//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: But Before We Really Get Started... // Story: Crystal Heart: After the Swarm // by Betty_Starlight //------------------------------// “I’ll admit that part of me felt sorry for you after the whole Trixie fiasco, but most of me was still focused on revenge!” Starlight frowns from where she sits, tied to the chair by rope and blindfolded, there in the motel room, “Crystal, what are you talking about?” I have her right here… I could end her… But I know I won’t… I’ll continue talking instead, “You see Starlight, I haven’t been exactly truthful with you about my true identity…” “Crystal?” Starlight calls out again! I give out a long heavy sigh from my snout, “No Starlight! Even after all you’ve done to me and everything you’ve taken from me and even though now is absolutely the perfect time, I won’t end you after all! No, the truth is, I much prefer you alive now because I’ve grown rather fond of you… I think I…” “Crystal, who are you and what are you trying to say?” Starlight demands, with the blindfold still over her eyes… At this stage, I don’t believe words are appropriate anymore… And so, I do the unthinkable… I drop my disguise from my pony form and trot to Starlight there, now visibly panicked and I do the one thing I never thought I would do… I kissed her… I kissed her and held my lips there against hers, and noted that her snout and eyes began to relax underneath the blindfold… I removed my lips and whispered to her, “I love you… But I think it’s time to tell the truth…” I then magically lifted the blindfold off her head in a pale green glow and witness her two astonished blue eyes staring back at me… “Why?” She could only whisper at that point… I smile, “Permit me to start from the beginning!” “Do tell?” She sits there, unsure of what to think with a startled expression in her azure gaze. I can’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all! She thought we were going to play a new sex game by tying her to the chair and while part of me actually did want to do that, the truth was making love to her truly began to lose it’s flair when I thought about how I’m lying to her… I wanted to make love to her as myself, after all… How odd that sex would carry those connotations? It never did in the hive? I finally began to speak, “At first, I was overcome with pure hatred and rage at you for all you had done to me… I was absolutely consumed with desire for revenge on you…” She frowns, “But your clearly not anymore, otherwise you would’ve killed me by now!” I extend my neck to her and snap! “Not necessarily!” Her frown lowers somewhat, “And the kiss?” I lower the rage on my face to her and soften my gaze, “Ah yes, well, I love you Starlight Glimmer!” “W-what?” Her mouth grows agape. I giggle with a consolidating grin and stare at her with wide eyes! “Yeah! I know! I actually do love you!” Starlight’s expression continues to be wide-eyed bewilderment as her frowning muzzle quivers in visible confusion before she stares at me severely, “Oh, sweet Celestia! We had sex! I ate out your asshole just yesterday night!” I chuckle, “Yes dear, and if you permit me later, I’d be happy to return the favor!” At this point, the unicorn has a startled expression on her face, “The queen of the changelings wants to lick my rump!” I try my best to contain my chuckles at this point as I say, “Oh, do shut up, dear! I’m trying to make a point!” She blinks and adjusts her gaze to me, “And that point is?” I sigh and look back at her, “Well, I had been following you and studying you from a distance…” She nods and gulps, “And that’s why you knew I had that relationship with Trixie!” My eyes widen, “Well, right! I knew you had just gotten out of a relationship with that stage magician friend of yours!” She frowns, “And so, you became my rebound?” I smile and chortle to the right, “I suppose I did, yes?” I put my gaze back on her. “Anyway, that’s when I pretended to be Crystal Heart the earth mare that you had fallen in love with!” “Why are you continuing to use her voice, anyway?” I sigh, “Well, I’ve grown fond of it…” I smile at her. “Mostly because using this voice and speaking this way reminds me of you now…” Her eyes widen, “So uh, you don’t wanna go back to the creepy vocoder voice, like before?” I smile, “I don’t think I want to?” “I still can’t believe you actually stuck your forked tongue in my mouth!” “Well uh, heat of the moment?” I frown, “What?” She looks at me, “I mean, I know you love me, but holy crap! Was really NOT expecting a forked tongue in my mouth!” I furrow my brow in irritation and sigh, “I truly HATE myself now, you know that?” She frowns at me, “W-what?” I give out a long sigh from my snout, “I hate myself because I now love you… I hate how I now adore the one pony who took EVERYTHING from me and I hate how I now love the pony who thwarted me at every turn! I” I blink. “I hate that about myself now, Starlight…” “You don’t have to hate yourself, Chrysalis?” I grimace at this cowardly unicorn, “What would you know?” “I know more than you think! I know what it’s like to rule through fear and intimidation and I know how lonely it can be, especially after you’ve been defeated! Uh, how did you escape, anyway?” I can’t help but smile at the simplicity of it all, “Did you know that Discord was an idiot? Heh, yeah! All one really needs to do to escape stone is develop the correct mindset!” Her eyes widen, “Really?” I giggle, “Oh, indeed! Anyway, you were yammering on about redemption and turning over a new leaf or some other such nonsense?” She smiles, “Hmm, well, I’ll make a deal with you Chrysalis! Call it, a wager?” as she lifts her right eyebrow… My eyes narrow, “Go on?” She fixes her eyebrows and lowers her gaze, “You untie me and we start over… I’ll try dating you and being with you, but we need to do it up front this time… You’re not Crystal Heart! You’re Chrysalis!” I widen my gaze, “But in public?” She sighs, “Well, right! I can’t be walking around Ponyville with an evil looking bug horse, so I guess you can continue to be Crystal Heart, while around other ponies?” I sigh, “As you wish!” “Also, uh Chryssi?” I frown and blink at the startling new nickname, “Uh, yes Starlight?” “Could you please uh, go back to your pony form? Uh, you always unnerve me when you look like that…” I think long and hard about this in the space of just a few seconds… For all of my life, I have been a proud strong warrior who could defeat any enemy in my path… And now, this magenta unicorn who I unfortunately seem to have fallen in love with was asking me to assume a lighter more gentle shape… The absurdity and unmitigated gall of this suggestion! I smile and reply, “Very well, dear!” before going back into the shape of Crystal Heart… The earth mare with a shimmering aquamarine coat and a flowing brown mane and tail with a pale blue diamond-shaped crystal superimposed on a heart for a cutie mark… I thought she looked rather fetching with her green eyes, hence I picked this shape to seduce Starlight… “Chryssi?” Starlight asks me while frowning and still tied to the chair. She comes back into focus of my gaze, “Yes Starlight?” She nods, “I think I get it now. You wanted to seduce me to gain revenge, right? But uh, when did you begin to realize that you loved me?” I realize now that there’s no going back and so I reply, “It was close to the beginning of our relationship, actually… Long before we had sex for the first time, as a matter of fact… Uh, “I shake my head.” It was never about that with you, honestly… I realized that I loved you shortly after our second date, although actually, there was always something about your kisses… And I hate myself for it Starlight, but I do truly love you!” “You don’t need to hate yourself!” I lower my gaze at this obstinate unicorn, still tied to a chair, “Seriously, I absolutely adore the one pony who destroyed me! How could I not hate myself, Starlight?” She stares at me with wide blue eyes, “I don’t have to be your enemy?” I sigh and stare back at her, “Well, no…” She blinks, “Well, we can try a relationship if you like?” “What?” I say with a perplexed gaze at this pony with her ludicrous suggestion. She shakes her head, sighs, and stares at me, “Well, look! Where are you staying?” “I live in a cave, deep within the Everfree. I’ve been coming to town for supplies and to spy on you. Why do you ask?” I say with a confused frown on my face… She blinks, “Well, why don’t you stay in my cottage with me, then?” I frown at this preposterous notion, “What?” She nods, “Y-yeah! You just assume the role of Crystal Heart and it can be like, you’re starting over! With me!” and smiles nervously… “As Crystal Heart this time…” “That’s ridiculous!” She nods again and continues to grin at me, “So you’ll do it, then?” At that point, I can only grimace in annoyance at how well this unicorn knows me, “Of course!” <*****> And so, that’s why I currently find myself standing to the right of the most irritating magenta unicorn in the world, whom I love very dearly in front of our single story beige cottage here near the entrance to the Everfree Forest, with it’s big red door, just north of Ponyville… I take a look at my shimmering aquamarine hooves and wonder if this will one day become my true physical shape? I wonder if it’s possible for a changeling to move past what they were and to become something else? I also wonder again why I’m doing this? When the sweet loving unicorn I’ve come to adore pipes up from my right, “And so Chryssi, here is our new home! What do you think?” I look up at it and think it looks like a dump! “Uh, it looks great baby! I uh, can’t wait to move in! Heh heh…” and smile nervously… (To be continued…)