A Time to Act

by The Sonic Mage

Chapter 9: Introductions

When she opened her eyes again, Chrysalis was met with a most unexpected sight. While she was certainly surprised to see that she was still in that ruined room, the thing that was the most heart-stopping was right in front of her.

A large mass of blue and purple fire sat only a foot in front of her. Yet, despite its proximity, it gave off no heat and made no sound.

“I’ll repeat: Who are you?”

Aside from when it talked, of course.

Despite the repeat of the question, Chrysalis couldn’t make her mouth form words. She just sat there, gapping at the strange sight before her.

The sentient mass of flame seemed to pick up on her stupefaction, with a sigh.

“I see…You are unable to properly converse with me in this form…One moment.”

Without another word, the amorphous pile of fire slowly moved and shifted in an eerie yet whimsical way. It condensed and congealed into something new. The display sent shivers under the ex-Queen’s carapace, but she couldn’t bring herself to look away, as the burning silhouette solidified, skin seeming to take shape as the fire fell away.

After what felt like ages, the remaining flames surged in brightness, forcing Chrysalis to look away. Her eyes took a good minute to recover from the sudden flash.

“There,” said a now much less goul-ish voice, presumably belonging to the living fire, “How’s this?”

Chrysalis opened her now recovered eyes, only to be met with, somehow, an even stranger sight.

Before her now stood a figure. A bipedal figure. A bipedal figure that stood at least a head and neck taller than her, horn included. They appeared to be dressed in an expensive-looking white tailored suit, featuring a lot of reddish-orange as detailing, decoration, and trim. Decorative chains hung from their belt loops. One chain led to the suit jacket’s pocket, presumably attached to a watch.

The figure’s fur stood in stark contrast to their attire. It was such a deep, dark shade of brown that it could almost be mistaken for black. In contrast to the fur, however, was the stranger’s most striking feature: their eyes. The deep, amber orbs seemed to glow in their sockets, surrounded by an empty dark brown sea.

The shock and awe of this new sight gradually shifted as Chrysalis’s eyes registered other details. Specifically regarding the stranger’s face. Their fur seemed to puff up around their neck. Their eyes had rectangular pupils. They had a set of horns on their head that curved like the beginning of a corkscrew…

…A goat.

This supernatural stranger that materialized in front of her…held the appearance of some kind of goat.

To say that Chrysalis was extremely confused would’ve been quite an understatement. Her head was filled with questions, all starting with some variation of ‘Who…? What…? Why…? How…?’

“Well?” The ex-Queen was drawn out of endless pondering when the stranger’s voice breached her consciousness once again. She tried to say something, anything, yet, twice now, found herself without words.

The tall, dark, goat-like entity gave an annoyed sigh.

“I have asked you two questions, the least you can do is attempt to answer one of them.”

Chrysalis attempted to gather her thoughts enough to say anything in response.

“Y-Yes.”

“Yes, what?” the stranger pressed.

“Yes, I find this form you’ve taken easier to converse with.”

“Excellent,” the stranger said. He then motioned to the room’s door, revealing their hands. Long fingers and sharp nails gesturing towards the hallway. “Shall we continue this conversation downstairs?”

Chrysalis, having managed to pull together some amount of composure, decided it would be best to follow along for now.

“Of course,” she said, rising to her hooves and keeping her posture as straight as possible, “Please, lead the way.”

“No, please, after you,” the goat-like entity said calmly, a veneer of politeness in their voice, “I insist.”

Not wanting to incur the wrath of a creature that had been running her down not even ten minutes ago, Chrysalis gave a polite nod and made her way out of the room and into the hall, the stranger following soon after.

Chrysalis didn’t dare look back as she carefully made her way down the even more damaged steps. She knew exactly what this was. It was a power move. A subtle show of authority. Having your guest take the lead down the hall or down the stairs, locking them into the polite trappings of hospitality, leaves them unable to do much in the event you attempt to stab them in the back or push them down the stairs. It says “I am holding your life in my hands, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

The two made their way down to the ground floor, turning to the shattered remains of what might have been the dining room, considering the table that was missing two legs and the three remaining chairs that surrounded it.

“Please,” the stranger said, gesturing to one of the chairs, “Take a seat.”

Chrysalis gave a small nod, choosing the chairs that would immediately put the broken table between her and the entity was suddenly “playing nice” with her. She took a moment to brush as much dust and debris as she could off the rickety wooden frame. It creaked and groaned so much when she sat on it, it was a miracle that it didn’t collapse right then and there.

Her “generous host” set about a similar task, making sure that their seat was as relatively comfortable as possible. They pushed back the tails on their suit jacket so as to not sit on them.

Silence hung in the air for a good few seconds.

“You were also curious about who I was, correct?” Chrysalis asked, needing to alleviate at least some of the tension.

“That can wait for now,” the goat entity held up their hand, waving the question off, “There are more pressing inquiries that have come to my mind.”

“I see,” the ex-Queen responded, trying to hide the stress that begged to show on her face, “What might they be if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t mind at all,” the entity said, “For starters, what year is it?”

Chrysalis was tempted to bat an eye at that, but considering that creature seemed to have been imprisoned for an uncertain amount of time, it was a more than fair thing to ask.

“If I’m not mistaken, it should be the year 19XX according to the Celestial Calendar.”

The entity’s hand stilled at that information but showed no other major reaction.

“My…time truly does fly by doesn’t it?” The entity’s voice sounded somewhere between wistful and mildly amused.

“Yes, I suppose it does,” Chrysalis said, almost reflexively looking for a cup to take a polite sip from.

This felt good. Familiar even. Not the entity, mind you, but rather the general situation. Some of the pieces were different or missing, but Chrysalis had played the Conversation Game more than enough times to have a fairly good idea of how to navigate this interaction.

‘I just need to exercise a great deal of care,’ she assured herself.

“Moving on,” the entity said, “Would you happen to know who the current tribe leaders are?”

‘Tribe leaders?’ Chrysalis pondered, ‘What tribes could he possibly be talking about? Unless…No…He couldn’t…Could he?’

“Are you referring to the three pony tribes, perchance?” The entity gave a nod.

“Yes, I am.”

That came as quite the shock to the ex-Queen.

‘Just how old is this creature?’

“Technically, none,” Chrysalis said, going on to clarify, “The three tribes united some time ago, currently under the reign of the Royal Sisters: Celestia and Luna.”

The entity had a bit more of a reaction to this information, their jaw tensed, their hand’s grip on their leg tightening.

“I…see…”

It was somewhat strange to think that she was conversing with a creature that might have very well existed since the earliest days of pony society.

“Was there anything else you needed to ask?” Chrysalis said.

“There are other questions, but for now I think I’ll be satisfied with circling back to an old one.” Chrysalis had a feeling she knew what he meant.

“Earlier I asked you who you were. Do you think you’re comfortable enough to tell me now? As well as what you are?”

The old Changeling knew it would come back around to that eventually. There was no dodging it now.

“Of course. I am Qu-” She stopped herself. She had almost introduced herself as Queen Chrysalis. If the circumstances were different and if this had been a few weeks earlier, she would’ve easily called herself such, without hesitation, and with pride.

But she wasn’t really a Queen, was she? She had no subjects, no territory, no legions, no power, nothing. To call herself a Queen would just be another lie she would be telling. Expect the only creature she would be trying to fool would be herself.

“…Chrysalis,” she managed to scrape out, “My name is Chrysalis. I’m a…variant of a Changeling.”

“Now,” the ex-Queen said pointedly, “Might I ask the same of you?”

The entity’s expression shifted, a brow raised at her question.

“I beg your pardon?”

‘Don’t be rude, but don’t back down,’ Chrysalis thought, hoping to gain some verbal footing in this exchange.

“I mean no disrespect,” she said, “but we’ve been talking for some time now, and I have yet to learn your name.”

The entity’s face held its questioning gaze before suddenly it shifted to one of self-surprise. Their face then relaxed, closing their eyes as they smiled, as if they were amused.

“Of course,” he said, “Where are my manners? Considering all that’s happened, I suppose you’re owed at least that.”

Chrysalis got the feeling that “all that’s happened” referred to more than just their little chat.

“Truthfully,” the goat entity went on to say, “I’ve been called many names by many creatures: Odium, Ira, Fuath, Feirg, and many, many more.”

“Then, what should I call you,” Chrysalis specified, “I assume you have a preference?”

“Truth be told,” said the entity as they leaned back in their seat, “I haven’t thought about it in quite some time…although…” The entity looked pensive, remaining silent for several minutes, before a satisfied smile formed on their face. “Yes…Yes, I think that will do…” They then looked back to Chrysalis, who was waiting patiently.

“Let’s try this again, shall we?” the entity proposed, before standing up, leaning down over the wrecked table, their hand outstretched to the ex-Queen.

“Hello, Chrysalis. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said with a polite smile.

“You can call me Hayden.”

Author's Note:

AND THE PLOT THICKENS!!!!

The next chapter is gonna be a bit slower to come out since I need to better plan out what comes next.

Hope this chapter was fun to read!

Comments

[Great White Prime]

Not gonna lie, I actually thought she going to meet Grogar (the real one) for a moment 😆😆😆

Looking forward to the next chapter!

[Melody Song]

Ooh, interesting development

[The Sonic Mage]

11383978
To be honest, I wasn’t aware of Grogar when conceptualizing this fic or this character, and for a while I thought he was a fan character.

I’m probably going to avoid as much info about Grogar as possible so that I don’t end up inadvertently copying him.

[BezierBallad]

11383978
Same here, not gonna lie. We can only wait and see what this “Hayden” character has to offer.

[Doctor_Den]

“Truthfully,” the goat entity went on to say, “I’ve been called many names by many creatures: Odium, Ira, Fuath, Feirg, and many, many more.”

given that initially this character was in the form of a living flame, and then turned into an anthropomorphic goat, I was sure that this demon would introduce himself as "Baphomet"

[The Sonic Mage]

11426136
In hindsight, I'm shocked I didn’t even think to use that name.

[Great White Prime]

Update?

[Batpony46]

Hope to see more to this story it's one of my favorites I'll continue to wait patiently to see what happens