moment always." Chrysalis rubbed their cheeks together, murring softly. "Then let us make this moment always." Arta turned her head to kiss Chrysalis' nose, and the disguised queen turned her head so they could rub noses together. Their blissful, romantic moment didn't last for long, however, as a klaxon went up over the hivemind, a scout informing the queen that a brown-coated unicorn stallion was wandering the rainforest and was now within the hive's surveillance radius...and that the stallion in question was in their vicinity. Chrysalis' head shot up, ears perked, and she looked about nervously. Even though she was disguised, she figured that two mares snuggling in a clearing in the deepest parts of the forest would be looked at a little bit askance. "Someone's coming," she whispered, and Arta's ears shot perked as well, both of them listening for the sounds of movement. Presently they heard the snap of a twig, and then the sound of hooves moving through the undergrowth. "Follow my lead." Arta nodded and pressed closer. The stallion was getting closer to the clearing; it sounded almost as if his path was trained in their direction. When he finally emerged from the press of trees and into the clearing, he paused, his eyes wide. Then he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes to be sure he wasn't seeing things. Chrysalis breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, and Arta copied her. "Thank goodness! We heard something moving about and thought it might be a bear. We're ever so glad it was another pony!" "Ah, well, I assure you ladies, I am not a bear. Though a few times I have been told I am hard to bear." He chuckled at his joke, and they chuckled along with him. "This is quite the surprise. I hadn't expected to run into anypony today, let alone this deep in the forest. What brings you here?" "My wife and I have lived in Seaddle for a while, but up until now we hadn't visited the nearby rainforest, so we decided to rectify that. Didn't we sweetie?" Chrysalis nuzzled Arta affectionately, careful to not feed on the reciprocated love that Arta sent her way. "And since we'd put this off for so long, we thought we might as well cut a swath to the heart of the forest." "We decided not to half-flank it, basically." Arta supplied. "And then we found this lovely little clearing and sat down to enjoy the forest's ambiance." "Not the place I'd really pick for a romantic spot, but who am I to judge?" He asked with a shrug. "Me? I'm on the hunt. I've heard rumours of changelings in the forest, and I've come to see if the rumours are true." "Changelings? Here? How horrid!" Chrysalis' voice was thick with horror, and she visibly shuddered. Arta had to actively restrain herself from smiling in appreciation of her love's acting skills. Fighting the smile led to her muzzle being painted with a grimace, which helped to carry on their facade. "Yes, horrid indeed." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his snout and narrowed his eyes. "If the rumours are true and they are indeed here, then I'll be able to alert Princess Celestia as to their whereabouts, and I'm sure she'll reward me handsomely." Chrysalis' jaw clenched for a moment, but then she forced herself to relax. Act. Misdirect. She had to protect her hive from this weasel of a stallion. Play it cool. Play it cool, Chrysalis. "Hold on a tick...you're pregnant!" The stallion's hoof pointed at Arta accusingly. "And yet you decided to go for a hike through the forest?" "...yes? I'm still quite mobile at the moment, and we walked slowly and carefully. I don't really see what the problem is." Arta was not nearly as good an actress as Chrysalis, but she was doing her best to keep her alarm under wraps. This stallion, who had not immediately provided his name, as was the Equestrian social custom, was obviously holding back information as well, neither side willing to reveal too much. If they could keep the balance of information then they might just make it through this conversation undiscovered. "The problem is that, from a mere cursory glance, you appear to be full-term. No mare in that state of pregnancy in her right mind would endanger herself or her foals for the sake of a hiking expedition. No, either you two are not in your right minds or..." "Or what?" Chrysalis asked, a steely edge to her voice. Her ire was up, seeing as he was not only attacking her but her mate, and she would not tolerate anypony treating Arta badly. "...orrrrr you are changelings!" He shouted, and a deranged smile stretched across his face. Arta turned to look at Chrysalis, and Chrysalis at her, an unspoken signal passing from one to the other, and then the two of them burst into laughter. His grin faltered, and he tilted his head. "Wh-why are you laughing?" "Oh, that's rich!" Chrysalis said, smacking the ground with her hoof as she put on quite the show of amused disbelief. "You truly are mad. That is the flimsiest reasoning I've ever seen! You'll have to do better than that to prove such a silly assertion." Seeing him visibly crumple as they laughed was delightful for Chrysalis. Let's see you recover from that flaccid attempt, she thought. While it would not be wise to put too much strain on a pregnant mare, Chrysalis knew that there must have been at least a few mares who had done much worse than a hike in the late stages of their pregnancies. "What about those glasses she is wearing over her glasses?" He asked, straightening up and doing his best to retrieve his confident composure. "That's out of the ordinary!" "They're made out of a special polymer that filters out the harsh glare of the sun without sacrificing visibility. I've been photosensitive all my life, and before getting them just going outside was pure agony." Arta said with a disinterested tone. She'd been working on that bluff ever since she received the glasses from Tarsus in case anypony questioned them, as this stallion was now. "And just because something is out of the ordinary, it doesn't mean it has to do with changelings. Honestly, you're reaching at this point. We just wanted to enjoy this time together before our foal was born, to enjoy one last, magnificent outing before our time was consumed with foal-rearing, and here you are, trampling all over it. You should be ashamed of yourself." If Arta were part of the hivemind, Chrysalis would be telling her just how impressed she was with her at that moment. He was utterly flummoxed, and for a few brief moments did look appropriately ashamed. It looked as if they'd won, that he'd slink away with his tail between his legs and leave them be. But it was not to be. "...I know a surefire way to tell if you're changelings." His voice had grown quiet, but it had that reacquired that deranged sing-song quality to it, and Chrysalis and Arta stiffened. "I know a way, I doooo." "And what way is that?" Chrysalis asked, her words curt and strained. "A SPELL!" He shouted, and before either of them could react, his horn flashed, blasting them both with a spell that he'd had prepared, waiting to spring it like a trap. The magic ran down Arta's body and did nothing except make her feel tingly all over. But with Chrysalis, it was another matter entirely. Her disguise disappeared, revealing her as she truly was. He gasped and took several steps back, equally delighted and horrified. "HAHAHAhaaa! I knew it! Changeling! And the changeling of changelings, the queen herself!" "Yes, you've found me, blah blah blah." Chrysalis groused, staring daggers at him. "What do you propose to do, then?" She stood up, towering over him. Her horn glowed as she scanned him. "What exactly do you propose to do...*snrk*...heehee...Bold Remark?" Chrysalis burst into a fit of giggles. "Your name is Bold Remark? Oh, how delightfully apropos it is. Heehee!" "H-hey! Making fun of my name? Not cool!" He whined, sounding rather pathetic. "You'll regret that! You and your changeling wi—wait, what?" He looked at Arta as if she had two heads. "You're not a changeling?" "Nope! I'm just a mare who fell in love with the changeling queen and is gravid with her eggs." Arta said with a smile, and she rubbed her cheek against Chrysalis' neck, murring softly. Chrysalis leaned down to return the nuzzle as well as give her a soft kiss on the nose. "You WHAT?!" His eyes bulged out of their sockets. "You...eggs...ewww! You are a sick, twisted mare, and a traitor to all ponykind! How dare you side with changelings!" "You will refrain from speaking to my mate like that if you value your life!" Chrysalis hissed, taking a step forward, causing Bold Remark to stumble back and fall onto his haunches. "Wh-what are you going to do? Capture me? Suck me dry? Turn my brains to mush? Kill me?" "I...no." Chrysalis sighed. "I won't do any of those things. I don't do that anymore. I've developed a...a conscience." She looked beyond him, talking mostly to herself. "I don't want to be that monster anymore." "Well...then...I'll just be going..." He said cautiously, slowly getting up onto his feet. He began to slowly walk backwards again, keeping his eyes on Chrysalis, no doubt not believing that she wouldn't try to capture him. "WELL GET GOING THEN!" Chrysalis shouted, and Bold Remark squealed like a pig, turning around and rushing through the forest, crashing and stumbling through it in his mad dash to get away. Chrysalis sent a command to her scouts to leave him alone, even though doing so put her and the hive in great danger. He knew her hive was in the Hock Rainforest now, and he'd race to tell Celestia, and then all Tartarus would come raining down on them. "I...we...we're doomed..." Her legs buckled beneath her and she tumbled onto the soft grass beneath her. "No we're not! Don't say that, Chryssy! Maybe things will work out?" "The hive...Celestia will come...sh-she'll eradicate us all...and all because I was weak..." "CHRYSALIS." Chrysalis blinked in surprise, hearing the firm tone with which the petite pegasus spoke. She lifted her head and looked upon Arta, whose gaze was just as firm. "Being merciful is not weak. Not at all. It takes a good deal of strength to hold back one's anger and to refrain from harming those who we might feel justified in harming. You did a good thing, Chryssy. You're a wonderful changeling." Chrysalis choked up and began to sob, pressing her face against Arta's leg. "B-but...now...the hive...me...you...we might...we might die!" "You should give Celestia a chance. I know her well enough, seeing as we communicated quite a bit whilst I helped at the Royal Canterlot Archives." Arta gently ran her hoof through Chrysalis' mane, and pressed a soft kiss to her jagged horn. "I think she's more merciful and forgiving than you might think." "...well then, l-let us hope she is merciful with us. Let us hope. We are greatly in need of it now."