Know your enemy

by Znegil

2 Enemy mine

I heard voices...

I felt a cold floor...

Light, voices....

"... is this thing?"

"It is a human, he is engaged to the moon princess, so he has access to all rooms, Queen Lycosa. I can use his appearance to get close to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the target of my plan."

I saw a big room before me filled with several black creatures. They looked a bit like ponies... if you are having a nightmare, their voices had a strange echo to it.

"Chrysalis, you know this is very dangerous, never before did we reveal our kind. An attack on Canterlot is very risky, it has to be perfect, or our whole swarm could be erased, failure is not an option!"

"Yes my queen, everything works as planned, soon we will have more ponies to feed on than we ever dreamed of."

She walked back to me. She had a dark green mane and a crooked horn.

"Where... where am I?", I asked hoarsely.

"Food should not talk."

I received a hard kick to the head and went unconscious again...

...

I opened my eyes again...

I layed face down on the cold floor of a dark cell, my head felt like it wanted to bust into pieces. I groaned and slowly tried to stand up. I was a bit shaky, but I made it.

The cell was very small and it's dark walls had remains of some green goo. There was no window to the outside, only a tiny one in the door, just big enough to look through. There wasn't much to see through it, only a poorly lit corridor and more cell doors like mine.

I had no idea how much time had passed since I was attacked. What kind of creatures had abducted me? I remembered how they looked in this little moment I had saw them, I had read some books on the different species here in Equestria, but nothing came close to these things.

What did they talk about... an attack on Canterlot? All the ones I cared for were in danger, and I couldn't do a thing to warn them.

Oh Luna, please be alright...

...

I had lost all feeling for time. The light did not change, and nobody came to give me food... or to eat me. I was pretty sure I would just starve or die of thirst... I refused to think about other ways I could die here.

...

I stared at the wall, it was all I could do, there was nothing at all to do here. It was just a matter of time to become insane here, maybe I... Wait, there was a sound.

I stood up and walked to the door and tried to see anything through the tiny hole in it. I heard uneven steps toward my cell, it stopped for a while then started again. The steps came closer and closer.

I could make out the form of a changling getting near my cell, but the corridor was not well lit, and the hole was tiny, I couldn't see any details.

If it entered my cell I would fight it and try to escape. I made myself ready, next to the wall which would be behind the door once it would open.

I heard a bolt being removed and the door opened very slowly.

The changling slowly entered the room, any moment I would...

I looked in horror at the changling as I saw its back. It was clear to see it's wings had been torn out, there was a lot of... green blood running down it's back and dripping to the floor, the whole body was covered with bruises and cuts and part of its mane look like it got pulled out too. It looked to be closer to death than being alive.

As it slowly turned around, I recognized her, her dark green mane and her horn that was pretty different from the few other changelings I had seen. Her name was Chrysalis. She had been the one who got me here.

She looked at me with swollen eyes. "If you want to survive and get back home, follow me and be quiet."

She turned around and moved out of the cell. I wasn't sure what to do, but my options were limited anyway, I doubted I could find a way out by myself so I followed her.

She was barely able to walk without falling and moved at incredibly slow speed. I made a decision, I put my arm around her midsection and started to pull her along, she made some sounds of protest but had no power to do anything against it.

We came to an intersection.
"Left...", she whispered.
I dragged her into that corridor. It repeated a dozen time. We reached some intersection and she whispered directions. I heard other changelings only in the distance.

Finally, we escaped through a door out of this very complex structure, it was nice to see the sun again.

Chrysalis lifted a hoof.
"... little cave... ten minutes this way...", she mumbled.
I dragged her the way she had shown me.

...

The cave had an opening to the sky while its entrance was overgrown by bushes. I had laid her on the ground. I didn't know how I should react to her. She was the one who had poisoned and abducted me.

She coughed.
"I bet you would like to kill me, but you will never find you're way back home without me.", she whispered.

I studied her body. The bleedings had stopped, but she still looked closer to death than living.

What had happened? I worried about my friends in Canterlot, had the attack been such a brutal fight?
"I will not go anywhere with you without knowing exactly what happened.", I told her.

"It doesn't matter, we help each other to survive, it is win - win.", she growled.

"No.", I replied. "I want to know what exactly you creatures are and what had happened, or else I will try on my own to get back home."

She was silent for about a minute. Finally she spoke up:
"We are Changelings. We gain power and nourishment from positive emotions of advanced races like ponies, zebras and so on. Love it by far the most powerful source for us. We change our forms and appearance to blend in and stay hidden."

"What happened in Canterlot?", I asked still worried.

She sighed.
"After I brought you to the hive, I flew back to Canterlot. I used your appearance to get to Cadenza, so I could get to know her a bit before using her body. We had a nice chat over tea and I used my poison to knock her out and trapped her in a cave below Canterlot."

"What about Luna?"

"She searched for you after you disappeared and I wasn't using your appearance anymore, she wasn't even at the wedding because she was looking for you."

She stopped and had trouble breathing. "I need a moment."

I looked at her worried. Sure she was the evilest thing I ever met, but I didn't want her to die, though I wasn't sure what I would do if she did something to Luna.

"Is there something I could do for you?", I asked reluctantly.

It took her a moment to answer.
"Wait a moment... I will finish... the story... then I need a favor."

It took her about ten minutes before she continued.
"Short version... I took her place. Twilight was suspicious. I sent her to the cave too, they escaped, I fought against Celestia, she lost. Candace and Shining Armor did some stupid 'power of love' thing and blasted me and the changelings out of Canterlot."

"So this is why you are in this condition?", I asked.

She chuckled, but it turned into coughing.
"No you fool, it was only like a shockwave and we have wings, we landed safely... But when we came back to the hive to report our defeat to Queen Lycosa... well someone must have told her I announced myself as 'Queen of the Changlings' while the attack on Canterlot... I was so sure of myself, I was certain I could dethrone her with all the power I had..."

She went silent.

"What happened?", I asked.

She sighed again.
"It isn't unusual for a queen to kill a Changeling who has failed, but she didn't want such an easy death for me. She tore out my wings and drained me of all my energy, all the love I had stored, that we need for power and nourishment...

Then she had fun for minutes punching and cutting me to bring me close to death... without killing me... and they threw me out of the hive so I would slowly starve."

She turned herself away from me so that I couldn't see her face.

I was silent for a moment.

"Then you came back for me because you hope for some ransom."

After a moment she nodded.

"But there is a second reason.", she added. "I have no power left. I will starve within hours... unless someone gives me some love."
She turned around and looked at me.

"Wait WHAT?! I could never love you in any way.", I stepped a few feet back.

"That is not how it works.", she said, again she had trouble breathing.

After some seconds she continued: "When creatures like you feel love, you are radiating it from your body, that is what we can absorb."

"But maybe you can't use my love because of my ability that..."

She interrupted me: "I can use yours, I been close to your room when you and Luna did have se..."

"Ok, I believe you!", I interrupted her this time.

"Maybe it was Luna's love you took?", I asked.

"No, every love has a unique taste, I tasted both of you."

There was so much wrong with that sentence... I paced through the cave, unsure what to do.

"Let's say I would help you... what would I have to do?", I asked her.

"I am very weak and the amount of love I can absorb is dependent on the distance of the source... You have to lay next to me and embrace me, then..."

"No!
No...
I mean my ability sure would block your magic if I would touch you.", I cried out very fast.

"I don't think so, it isn't magic, it is our natural ability like eating or breathing is for others. Anyone stopped breathing when you touched them?"

I decided to pace through the cave again. After a few seconds I asked her to continue.

"As I said... You have to lay next to me and embrace me. Then you think of your Moon Princess and how much you love to be with her and all this silly stuff. Once you feel your love for her, I can absorb it."

I stopped pacing and looked at her.
"Or maybe you suck out my life force and I die."

She rolled her eyes.
"If it would be that easy, I would have killed you after I had poisoned you."

I shook my head.
"Wow, you really don't give me much reason to help you."

Now fear showed on her face.
"You won't let me starve, don't you?"

I didn't know if it was a for show or her honest feelings, but it didn't matter, of course I couldn't let her die. I walked over to her and watched her closely. Her body looked so beat up and hurt, in special the torn out wings.

I sighed and laid next to her. I closed the distance and carefully wrapped my arms around her. Her skin wasn't how I expected it, instead of cold and hard it was like warm leather. Her face and fangs were real close now and I could smell all that blood on her body, despite its color it smelled just like blood.

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on Luna, but it was hard to do while I felt Chrysalis breath on my face.

After some time without results, she spoke up: "Maybe I could help a bit, Stallions love it when I stroke their..."

"I will let you die if you try this.", I said in a cold voice.

"Okay, okay, just wanted to help."

I relaxed as much as possible and thought about Luna, how I had embraced her, and felt her body heat against mine. Soon we will be married and start a family. We will play with the foal and show it the world with all its wonders. I wonder what color it's mane will have...

I was able to keep these thoughts up for some minutes until I felt hooves wandering down my back and grabbing my butt. I opened my eyes and looked into Chrysalis face, her cheeks were red and she had a dreamy look in her eyes, she was breathing hard again, but this time because of other reasons. Her mouth came close to mine.

"Stop!", I shouted and freed myself out of her grasp. It was easy to get some distance between us because she still was very weak.

As I got away from her, she seemed to snap out of it and to be aware of herself again.
"Thank... thank you.", she stammered. "This was more intense then I expected, you're love for her is very strong."

I stood up again. I noticed her wounds looked less severe now.

"Our body's regenerate over time if we have enough power.", she said as she noticed my stares. "In some weeks even my wings can grow back if I can get enough love."

"Well... that's good... Let's get going in about one hour. I want to get some distance between me and this hive.", I said and sat down the other side of the cave, at this moment I wanted as much space between us as possible.

Comments

[Aunty Furby]

0_0 well **** that went down hill fast (still a good book though)

[unknowncape7377]

8017355
This series is like a fish and I'm a shark

[Znegil]

8510490