Queen Chrysalis, Attempted Mind Thief

by HiveLordLusa

Chapter 3: I Run My Mouth Back And Forth

So this day was going just perfectly. I woke up with someone else’s eye, was dragged into my mind by an angry queen, nearly murdered – I say it still counts as attempted murder – and now this. ‘This’ being the fact that the changeling Queen had not left my mind, but instead seemed to have gained the ability to talk through my mouth. I had no idea how to explain it – the why and how were beyond me at that point.

“Can we perhaps let me finish a sentence?” I was understandably confused and annoyed at this point, especially considering Chrysalis was very good at interrupting me. “…Okay, thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” The hate in her voice was palpable enough that my mouth felt… wrong. “So then could you perhaps explain to me WHAT EXACTLY YOU HAVE DONE?!”

“I KEEP TRYING TO TELL YOU THAT I DON’T KNOW!” I was getting frustrated at the fact that she couldn’t accept me having as little idea of the ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ of this situation as she did. “Can we please set some ground rules here though? I have really bad feelings about this mess we’re in now.”

“What?! Why? You’re going to send me out of here right now! There is no need for any rules!” I was sure her screeching was going to make me lose my voice, or worse, so I tried something to stop her from complaining.

“Look, I’ll try to ‘send you out’ again, but I can’t promise it will work! You might end up stuck… here…” My face filled with dread as I realised what that would mean. “Okay, I think I want you to leave about as much as you do right now.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I felt my face twist into a distasteful sneer as she said that. “I think I might be insulted.”

Okay, so she can use more than just my mouth, I thought. Actually, it makes sense that she can make expressions, mouth is controlled by facial muscles, isn’t it. I mentally face palmed at how long it took me to realise that, before dismissing the stray thought. “Never mind what I meant! The point is that I’m going to try and send you out again, so… maybe help me or something.”

“And how do you propose I do that?”

“Um… think about wanting to go?”

“…That would make sense.”

“Glad to hear it,” I deadpanned, feeling a bit snarky. I closed my eyes and tried to think of pushing her out of my mind and away from me. I put as much effort into thinking as I did when I tried to return from the ‘dream area’ or wherever we were earlier. I ‘pushed’ and ‘pushed’ for a while, and I started to think I was making progress-

*PPPPHHHHRRRRBBBBTTTT*

And of course I farted. What a way to have your focus destroyed. “…are you actually serious right now.” I said, then sighed again. I looked around the room, and realised I hadn’t gotten another remark out of Chrysalis. I immediately perked up, “Yes! I di-“

“No, I’m still here.”

“OH, COME ON!”

I – or rather, she – started to laugh at that. It was an odd experience, really. I could feel the laughing, and it managed to make me a little more positive, but at the same time I felt detached, and the laugh itself felt quite… mean. “That was a much better reaction than I could have hoped for, especially from a useless creature such as you.”

I scowled at her insult. “Okay, given that you do now appear to be stuck here, maybe it would be best for you to not piss off your host. That means ‘please stop insulting me’, got it?”

“I find much more fun if I don’t stop, actually. I’ve realised that I’m stuck, and neither of us can do anything about it. Despite the fact that I am still quite angry,” – Which was true, I could actually feel it somewhat – “I wouldn’t be a good changeling if I wasn’t able to take advantage of any situation.”

I started sputtering at how final her decision sounded, and how much it sounded like it was going to be an enormous pain in my neck. Or brain. “J-just… please. If you’re going to insult me do it in private! I can’t exactly have you running your- um, MY mouth off in public! I’ll look like a crazy person!” I felt my mouth move as she smiled “And that would be bad for you too! If you want to live well, even remotely like a Queen, you have to let me… Let me be the one of us that talks, okay?”

Chrysalis dropped the smile and grumbled but didn’t argue. I hoped that meant she was accepting the idea.

We- I mean, I, dammit – returned to my computer and sat down. As I was about to start logging in, I get a question I should have expected, “What even is this thing? It’s a curious box, certainly.”

“What, my laptop? It’s just- wait,” I stopped as I realised something. “You don’t have these in Equestria, do you?” Something dawned on me then, “There is so much I need to explain to you… well, this is going to take a while.”

I started with some of the basics of our world’s current state, from the utter lack of magic to some of the technology we possessed. She asked a few befuddled questions, especially about the absence of magic – the most prominent being a simple, “h-how?!” – but mostly sat in what I could feel was a mixture of confusion and, surprisingly to me, awe.

“You strange creatures… without magic you have achieved so much more than Equestria in so much less time. As much as it pains me to say it, I’m somewhat impressed.” I couldn’t help but grin at that, “Though you personally are still an idiot in my eyes.” And of course she ruins the moment. Well, I’d promised she could do that when no one else was around, so I decided to just take the insult.

I was going to ask her what I should explain next, but I only got partway through the question before I heard a familiar sound that I realised was about to make this situation so much more difficult than necessary.

The front gate creaked closed as my mother returned home from her long morning walk. If it was physically possible I would have dropped a brick out of- never mind, not important. What was important was either successfully hiding Chrysalis from my mother or getting her to accept the situation and help me out.

Despite the fact that the rational part of my brain was going to tell me that my mother was kind and accepting of most things, I was a bit too gripped by fear to be rational or logical. I swore under my breath and attempted to think of a way to hide my new eye, the most obvious change from yesterday. Getting Chrysalis to shut up would also be trouble, and she had just noticed something was off. “What is happening? Why did you suddenly stop talking?”

“Quiet! My mother is why!” I hissed at her as the front door opened and closed. “I need you to be quiet, okay? I agreed to letting you insult me, as long as you please follow my lead in situations like this one.” I pleaded with her desperately, trying to figure out a way to cover my eye. My hair was far too short and I didn’t have any sun glasses on hand, or coloured contacts anywhere in the house.

“Your own mother?” she asked as she gave an evil grin. “Well, this should be interesting to watch. I do expect a burning carriage wreck at the end, you know.”

“I don’t care what you expect right now, I just have no idea what she would do about this!” I heard her footsteps coming down the hallway to the back end of the house, and where I was seated at my computer. Feeling like I had no other choice, I just put my left hand over my eye and pretended to rub it sleepily.

Mum walked into the kitchen/dining room combo with a smile on her face and a cheery “Hello!”, and I immediately felt bad for my upcoming lies. She was roughly four fifths of my height – I was about six feet tall – with long black hair and round multifocal glasses.

“Hi mum!” I spoke up, still ‘rubbing’ my eye with a nervous grin “How was your walk?”

She could tell something was up pretty quickly – she had known me longer than I had, as she would joke sometimes – and she frowned. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Um… yes? Why, is something wrong?”

“That’s what I’m asking you.” She was looking a little less amused now. “Is something wrong with your eye? Do we need to see a doctor?”

“What, for my eye? No, no, of course not! I’m just a bit tired and having trouble getting the sleep out of it!” I laughed uneasily, and I could feel Chrysalis’ mental presence cracking up at how badly I was handling the situation. Shut up! This is difficult enough as it is! I thought at her angrily.

This is just too perfect! she managed to think back in between bouts of laughter. You’re doing this completely against what my common sense and experience are telling me to do!

You’d handle this situation just as badly! It’s not like I have shape-shifting powers or anything, and I doubt I picked something like that up when you popped in!

I realised my mother was talking so I brought my attention back “…you just keep rubbing your eye, its suspicious is all. And why do you look so angry?”

I felt that my smile had dropped somewhat and my face had gotten tense. I quickly tried to bring it back, “I, uh… I’m just angry that the sleep is still not out of my eye!”

“Okay, that’s enough. Please stop rubbing your eye. Tell me what’s wrong.” She looked fairly neutral now, but I could tell she was concerned. I was only digging myself a deeper grave, so I gave in and showed her my – Chrysalis’ – eye. Her eyebrows raised, and she asked, “Where did you buy that lens?”

I paused, thinking I might have found another way out, then stopped – I should just tell her, I thought. She was my mother, best that she was the first to know. “It’s not a lens, mum.” I mumbled.

“I’m sorry?”

“I said it’s not a lens. It’s my new left eye.”

“Could you perhaps explain to me not only why you needed a new eye, but also how, when and why you got one that looks nothing like your normal one?” She was clearly holding in a lot of disbelief at this point. Before I could say anything in response, I felt dread as my mouth started to speak without me.

“Perhaps I should interject now- *mmmph*!” I cut Chrysalis off by slapping my hands over our – I mean, my – mouth.

I thought we had an agreement! I thought at her, doing my best to convey the anger I was feeling.

Well, you changed your own plans, and I got bored. She gave off the mental equivalent of a shrug.

You gotBORED?! That’s your reason? What are you, a child?

We managed to fit all of that mental yelling in to a less than a second timeframe, but my mother’s reply to what she had heard stopped us from continuing. “Could you perhaps explain to me just what exactly is going on here? When did you learn to put on a voice like that, and why did you stop yourself?” She was looking fairly confused at this point, and her facial expression was telling us ‘I don’t want to deal with this right now.’

Please let me do this, okay? I thought to Chrysalis. When I received only the mental equivalent of an eye roll in response, I spoke up, feeling nervous. “So, the longish version might be the best then. Um… basically, a character from that show I watch – you know the one, with the colourful ponies and whatnot – has somehow gotten stuck in my mind, and that’s why my eye is different, for one. And that voice was hers before. And… that’s pretty much it.” I could feel Chrysalis becoming curious at the mention of My Little Pony, but I gave her a ‘later’ thought that seemed to placate her for now.

My mother closed her eyes, took off her glasses and ran her free hand down her face. It was pretty clear that she was having some trouble believing me, to say the least. It probably didn’t help that I used to fib about my homework a few years ago, but I’d never lied about anything big before, so I hope she could trust that this was really happening.

“So… do you know why this has happened then?” she asked tentatively.

“Um… actually, I have no idea how she got here, honestly. I woke up this morning and my eye was just like how it is now.” I recapped more of what had happened to her, and she seemed to absorb the information. “But as I said, I have no idea how she got here.”

Chrysalis spoke up again and I was about to shut her up until I noticed what she was actually saying, “I can actually be of some use with that question.”

“Actually, that would make sense,” I thought. “Well, feel free to tell us everything after you were expelled from Canterlot.” Her surprise was quite easy to feel then. “Yeah, I’ll explain how I know that later, alright? I promise, but for now, tell us what happened.”

“Well, alright then. I expect you to keep this promise, though.” She explained to us what her journey through the internet was like before touching on details of my own retelling I either didn’t know or had somehow forgotten. She sometimes went into detail about what she saw, but much more often than not she didn’t feel the need to expand on it. “And then, he started teaching me about your culture. Then you arrived, and that’s all that happened.”

“Geez, you spent a year in that place?” I frowned at the thought, and was somewhat disturbed. “Some people have enough trouble finding a way out after a few hours, and they aren’t even in it like you were!”

“One question I have for you, Ms Chrysalis,” my mother asked, “is how you’re able to speak through my son’s mouth like you did. Do you have any idea why?”

“Probably because we’re sharing the same brain, mum,” I said.

“I believe she asked me that question, not you.” Chrysalis said haughtily. She then calmed down as she realised, “…actually, that’s probably got something to do with why.” I rolled my eyes. “And besides, that’s Queen Chrysalis to you!”

“Well, you’re in my house, and so you’re just as equal as us. ‘Royal’ titles dropped here, understood?”

“Wha-WHAT?! Never! I shall not give up my royal title on your whim, you foolish creature!”

Mum smiled slightly at that. “I never said you had to give it up, just that we won’t be using it in this house. Okay, Danny?”

I was slightly embarrassed at the nickname, but nodded and shrugged. “I’m okay with that arrangement.” I grinned slightly.

“Alright, so since you’re apparently stuck in my son’s brain – I’m still considering how much of this to believe, honestly,” Mum gave an indecisive face at that, but continued regardless, “but I’m going to go along with it for now. Anyway, until you’re proved to be a lie, you get to be one of the family; pretty much equal. I think this all sounds like it deserves a big breakfast; how about some bacon and eggs?”

Author's Note:

Hey look a Christmas present from Hivey! Hope you guys like it.

Gah took me far too long to get this done. I can only blame school and exams for that.
Preread by ColdGoldLazarus again, give him love and praise for being so helpful and good at writing. :3

Comments

[HiveLordLusa]

I also wanted to say, I'll be heading overseas in a while for about three weeks, so I apologise that chapter four will also take some time to be finished... Hopefully not as much time as this one, I started writing it while waiting for editing and prereading to be over.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this one, especially since it's 2.7 k words this time! I'm slowly making bigger chapters, but I'll stop making them bigger once I hit about 3.5 to 4 k in length.

Merry Christmas everyone!

[Sketchy Markks]

Huh. She took that rather well... Merry Christmas!

[Secrets101]

I don't like the fact that "mum" now knows of the situation, other than that pretty decent chapter!

[HiveLordLusa]

3679198 Heh, not as well as originally, but I found it hard to make it any more difficult for her than it currently is, so oh well.
And belated Merry Christmas back to you!

3682955 She would have found out somehow, but this way that part is done quickly and she can be better used for comedy purposes And thanks!

[nioniosbbbb]

3688865 This mom understands more than my mom would.