//------------------------------//
// Pressure 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

The door clicked open, then closed again, and the sound of Stella's steps echoed through the house as she walked in. "Mommy? I'm home," she declared, loud enough for Chrysalis to hear her from the kitchen. A shiver ran down the changeling's back as she heard that.
"Welcome back," Chrysalis replied, quickly forcing the last piece of paper into her mouth. She got up to greet the alicorn in the living room, and by the time she was there she'd swallowed the whole thing. She'd found paper was moderately tasty, all things considered. 
Stella looked at the stallion still resting in his pod on the wall, then at Chrysalis. "I hope you've been a good girl while I wasn't there looking after you. It would be a shame otherwise."
"I have, Empress." Chrysalis meekly nodded, and then kept her eyes to the ground. Her whole body was tense, silently praying the conversation would end there.
Stellaria hummed to herself. "I have my doubts an insect like you would actually know how to behave herself." She tapped a hoof on Chrysalis's chest, and smiled in delight at the nervous twitch that wracked the changeling's entire body. "But. I need you in usable conditions tomorrow, so I suppose we'll be skipping punishment for today." She walked past Chrysalis and into the kitchen. "We'll make it up after we've gotten away from here."
Chrysalis finally released the breath she'd been holding, and it cascaded into panting and rapid inhales that she struggled to calm down. For a moment she felt like she'd break out in tears right there, but she managed to pull herself together. "Of course, Empress. Thank you, Empress."
"For what, mommy?" Stellaria asked, looking through the empty shelves and cupboards. "Are you thanking me for not punishing you?"
"Thank you f-f-for p... p-punishing me-e, e-eventually," Chrysalis croaked out, through much effort, before exploding into fast and ragged breathing again. Her legs shook, knees threatening to give out, her mouth half open and her lips twitching.
"That's a good girl." Stella moved away from the last cupboard and began to examine the stallion in the pod, lighting up her horn.
Chrysalis stumbled forward through the living room, tumbled into the sofa, and lay herself limply atop it while pressing her face into the pillow. Cutting off sight and most sound and air for a while, just being alone in her head.
Stellaria's bitter, hysterical laugh was enough to pull the changeling out of her self-imposed mental exile, though it had lasted enough for her to come out of it in stable conditions. "Eating paper?" Stella laughed again. "You're lucky it's so pathetic that it's entertaining, mum. I might have had to change my plans otherwise." The second sentence was spoken in a lower, throaty tone. Then Stella focused on the stallion one moment longer. "I appreciate you showing me the contents first. Things would have been different otherwise." She stepped back, her horn no longer glowing.
Chrysalis looked at her, her breathing finally steady and almost even. "Of course," she replied. And quietly, in the back of her mind, she smiled and laughed at her own plan working, and felt hope again.