“Hey, Twilight! Do you think that the Mechanized Murder series should be filed in the mystery or science fiction section?” Spike called from behind a stack of books on a reading table.
“I dunno. What’s it about?” Chrysalis asked.
“It’s a murder mystery series set in a world where the characters are robot ponies.”
“That hardly sounds like science fiction. Mystery.” Time Keeper voiced as he absently leafed through a book of his own before placing it on a bookshelf.
“Really? Robots that commit murder sounds pretty sci-fi to me.” Spike argued.
Time Keeper stopped what he was doing and blinked a couple of times. “Riiight, robot ponies. Totally not a thing that exists! Uh…ask Twilight.”
“I was already doing that.” Spike grumbled under his breath.
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Just put it with the mystery books.”
One week. It had been one week without anything of note happening whatsoever and Chrysalis was bored out of her mind. She was so bored this particular afternoon that she had decided to start reorganizing the library with Spike and Time Keeper in the vain hope that it might keep her mind occupied. It wasn’t helping much.
“Are you sure it was a good idea hiring him?” Spike whispered to Chrysalis. “He asked me how you turn the book on a few days ago.”
Chrysalis gave an aggravated sigh. “I’m sure that he’ll prove himself useful…eventually.”
“If you say so.” Spike gave a half-hearted response, heading off to the mystery section with a stack of that robot murder series in his claws.
Chrysalis reached out for the next book on her own stack, resisting the urge to incinerate it for some semblance of excitement. She didn’t know what librarians were usually paid, but if this mind numbingly boring work was typical, it could never be enough.
A sudden belch coming from her young companion drew her attention away from her menial task. She caught the tail end of magical flames and the sudden appearance of a scroll floating in the air. She dropped her book back onto the stack, her boredom quickly turning to an uneasy apprehension. Only Celestia used that method to speak with Twilight Sparkle, and Chrysalis was not exactly thrilled at the thought of communication with her.
“What’ve you got there, Spike?” Chrysalis asked as Spike unfurled the scroll and began to read aloud.
“Dear Twilight: It has come to my attention that we have not had time to speak in a casual setting since before you had left for Ponyville, something of which I deeply regret. I have discovered that I have a moment of freedom within my schedule tomorrow afternoon and as such have decided that I shall be visiting you for a nice private cup of tea and a chat. I do hope you can forgive me for such short notice. I look forward to seeing you, there is much I wish to discuss.” Spike rolled the parchment up and smiled at Chrysalis. “That’s nice. I’ll have to go see if I can find her favourite tea at the market before she arrives.”
“What?” Chrysalis croaked as she froze in terror.
“Oh, uh,” Spike rubbed the back of his head with a claw as he looked around at the piles of books that had yet to be reshelved, “if you’re okay with that, Twilight.”
“Right…of course, you go do that.” Chrysalis made a shooing motion with a hoof and watched as the jovial little lizard walked out the front door. Her panicked eyes locked onto Time Keeper.
“Are you okay?”
“No, I am not okay!” Chrysalis shouted at him. “Celestia is coming here!”
“Is that really such a problem? She said she’s just coming for tea.”
“She said she had something to discuss with me!”
“And you think she’s going to do what? Throw you in a dungeon for some awkward conversation?”
“Luna said that she suspected me. What if she is coming here to confront me? She wanted to see me in private, right? What if she uses that privacy to strike me down where there are no witnesses!?” Chrysalis' breathing quickened as her mind raced.
“No witnesses? What are you talking about? She’s literally the beloved dictator of all Equestria, if she wanted to arrest you, then no amount of witnesses would matter.”
Chrysalis ignored him. His words were unimportant. Getting her alone, away from any allies that could help defend her, and then striking while she’s vulnerable was just the sort of thing that a pony princess would do. She couldn’t let that happen. She would need a distraction, something to keep her from attacking her. Her eyes settled back on Time Keeper. First things first, though.
“We need to get you out of here.” She declared flatly as she lifted him up unceremoniously with her magic. “Go hide in the forest until she’s gone.”
“Hey, put me down!” He latched onto the arms of the couch next to him, trying desperately to avoid being taken away. After a few seconds and a little more effort from Chrysalis, the couch began to drag along the floor with a screeching noise.
Unnoticed by either of them as they both struggled, the library door opened and Davenport stepped inside.
“Hello, I’m here to find a bo—” He stopped mid word as he saw the scene before him. “Uh…did I come at a bad time?”
“Stop struggling! We can’t have you around when Celestia arrives!”
Davenport tensed up and he silently mouthed ‘Celestia’. He let out a nervous chuckle. “I can see you’re a little busy…I, uh…just remembered I have other things to do.” And with that, he bolted away, slamming the door behind him as he went.
Chrysalis leapt up in terror as she heard the door slam, dropping Time Keeper as she turned around, half expecting Celestia to already be standing right there. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
Time Keeper stood up with an irritated grumble. “She isn’t supposed to be here until tomorrow. Relax, I’ll go into the forest in the morning before she arrives. I’d rather not be here when she is, either.”
“Fine.” Chrysalis grumbled in turn. Back to the original problem, she couldn’t let Celestia have that ‘private chat’ that she wanted. Her worried frown twisted into a small smile. Who else could she possibly go to for a distraction other than Pinkie Pie?
“Finish cleaning up this mess,” Chrysalis ordered as she indicated the various piles of books, “I’m going out.”
Within relatively short order, Chrysalis was in the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner speaking to Pinkie Pie as she ran about with a flurry of baking activity.
“So let me get this straight,” Pinkie paused a moment as she kicked an oven door closed after pulling out a tray of muffins, “the Princess is coming soon and you’re freaking out because she might be disappointed if you don’t show her a good time, and you want my help making it absolutely perfect?”
“Uhh…more or less?” Chrysalis eyed her suspiciously. How did she know that? All she had told her is that she needs Pinkie’s help. Was she spying on her? “How did you—”
“Gummi told me!”
“Who?”
“Gummi!” Pinkie pointed out a tiny alligator just standing on the counter, seemingly oblivious to its surroundings. It gave a yawn and Chrysalis saw it had no teeth. How could a little thing like that tell Pinkie anything?
“Pinkie! How’re those apple cinnamon muffins doing?!” The sound of Mr Cake shouting from the front of the store carried through the hot kitchen.
“Comin’ right up!” Pinkie shouted back enthusiastically and trotted towards the kitchen’s exit with a tray of muffins balanced on her head. “Wait right here, Twilight, I’ll be right back!”
Chrysalis continued to stare at the little lizard on the counter. She stepped towards it and gave it a little nudge with her forehoof, her brow furrowed with continued confusion.
“Are you a changeling?” She asked uncertainly, and immediately felt foolish doing so. This thing couldn’t be a changeling, she’d know about it, right? She should know better than to question Pinkie’s weirdness by now.
“Is he a what?” Pinkie asked innocently as she pronked back into the kitchen, sans the muffins.
“I asked if he was changing? You know, his colours?” Chrysalis hastily lied, earning a giggle from her pink companion.
“Don’t be silly, he’s an alligator, not a chameleon, he can’t change colours!” She froze for a moment and then stared intently at her pet. “Or caaan you?” A few awkward seconds passed and Pinkie went back to her baking with a bounce in her step. “Nope, guess not!”
“So, uhh…Pinkie?”
“Mm?” Pinkie mumbled through through a mouth occupied with carrying a bag of flour from a cupboard.
“Do you think you can help me with Princess Celestia?”
Pinkie set the flour on the counter. “Princess Celestia is coming? I thought it was supposed to be Princess Luna!”
“What? Why would you think that?”
“Because Gummy told me Luna is coming for you in a dream last night, and I thought that since dreams are Luna’s thing, it was probably true.” Pinkie gave a carefree shrug. “I guess it was just a dream after all.”
“Dreams aside, Princess Celestia is visiting me tomorrow afternoon and I would like your help setting up a party for her.”
“Oooooo! That sounds like a lot of fun!” Pinkie nearly squealed with glee at the prospect. “Just let me see if Mr Cake will let me take some time off from the bakery to do it!”
She rushed out of the kitchen, and after a few seconds of awkwardly standing there being stared at by the creepy counter top alligator, Chrysalis followed after her.
“Thanks!” Pinkie Pie was hugging Mr. Cake tightly, clearly having gotten permission to skip out on the rest of her work. Chrysalis found it rather odd that her boss would just give her time off at such short notice, and said so. Mr Cake gave a warm smile and ruffled Pinkie’s mane affectionately.
“Pinkie may be a baker by trade, but she’s a party pony by passion. I couldn’t keep her from doing what she’s destined to do.”
“Aww, thanks!” Pinkie Pie blushed at his words, a decidedly unusual sight from her. “I’ve got so much to do!” She exclaimed before dashing up the stairs to where Chrysalis remembered her bedroom being. Mr Cake chuckled and leaned in to whisper to Chrysalis.
“Besides, where do you think she gets all the baked goods from for her parties? It’s great advertisement for our store. Now just imagine what it’ll be like if we can say that the Princess herself loves our food?”
Chrysalis gave a grunt of acknowledgement. Doing something for self gain, that was something she understood.
Not wanting to leave before she could confirm that Pinkie Pie wouldn’t need her help, nor wanting to interrupt any preparations she was making while in her bedroom, Chrysalis sat down at one of the tables set out for customers to eat their orders at. Her mind raced over thoughts of what might happen the next day, with warring sides telling her to panic or to relax now that she had Pinkie’s help. As she waited, the chime of the door opening rang many times as ponies came and went from the establishment. One time, however, the chime was accompanied by a soft, familiar voice.
“Oh…umm…sorry.” Fluttershy meekly apologized as she stepped out of the way of a stallion that was leaving the store at the same time she was entering. She took a step towards the ordering counter, but stopped when she spotted Chrysalis sitting by herself. Her nervous face brightened considerably and she changed directions to join her friend.
“Hello, Twilight.” She greeted her with a gentle smile and a lack of her usual stuttering and stammering.
“Hey, Fluttershy.” Chrysalis responded, not quite sure whether she was annoyed at her interruption, or happy for the diversion from her thoughts. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m just getting some more food for my hungry little friend here. It’s okay, you can come out now.” Fluttershy urged something from inside her mane to come out of hiding. A little, blue ball of fuzz with wings popped out and stared at the two of them, but before Chrysalis could say anything, two more popped out, one brown and one yellow.
Chrysalis was about to make a snarky remark about Fluttershy’s poor math skills, but stopped herself as she gazed into the eyes of the brown one as it blinked cutely at her. Chrysalis forced her hoof to a stop when she realized that she had raised it as if to touch the creature, but before she could lower the proffered hoof, the thing flittered over and landed on it, nuzzling her as it did so. Chrysalis strangled an ‘aw’ that was rising through her throat. It was so soft!
“Awww, I think he likes you.” Fluttershy observed, not having the same hesitations that Chrysalis suffered from. “Maybe you should take him with you. Though I wonder where he came from. I was sure that there was only one before…”
A thought came unbidden to Chrysalis: she would call this little thing Flitter. With a gentle gesture, she brought her new pet up to her head where it happily hopped off, rubbing up against her horn affectionately.
“Uck! Is that a parasprite?” Pinkie’s usually cheerful voice cut through the air with disgust. Chrysalis’ head turned as a crash came from the same direction and she found a small pile of party supplies on the floor where Pinkie stood.
“No, there’s three of them, see?” Chrysalis indicated to the others that were still by Fluttershy.
“Want one?” Fluttershy added.
“Three?!” Pinkie screeched. “Ugh! No, I don’t want one! Now I have to go find a trombone!”
“Uhh…for the Princess’ party?” Chrysalis asked, confused and completely ignored by Pinkie as she stormed out of the bakery. She had an awful, sneaking suspicion that she may not have been talking about helping out with her princess problem.
Fluttershy gasped. “The Princess is coming here?”
“Yes.” She confirmed, thinking about what she could do if Pinkie wasn’t going to help her. Pinkie had said she was going to help, and Chrysalis knew she was supposed to trust Pinkie Pie more, but what if? She eyed the cute sprites, as Pinkie had called them, and got an idea. “Hey, how about you come over tomorrow and show her these new creatures you found? And maybe some of your other animals, too! I’m sure she’d be delighted.”
“Oh…umm…are you sure?” Fluttershy rubbed one of her legs with a hoof nervously at the prospect.
“Absolutely! It’d be great!” Chrysalis pushed.
“Oh, ummm…” Fluttershy paused to take a deep breath and gave a timid smile. “If that’s what you want, I’ll do it.”
“Perfect!” Chrysalis exclaimed. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to go see what’s wrong with Pinkie. Be sure to be at the library by noon.”
Not waiting for a response, Chrysalis darted out the door and looked wildly about for Pinkie Pie, but she was nowhere to be seen. It had only been a few seconds since she had left, how could she have moved completely out of sight so quickly? Shrugging off the now irrelevant question, she set to searching Ponyville for the missing party pony.
Hours passed without any sightings of her, at least not by Chrysalis herself. Plenty of ponies mentioned having just seen the mare moments earlier and gave direction to Chrysalis’ otherwise directionless search, but Pinkie always seemed one step ahead of her. Not even Rarity, who had roped a frustrated and incredibly grumpy looking Rainbow Dash into modeling a hilariously frilly dress for her at the Carousel Boutique, could properly direct Chrysalis to her quarry. Though, oddly, Chrysalis had discovered that her one sprite had become three while there, just like what had happened to Fluttershy. Both Rainbow Dash and Rarity had each taken one of the new sprites before she left the boutique in exchange for their promises to both come to the library tomorrow to meet with Princess Celestia.
Mildly frustrated by her inability to find Pinkie Pie, Chrysalis went back home as sunset approached. She pondered idly on why Pinkie could have had such a negative reaction to little Flitter, as well as why they seemed to multiply so quickly. It was probably some kind of pheromone that they exuded that attracted them to each other or something, because surely nothing could possibly be reproducing at such speeds, especially without a mate.
Regardless, it was a minor concern when placed next to the issue of Celestia’s upcoming visit. It could undoubtedly be dealt with later when she could spare more thought to the matter.
“Hey, Twilight!” Spike cheerfully greeted her as she stepped through the door. “I got the tea!”
“Yes…that’s great, Spike.” Chrysalis responded despondently. “Good job.”
“Is something wrong?”
Chrysalis blinked, banishing away her morose thoughts. It was going to be okay. Pinkie was going to help her, and even if she didn’t, she had three others coming too as a backup.
“No, it’s fine. I’m just tired, that’s all. I wanted to get all sorts of preparation done so that tomorrow will be just perfect after all.”
“Relax, Twilight, the Princess loves you, just be yourself and I’m sure she’ll be happy.”
Chrysalis subconsciously looked away from Spike a moment and decided she needed to change the subject. She raked through her mane for Flitter and presented it to him.
“Hey, Spike, meet my new pet: Flitter! Fluttershy gave him to me.”
“Oh my gosh, it’s adorable!” Spike squeaked excitedly at the sight of the cute critter, but swiftly made a very hard one eighty into clearly faked nonchalance. “I mean, it’s alright.”
Chrysalis chuckled at his display and wondered a moment if she had looked just as childish as him when she first saw Flitter. She probably hadn’t fooled anybody with her tough act, either. Not that being tough was an act for her, nope, definitely not.
“But wait, isn’t there already a pony named Flitter in Ponyville?”
Chrysalis shrugged indifferently as she gently stroked Flitter with a hoof. “I’m sure he’ll be fine sharing his name with some random pony.” She tore her gaze away from her new pet. “Have you seen Snowball?”
“He went to bed already. Said he had to get up early.”
With the mention of beds, Chrysalis realized how tired she was and stifled a yawn. Reorganizing a library and then running all around the town took a lot more out of her than she would have expected. Her sedentary lifestyle lately seemed to be having an adverse affect on her stamina and she would need to correct that soon, but not that night.
“Alright, little guy,” Chrysalis addressed the sprite, “let’s see about getting you something to eat and then look into going to bed ourselves.”
“Oh! Can I feed him?” Spike piped up perkily.
“Sure. I don’t know what he eats, though. I hope he’s not a picky eater.”
Spike ran off ahead of Chrysalis into the kitchen. “Maybe he likes gems!” As she stepped in after him, she saw him kneeling on the counter and reaching into a little cookie jar she had bought to store his treats, and moments later he hopped down with a small, green gemstone in his claw.
“Here ya go, Flitter, try this!”
The sprite fluttered around the shiny stone and sniffed it twice before looking to Spike with a vacant expression, blinking.
“I guess he doesn’t eat rocks.” Chrysalis remarked with only a slight bit of mockery. She didn’t even eat and even she knew that eating gemstones was weird. She stepped over to the pantry and swung open its doors, eyes scanning its contents. “Maybe something in here would be better.”
Chrysalis reached up for a tin that she thought contained some old pasta, but accidentally bumped it into a rather precariously positioned large bag that seemed to move in slow motion as she watched it tip over, and then fall directly onto her face, exploding in a big puff of white powder. Chrysalis opened her mouth to cry out with shock, but inhaled a lungful of the stuff and descended into a coughing fit that lasted until long after the cloud had settled and vision had been restored.
“You—” Spike paused as he suppressed a laugh, “—you’re all white! You look like a ghost!”
“I’m glad you’re having fun.” Chrysalis replied acidly. She rubbed her neck in an effort to alleviate the newfound soreness she felt. She groaned. Now she’d have to clean this up. “Hey, Spike, can you get the broom?”
“Sure thing!”
Spike ran out of the kitchen to do as he was bid. Chrysalis’ eyes scanned her surroundings, surveying the damages. The bag's label declared itself to be something called flour. Having no real ideas on how to cook, she wasn’t entirely sure what it was for. She was pretty sure she had seen some at the bakery while Pinkie Pie was working, but she hadn’t exactly been concentrating on what that mare was doing, so its actual use eluded her. She had only bought it to make it seem like she was a normal pony with normal dietary needs.
A sudden flurry of movement from beneath some of the powder on the floor caught her eye, and she watched as Flitter crawled out from under the flour, his usual brown colour a shocking white. Chrysalis smiled. Spike was right, it was kind of funny seeing something else affected like she had been.
“I guess we still need to see about feeding you, too.”
Flitter looked up at the sound of her voice and then moments later stuck out his surprisingly long tongue and cleaned his entire body of the flour. He made a happy little chirp and then, moving almost too fast for Chrysalis to follow, he flew around the kitchen, practically inhaling the powdery substance. She jumped in shock when she felt the little thing do the same to the flour on her body and was about to demand he stop, but stopped herself as he had already finished cleaning her off and had settled itself upon the top of her head and was nuzzling against one of her ears.
Chrysalis stood still. She looked to what had previously been a mess and blinked. She looked up to her new pet, who was making a sound similar to a cat’s purring, and blinked again. A few seconds of quiet contemplation later, she just shrugged. While it had been weird, it was definitely convenient. She wondered if it would eat other foods with as much gusto. It would certainly make disposing of the food she’d been buying to keep up appearances easier. She would definitely be having a bath before bed, however.
Spike hurried back into the kitchen, a broom in one claw and a dustpan in the other. He stopped in his tracks, brow furrowed and jaw dropped as he stared at the now mostly clean kitchen. He poked at the empty broken bag that had once contained the flour with the broom handle. He turned to Chrysalis in search of answers. Chrysalis smirked.
“Good job, Spike.” She patted him on the head with a chuckle and then left him to his bewilderment. “I’m going to have a bath and then head to bed.”
Not long afterwards, she was curled up in her bed with Flitter nestling itself in her mane. She muttered a goodnight to the sprite and quickly drifted off to sleep.
_______________________________
Chrysalis’s sleep was troubled by a sense of foreboding, almost to the point of feeling nauseous. A sudden, distant scream of surprise caused Chrysalis to bolt out of her bed, her horn glowing, ready to destroy any threat to her hive. Immediately she regretted that action as she slammed face first into something big and blue and a shrieking agony tore through her skull. Chrysalis groaned in pain, nearly drowning out a steady stream of unfamiliar expletives from whoever she had just head butted.
Chrysalis turned to the intruder in her room with a scowl, though the heat of her rage was doused immediately by ice when she saw who it was.
“Luna!?” Chrysalis’ voice cracked.
Luna stood next to her bed, looking noticeably larger than she was upon their last meeting, though at best half way to the form that Chrysalis was most accustomed to from the future. She was rubbing a spot on her cheek where a little blood was dripping from a small gash. She took a deep breath.
“Your horn is sharper than it looks.” She observed. “You’re lucky I turned away from you thanks to that scream, or you would have hit mine.”
“What are you doing here?!”
Luna’s gaze turned to the slightly open door where the scream had come from. “I think that perhaps we have more pressing concerns than my presence.”
“Twiliiiiiiiiight!” As if on cue, her door was slammed the rest of the way open as Spike and Time Keeper fought each other to get inside her room. Before either Luna or Chrysalis could demand an explanation, they were followed by a swarming wall of multicoloured fuzz balls. Chrysalis’ eyes widened and her ears wilted right before she was consumed by the onslaught, nearly knocking her over.
“What the—” Chrysalis’ protestations were cut short as one of the creatures flew directly into her mouth, causing her to cough as she spit it out. Moments later, a small, brown fuzz ball was nuzzling against her cheek.
“Flitter?” Chrysalis asked in confusion, finally realizing that all of these creatures were sprites, just like her pet. Flitter chirped happily and kept nuzzling her.
The next thing Chrysalis knew, she heard a groan of frustration and a chain reaction of light scattered throughout the room as one by one, each and every sprite in sight burst into flames. She watched as Flitter, completely unaware of what was happening, burst into a ball of heat and light before falling to the floor as little more than ashes. Chrysalis’ jaw dropped and she stared at the sooty splotch on the floor that had been her pet.
What had once been a chaotic flurry of noise from all of the sprites was now silent outside of a heavy panting coming from Princess Luna as she tried to catch her breath.
“Nasty things.” Luna spouted venomously between gasps for breath, sagging from the exertion of her spell. She straightened her posture and looked to Chrysalis. “That took more out of me than I thought it would, I’m still a long way from my full power. It’s good there weren’t more, I don’t think I could do that again for awhile.” She paused again and looked around at the ash covered room. “I tried to avoid it, but I may have damaged some of the books in your room.”
There was a sudden gasp from Time Keeper. “P...Princess Luna!” He seemed for a moment unsure of what to do, his eyes darting back and forth between her and the exit. Seemingly decided, he spoke again. “I am Snowball, Princess.”
Luna’s tired gaze turned from him to Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “Right. Pleased to meet you…Snowball.”
Chrysalis snapped out of the stupor caused by her sudden loss, realizing there were more important things at stake at the moment.
“He’s some hired help for the library.” Chrysalis explained, hoping she’d buy it. Realizing the potential for another dangerous assumption, she hastily continued. “We’re not a couple. He’s a pathetic loser and I have absolutely no interest in him whatsoever.”
"Hey!"
Luna chuckled. “I have no doubt of that. Somepony like him is clearly beneath those like us.” She looked over him with a smirk, and he sweated bullets as he wilted beneath her gaze. “Go ahead. Leave. I know you want to.”
“Yes, Princess!” Time Keeper gulped and did as he was told, at first moving slowly before breaking into a gallop. She watched him leave, her smirk never leaving her face.
“Now that we are alone,” Luna turned her attention back to Chrysalis with a slight frown, “you haven’t answered my letter.”
“Oh…uh, right.” Chrysalis chuckled nervously. “Uh, you see…we need to be discreet, right? Well, I don’t trust the postal service. What if they see that I’m writing to you and read the letter? Would you want us to be outed because some mailmare got curious?”
Luna tilted her head slightly, though her frown did not lessen. “No. I suppose you are right. We will need a safer way to communicate.”
“Uh, Twilight?”
“Who’s there?” Luna’s eyes widened in surprise and she scanned the room, her horn glowing faintly.
“It’s just Spike, calm down.” Chrysalis explained with an eye roll. “He won’t tell anybody, will you, Spike?”
Spike crawled out from under Chrysalis’ bed. And brushed himself off casually. “Won’t tell anypony what? That you two are friends?”
Chrysalis ignored the question, choosing to change the subject. “What was it you wanted to say?”
“Oh, right!” Spike’s eyes lit up. “Didn’t you say that you got that thing from Fluttershy?”
“Yeah.” Chrysalis frowned at the memory of receiving her now dead pet.
Spike blinked as if he expected more from her. “Aaaand?”
“And what?” Chrysalis' eye twitched as she finally got what Spike was getting at. “Oh no…” She groaned in frustration.
“What? What is it?” Luna asked, irritation at being left out of the revelation evident in her tone.
“I only had one of these last night, and three of my friends had at least one each.”
Luna’s pupils shrank as she contemplated the ramifications of that sentence. “It would seem I picked the wrong time to visit.”
Though Chrysalis believed that any time at all would have been a bad time for Luna to visit her, she simply nodded in agreement.
“Maybe theirs didn’t multiply like yours did?” Spike offered hopefully.
_____________________________
“Or maybe they did.” Spike retracted his prior optimism as he clamped his claws over his ears, trying to block out the high pitched wailing coming from Rarity as she cowered in the middle of her boutique atop a stool. Hundreds of sprites were flying about, knocking things over, carrying things off and just generally being a nuisance.
“Twilight, do something!” Rarity screeched in panic, her usually divinely kept mane a frazzled mess. “Have you seen how they reproduce? They spit out new ones! It’s disgusting! Just get rid of them!”
Chrysalis winced at Rarity’s shrill demands. She wasn’t sure how that was anything worse than the way that ponies reproduced, or changelings for that matter. The rate at which they multiplied, however, was certainly an issue. She turned to Luna.
“Are you sure you can’t incinerate all of these ones too?”
Luna shook her head, her ears plastered against her head to ward against the screaming. “I wish I could, but I doubt it. If I tried, I’d surely faint from the exertion. Even if I succeeded, there’s no way I could do it for any more infestations we find. We need another solution, unless of course you think that you can do it.”
Chrysalis said nothing as she thought. That would be a lot of love she burned to burn these bugs, certainly more than she had at the moment to spare. She could try feeding off of the element bearers again, but she didn’t know where most of them were. Even if that wasn’t a problem, the idea of feeding while Princess Luna was present nearly made her ill with the worry of being discovered. Chrysalis shook her head in turn.
“Same here. I’d probably end up in the hospital all over again if I tried.”
“Maybe we could get Princess Celestia’s help.” Spike suggested. Luna inhaled sharply.
“I…would rather not bother my sister. We have been arguing lately.”
“Less talking, more helping!” Rarity shouted at them.
“Yes, ma’am!” Spike, seemingly galvanized by her interrupting them, rushed into the fray of sprites flicking about, futilely attempting to chase them down.
“Quit your whining, Rarity, we’re trying to think of a way to get rid of them.”
“I’m not whining, I’m—”
Rarity was cut off by the front door slamming open, revealing Pinkie Pie, who dashed into the boutique. Rarity’s face lit up.
“Finally, somepony that might actually help me!” Pinkie Pie marched straight past both Rarity and Spike, who was being dragged around helplessly by one of the sprites he happened to capture in his claws. “Wait, where are you going?” Her brow furrowed with confusion as she disappeared deeper into the home.
Chrysalis shared an aside glance with Luna, who raised an eyebrow. Moments later, Pinkie Pie came rushing back into view with some kind of silver coloured tube held between her lips. Tears began to form in Rarity’s eyes as Pinkie continued ignoring her and went straight for the exit, and then Rarity began wailing just as loudly as before.
“Uh, Pinkie?” Chrysalis prodded as she went by.
“Hi, Twilight, hi, Princess Luna! No time to talk, I’ve got to find a banjo!” Pinkie hollered, with unclear diction due to the tube in her mouth, at them without even slowing down or looking back as she exited the building.
“What in Equestria is that mare doing?” Luna questioned.
“I have no idea,” Chrysalis admitted, “but I think I need to find out.”
“Don’t we have more pressing issues to attend to?” Luna nodded towards Rarity and the sprites that were tearing the place apart.
Chrysalis was sorely tempted to dismiss Pinkie’s antics as Luna was suggesting, but she felt a nagging sensation that doing so would be a bad idea. The last time that she refused to pay attention to Pinkie Pie, things didn’t go very well, and it was Pinkie’s quick and unorthodox thinking that had saved her from the ursa minor. Perhaps this was a similar situation.
“I just have a feeling that Pinkie is doing something more important than it seems. You should help get Rarity out of here and look for another solution to these creatures, just in case I’m wrong.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “That’s quite presumptuous of you to order a princess around.”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for this nonsense. “Just do it.” She ordered, for a moment seeing the princess as if she were one of her drones to command. After a moment, Luna echoed Spike’s words from earlier.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Chrysalis darted out of the boutique in hopes of catching up to Pinkie while Luna watched her go with a slight smirk. Fortunately, Pinkie was not as quick to disappear as she had been the day prior.
“Pinkie!”
“I told you, I have no time to talk, Twilight!”
“Is what you’re doing about the sprites?”
Pinkie came to an abrupt halt, the silver tube, which Chrysalis now saw to be some kind of wind instrument, falling from Pinkie’s mane and clattering to the ground.
“Sprites!?” She screeched with frustration. “First parasprites and now sprites too!? Ugh! I sure hope the parasprites haven’t eaten all of Applejack’s apples, we’re gonna need them!”
“Wait, parasprites? Are those things back at Rarity’s parasprites?”
“Well, duh! What did you think they were?”
“Sprites?”
Pinkie leaned in uncomfortably close as she looked Chrysalis in the eye. “So there are no sprites?"
“Uh...No?” Chrysalis instinctively backed away from the unusually aggressive mare.
Pinkie let out a sigh of relief. “Good, now I need to get that banjo!”
“Let me help!” Chrysalis shouted as Pinkie dashed away again, picking up the instrument she had just dropped. She stopped and turned back to her.
“Really? Everypony I ask keeps saying they don’t have time to help!” She pulled out a roll of paper hidden within her mane and tore it in two, handing one piece to Chrysalis. “Find the instruments on that list and bring them to Sugarcube Corner!”
Chrysalis looked over the list. An oboe, cymbals, and some bongos. She was pretty sure she knew what cymbals and a bongo were, but she had no clue as to what an oboe was. Assuming that she trusted Pinkie to know what she was doing, and Chrysalis had decided to do so, she had to guess that the parasprites somehow reacted to music. If these were only part of the list of instruments that Pinkie hadn’t already gathered, then it looked like she was putting together an entire band. She hoped that Pinkie wasn’t expecting her to be part of it. While she was a great singer, not as common for a creature that could change their voice at will with a little transformation as you might think, she had never learned to play an instrument.
She looked up from the list to get Pinkie to clarify the matter, but she was already gone. With a shrug, Chrysalis went searching for ponies to ask about finding the instruments on her list.
___________________________________
It was just before noon, two full hours after Chrysalis had begun searching for those instruments. In that time, what had previously been an infestation contained to a few households had clearly escaped confinement and spread throughout the town. Ponies ran around in a panic, trying to hide themselves, their loved ones and their food from the ravenous swarm. The parasprites reminded her of ponies, actually, they were annoying, pastel coloured, balls of fur that always seemed to be eating and were absolutely everywhere she looked. If she could feed from them, then they would effectively be the same.
She darted through Ponyville with her instruments floating behind her, dodging ponies, overturned carts and any exceptionally thick groupings of parasprites as they feasted on scraps of food that had been abandoned by those who fled from them. Chrysalis was about to dodge out of the way of a large, grey stallion when she heard a child’s scream. Her head snapped towards the source of the distressed cry by reflex, causing her to misstep and collide directly into the stallion with a loud crack, followed shortly by the crash of cymbals as they fell to the ground.
“Watch where you’re going!” Chrysalis snarled as she picked herself off the ground only to find that the stallion hadn’t even slowed after barreling into her smaller frame. She grumbled to herself about how he wouldn’t have been able to do that if she were in her normal form, and what she would have done to him if she weren’t trying to keep hidden.
“Heeeelp!”
Chrysalis’ thoughts were stopped in their tracks by the continued cries of the foal. Her eyes locked onto the source, her prior anger forgotten. It was a chubby, little colt hiding beneath a bench with his forehooves held protectively over his head, a colt she recognized as one of the two that had gotten into trouble with the ursa minor, Snips if she remembered correctly. He was being poked and prodded by dozens of parasprites.
Chrysalis groaned. Couldn’t that blasted child stay out of trouble for once? She really hoped that his needing rescue wasn’t going to become a regular thing.
“I’m coming!” She shouted to Snips, lifting the bongos into the air as she charged forward, swinging the instrument at the flying pests. The parasprites bouncing off the bongos created a beat, though less akin to proper music and more like what a toddler might create trying to imitate what they had seen an older, more experienced, musician do. The parasprites in the area who had not been hit seemed to pause whenever that irregular beat sounded, though Chrysalis barely noticed, merely taking the opportunity presented to swat them with her improvised weapon, too. With the larger parts of the swarm around Snips dealt with, she dropped the bongos and brushed the few that remained from his fur with a gentle hoof.
“Come on, Snips, let’s get you somewhere safe.”
“Thanks, Twilight.” He responded with a sniffle. He crawled out from beneath the bench and then reached back under it for a plain, brown bag.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what’s that?” Chrysalis asked as she noticed parasprites beginning to return, going not for the child, but the bag he now held.
“It’s my granny’s cookies.” Snips answered before noticing three parasprites that had attached themselves to his bag. He shook it violently. “Hey, get off! Those are mine!”
Chrysalis tried desperately to hold back a groan. She snatched the bag from the colt with her magic and lobbed it a few dozen meters away. Most of the parasprites followed after it as it sailed through the air.
“Hey!” Snips shouted as he tried to chase after his treat, but Chrysalis held him back. Within moments, the cookie bag was lost from view as it was swarmed.
“Those weren’t after you, they were after your cookies. They’re not worth getting hurt over.”
“But—”
“Your granny wouldn’t want you to get hurt because of her. She can always make more cookies, she can’t make another you.”
Snips bit his lip and held back some tears, but nodded his understanding. Chrysalis suddenly felt a little awkward at overstating the danger of these creatures. She didn’t really think these things were going to kill anybody, except maybe through indirect starvation by eating all their food, but at least it got the point across.
Chrysalis looked around to see if there was anypony around that she could trust to take the foal somewhere safe and was taken aback when she spied a familiar shade of blue through a smokescreen of parasprites standing a fair distance back the way she had come.
“Luna?!” Chrysalis called out to the princess, causing her to jump in surprise at being spotted. “Get over here, I could use your help!”
Luna trotted over with a slight blush. “Sorry, I was just coming to find you when I saw you having a moment with this child, and I didn’t want to interrupt.”
Chrysalis grunted, only half caring about what she was saying. “Lucky you found me, then.”
“Quite.” Luna responded.
“Take the kid, or grab some instruments, I don’t care which. We’re headed to Sugarcube Corner.”
Luna paused a moment as she looked to the foal, then lifted him up and set him upon her back. Snips was wearing a delighted, goofy grin.
“Oh my gosh, I’m riding Princess Luna! Snails is gonna be so jealous!”
Chrysalis fought back a snort of laughter, though not well enough to avoid being noticed by Luna, who rolled her eyes at her immaturity. She took a step forward and appeared to stumble, causing Snips to slip from her back with a cry of surprise.
“Whoa!” Chrysalis threw herself to the ground beneath the falling colt, giving him something soft to land on. She winced as the pudgy thing hit her back, but otherwise showed no visible or vocal indication that the event had hurt her in the slightest. She glared at Luna from her position on the ground.
“Oops, I tripped over my own hooves.”
“Maybe I should take Snips.”
“Aww…” Snips voiced his disappointment, much to Chrysalis’ unwanted irritation. She shouldn’t care that Snips would rather go with Luna, she should be glad that the pest wanted to be with somebody else, and yet it still bothered her. Not that she was going to let either Luna or the ungrateful little brat know that.
“Very well.” Luna leaned down and whispered breathily into her ear. “I find a mare that cares for foals very...appealing.”
Chrysalis shivered at her words, and feared that she may be blushing. The knowledge that such a tame line had no right to instill such a reaction from her did not help alleviate the sensation.
“I don’t like—” Chrysalis began her habitual denial of liking foals, but stopped when remembered that Snips was still present and would probably be hurt by the denial. Princess Luna playfully raised an eyebrow, practically taunting her to finish that sentence. “I don’t think this is the time for that, Luna.”
Luna gave a wistful sigh. “It never is.”
The three of them travelled through Ponyville to Sugarcube Corner mostly uneventfully, if you ignored having to dodge parasprites and the occasional pony that was more freaked out over seeing the former Nightmare Moon than they were of the parasprites. Chrysalis knew how they felt. Even now she had to fight an underlying fear of her. Luna was helping her right now, but she was still a very powerful enemy of her changelings and could effectively blow her cover.
Upon arrival at the bakery, it appeared to be shut up tightly, and any attempt to open the door ended with failure.
“Pinkie? Let us in! We’ve got the instruments!” There was no response.
“Maybe she’s not here?” Snips suggested from her back.
“Maybe.” Chrysalis echoed absently. Not wanting to wait any longer outside amongst the parasprites, she began feeling around blindly on the other side of the door for the lock with her magic. Moments later, there was a click and the door swung open slightly. The three of them stepped inside quickly, but one parasprite made it inside with them despite their efforts to avoid it. Chrysalis inhaled sharply when she noticed and reactively sent a blast of magic at the creature and it burst into flame, much like had happened earlier in the library, just on a much smaller scale.
“I thought you said you couldn’t do that.” Luna stared at her accusingly.
“I just meant that I don’t think I could do that with all of them. I’m not strong enough.”
“Are you sure? You were plenty strong enough to be able to defeat me at my full power, were you not?”
“You beat up Princess Luna!?” Snips gasped as he hopped off of Chrysalis’ back.
“No, it was Nightmare Moon.” Chrysalis corrected him almost automatically.
“At least you’re willing to admit it was you now.” Luna grinned smugly. “It’s progress.”
Chrysalis winced. Sure, Luna had already as good as known that she was responsible for that, but she would still rather not have done that. She really needed to be more careful, who knew what else Luna might be able to drag out of her with her prodding.
“I just meant I fought Nightmare Moon,” Chryalis explained to Snips, “I didn’t actually beat her up, she was way too strong.”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense.”
“Right, of course it was that tall, dark and mysterious mare that beat up Nightmare Moon.” Luna played along, looking directly into Chrysalis’ eyes. “I would love to meet her one day. I think we would have a wonderful time together.”
Chrysalis averted her eyes and cleared her throat. “Where is Pinkie Pie?” She asked nobody in particular.
“You seem to have much faith in your friend.” Luna observed. “Do you really think she and these instruments can save the day?”
“When you’re in a tough spot, you need allies. As weird as she may be, Pinkie has proven she is reliable and worthy of my trust.” Chrysalis explained, carefully avoiding calling her a friend. “She is worthy of being my ally.”
Luna nodded slowly. “Yes, I see. Well then, I hope you can one day see me as being just as worthy of being your ‘ally’.”
Feeling decidedly uncomfortable with the subject matter, Chrysalis began pacing in the poorly lit room.
“Where is that Pinkie Pie?!” She growled. She had half expected the mare to show up after being mentioned, but alas, she seemed to miss her cue.
Chryalis continued pacing for several minutes, impatiently waiting as the other two watched her. She felt like prey being eyed up by a hungry predator and her young. It was a tremendous relief when she finally heard the click of the door opening.
“Oh hey, it’s not locked!” Chrysalis heard Pinkie’s voice and watched as its owner stepped inside. “Hi, Twilight, Luna and Snips! Do you have the instruments?”
“Yes.” Chrysalis nodded towards the pile that Luna had set on the floor between dining tables.
“Great! I brought mine too!” Pinkie Pie reached into her mane and several instruments poured out onto the floor.
“How does she—” Luna began only to be interrupted.
“Don’t ask.” Chrysalis and Snips said in unison, earning a surprised blink from the princess. Chrysalis had definitely spent enough time around Pinkie to know not to question her oddities now.
“Sorry I’m late, I would have been here earlier, but I was trying to get the others to help me find more instruments, but they were too busy trying to herd the parasprites away to bother listening to me. Like that would ever work.”
“Did you tell them why you needed the instruments?”
“Why would I do that? Isn’t it obvious?"
“No.” Luna answered for Chrysalis as she stared at the pile.
“But…wait…really?” Pinkie’s face went through various stages of thought and confusion. “Doesn’t everypony know you can lead parasprites away with music?”
“We didn’t even know what they were, remember Pinkie? I called them sprites.” Chrysalis pointed out.
Pinkie stared blankly as the gears continued cranking in her head. “Oooh…that would explain a lot.” She bounced out of her moment of thought. “Oh well, no point worrying now. Just give me a second to check on the Cakes and then I’ll be riiiight back to get rid of those parasprites!”
Pinkie seemingly disappeared before Chrysalis’ eyes and the sound of hooves clambering on stairs notified them of where she had gone.
“She seems…unique.” Luna observed.
“She’s exhausting.” Chrysalis responded with a tired sigh. She looked over the instruments. “I can’t play any of these, can you?”
Luna shook her head. “I learned as a foal how to play many instruments, but I’ve had over a thousand years to forget.” She gave a bitter smile. “Not many instruments on the moon, I’m afraid.”
“I can play a triangle!” Snips butted in. A triangle was not on the pile.
“Well, that’s one down, a dozen more to go.” Chrysalis ruffled Snips’ mane with a hoof. As she was doing that, Pinkie bounded back down the stairs.
“Hey, Pinkie, who’s going to play all of these? We’re not exactly musicians here.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered!” Pinkie assured them.
"Are the Cakes going to play some?"
"Nope, just me!"
“You know how to play all of them?” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow.
“Yuppers!”
“Okay, which are you going to play first?”
“First?”
“Yeah, first. Not like you can play them all at once.”
“Wanna bet?” Pinkie’s eyes had a mischievous glisten to them. Chrysalis opened her mouth to say she did, but swiftly thought better of it.
“No.” She admitted. She had no idea how, but if Pinkie Pie said she could play all of them at once, then she believed her.
____________________________
“I can’t believe this!” Luna gawked in astonishment, eyes glued to Pinkie as she somehow not only carried enough instruments to potentially crush Big Macintosh, but actually managed to play them all at the same time. Almost as unbelievable was the sight of any and all parasprites that Pinkie ran within earshot of falling in line behind her and bobbing up and down to the beat through the air, as if they were part of one huge, freakish conga line.
“Yeah, it sure is impressive.” Applejack replied. They had run into her and the other remaining element bearers as they were futilely trying to deal with the swarm without them. “Wish she’d have let me know, ah coulda brought out my ma's old guitar.”
“How is this even possible?” Luna continued, ignoring AJ. “She isn’t even a unicorn, everything should just fall to the ground!”
“Yes.” Chrysalis agreed succinctly.
“You really shouldn’t question Pinkie, Princess. She just…does things.” Rainbow Dash added.
“I think I’m beginning to understand that.” Luna said with an annoyed frown.
Over the relatively short span of a single hour, Pinkie Pie managed to get rid of every last parasprite in Ponyville, or at least every one they could find. If she had somehow missed some, then she still had her one pony band to deal with the situation. If Pinkie was unavailable for some reason, then undoubtedly there were other musically apt ponies they could turn to.
Chrysalis, Luna and the element bearers watched the entire procession of parasprites to completion. The bewilderment they had first felt at seeing the latest in Pinkie’s antics had worn off surprisingly quickly, something which Chrysalis felt she should probably be concerned about, but was not.
Left in bewilderment’s place was a mixture of irritation, relief and exhaustion. She should definitely feed soon. Hopefully Luna wouldn’t be there much longer, because she still didn’t want to feed while she was around. Her stomach still churned from the memories of when she had fed on Nightmare Moon, so feeding from Luna and wiping her memories again didn’t exactly appeal, either.
Perhaps the oddest feeling she had while watching the march of the parasprites was one of sadness. They had been an incredible pain, if not quite as dangerous as many had treated them as, but she still felt some misplaced affection for the one that had been her pet for a short while, her little Flitter. For a moment, just one short moment, Chrysalis entertained the thought of swiping one of them and taking it back with her. Naturally, she didn’t. Even if she could do so without being caught, it would be sheer lunacy to risk another massive infestation just to alleviate some of her loneliness. She grimaced as she realized what she had just thought to herself. Lonely? Her? Being cut off from her subjects for so long was making her soft.
“You look down.” Luna observed. She had followed right next to Chrysalis the entire time. Chrysalis sighed.
“I’m just tired. It’s been a long couple of days.” Chrysalis finally turned away from the element bearers as they showered Pinkie with praise for saving the day. “I’m going home.”
“Yes, perhaps that is for the best.” Luna nodded with a yawn as she followed. “I am quite spent myself. At least it is over and you’ll have time to rest.”
“Hmm? What’s that?” Chrysalis paused to look back when she heard Rarity say something clearly unrelated to the saccharine words she had been piling on Pinkie. “Isn’t that Princess Celestia’s chariot up there?”
Chrysalis’ breath caught in her throat at those words. Her weariness disappeared in an instant as fear induced adrenaline kicked in. Her eyes locked onto the golden chariot streaking through the Ponyville skies.
She had completely forgotten about Celestia.