The Thinnest of Pretexts
Chrysalis shifted restlessly within her musty prison cell. Her manacles clinked as she settled into a different position, though the damp hay that served as her bedding provided little comfort.
Where is that wretched unicorn? Chrysalis veiled her eyes as she stared at the door, as if she could will it open. She should be—
The door opened, and through it stepped Twilight Sparkle.
The clip-clop of her hooves echoed around the stone chamber as she drew nearer at an unhurried pace.
Chrysalis fought to remain still, to appear relaxed in her lounging pose, but her flight muscles trembled with nervous energy, sending her wings a-jitter. A hive creature, through and through, isolation itself was a punishment, but at least she had a steady visitor. Still, it wouldn’t do to expose her vulnerability.
“And to what do I owe this great honor today?” Chrysalis said, doing her best to affect an uninterested air. Her mouth betrayed her, however, and gave lie to her facade. “Have you not learned enough of my kind to be done with me already?”
“Maybe.” Twilight pulled up a chair and sat just outside Chrysalis’s reach. “But Princess Celestia wants me to make sure I know as much as we can learn from you, so here I am.”
“And so here you are,” Chrysalis agreed. “And what now? You know of my children, you know of their hunger, you know of what I did and why I did it. What more would you have from me?”
Twilight straightened, pulled out ink and quill and parchment, and poised herself. “Just the same as always: information. The more we know, the easier it will be to make sure we don’t step on each others’ hooves in the future.”
“The easier it’ll be to deal with us, you mean, to suppress any trouble we stir up.” Chrysalis gave Twilight a mirthless smile, earning a shrug and a nod in return. Chrysalis raised an eyebrow and said, “An honest response. Unexpected, but appreciated.”
Twilight scribbled something on her scroll, underlined it twice. “That’s funny. Considering what you are, I wouldn’t expect you to value honesty at all.”
“The less you have of something,” Chrysalis said, sitting up as she did so, “the more you value it.”
“Fair point.”
Twilight set aside her writing and leaned in close, forehooves steepled before her.
“Then to answer your question: we know the broader topics surrounding you, but we do not know you.”
“Why, I like long walks beneath the moon, spending time with my family, and feeding on the love of—”
“No!” Twilight looked chagrined that she had shouted, but she quickly recomposed herself; Chrysalis only grinned. Twilight said, “About your biology.”
Chrysalis scoffed and brushed away the suggestion with an idle wave of her foreleg. “I am no scientist. I have hooves and wings, a horn and tail and hair. I hatched from an egg, spent my formative years subduing my rivals until I finally ascended and took my place as queen.”
The skritch-skritch of Twilight’s quill returned accompanied by faint mutters and a thoughtful expression. “You ascended?” Twilight looked up as she paused in her writing. “You weren’t born into your position?”
“What? No.” Chrysalis gave a disdainful sniff at the notion. “How would we ever survive if a weakling were to rule over us?” The quill paused, then resumed a moment later.
“I see. And this ascension, what was the coronation like? Who anointed you the new queen? Please describe the ceremony.” Skritch skritch. “Remember, the more you help us, the lighter your sentence will be, and the sooner you can return to your people.”
Chrysalis gaped at Twilight for a moment, then two, and then it happened.
It began as a low chuckle that tumbled into long, rolling laughter—great, throaty exhalations that seemed to come from the very depths of her being. The sound filled the lit chamber with a different kind of lightness, and Chrysalis forgot, for a small time, her imprisonment, her expulsion, and her ever-present hunger. She managed to regain control of herself long enough to breathe and begin explaining, but when she caught sight of Twilight’s perplexed (and increasingly irate) expression, the whole cycle began anew.
When at last she’d exhausted herself and Twilight seemed on the verge of leaving, Chrysalis said, “Wait, stop, stop.” A last little chuckle eased its way out of her mouth before she straightened into a sitting position. “I think you have the wrong idea.”
“Clearly.” Twilight still stood posed to depart, her scroll furled, the quill rubbed clean, the ink capped. “So what am I missing then?”
“Ascension is a change of life, not some ridiculous ritual or ceremony.” Chrysalis waited for the other shoe to drop, but when Twilight’s expression remained unchanged, she opted to be blunt. “All changelings are born male, Twilight Sparkle.” She tilted her head forward, letting her teal mane drape over one eye. “Including me.”
“What.” Twilight let her writing implements drift to the ground, but she made no move to close up her pack and depart.
“There’s a term for it,” Chrysalis said with a shrug. “I heard it once when I was in Canterlot University... investigating.” Twilight frowned, and Chrysalis continued on before she lost what little purchase she had in the conversation. “Sequential something or other. It started with an ‘h’.” She waved a hoof when Twilight began to speak. “I’m sure you can look it up later.”
Twilight looked pensive for a long moment, and Chrysalis took the time to study her features in the steady white light of the room’s glowlamps.
Diminutive, as with all of her kind, but not much more than the rest. Soft features and a clear complexion, a slight pudginess that endeared more than it distracted, suggestive of too many days spent reading and a few too many cupcakes. Not like that athletic specimen of a pony that was her brother, but not unpleasant either. Chrysalis smiled as she felt a slow warmth build inside herself, pleasant thoughts flitting idly through her mind.
“So when you run out of rivals to topple...”
“Then we change.” Chrysalis shrugged and gave Twilight a rakish smile. “Shocking, I know.”
“Is there...” A blush rose in Twilight’s cheeks, and she coughed into her hoof to try to conceal it. Unseen, Chrysalis smiled a little wider.
“Ahem. Are there vestigial remnants of your...” Twilight pressed her lips into a firm line, and Chrysalis laughed inwardly at her determined expression. “Of your previous form?” She blushed furiously and practically ripped the quill and parchment from her bag as she hid behind them.
“Your notes,” Chrysalis said, “would be easier to take if you used ink.”
She could feel the warmth radiating off of her captor, and so it was with no surprise that when Twilight lowered her quill and parchment, her face had gone crimson beneath her soft lavender coat. Chrysalis smiled, feeling a different kind of warmth growing, spreading through her whole body, radiating out from her chest, to her legs, to her wingtips.
“Yes,” Twilight said, dropping the pretense and stowing her implements again, “I suppose it would.” She rubbed at her face with the back of a hoof and glanced up at Chrysalis. “You haven’t answered my question.”
Chrysalis gave her a coy look and a soft smile, waiting until Twilight dropped her eyes before she answered. “I might.” That earned a sharp look in response.
“You might? What kind of answer is that?”
“An honest one,” Chrysalis said. “I have servants to groom me, and I’m not in the habit of checking every inch of myself, nor could I, really.” She paused to tap a thoughtful hoof against her chin. “But, if you need information about it, there’s nothing to keep you from investigating on your own.” She set her hoof down, rolled her shoulders lazily, and gave her captor a steady look.
Twilight rose from her chair and took a tentative step forward. “You expect me to trust you to not try something?”
“What could I try?” Chrysalis shook one hoof, jingling the manacle and attached chain in the process. “You set the enchantments yourself, did you not?”
Twilight stood rooted to the spot. Her eyes flicked from one chain to the next, then back again, occasionally sliding up to the cold iron band at the base of Chrysalis’s horn that bound her power as surely as anything could, magical or otherwise.
Slowly, slowly, she stepped forward and unlocked the cage.
Chrysalis suppressed the urge to bolt for the open doorway, chose instead to let her gaze drift past Twilight and upward into the darkened alcove behind her. The door there stood ajar, limned in the faint daylight from the hallway outside. Twilight caught her staring, and with a faint pulse of magic, closed the heavy wooden door with a soft fwump.
“No sudden movements, please.” Twilight stepped forward into the cell and bade Chrysalis rise. She obliged, and more than just because she had been asked—lying on her hooves in the same position for so long had started to hurt, but the results spoke for themselves. The warm sense of excitement that had taken seed no more than a few minutes ago now blossomed. As Twilight stepped close to begin her inspection, Chrysalis could feel the gentle warmth radiating off of the unicorn’s body, and her own body warmed in response.
“May I...?” Twilight left the question open-ended, but Chrysalis could guess well enough and didn’t want to discourage her from exploring. A growing scent in the air told her that Twilight didn’t want to be discouraged from exploring either.
“Go ahead. I’m not going to bite.” Chrysalis grinned and waited for Twilight to step closer before adding in a sultry whisper, “Unless you’d like me to, of course.”
Twilight blushed again and swallowed audibly, but pushed ahead regardless. She flicked her tail back and forth in agitation and bent forward, nose so close to Chrysalis’s hind leg that her breath left foggy after-shadows on the glossy chitin.
Twilight’s tail swished, back and forth, back and forth, making small whisking sounds through the air as the unicorn busied herself in study. Chrysalis drew in a deep breath musky with the smell of their bodies mingling in the close confines, warm with their shared heat in the too-chill cell. She smelled it again—a sharp odor that cut across her thoughts and sent lines of fire through her chest, flowing out to her hind quarters and into a part of her under oh-so-close examination by the unicorn standing only chest high as she investigated. She heard Twilight gasp, felt her move closer, and so Chrysalis chanced a gamble.
At her tallest, Twilight’s head would clear Chrysalis’s withers, but only just. With her bent over and consumed in what was becoming less a fact-finding mission and more outright voyeurism, she could easily stand beneath Chrysalis with a few inches to spare.
Deciding that lying down would break Twilight’s concentration, Chrysalis lowered her head in a smooth, deliberate arc that drew no special attention. Finally, she was able to spy what she suspected: Twilight was doing more with her tail than simply making an idle motion. Each sweep brushed the smooth, smooth strands across her lips, already bright pink and puffy, easily visible even in the dim light of the glowglobes.
Chrysalis took another small sniff, then bent a bit lower and lapped at Twilight’s nethers.
“Oof!” Chrysalis grunted as Twilight suddenly bucked straight up, knocking the wind out of her shortly before a flash and a crackle announced that Twilight had teleported across the room.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
Twilight had her tail clamped down low over her privates, but she made no further movements to flee or depart.
Chrysalis, for her part, licked her lips, enjoying the mild saltiness of Twilight’s arousal on her tongue for the little while that it lingered. A soft puff of air brushed against her exposed member as she sat back on her haunches, filled with delight as Twilight failed to keep her eyes from drifting southward.
After a time, Twilight ran the tip of her tongue over dry lips and looked up, seemed to realize that she had been panting slightly, and closed her mouth with an audible click.
“Weren’t you investigating, Twilight?” Chrysalis leaned to the side, feeling her exposed shaft give a small bob with every beat of her heart.
“I don’t think we need that anymore,” Twilight said, not moving from her spot at the base of the stairs.
Chrysalis found herself strangely disappointed. Not for want of release, but because it stung to be rejected when everything had seemed so right. Her smile began to slip as silence stretched out between them. She fumbled for a dismissive response, but Twilight spoke first..
“No, no.” Twilight took a sudden step forward, arm raised, before she checked herself. “I mean...” She blushed again, rushing out the next few words in a single breath. “I just mean that we don’t need to pretend now.”
Within her cell, Chrysalis smiled again, as much for the situation as the spark of hope kindled in her chest by the unicorn’s embarrassed enthusiasm.
Twilight lowered her head as she approached, cautious, but when Chrysalis made no further move except to watch her with a gentle smile, she stepped into the cage again and gave the tip of Chrysalis’s member a careful sniff before drawing back.
“Could you.. uh...” Twilight blushed, rubbed the back of her head, and gave Chrysalis a hopeful grin. “Do that... again? I promise I won’t run away this time.”
Wordlessly, Chrysalis smiled, rose to her hooves, and twisted in a long, lazy stretch that left nothing to the imagination.
Chrysalis dipped her head as she stepped forward, tracing the curve of Twilight’s spine with the barest touch of her lips, following the slope of her neck down between her shoulder blades, across the short length of her back, over the round curve of her rump, until finally arriving back where all the trouble had started.
Twilight was twitching her tail like mad again, though this time, Chrysalis suspected it was in genuine agitation at being toyed with. Twilight’s scent filled the cell now—every breath Chrysalis took was tinged with the unicorn’s utter need.
Chrysalis smiled a toothy smile, fangs pressed into her lower lip, before she tipped her head forward and traced the edge of Twilight’s sex with the tip of her tongue, earning a quiet gasp and a stifled moan as a reward.
For her part, Twilight no longer seemed content to just observe. Chrysalis felt a gentle hoof wrap around the base of her shaft as Twilight gave the tip an experimental lick. Chrysalis had to fight the urge to thrust her hips forward at the sensation of the warm, soft tongue washed over her—slow, tentative at first, then with increasing eagerness as Chrysalis failed to retrain a groan.
To be fair, she hadn’t tried very hard.
Twilight shared the enthusiasm and lack of skill of all first timers, and while occasionally electric, the sensations would be nowhere enough to send Chrysalis over the edge. However, it was a moot point—she had other means to that end, and she took pleasure in knowing that Twilight was participating.
Turning back to the task before her, Chrysalis swept the tail aside, pinning it to Twilight’s side with one glossy foreleg before she swiped her tongue down the waiting slit in one long, fluid stroke that sent Twilight’s whole body shuddering.
As if in response, Twilight changed from running her soft, soft tongue up and down the length of Chrysalis’s shaft and placed the tip into her mouth, pressing her lips together gently as she eased Chrysalis inside of her, swirling her tongue around what little she could take in.
She couldn’t maintain it for long, however. Another moan slipped out from between her lips as Chrysalis finally stopped teasing and went to work with a wealth of experience that eclipsed Twilight’s own.
Chrysalis bent low, angling her jaw as she slid the full length of her tongue inside her partner, tasting her sweat and musk and arousal with every serpentine movement. She pulled out slowly, pressing back against the muscles trying desperately to keep her tongue inside as another shudder wracked Twilight’s body.
Twilight’s breath caught in her throat, and before she could recover, Chrysalis ground her face down, hard, running her tongue in concentric circles, yet always managing to touch the same spot, there, just at the tip. The air around them hummed with mounting energy, a tension so dense and solid that she could have sharpened her fangs on it. Twilight trembled with every focused motion, every deft touch, and she gave the smallest gasp as Chrysalis sent her careening over the edge.
Twilight shook silently before her breath came in one long, ragged gasp, followed by a low, throaty moan that filled the stony chamber for half a dozen heartbeats. Giving up any pretense of being able to focus on pleasuring Chrysalis, Twilight collapsed to her forelegs, panting heavily, through her rear remained at attention, tail aside even as tremors ran through her hind legs and threatened to topple her over.
Gently, Chrysalis wrapped one leg around Twilight’s waist and laid her down to recover from the aftershocks before they continued further. Twilight flopped on her side, still sucking in great gasping lungfuls of air as Chrysalis took up a lounging position beside her. She smiled down, and Twilight smiled back.
They rested that way in silence for a few minutes before Twilight regained her faculties enough to return to a sitting position.
“That was... something,” Twilight said, wearing a dreamy smile and a faraway look.
“Something?” Chrysalis smirked. “I hope you liked ‘something.’”
“I loved something. Something was my favorite that I’ve ever had.” Twilight ducked her head and gave Chrysalis a shy grin. “And maybe the only that I’ve ever had.”
“I couldn’t tell,” Chrysalis deadpanned.
“Was I that bad?” Twilight grimaced, but Chrysalis only nudged her with a hoof to show that her comment wasn’t meant in malice.
“You were... enthusiastic,” Chrysalis said with a conciliatory dip of her head. “And for me, that counts for a great deal more than you might suspect.”
Twilight blushed. A moment later, she said, “So what now?”
“Now?” Chrysalis looked off in mock thought before returning her gaze in time to see the eager sparkle in Twilight’s eye. “Well, now, I hope you’re rested, and ready for round two.”
Twilight sprang to her hooves, and Chrysalis couldn’t help but laugh, though it was well-meant and hinted at more than a little eagerness itself. Discipline she had in plenty, enough to delay her gratification in lieu of greater pleasure later, but later needed to become sooner, posthaste. She rose to her hooves and bade Twilight wait a moment.
“Do you trust me, Twilight Sparkle?”
The unicorn opened her mouth to snap out an immediate answer, but seemed to think better of it. After a moment of consideration, she said, “In some things, yes. In others, no.”
“Honest.” Chrysalis smiled, crinkling the corners of her eyes as she did so. “And a fair concession. How about this then: do you trust me with your body?”
Twilight flushed scarlet and pawed the ground, but she didn’t drop her gaze as she said, simply, “Yes.”
Chrysalis dwarfed the little pony even while lying down, but she positively towered over her when standing. She looked down into Twilight’s eager face and smiled, then gently pushed on her shoulder, spinning her in place until Twilight faced away, faced out through the bars of the cage and to the far side of the room. Her tail swished back and forth, and Twilight cast an inquisitive but patient glance back.
Stepping carefully, not wishing to tangle either of them in the sliding links of her chains, Chrysalis positioned herself over Twilight, foreleg to foreleg, body over body and hunched down, probing with the tip of her sex, testing to see where she would finally gain relief.
A few gentle thrusts missed the mark entirely, and one told her, somewhat painfully, that Twilight had a rather firm rump and must work out more than her physique let on. She grunted in frustration, but the noise died in her throat as Twilight arched her back and helped guide Chrysalis inside.
Again, it took all of her concentration, but Chrysalis managed to refrain from thrusting wildly, desperately, from seeking out the release that her body had slowly been clamoring for over the past few weeks, through every cursory visit and asinine inquiry, every faint hint that her captor was showing an undue amount of interest in her, even considering the circumstances.
Chrysalis resisted the urge, fighting herself. Above all things, she sought to master herself first, for only then could she truly master others.
And she wanted to master this pony.
The tip slid in with agonizing slowness. Twilight bucked her hips, trying to push it further, but Chrysalis was in control now and simply wrapped one foreleg around the unicorn’s midsection again, forcing her to stillness. Slowly, slowly, she guided her shaft between the thick folds of Twilight’s aroused sex and into the furnace within.
Already dripping, the unicorn groaned and spread her hind legs further, letting out a soft growl when it was clear that her tormentor would not be hurried. Twilight lit her horn, deciding to force the matter, but yipped and lost her concentration when Chrysalis’s head snaked forward and nipped the tip of her ear.
Chrysalis pressed against her, brushing her lips against the soft hair of Twilight’s ear, whispered, “No cheating,” and ran the edge of her tongue up along the outer edge, pulling away at the tip.
With a sudden lunge, Chrysalis pulled Twilight back onto herself, impaling her and joining them both in a singular moment of ecstatic frenzy that left Chrysalis gritting her teeth against the incandescent surge of pleasure that set her entire body afire. She let out a shuddering breath, one more than matched by her partner below, and focused on the feel of Twilight’s heartbeat, noting how it felt slightly out of synch between the patter through her chest and the stronger beat felt around the shaft embedded within Twilight herself.
She withdrew slowly, but rather than continue with her agonizing pace, she accelerated, reaching a comfortable rhythm within a dozen thrusts, varying the timing as she saw fit, based on Twilight’s body language.
Relaxed. Moderate, fast, hard, deep.
Tensing. Slowing, slowing, pause, slow.
Trembling. Steady, steady, smooth, gentle.
Chrysalis read every message her partner’s body sent and proceeded to do the exact opposite. Twilight gave a frustrated growl again, but Chrysalis clicked her teeth together, once, and Twilight went back to simply panting, grunting, moaning in time with the thrusts.
Rocking back and forth at a slow tempo, Chrysalis leaned forward again, brushing her muzzle across Twilight’s ear as she kept their hips grinding together.
“I know what you want,” Chrysalis said in a hoarse whisper, finding it difficult to smooth out the anticipation in her voice—even her self restraint had limits. “I know what you need.”
“Yes,” Twilight hissed, drawing out the word as Chrysalis pushed forward in a particularly deep thrust.
“I know what you need,” Chrysalis repeated, “and I’m not going to give it to you.”
“What?!” Twilight’s head snapped back, a glare already forming on her features, but Chrysalis shushed her softly, pushing her hips forward and pulling them back with a gentle rhythm.
“I know what you need, and I’m not going to give it to you...” Chrysalis grinned into Twilight’s ear as she fought back the first vestiges of her oncoming orgasm. “Unless you beg for it.”
“I...”
“Beg for it, Twilight.”
"I... please..."
“Louder.”
“Please, please...”
“Please what?”
“Please, please let me come!”
A slow stroke here, a jagged thrust there—Chrysalis moved with a dancer’s grace that kept her partner’s climax just out of reach.
Twilight moaned again as her eyes fluttered shut, her mouth hanging open as she fought for the concentration to speak coherently.
“Please! Please...”
Chrysalis was too close herself to do anything but oblige. She accelerated rapidly, thrusting in a desperate frenzy that filled the room with wet sucking sounds as Twilight’s body sought to keep Chrysalis within her.
Finally, just when it seemed like Twilight would win their contest of wills, the little unicorn arched her back, pressed up into Chrysalis’s chest as she came, abdominal muscles pulsing with spastic energy as Twilight screamed her pleasure to the world.
Chrysalis could no more hold back her orgasm at that point than she could slow the frantic beating of her heart as her blood boiled on the verge of release. She bent forward, biting roughly into the back of Twilight’s neck, eliciting a sharp cry that she ignored as she pushed her hips forward, her whole body seizing as every ounce of her being seemed to pour out and into her partner.
She swelled to think of her seed filling Twilight, and she pushed forward, harder, gripping the slack skin between her teeth, grunting with every spurt, grasping with her foreleg, seeking purchase, as if she could push her entire body, her entire soul into the unicorn beneath her.
They remained together, frozen in ecstasy, for a long minute, until both were spent. Chrysalis placed all four hooves on the ground, and Twilight tried to pull away, gently at first, then with firm insistence.
“Uhm...” Twilight glanced back to where they remain connected, then craned her neck backwards to look up into Chrysalis’s face.
Chrysalis smiled ruefully, using the opportunity to silence the inevitable inquiry by bending down and kissing Twilight full on the lips, opening gently to slide her tongue into that warm, inviting mouth. Whatever questions or protests she might have had died in a murmur of contented noises, though even this could not last.
“This is why I asked if you trust me with your body,” Chrysalis said when at last they broke their kiss. “Pulling away in a panic could be... damaging.”
“Maybe I could just teleport away.”
“Maybe. Would you really want to?”
Twilight paused and ran a hoof gently over the flat of her stomach, just beneath where Chrysalis lay embedded within her. Then: “No.”
“It won’t last much longer. Here, lie down with me. I can hardly stand.”
They shuffled down together and arranged the meagre bedding as best as they could to suit them both, with Twilight promising that she’d replace it with something better on the morrow.
Still joined, Chrysalis asked, “What now? What will you tell your princess of this?”
“I don’t know. I’ll think of something. All right?”
In reply, Chrysalis draped one leg over Twilight, laid her head down, and closed her eyes.