//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: To Change a Life // by Amaranthine Thought //------------------------------//                 I stir once more.  Waking again to my pain and sorrow.             A few days have passed, and though the pain is less, I am still… still…             It hurts still.  Everything I have done, a wasted, worthless life.  Seeing the dead body of my last son in front of me has only reinforced that knowledge.             I endure only because of them.  Their last wish was for me to live.             So I do.  Or I try to.             I am too hurt to move anymore, and it is only chance that nothing has found me in my helplessness.  Sometimes I wonder where I am, or what might happen.             Maybe I can recover enough to move before I starve, but I doubt it.  One day passed, and I already feel the ravages of hunger in me once again.             I don’t think I can do what they asked of me, but I won’t give up.  I won’t fail them by my action or inaction.  If I can, I shall live.             I will starve, but I won’t die because of my sorrow.  From my broken heart.             …Is that something nearby?  I hear something moving through the bushes.  Something large, and something small.             “Come on!” a young voice calls.  “I see another!”             “Makes twelve of them.” a far deeper one mutters.  “Dead black ponies, green blood… Never seen anything like this.”             “Just grab it Steel.”  Another voice, that one a little softer than the other.  Two big things then.  “No reason to whine about it; the wives’ been going on about ‘doing what’s right’.”             “Yeah, I know.”  Another rustle.  “But what are they?”             “Bug ponies.”             I hear the little coming closer as the two larger keep speaking.  What are they doing?  Who are they?             Then I see it.  A… I heard of them, but is that what one looks like?             Standing on two hooves, with an outfit and short black-clue fur, two tiny horns on its head.  It has… hands I think they are called.  Two hands on two… arms?             A minotaur?  Is that a minotaur?             He gapes at me and I can’t help but to stare.  It is nothing I’ve seen before.  So different from anything else… He is strong, I can tell, and is… stunned?  A kind of stunned; I can’t tell if he is happy stunned, fearful stunned, or confused stunned.             The he turns back and yells, “Pa!  Pa, I found a big one and I think it’s alive!”             Then he hurries to me.  How does he walk like that?  Only two legs, and yet, he moves so fast and doesn’t fall…             He drops to his knees and stares at me.  He is a little taller than one of my own children, and his eyes are small, and seem to glitter.  They are yellow, with a black circle in the middle of them.  So strange…             He moves to touch me and I hiss.  He falls back, yelling and I glare at him.             What is he doing?  Collecting my children’s bodies?  Why?  Where are his…             Oh…             He must be a child.             Because the other minotaur is huge.  Taller than me.  Taller than me by some height.  If I was standing, my head might reach his chest.             His arms are like barrels, and I notice the blood staining his dark blue coat and clothes.  His horns look deadly, curving forward and ending in a sharp tip.  His eyes look a little red.             “Get away from it Nugget.” the big one says, coming over.  Every step makes the earth shudder just a bit.             “It’s alive!” Nugget tells him.  I wish he hadn’t.             That thing could crush me like nothing.  And I can’t move at all.             When it gets closer I hiss again, and choke on the end of it.  I have to scare it away.             It looks like it might be working.  He looks uncertain and fearful, standing a few feet away.             “What’s taking so long!?”             The big one looks back.  “This one’s different!”             “I’m dragging thirteen of them and you find one that’s different.  Grab it and come on!”             “It’s alive!”             “Alive!?”             Another minotaur heads into the clearing.  That one is grey blue, and is even bigger than the first.  Not by much, but still…             I hiss again, weaker.  Even so little drains me, but I must drive them away.             “See Pa?”             “Burnt iron, it is alive.  Big one too.”             “Keeps hissing.”             “It can’t even move Steel.”             “Hissing like a snake.”             “That thing is no snake and you know it!  Just cause a stupid snake bit you doesn’t mean you get to be scared of everything that hisses at you!  Come on brother, show some courage!”             Steel looks back at me.  He is worried.             I give my all into hissing at him again, and manage to shift.  He jumps back, his eyes widening and the other groans and buries his head in his hand.             “Steel…”             “You get it!  I ain’t going near that thing!”             “Can I get it Pa?”             “Let your uncle handle it.”             The other one sighs and then approaches.  I hiss again, but he ignores it and grabs my child and lifts him away.  Pulls him from my grasp such that it is.             He is taking him away.             I don’t know how I gain the strength, but I throw myself at him and bite his hand.  He throws me off of him, yelling, and I collapse nearby.             I can’t move.  Not at all.  I’m broken even more.  But I can’t let him…             “Not… my child…” I rasp.             I can’t see them anymore; I can’t move my head.  But I hear them.             “The darn thing bit me!”             “I knew it, it is a snake!”             “It ain’t no snake!”             “It said something.”             “What?”             “It said something.”             “Don’t… take… my child.”             “…It did.”             “What’d it say uncle?”             “Can’t hear it.  It’s being too quiet.”             “Don’t go..!”             “Steel!  Act like a bull and not a mare!  I got bit and I’m not quivering in fear!  Let go!”             A few of those thudding steps again.  They stop near me.             “…Did you say something?”             “Leave… them… alone…”             “…Why?”             “My… children… leave them…”             “…Listen.  Whatever you’re thinking, we are trying to… help.  They’re all dead if you didn’t know.”             “Let… them… lie…”             “...You’re trembling.”             Silence.  For a long time.             “…Right.  This is what I’m gonna do.” “I don’t know what happened, and I’m real sorry for your loss, but if we don’t bury them, the birds will get them.  So I’m gonna finish my job here, and then I’m coming back for you.”             “To get you someplace safer than out here.  And maybe get better.  Got it?”             …             “I’ll take that as a yes.”             “Come on Steel, Nugget!  Move it!  We need to go and get Emerald and come back!”             “We’re helping it!?”             “It’s a… I’ll tell you later.”             “It’s a what?” Nugget asks.  I hear them leaving.             “It’s a big bug Nugget.”             “Oh.”             I don’t understand.  What are they doing?  They want to bury my children?  They offer condolences for their deaths?  Why?             What do they want from me?  What do they want to accomplish?  Are they trying to gain my favor?  By doing this?             Fake sorrow and pragmatic action?  Nonsense, but minotaur aren’t supposed to be smart.  If they think they can fool me they are mistaken.             I will take advantage of them.  They will help me recover, and then…             Then…             …             Then what?             What am I going to do once I am healed?             …             Do I… Do I even deserve this little kindness?  Do I deserve to start again..?             …             I will live.  I will recover, like my children wished me to.             But I will never hatch another child.             I will never fail another child again.  Better that they never be born than suffer me as a mother.             A few hours later I hear them return.  I also hear a gasp, a softer voice, but still strong and deep.             “Poor thing…”             “Should I?”             “Gently.  Really, really gently.”             “O.K.  Come on big girl.  Just don’t bite me again.”             I feel one grab me, and as slowly as he can lifts me.  He is being careful, and takes me up as if I weight nothing.  I hang helplessly, my blood dripping down.             Then he carefully places me atop a cloth, and I see the other one, Steel, watching and a black female kneeling nearby.  Her eyes and mind are filled with concern…             “Just lie still and you’ll be alright.” she tells me, carefully wrapping me in the cloth and manipulating my broken legs to lie close to my body.  I gasp as she does so; the pain is breathtaking with every motion.  I can’t remain conscious…             Is she trying to kill…             Tears.             She is crying.             That is the last I see before I fall into darkness.             “…Monster!”             “She is a mother!  And I’m not letting you kill her!”             “She is a queen!  A queen of the love eaters and you brought her here!”             “She has lost too much for us to not extend our hands!”             “She will only bite them off!”             Must they scream when arguing?  My head hurts enough…             Hm.  My body is tightly wrapped, but the ever-present pain of that has faded.  My head might pound from their yells, but I am actually feeling better.  Is something burning nearby?  I smell smoke as well.             I open my eyes and spy Nugget and two other tiny minotaur peering at me.  I am on a bed of some kind and they gasp and duck under it when they see me awake.             “You do it.”             “No, you do it.”             “I’m older.”             “I got a bigger tail.”             Two of them start squabbling and the third peers up again.             “…Hi.”             …             “Hi.” I tell it back.  Silence, and after a moment the other two look up again.             …             “My name’s Nugget.” one suddenly says.  That seemed to encourage the others.             “I’m Spark!”  Male, little younger than Nugget, not by much.  Black fur, and oddly yellow horns.             “Mommy call me Gem.”  Female, younger than both.  I notice that she doesn’t have horns.  Too young maybe.  Her fur is a dark brown.             The mommy comment cuts a little.  I never named my children…             “What’s your name?” Nugget asks.             Why are they… are all children so curious?  I remember the foals of the ponies being endlessly curious as well.             Maybe my own were the same way if I hadn’t slapped them down at every opportunity.             The thought encourages a tear in one eye which I manage to blink away.  I shouldn’t show weakness in front of others.  In front of them.             “Chrysalis.” I say, trying to get my mind away from my past.             All three stare.             “Can I call you Buzzy instead?” Gem asks.  She does so softly and submissively.             “We can call her Great Beetle!” Nugget yells.             “Or Scar bug!” Spark adds.             “Battle Bug!”             “Rock bug!”             “Obsidian!” they both cry at the same time.             “Your name is Obsidian.” Nugget says, staring at me like he can name me.             I frown.  “No.  My name is Chrysalis, and I have no other.”             All three droop, whining softly. “But Obsidian is awesome…” Nugget whines.             “I can’t say Ch… that.” Spark says.             Gem simply sniffles.             …There is a distressing desire to give in to them.  Why?             “Children!”  All three look over as a brown female enters from somewhere.  “Stop bothering her and go play!”             They head off and the brown one looks at me.  I look back and we regard each other for a moment.             She has small horns, like the black female.  A racial trait, or something else?             “How are you feeling?” she asks, kneeling to check something I can’t see.             “Like I am in a cocoon in a place too loud and too smoky.”             “You’re feeling too bound?  I can loosen that.”             “Leave it.” I say.  It makes me feel like I am in a cocoon.  It is actually comforting, though based on her expression as she leans back to see my face she obviously doesn’t understand.             “…Alright…”             “Anyway, your legs are doing better.  Bleeding less anyway.  Mind telling me if this is natural or some kinda armor?”  She holds up part of my shell.             “Natural armor.” I tell her.  “Why are you helping me?”             “What?”             “What do you want to get, helping me?”             “…Uhh… I would like to see you get better, and maybe… nothing really.”             Nothing my scarred wings.             “Liar.”             “Hey!”             “What do you want?”             “I told you!”             “You lie.  Everything wants something when they help.”             “We just want to help!”             Is she getting upset with me?  Good.  Maybe she will slip up and reveal the truth.  I should get her mad.             “You want to help?  I’ll tell you how you can help.  Lean closer.” I whisper.             She does so, and I smirk, just a little.  I know a word.             And into her ear, I hiss, “Stop lying to me and yourself you mindless cattle.”             She jerks upright, and for an instant I see her face.             I got her mad alright, but she is… very upset as well.  She leaves without a sound, stomping.             Minotaur can stomp fairly well.  I can still hear and feel her steps after several moments.             And then I hear her yell in some mixture of anger and sadness, and a thud, along with a confused cry and voices just loud enough to be heard, but not enough to be understood.             …             Stupid minotaur.  They are a bit stronger than I thought if that didn’t break her.  I’ll have to be harder, and a bit more careful.             They can kill me very easily.             Alright, new plan.             Allow them to help me, deny everything they want, and eventually discover their true intentions.  That should do it.             I might have a broken heart and body, but my will is still unbroken.  I might be carrying far too many bad memories and painful thoughts, but they will not take advantage of my weakness.             I close my eyes and relax.  Sleeping will make this far more tolerable.             It would be much easier if they stopped yelling like dragons.