A lot can happen in a single moment and sometimes you have to replay that moment over again in your mind to really piece together what happened. To him what at first appeared to be a chaotic frenzy of movement was in fact a calculated and well-timed plan of escape.
It started with his mother placing her hoof against the left side of his face so that the right side would press against her neck. By doing this she safe guarded his eyes, covering them both up. There was then a bright flash of light that he could just barely make out around the edges of his mother’s chitin. This was followed by the shouts and cries of the room’s non-changeling inhabitants, plus Ocellus.
He had a brief moment to spy a dome of pink magical energy encasing the alicorn, along with the five other creatures that stood behind her, all of whom bore grimaces of discomfort as they wiped at their tearing eyes. Then his mother’s wings buzzed to life, lifting them both off the ground and out into the massive blue cavern. Odonate flew beside them to the right and Phasmid on the left. Peeking around his mother's neck he could see the other four changelings, each following closely behind them, one of which carried a cringing Sandbar.
Their group descended abruptly to the ground, landing among multiple crowds of ponies that began to point at them and gawk. Circles of green fire began to erupt among the ponies, revealing numerous changelings hidden within their ranks. The infiltrators then set about hissing and snarling menacingly at unicorn, pegasus and earth pony alike, sending them all galloping away in fear. Once the changelings felt they had caused enough havoc they flew off into the air, heading straight over the white smears above and out of the ponies sight.
Before flying off in different directions, the other changelings transformed their appearances into pegasi, while Chrysalis lowered her hooves onto the fluffy surface and placed him down in front of her.
“I’m going to disguise you before we continue,” she explained to him. “Just relax, okay?”
After he nodded his understanding to her, she leaned over and touched her horn against his. A curtain of green magic circled them both, replacing their dark grey carapaces and cerulean manes with buttermilk fur and hair the color of sandstone. Once again she scooped him up with her front hooves and then they flew off, leaving the pony structures behind in the distance.
The sound of rushing wind filled his ears while rolling hills of green passed by underneath. Far off in the distance, in the direction they headed, he could see a gargantuan stalagmite. It stretched like a lumpy unicorn horn toward the blue ceiling and looked to be made of a pale purple stone. On one side of the rock face a large cluster of pony structures had been built. Most were ivory in color and some had been capped with roofs of shimmering gold while others were varying shades of purple.
“Are we going there?” he asked his disguised mother.
“No,” she answered, “we will be traveling this way only a little while longer and then we will be heading south.”
“Back to the hive?” his voice squeaked.
“No, we have to go somewhere else,” she replied while shaking her head. “The hive is not safe anymore.”
She held him a little tighter, her legs cradling him protectively against her chest. He closed his eyes while with one ear he listened to her rhythmic heartbeat, melting into the moment of calm and the feeling of safety. With the hectic events of the day left behind, he drifted into a dreamless sleep.
“Yes, Pupa is safe, did everyling make it here?”
“We are all accounted for my queen.”
“We weren’t followed?”
“Not from what anyling can tell.”
“And the colt from the school?”
“He’s been safely placed in a pod.”
It was much darker when he cracked open his eyes. Instead of being held in his mother hooves, he was laying across her back. Phasmid, and a few other changelings stood in front of Chrysalis, answering any questions she had for them. The entirety of the group stood in a cavern of light blueish grey stone.
“Are Katydid and Lacewing faring any better?” she asked.
“Yes,” a female changeling answered. “They are awake now and the coughing is much less severe. They’ve also reported it was indeed Leech who attacked them.”
“Disgusting wretch…” Chrysalis muttered as her muzzle and gaze both tilted down. “And the pyre?”
“Odonate is personality overseeing the preparation,” a different female changeling said, her tone sorrowful.
There was a long moment of silence and in it he attempted to sit up. His movement roused his mother who looked back at him.
“Would you like to get down?” she asked.
After a nod of his head, she lit her horn up. A field of green magic surrounded him, carefully lifting him up and placing him down next to her. He awkwardly shuffled on his hooves, as he looked from one changeling to the next.
“Should we leave your highness? Phasmid asked, looking up from him and back to Chrysalis.
“Just for a few moments,” Chrysalis said, “wait outside, I’ll call you all back shortly.”
The Changelings all bowed and trotted out of the room, into an inclining tunnel. Chrysalis lowered herself down onto her belly, reached out and pulled him against her neck. Tenderly she nuzzled her face against the back of his head and he found himself nuzzling her in return. The only sound in the cavern now, during their embrace, was of water droplets falling from the tips of stalactites and into puddles on the floor.
“I know I said it once already,” she whispered, “but I am so sorry I let them take you away. I wish I got to see you emerge from your cocoon.”
Breaking the hug, she held him away from her to look over his features. Her horn lit up and he could feel her manipulate his messy mane, straightening it out near the back while tucking parts of it behind his ears to expose his face.
“My little Pupa,” she smiled, “you are such a beautiful daughter.”
“Pupa?” he asked, tilting his head slightly, causing some of his mane to fall back over his face and across his muzzle.
“Your name,” she chuckled gently, “my sweet little one.”
“Pupa,” he repeated to himself and couldn’t help but smile. “I like that.”
“Good,” Chrysalis smirked as she rose to her full height again. “Now then, I want to hear all about what happen to you today but first we have to take care of a few things. I need you to be quite but I also want you listen and to pay attention, okay?”
“Okay.” He nodded up to her.
Chrysalis turned to face the caverns entrance and adapted her posture to one of regality. He tried to mimic her, standing up straight with his wings tucked back and head held straight.
“You may return now,” she called out.
This time accompanied by Odonate, Phasmid and the other three changelings entered the cavern again.
“I wish to formally introduce you all to Pupa,” Chrysalis said to them, “my daughter and princess of the hive.”
“We are at your service princess,” the group of changelings said as they bowed in unison.
That night
Phasmid patiently watched from a ledge of a small canyon, a silent guard for the two silhouettes below who sat together in front of a flickering neon green fire. He could scarcely imagine the pain the larger of the two figures was going through, but it must have been immense since he could sense her anguish from so far away. It was an awful emotion, grief; with such a bitter and chalky taste. Phasmid hated that flavor, it reminded him of a bereaved mother and a dejected sibling.
Odonate could also sense the feelings; but because the changeling was standing closer by, on the canyon floor just feet away, it was more than just grief. There was a splash of starchy disgust and the sour metallic tang of anger. It drew his mind back to that day when he was dragged free from a pile of rubble and the fact that he couldn’t stop another traitor; but when he heard his queen speak, his ear perked up and he set aside the memory.
“Pupa, I want you to listen careful to me,” Chrysalis said to him, while she kept her eyes on the flames before her. “I have to tell you something. Though I wish it could have waited till you were older.”
He looked up at her, also able to sense the misery in the queen changeling.
“Life, is not easy,” she continued with the fire reflecting in her eyes. “Changes come and there will be times when you feel overwhelmed. In those times, you can’t just curl up in a dark corner and hide away. You have to keep your pride and continue onward no matter what is thrown in your way.”
The queen went quiet again, and he looked thoughtfully back to the fire. Something inside was nagging at him.
There was a small closed box; made from a rich cherry brown wood and beautifully polished, displayed at the end of a carpeted isle. It had four golden metal handles attached to it, two on one side and two on the other. Floral arrangements of varying sizes and colors surrounded it.
The strange tall creatures that walked on their hind legs were there and stood in a line off to the side of the box. Each one of them would take a turn to kneel down in front of the box, alone or in pairs, and stare down at it for a short amount of time before getting up and walking away.
“But isn’t it bad to hold in your feelings?” he asked, voice cracking.
Chrysalis gazed down to him and when he looked back up at her, to the lament in her eyes, he couldn’t stop his tears from flowing any longer. His mother pulled him in against her a second later and he buried his muzzle against her carapace. His ear flicked when something wet dropped against the back of it, and it caused him to look up. Twin streaks ran from his mother’s eyes and down her cheeks.
“No, you can’t always keep them locked up,” she told him, letting one of her hooves stroke the back of his mane. “But you also can’t let them control you. You need to find a balance, the right time and place to let them out.”
He nodded and remained against her, giving his support the only way he could. It must have been enough though because in the bitterness he was tasting, there was the savory hint of joy.