Once the flames burned out and the ashes had been properly buried, Chrysalis returned with him back into the cliff side cave system. Together they walked down a gradually sloping tunnel and entered a comfortable sized cavern that had been hastily converted into the queen’s personal chamber. Up until then, the two of them had remained morosely quiet.
“Come and sit with me,” Chrysalis said to him as she lowered herself onto her belly among a small pile of pillows. “Tell me about what happened to you before we showed up.”
He obeyed his mother, lowering himself into the cushions beside her so that their carapaces touched.
“I had a weird dream before I left the cocoon,” he told her.
“A dream?” she asked.
“Yeah, with these weird creatures that stood on their back legs,” he continued, “and one kept saying ‘this will be on the test’ and smacked this green rectangle each time he did. They look all weird, with these flat hooves that split apart and wiggle, kinda like Gallus’s claws but not.”
“They do sound weird,” she said to him. “So who is Gallus?”
“A blue cat-bird,” he said. “He was there when I left the cocoon, he got me a fish too. Ocellus said I have to eat more than love and he got it for me.”
“And what else did Ocellus say?” she questioned, eyes narrowing just slightly.
“She said I can’t throw things at ponies if they are doing something I don’t like,” he answered. “I have to tell them to stop. Oh, she showed me how to feed. I don’t think she likes it though.”
“Did she tell you anything else?” she asked.
“Um…” he looked up, trying to remember. “She said I have to behave myself in Fluttershy’s class and when someling says ‘it’s nice to meet you’, I have to say ‘it’s nice to meet you too’.”
“That’s all she said?” she pressed, tilting her head slightly as she regarded him.
“Mmmh…” he thought things over again. “She said I’m not like other nymphs, and that I can’t fly yet because my wings are too small. But I did fly! I flew away from the alicorn when she showed up.”
“You flew all on your own?” she asked. “Well, that is amazing.”
“Yeap! I flew from my cocoon all the way across the room,” he went on, smiling from the praise and buzzing his little wings excitedly. “Then I threw stuff at her so she would go away.”
“Did you hit her with anything?” she inquired, a small smirk on her face.
“No, she ran away,” he said, “and when I tried to get her when she came back, she ran away again. Then Ocellus showed up and I made her friend Starlight faint because I fed too much. Oh, Ocellus said I have to be careful not to do that, I forgot.”
“Starlight? Starlight Glimmer?” she asked, a grin gracing her muzzle.
“I don’t know,” he answered, shrugging his withers. “She just said Starlight.”
“Did she look like this?” she asked him before a heat-less green flame surrounded her and a pinkish pony with a purple and teal striped mane sat in her place.
“Yeah!” he exclaimed. “That’s the pony!”
Chrysalis chucked to herself before reverting back to her natural form and he could sense a wave of pride radiate from her.
“Well, it’s no harm if you feed too much from her,” she told him and nuzzled his cheek affectionately. “But you will have to limit how much you feed off other ponies. If you drain them too much you can’t feed from them again later.”
He nodded to her in understanding.
“Now then, what about the other creatures?” she asked. “What did they talk about?”
“Um, lots of stuff,” he told her.
“Well, did they say anything about how they found you?” she queried.
“Yona found me in a tree,” he answered, “and they didn’t know how I got there. And they couldn’t take me home because they didn’t know where the hive is.”
“Really now…” she trailed off and glanced across the room at nothing in particular, “they don’t know where the hive is. That’s interesting.”
“Will we go back to the hive soon?” he asked her, before letting out a large yawn.
“We might one day,” she said, covering her own muzzle, infected by the yawn contagion. “How about for now we get a little rest; I’m sure you’re very tired.”
“Will you be here when I wake up?” he asked her, and regretted it when he sensed sadness from her.
“I will be,” she softly said, her eyes full of regret. “I promise this time I will be.”
He nodded, rested his head against her, before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.
Sometime later the feeling of pressure near his back end caused him to awaken. Groggily he climbed to his hooves and wobbled over to a corner of the room where a patch of moss had been placed. Barely thinking, from still being half asleep, he reared up and placed his front hooves against the stone wall. When he started to relieve himself he became confused as his tail became heavier; and wet.
Instinctively he looked down his belly, toward the area between his rear legs and something in his tired mind told him that a few objects were missing. Twisting his head around, he looked behind him at his now soaked tail and the growing puddle on the cavern floor.
Suddenly it made sense, why every creature around always referred to him as ‘her’. He couldn’t really put together an explanation to the unexpected realization. It was like a switch had been turned on. Just like how he knew about the ferrets, the knowledge about the physical differences between being a male and female had seemingly just spawned in his brain.
“Pupa,” Chrysalis called out, standing up from the bed of pillows and walking over to him. “Is something wrong?”
A look of incredulity formed on Chrysalis’s face when she spotted him and he felt his cheek growing hot from embarrassment. He lowered his front hooves back to the floor before turning around to face her.
“I, had an accident…” she said sheepishly.