Patchwork
‘This is becoming awkward’ I was gently patting Chrysalis’ back, five minutes after she started hugging me. We were sitting on the top of the dome I found her on, her larger frame holding tightly onto me, and it did not look like she would let go anytime soon.
I wasn’t even able to move much in the first place, as every time I tried to so much as shift my weight she would just pull me back towards her and start crying again. I stopped trying at this point and just focused on making her feel better.
“Do you… umm… need any help?” Silent Drop asked and I felt Chrysalis start shivering again.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, she is a friend,” I whispered to the newly freed queen while I indicated to Drop with my claws to come around so I can see her.
“Drop, could you find Mantis, Dicty, or someone else?” I mouthed to the thestral while trying not to make too much noise.
Drop didn’t question it, immediately launching herself into the air and flying off out of my sight leaving me alone with Chrissy.
Shifting my weight one more time to make myself more comfortable, making her squeeze me harder, I used my free left arm to pull her head a little bit lower so I could talk to her ear.
“Hey, you take all the time you need,” I whispered to her making her relax for a moment, “But I need to warn you that some lings will be coming in a moment. Okay?”
I got a shaky nod as an answer, “I’m sorry, my son.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” I hugged her harder, “absolutely nothing.”
“Thank you.”
It didn’t take long for a buzz and flapping of wings to reach us and I could feel Chrysalis start tightening again. A few comforting words got her to relax slightly but that was about it.
“Found Ponera and Spectrum,” a whisper to my ear made me jump as I didn’t hear Silent sneak up to me.
The two new arrivals entered my field of vision and both of them looked like a miracle was happening before their eyes, mouths wide open and Spectrum’s legs barely carrying him. I guess seeing their queen like this is an eye-opening moment after all the years of portraying herself as an untouchable wrathful goddess.
I heard of Ponera a few days ago, but Scurry was usually dealing with her and this was the first time I actually saw the giant changeling. I would like to talk to her later but for now…
An angry buzz of my wings got them to shake off their shock and look at me. Before they even could ask any questions I gave them their order.
“I need you two to go to the love pool we left the queen in and see if you can find Husk,” I saw Spectrum’s jaw set and Ponera mouth Husk, “if you do find her, use whatever means you can to restrain her and keep her there.”
Spectrum nodded his head and flew off while Ponera followed after him reluctantly.
I could feel my ears twitching as the… city, I guess, started waking up with shouts of surprise and the occasional buzz of the wings reached us. It was a matter of time until they found us and I wasn’t sure at this point if Chrysalis would be able to deal with it.
A deep resigned sigh tickled my left ear and I could feel her trying to relax and letting go of the vice grip she held me in.
“You are in desperate need of repair,” I told her as the scraping of her mangled chitin reached my ears.
“It will have to wait, I’m afraid,” Chrysalis straightened her back and pulled away from me. “I am fairly certain that my changelings would much rather assail me with questions first,” She obviously did not look forward to it if her voice was any indication.
“Well, too bad,” I shook myself of and stood up stretching my stiff legs, “I am their prince and you are their Queen, I’m fairly certain that they will listen if we ask them to be patient.”
Before Chrysalis could say anything I turned to our resident thestral, “Silent, would you mind finding the rest of the lead lings, Scurry preferably, and ask them to prepare a cocoon for their queen?”
“Are you going to be okay until then?” Drop’s emotions spoke of worry, but I truly doubted anyone would harm me or Chrysalis.
“We’ll be fine. I and her will slowly make our way to the headquarters on hoof,” hopefully a bit of exposure for Chrissy and my presence would keep everyone from going insane.
Silent’s eyes moved from the queen to me a few times before she shrugged and, with a strong flap of her wings, she blasted off.
“Are you certain that that is a good idea, my son?” I frowned slightly at her constant insinuation that I was her son, but I faced her with a smirk. I could see some lings flying a fair bit of distance away and pointing hooves in our direction as they rapidly approached us.
“Yeah, we’ll be just fine,” turning around and making a follow me gesture with my claws I made my way down the dome, “if worse come to worst I’ll protect you. But I doubt it. I’m fairly certain that everyone is just curious at this point.”
The buzz of her wings was the only indication that she was following me and when she landed on the ground next to me with a hiss of pain I turned my head to look at her.
“It will take us a bit of time to get to the dome I’m using, if you get tired of if the pain is too much let me know and I’ll figure something out. Okay?”
With a loud gulp and a nod of her head, we were off. There were a few lings around the dome and based on the way they were looking at us I knew that this was the right call.
‘Whoever is in charge of destiny here will probably be pissed off at me,’ I waved happily to a few bewildered lings as we were passing by them (Chrysalis repeating my action made their jaws drop), ‘But I don’t care. This is better than waiting almost fifty years for Thorax.’
…
The trip was, astoundingly, a relaxing affair for the first ten minutes, making Chrysalis’s gait more confident with every step we made. It made her incredible love ‘production’ flare up from a trickle to a soothing wave and I made a note to ask her about it after she was healed.
We did gather a large following of lings as we made our way to the dome near the castle I have been using for the past seven-ish days.
The changelings following us were mainly adults with only the nymphs having the courage to approach us and talk to Chrysalis. The other adults preferred to talk among themselves and follow us at a respectable distance with a small group of guards keeping an eye out for trouble that never came.
It became swiftly obvious to the other lings that this ‘new Queen’ genuinely cared about her people and especially the young ones and it also became obvious to me that I would develop a headache by the end of the day.
As her confidence grew Chrysalis went from a worried and shy ling to an ADHD, crack-fuelled maniac, turning our gentle walk into something akin to an infuriating game of tag where I had to catch the crazy Queen as her rapid change of behavior and manic movement was scaring everyone more than Husk did in years.
Every injured ling had to be either hugged or assured; every single nymph was either tickled or chased down and smooched; every show of fear or resentment made her start crying or profusely apologizing and on and on it went. I was both worried and laughing my ass off at her manic behavior but I hardly had it in me to actually stop her. She deserved to let loose like this.
What was supposed to be a thirty-minute walk turned into two hours of a rollercoaster of emotions for everyone including myself.
Still, even after two hours of frantic ‘exploration’ Chrysalis barely slowed down and even though I was developing a decent headache I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.
My initial impression of Chrysalis when I saw her in the astral plane was that she was quick to action but very loving and full of life, a stark contrast from what I was told Husk’s behavior was.
I was worried, scared even, that after centuries of being led by Husk’s horrid existence the other lings wouldn’t be able to accept such a queen in the first place. They were hardly unruly with me, but it was obvious that they didn’t exactly believe in the little changes I made over the week.
However.
Chrysalis became finally tired after two and a half hours of running around and as I watched her leaning on large pillow someone brought out for her, and reminiscing out loud about the times before Husk, it became clearly visible that she will have her lings wrapped around her hoof.
She was surrounded on all sides by changelings of various ages (the nymphs being the closest, almost laying on top of her) all enraptured by her and her stories and questions flying all over the place. She didn’t shy away or appear to be frantic anymore (her emotions seem to have finally settled) and a large toothy smile didn’t waver not even for a second.
There were a few dissidents, of course there were, but they either had a look of deep disbelief or left the gathering with a huff and a grumble.
I spent the entire time walking around and asking the enraptured lings about those that left and very soon I had a list of about a hundred lings that were not pleased with the change in their queen.
The other ‘leaders’ along with Silent found me at some point as well and I gave them all something to do while I slipped away and took my time walking over to talk to Velvet.
Dicty was asked to keep an eye on security, Mantis continued with my list of unhappy lings, and Keratin was tasked with being a loyal huggle-bug. Apparently, Chrysalis found him adorable and nabbed him in a hug the moment she saw him. He protested, of course, but I didn’t stay long to hear how she ‘bought’ his loyalty.
…
The news of their queen spread like wildfire and I shook my head or chuckled every time I saw lings either run past me or fly over me. A few of them did stop to ask me some questions only to run towards Chrysalis the moment I told them she was awake.
Silent Drop followed me the whole time, expertly keeping to the shadows and only stepping out when lings approached me.
It took me almost half an hour to reach the dome I left Velvet in and by then midday has passed and the streets were desolate.
I could have talked to Drop during the trip to get an update on what had happened while I was napping but I chose to keep to myself. I had plenty on my mind as it is, and the long walk allowed me to sort it all out somewhat.
Chrysalis being able to feed the changelings by herself certainly made things significantly easier if she could do it on a regular basis. It also brought to question my ability to produce emotions as a changeling. Her ability to do so was certainly far superior to mine and it made me silently despair at how much Husk has ruined this society over the centuries. I could only guess how far the changelings could have come if the possession never happened.
Chrysalis being able to feed everyone on her own also meant good things for almost a thousand captured people of various races that have been kept in ‘storage’ in numerous tunnels under the castle. She sheer scope of the changeling love ‘production’ made me sick to my stomach the first time I heard about it, and my teeth still grit in frustration when I thought of it.
Now though, there is a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel, for everyone. There is still quite a bit of work to be done, but at least now I could deal with a few personal things.
‘First to deal with Velvet, then finally an actual shower… or a bath.’
wait, is she still a normal ling or one of those colorful ones?
Undertale vibes after they emerged from the mountan
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My changelings have never been very colourful with only their elytra being a different colour, as I wanted at least some individuality for them.
there will be some changes to her but that is for later.
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Pretty sure the technocolor versions have not appeared. That would be Thorax's fault when it happens however.
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Never... Noone can seriously like the rainbow puking bugs... Ponys are colorful. Changelings are dark and always in fashion
Now we have a Chrissy more like the one described in the comic's dark mirror world
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Good chapter! And both is good ;p
Hopefully they can put the kibosh to Husk and keep things from reverting to what they were. And also that things can get to the point where there's no longer a need for podding other creatures.
i just try to imagine chysalis the huggle-bug
found a typo but nice chapter.
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nice. Mine kinda started out as Flutterponies so their reformed forms resemble those in my stories, just with a curved grooved horn and the elytra still.
A very vertically sound move to check that there is no more physical manifestation of Husk. Best case, her spirit entombed in a crystal and liberated from the atmosphere to travel the stars, but if a more prominent form was discarded into the pool... Well, we'll see...
Actually, would be good to confirm Chrissy is actually producing Love and not simply refining and purifying it. Regardless, such a boon might only be needed for a short while if equestrian relations can be repaired and enhanced as we hope.
Snugglebugs are fun, lol
i got confused at this story at first because ive been reading a different popular changling story. but im glad i realized that now XD keep it up!
I have decided to - respectfully - drop this story.
Do people actually care about constructive criticism these days, or should I just shut up and disappear? Don't want to cause no trouble.
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im curious why
Chrysalis as a hug-bug is an adorable concept.
great chapter
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By all means PM me
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The story started out fantastically but I get the feeling it was rushed to get to the "more exciting" parts and that subtracts very heavily from character development.
The setup of the prologue with the protagonist's initial encounters with other characters and viewpoint of the world were handled fantastically and manages to grip attention of the reader easily. I was not a fan of changing viewpoints, but both Celestia and Captain Shield are very well written characters with their own methods and values so it was fun to read their thoughts. The worldbuilding is also expertly expanded on.
I was equally interested in the connection to Twilights parents, with Night Light sounding like an excellent secondary character and the induction to the Royal Guards a very good gateway to some fun adventures. And it was at this point where the "rushing" began.
Mind you, I was fully expecting on the story eventually heading towards the Changeling Hive based on the race of the main character, but after the above described point in the story I feel like there was a need to get there as early as possible without further character development. Night Light was left without any development, the romance with Velvet feels very shallow, and none of the dozens of newly introduced changeling characters have a developed personality and seem to change their attitude as the story needs of them to. Guard training was very short and does not fully explain the power spike of the MC sufficiently (eg. Sparring scene with Celestia). Other interesting subplots are introduced, and then dropped in a few chapters without development (like the racist elements in the Guard, or the changeling underground resistance).
At this time, I am not really invested in any of the characters, for which I am sad because it really started out strong. Again, this is only my personal take on this. The author is unquestionably talented and I will keep an eye out for any future works.
Good to have you back love the story and have a relexing day
I hope Chrysalis really is healed. She could teach our hero more about being a Changeling and hopefully they can make peace with Equestria.
Has any one written Twilight and Shining Armor as cousins? Might be a good twist to the story. And if Twi gets emotion sensing abilities from being birthed by a changeling, could have some nice story implications. Just some ideas for you.
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On the other hoof the emotion sensing ability might be better for Shining Armor, seeing as girls are better with emotions already. Plus it could be a nice ability paired with Cadences Love ability.
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Love the story so far.
I mean, you could check those off the list at the same time, right?
They're both mature adults and everyone knows they are a thing, save some time yeah?
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I'm not sure if you missed the reference, but you kinda started it, I thought you would know.
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Still they have to replace twilight as a linchpin and since she not going to be born they need someone.
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Seeing as the Tree MADE the table, where Twilight and friends did NOT became Elements I think it's safe to say that Tree has already chosen new set. After all, it thanked Patchwork when he came to the tree and SLIGHTLY, key word is slightly, destroyed some vines. He did not free the Tree, he just made it a little easier for it to... I don't know, "breathe"? Survival was never a problem for it, it would have held out, even through VINES it built a table, as a point for time travel.
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I take it you like it
Glad I found this, into my library you go!
Update?
There is still a lot to explore with the foundation of this story! The ramifications into the timeline can be huge. Changing the makeup of the Main Six. Alterations of the Tree and Elements. Maybe Applejack’s parents will live? New Night Light offspring. Additional allies to Equestria. So much!
I hope this keeps going!
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...Frankly that actually happens among some soldiers and always has. This includes those who get posthumous medals for bravery, nobody wants to talk about it. Grow up.
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I don't know. I have to stand by my statement. He never went into the hive to see the situation there himself. He never saw how the changelings lived. Never talked to a typical changeling family. Never talked to a changeling child. He sat in an enemy bunker and ate propaganda for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Celestia found a changeling she could sway, stuck him in a bunker and trained herself a weapon. Then when that weapon was ready, she sent him out to kill. (Not quite, he actually jumped the gun and snuck out early, but "That WAS her plan.)
The guy was very much a "Manchurian Candidate."
EDIT:
This brings to mind a comment I made earlier today on another site. Bear with me here, I think it applies here too. The guys question was "are there more good people in the world or are there more evil?"
My answer was neither. There are good and evil people, but what kind of people make up the majority of the world are silly people. People who act because of their dick, or because of greed, or because of fear. They act without consideration. They act without any thought about what they are doing. Someone tells them to do something and they do it. Because they were told to. Thats the cause of most of the evil. Action without thought. Action without considering if they should, or what could happen.
In a way I think it fits this character. Here he is, sitting in that bunker, being trained and told by the enemy, why their own enemy is wrong. He never considered. They told him she had to go, so he went to take her out. He never questioned.
Monk
“A spider’s got to spider.” -Scarheart
Makes me wonder how old she mentality is… she was infected for quite some time after all…
PS: Is this on hiatus?
What I think is funny is almost every story is like can't Chang time line but it has already changed 100% of the time jeast be us your in it and if u help theam out with technology thing are going to change small things and magerthings and you have no controls over it the time line you now is mostly worthless in the long run. Ooo I'm loving the story
Honestly I consider this chapter the end.
And everything has been resolved this was a good story
The only question is will it continue. Or will this chapter forever be the end
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This is not the end. I want to finish the story now that I am getting well enough that I can concentrate again on writing. I still have one more month of medication but I should be able to post something in the coming weeks, just a bit slower.
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Oh ok thanks you replying hopefully you get better soon
The next chapter will be glorious. Chrysalis has some snuggels and compliments to give out after all!
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Just finished reading what's available with this story, holy god, it's great! Here's hoping for a sequel when it's finished! Also, question, if patchwork and velvet successfully mated and produced offspring despite the difference in species, would it be via egg or live birth? And if by egg, how would a pony even go about doing that? (Magic, presumably...)
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I'm still here. I started looking into and writing up the next chapter. Should be done by the end of the week. I had no intention of keeping everyone, including myself, waiting for so long but... Shit happend and all that.
Delighted