A Bug on a Stick

by Orbiting Kettle


Chapter 7

"But Master Sottile, we have to bring her along. It's the Spring Festival. It's, like, the most important celebration of the whole spring. It's in the name!" Celestia threw her forelegs out to properly underline the importance of the issue.

Master Sottile shook his head. "I am sorry, but we can't bring Chrysalis along. She would raise too many questions, and we don't have answers to most of them. And, well…" He sighed. "I am not sure what could happen to her. Everfree Haven is an open town, but even I, when I had never seen something like her before, was wary and ready to fight her off. I fear what others could do."

Celestia’s legs slowly descended. "But… t-there will be jugglers, a-and the shadow plays, a-and this year they said the Court of Laughter will come too. S-she would love it. And she n-never saw…" A sniffle escaped Celestia, who wiped small pearls away from the corner of her eyes.

"I know, Celestia. And I am truly sorry, but we cannot take the risk. I am working on a spell to disguise her, but it is a very difficult endeavor. Remember what I told you about illusions?"

"That–that Essence always seeps through to dispel lies with truth." Celestia looked down at her hooves.

Master Sottile put a hoof on her shoulder. "The spell we need is a very complicated lie. And lies are disharmonious, so they will easily come apart at the seams, something we cannot afford. The best illusions are those that change things just a little, and here we have to straight up hide the truth without really making it a deception. You see why creating a lie that isn't a lie is so difficult, right? I know that it may seem an injustice that Chrysalis can't leave the farm, but such it is at the moment." He moved his hoof under Celestia's chin and raised her head to look her in the eyes. "I promise I am working on it. There are a couple of ideas I may want to try, and if we are lucky she will be able to come with us next year. That will also give us the time to adopt her before the Concord. It wouldn't do us any good if we had an illusion to give Chrysalis the guise of a pony and then they would try to take her away, right?"

"Alright, Master Sottile." Celestia scratched the wooden floor of the study. Despite all the time she passed here learning and reading, and how vocally she complained about it, she liked it. Usually.

Master Sottile sighed. "Do not worry about things you cannot change and treasure what you have, little one. We will find a solution to this. Now go and play with your sister and Chrysalis. And be ready for your lessons tonight. We shall begin with astronomy."

"We will." Celestia nodded and stood up. She stopped in front of the door and looked back.

The old unicorn was, once again, looking down at the scrolls laying on the floor in front of him, while another floated up to him from the rack in the back of the study.

"We could use a cloak. Like, a long one. And we could make a fake beard, and–"

"No, Celestia." He didn't look up. "It is too dangerous. Do you want to risk her getting hurt?"

Celestia mumbled, "No." She left the room and closed the door behind her.

There was always a way, Celestia thought. Some cunning plan that would allow all three of them to go to the Spring Festival, and to have fun all together.

That nothing came to mind frustrated her to no end, and by the time she had descended the stairs from the upper floor and reached the court her mood had fallen so far it was starting to dig. As Chryssi came running and occasionally tumbling to her with hope-filled eyes, it all became worse. Now Celestia felt guilty for even having discussed the idea.

"Can I go? Can I go? Did Master Sottile say yes?"

Celestia bit her lip. Lying wouldn't achieve anything, but why should she be the bringer of bad news? She looked over to Luna who was trotting up to her. Not a single word went between the two, and yet they understood each other perfectly. It also became clear who had to give Chryssi the news.

The little… ‘unicorn bug’ was probably a good enough description, had grown a bit, but not so much that Celestia couldn’t scoop her up. Chryssi's black plates interlocking over her body were soft and warm. That always surprised Celestia, considering how incredibly sturdy they were. Something Old Scar had discovered to his own frustration and to Celestia's delight. Her short, messy, green mane resisted any attempt to bring a semblance of tidiness to it. And her big eyes were filled with expectation.

"You see, Chryssi, we…" Celestia sighed. "We won't go this year. But don't worry, we can have fun together here."

Luna's indignant squeak made Celestia look at her sister.

This time the wordless communication contained a lot more profanities than before, a couple of fearsome threats, and a small rant about Celestia making decisions all on her own. It was quite articulate considering Luna used only her hooves and her face to made her position on the issue clear.

Celestia was about to respond when Chryssi almost whispered, "I can't go? But… you said…"

She looked down and saw big, green, watery eyes. Chryssi's lip trembled, and not even the vicious fangs peeking out from her mouth ruined the effect. Celestia passed a hoof over Chyssi's head and said softly, "I know, but I was wrong. We will go some other time."

"We can do our own Spring Festival." Luna patted the little bug on her shoulder. Celestia glanced at her sister. She didn't seem particularly convinced of her own words, but it was clear she was trying. "It will be even better than the one in Everfree Haven."


"No."

Celestia was starting to get tired to hear that word. No, she had been tired of it for a long time. It seemed to be the answer to all her best ideas, and it was a notoriously a smile-thief and the reason she got punished afterward when she rightfully ignored it.

What irked her this time was that she didn't see any way to circumvent the denial. This time she had to talk herself out of it and apply, urgh, diplomacy. "But Donna Copper Horn, we can't leave Chryssi home alone. We have to keep her company. It would be bad if we went out to have fun and she couldn't. Cruel. Evil." Time for the trump card. "Disharmonious."

Donna Copper Horn stood straight there, arms crossed in front of her chest, and a rather unimpressed expression on her face. Celestia had hoped at least for a bit of shock.

She glanced at the others in the room, longing for some support. Nobody came forward. Maybe she could try a different approach. "We promised her. We would love to go to the Festival, but we can't leave Chryssi."

"You shouldn't have made promises before speaking with me." Donna Copper Horn kneeled down, although she was still imposing. "You know how important the Festival is, and not just for the fun things they do. You are growing, and you and Luna will have to appear in front of the Concord soon, and you will have to meet the masters of trade."

"But… I… Chryssi will be all alone, and sad, and… and…" Donna Copper Horn's hand passed through Celestia's mane. "She can't leave the farm, and she can't come to the festival, and then she'll be all alone too. I… I don't care about the Concord, I care about Chryssi!"

"I will stay with her." Millet stepped forward and put a hoof on Donna Copper Horn's hand. "We don't want to leave Chrysalis alone, we never intended to."

Donna Copper Horn sighed. "Millet, we still haven't decided who shall stay here. And you will probably have to come too, you know that all too well."

"I really don't, and I'm the only one who can remain. You and Meadowsweet have to bring the ledger to the Concord, Fidelis has to meet the Masons, Master Sottile has his duty as Philosopher, and Willowbark has to report to the Apothecaries. And we both know that Ginevra and Garvino will be off to the Equinox Celebration with their flock for at least a week."

Celestia nodded emphatically. She wasn't sure what half of the duties implied, but it seemed things were going her way. "See, Donna Copper Horn? You have all to go, we can stay here and keep Chryssi company and look after her."

The minotaur snorted and squinted at Celestia. "Millet may stay here, but you will have to come. I won't ask him to keep Chrysalis, you, and Luna under control. Not him alone, not you all together. Frankly, I didn't expect I had to fight you on coming to the Festival. You and your sister have been talking about it for months." She cupped her hand under Celestia's chin. "This is not the first time we have had you leave Chrysalis at the farm. What is so different this time?"

"It's…" Celestia bit her lip. "I kinda thought that Chryssi could come and that we would all have fun together, and she got excited, and then we talked about what we would do, and then Master Sottile said it wasn't possible, and… and it's my fault that she's sad now and I want her to be happy and if I miss the Festival I can do that."

Donna Copper Horn looked Celestia in the eyes and didn't say anything. Celestia shifted her hooves. Maybe she should try again with the puppy eyes. They had stopped working after the kitchen fire, but it was worth an attempt.

She was about to bring herself into the proper mood, when Donna Copper Horn said, "Let that be a lesson on being premature with what you plan. Chrysalis is still akin to a small foal, and you are older and, I hope, more mature." She stood up and passed a hand over her eyes. "You still don't have your Mark, there is time yet to present you to the Concord. We will talk about it, and if everybody agrees, you will stay here." She turned to Millet. "I hope you know what you got yourself into."


Chryssi was confused. There were a lot of things she was feeling, and she was feeling them all together. Which was wrong. Maybe.

Her tongue flicked out.

Again.

And once again she couldn't taste herself. She never could.

She knew it would have been useless to try, and yet she had tried anyway, and the bundle of feelings she felt now added to the confusing mix already piled on the top of her. It was enough that she wanted to scream. How was she supposed to learn if she couldn't compare things with others?

Another failure.

Chryssi was pretty sure ponies didn't have those problems. They could probably taste each other all the time and then get good at tasting the same way and that was the reason why she couldn't go to the thing at the thing that Tia said was so wonderful and if she simply could get a proper impression of her own taste she could fix everything and see new things.

Maybe it was the hard stuff covering her body. Maybe on the inside she tasted like the others. Maybe she had just to bite through the hard stuff. That shouldn't be too difficult.

A raspberry and gargling got her attention, her train of thought truly derailed. She looked up and saw Radish sitting on the grass, a bald patch in front of him and green paste and blade fragments all over his face.

His taste was clear-cut, simple, powerful.

She had learned that tastes had names. And weren't called tastes. The last thing she ascribed to the ponies' habit of using new words for stuff they cared about, like calling the bright light in the sky Sun and the silver light Moon. Tastes were called emotions, which didn't mean anything as far as she knew. It only added to her confusion.

No! She had to stop worrying about those things. There were plenty of other, far more urgent, things bothering her.

Like her curiosity about the stuff Millet, Tia, and Lulu were doing behind the piece of fabric they had hung between the columns of the arcade. They had said something about it being a classical piece of theater. Whatever that meant. She only knew it was something like those they wanted to see but couldn't.

But that wasn't the only thing. At the same time she wished she could experience the stuff they did where all the others had gone, and yet she felt it was right being here with Tia and Lulu, and yet it was not right that they had to stay here.

It was a mess.

A high-pitched screech distracted her once again. Radish was crawling towards her and babbling stuff.

He was only slightly smaller than her, but he couldn't really talk or walk all that well. They told her that he would soon grow and learn all those things, but she was pretty certain that he was somewhat slower than her.

Maybe that was the problem. She should grow slower. And she was thinking too much.

Regression towards an earlier state would be evaluated.

Chryssi blinked. Had there always been those strange thoughts in her mind? What did that mean? Could it…

Something wet and warm caught her hoof.

Chryssi looked down at Radish who, somehow, had managed to catch her unaware and was now happily sucking and chewing on her hoof with an enthusiasm he usually reserved only for Meadowsweet's mashed lentils. There also was something hard pressing down on the plates, probably a tooth. His taste had shifted again, but not by much.

Chryssi pulled her saliva coated hoof back and held it high. Radish let out an offended squeak and reached out for it. "I get scolded when I chew on ponies. It's not right that you can."

That was not what Radish wanted to hear. He stretched upwards to get the hoof while babbling stuff. Chryssi got up and held it even higher. He reached up, wavered, and fell forward. Chryssi felt him impacting her chest, pushing her back, his forelegs flailing.

Her heart, as far as she knew a recent addition, had the time to beat just once before her traitorous balance threw its arms up and left in a huff.

They tumbled on the grass. Chryssi felt a weight on her and glared at Radish, now slumped over her. Not that it seemed to interest him.  "What are you do–"

He was fast. Faster than expected. Before Chryssi could even finish her question her hoof was, once again, in his mouth.

"Hey." She pulled her leg back. He reached out again, she swatted, he pulled back, and stared at her.

Had she won? Did she finally get through to him?

His eyes became watery, he opened and closed his mouth, his taste soured. And deep down inside Chryssi, something moved.

This situation is not acceptable.

She carefully examined the idea. It was another stray thought that had come from… from somewhere and that told her what to do. It was good to get a clear direction, but blindly following instructions from unknown sources was something that she thought was wrong. Donna Copper Horn had said something about it once or twice.

The idea accrued more details. And expanded, and almost immediately grew far beyond her capabilities to understand it.

There was a web of connections, there were other ideas and memories woven into it, weights of sacrifices to be made and consequences, and thread upon thread going from the center to everything else in her mind.and it was vast, boundless.

It shrank, not back to its original simplicity, but far enough for her to get a vague sense of some of the structure that had originated it.

Oh, the sour taste, that was the main reason behind it. Pretty obvious in hindsight.

"Here." She thrust her hoof forward again and the bad taste disappeared and was replaced with something sweet, wholesome. Her hoof was covered in slobber once again, as Radish munched on it.

"Awww."

Chryssi whipped her head around and caught just the tip of a white muzzle disappearing behind the curtain.

The fabric fell down revealing Tia, Lulu, and Millet. Chryssi could only stare at them and move her mouth in silent questions. So many questions.

Millet was in the center. He had a parsley root bound to his head. It was kept standing, barely, with an intricate and chaotic net made out of twine. The knots in the mess on the right of his head side were almost a bulging growth of cord. It was like he had a slightly crooked, earthy horn.

A large hat covered Tia's head and a rough hemp blanket sat on her back.

Luna had two bushels bound to her side, in a form that vaguely reminded Chryssi of Ginevra's wings. If Ginevra were greenish, and had leaves instead of feathers, and one wing smaller than the other, and coming off at a weird angle.

Millet took a step forward, cleared his throat, and declared, "I'm a unicorn. I can do fancy magic, walk with my nose up in the air, and I starve to death if somepony more responsible than myself doesn't feed me."

It then was Celestia's turn. She held a lower position, her eyes looking down. "I'm an earth-pony. I work hard, don't care for the world around me, and wouldn't get an education if it hit me in the head."

With a hop and bobbing head, Luna came forward. "I'm a pegasus. I can control the weather, am a bit of a bully, and have a short attention sp–ooooh butterfly."

All three of them smiled at Chryssi and Radish, who stared back. The number of questions had multiplied and risked to overwhelm Chryssi. She tried to organize them, get some order into it, decide which one ask first.

The three ponies turned around all together, grabbed some floppy tubes made of fabric, and began to whack each other on the head.