//------------------------------// // Try not to get lost. // Story: Lovely little Tyrant // by Zarius9998 //------------------------------// "Alright, where is she..?" Of course, the Queen of the Changelings, Mistress of all that is sneaky and deceptive, found a way to escape her cell and not leave a trace! "How did she even regenerate so fast!?" I paced back and forth before the guardspony who's job it was to make sure this very thing did not happen, snarling at the thought of being bested—again!—by Her! "Where is she sapping the emotion from? Ugh! I'll have to find her quick before she plans anything again!" Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that aforementioned guard was shivering in his little armor. I narrowed my eyes at him out of contempt. Failure...incompetence! Ohhh...I know what the perfect punishment for him is... "Wha-whoa! Hey! P-p-p-Princess!" He squealed in shock as my magic enveloped his form and raised him to my level. "Oh! Don't worry! It's not your fault at all!" I wailed, wrapping him into a tight, comforting hug, "I didn't mean to scare you like that! I swear I'm not mad." Letting go of him, I giggled as he took a deep and loud gasp of air. I just love bearhugs... "We'll just have to find her again! She definately has to be within Canterlot still, so..." I clapped my hooves, giggling brightly, "Gather a bunch of the guards and tell them we're playing hide and seek!" The guard opened his mouth to say something, clearly confused for some reason, but closed it again and only stood there, eyes narrowed as he tried to figure something out... "Go!" I snapped, leaning in close so his face was barely half an inch from mine, my eyes narrowed, "NOW!" With that, he scurried off, scrambling down the steps like a bumbling little foal. "Buh-bye!" I waved him off, grinning like mad. Like mad... "Have we gone mad?" I pondered, looking off into space with a hoof to my chin, "Eh, maybe about this much." I held another hoof up in front of my face and made a semi-pinching motion with my fing- "Wait...I don't have fingers." Shrugging, I moved on, preparing to find good ole' Chryssy. Again. "Oh I LOVE hide and seek!" ------------- "Ready or noooot!" Did I mention yet that I love Hide and Seek?...oh, yeah, hehee, I did. "Here I come, you insect!" I could feel the eyes of every guard upon the back of my head. They were scared. Of me... I almost felt bad for seeming so cruel...but of course, with fear comes respect, and with respect comes control and order! Harmony. "Well! Don't just gawk at me like idiots!" I snapped, losing my grin as I whipped around, wings flared, to reprimand my army, "Find her! And bring her to me." After searching around the crowd of white and gold to make sure every last one of them got the message, I grinned again, satisfied, and turned back forwards, "Feel free to use force if she resists in the slightest." They filed out into the city before me. Pegasi to the sky's and towering rooftops, Earthponies to the streets, and Unicorns activating mass-group searching spells. "Let the game begin, Chrysalis!" "Oh! I LOVE games!" "Shut-up!" Grumbling inwardly, I set out myself to find my preymate-I mean playma-GAH! Enemy. Find my enemy. Stupid Tia... "I thought I bucked your ribs in?" I wondered, questioning how she was still around after such a bone shattering kick. "More like GLASS shattering, silly!" I responded, surpassing a giggle, "You kicked a mirror." I stopped in my tracks. "I did, didn't I?" With a renewed feeling of...contentment, I tilted my head down to smile at the little filly beneath me, "Why are you laying on the ground? That cannot be comfortable." The filly shrugged, "Well...you've kept me here..." She was a very bubbly filly...even with that down face she had on at the moment, anypony could easily tell that she radiated joy and kindness with the intensity of the sun. The sun... "Get your butt up here." I lifted her small form with my magic. She went along without complaint and allowed me to gently rest her across my back, "C'mon...we have dire matters to sort out." We continued on. She made no noise, and barely moved for quite some time through. Though I would catch glimpses of her literally flowing pink mane here and again from the corners of my sight. "Ooooh, I'm bored..." "Shush!" I snapped, looking over my shoulder to find that she  had, at some point, shifted positions so that she ended up sitting on her haunches—on my rump—with her back to me. She ruffled her wings, shifting positions slightly to better balance on my flank, "She's a bit too good at playing hide and seek...can't we just play a different game?" "Ugh..." I was beginning to remember why I disliked her... "Hey! Look! Luna's raising the moon!" I stopped momentarily to look down an ally branching off to our right. Indeed, through the gap in the buildings, I could see that the moon was on it's way to the position of honor. Behind me, I was sure, the sky surrounding my Sun was exploding with brilliant colors of crimson, purple, and orange. Of course, turning my head towards it proved to be dissatisfying, as the massive skyscraper blocked my view. "At least I know Luna is staying in the Castle, and not poking her nose into my affairs..." "Hehe, yeah, she always did snoop around too much for her own good." "She did...didn't she?" Hard to suppress a giggle there. It's just too true. After that, though, it all went sour. "Do we really have to hurt Chryssy?" I sneered, averting my gaze from Tia at all costs, "She is a monster. She needs to be hurt." Tia suddenly flopped over my mane, staring me almost point blank into my eyes, upside, hanging over my head. I will admit, I jumped a little. "But you love her." She whined. Whining whining whining! That's all she was ever good for...maybe I shouldn't have given her all that compassion earlier...she's starting to take it much too far. "Get off my head, and stop talking." I demanded, glaring darkly into those innocent eyes of hers. She remained quiet for a while, just staring back with a blank expression. It was almost odd...her frown looking just like a smile from this position. Eventually, she spoke, though. "No." "Tia, I will punish you, too." I explained, lining my voice with sugar, "Now please get off and be quiet!" "Only if you promise to not hurt Chryssy." "I am the grown-up here, the elder!" I started, raising my voice, "I do not obey you. On the contrary, you are the one which must obey me!" I roughly yanked the brat off my head and dropped her to the ground, "I won't punish you, for you were only being naïve..." "No! You were only being mean!" My eyes snapped wide open. "Shut up!" I reared around and snarled at the little Alicorn, "You want to see me being mean? Fine! This is 'mean!'" I had had enough of her sniveling. Her whining only made it worse! And now the crying? I didn't need it, and I was not going to deal with it! "I am leaving you here, gone, and away from me! And if you TRY to follow, I will ignore you." Her face, which was already contorted into a disgusting look of anguish, quickly faded into something one might find on Fluttershy after witnessing the death of a bunny, "And if you try to come near me..." I narrowed my eyes, making damn sure the message hit home. "I will not hesitate to punish you, severely." ------------- I don't need her. She only hinders me, makes me weak! Naïve! But no more. She has been left far behind. Now I can do what I should have done long ago, and there will be NO regrets. All I have to do...is find her. Oh, but where to start? I should have consulted Discord again...although, he was starting to pick my nerves a bit too much. Ohhh...I need ideas! Where could she possibly have gone? It's been far too long for any of her old interests to still be around, so I have no leads what so ever... She has to be within the City still. A Queen out on her own in the wilderness? She wouldn't stand for it. She thinks far too highly of herself to do that. And regardless of how she regenerated so fast, she still needs to gather a supple amount of Love before even attempting a trip back to her hive, I'm sure... Where does one gather love? Where to ponies go to find a possible source of affection? Any of YOU have any ideas? As much as I hate to acknowledge Discord's "watchers"... I'm running out of options and clearly I am desperate. ...I need a vacation. The Sun is nice this time of year, right?