//------------------------------// // CH 61 (the welcome) // Story: Accepting Change // by drFraud //------------------------------// Patchwork   Letting my head hit the squishy resin that passes for a pillow is like a balm I did not know I needed. Muscles I didn’t think I had burned in ways that I can’t explain even after the regeneration (and subsequent emergency molt) provided by the pods. Tartarus, even the flesh menders that helped me with healing were starting to worry about how much strain I was putting my body through. Regardless, it became clear in the last day and a half that I had severely underestimated Chrysalis. Far worse than I did Celestia in any case. The pony princess is an alicorn of considerable age, experience, and power if a bit out of practice; I knew that she would be dangerous when we sparred and practiced… but Chrysalis? What the Queen lacked in power she more than made up with ferocity, twice over. No trick or plan worked more than once, nor did my transformations. The moment I launched an attack she would already have a counter-attack ready or in the works, and she. Did. Not. Let. UP! I have never considered this, but centuries of being involved in mental warfare against Husk made sure that Chrysalis’s mind worked at speeds that I could compare to a comic book supercomputer. At least, that’s the only conclusion that I can produce. “Ow,” I moaned painfully as I rolled onto my left side. What’s worse, is that I hardly even had to explain to her the intricacies of my shapeshifting before she figured it out. Less than thirty minutes into my explanation she was able to copy even my more complex transformations. Even more so, once I taught her further about Tyranids (she prefers them over Zerg, something about how the former looked ‘better’ than the latter) she changed into a Tyranid Zoanthrope to my absolute shock and crushed a nearby slab of rock into fine powder with, in her own words, less magic than it took to lift a single bit of the ground. After a close inspection, I learned that I simply lacked, not in magical ability, but power and mana connections. She simply had a better, and more complex nervous and magical system in her body than me. I would like to learn more about it at some point, but, as it would seem, my lack of magical strength and ability stems from my not being able to use magic as well as others could. Shapeshifting though, I certainly had an advantage over her. While she can copy me, and create her own transformations with correct guidance, I have quickly noticed that she certainly struggles when it comes to reshaping her actual body and that she lacks ingenuity and imagination. Case in point, during our shapeshifting practice, I managed to change my changeling body into something closer to a Zerg bug form (using ultralisk as a template) while she struggled to change just her claws into something different. Whatever the case may be, she made the last day and a half into a living nightmare every time we sparred, and when we rested, she filled my head with ideas and insights that made my head creak by the time I went to bed yesterday. It’s apparent that her abilities, knowledge, and experience aren’t the reason why she fell to Husk. She is a demigod, very much like Celestia. Opening my bleary eyes to look at the empty wall I forced myself to relax. I needed sleep, desperately and even the light hunger I felt didn’t bother me. Tomorrow, the representatives are coming… or at least, one representative, two direct rulers, and two members of the royalty. A group, most of whom we needed to impress and prove that, if nothing else, changelings were no longer a threat that needed immediate execution on sight. Ponies we can work with (easily even), the Abyssinians need to be convinced, but if the Minotaurs and Griffons want nothing to do with us, I’d be fine with that; they can take their people and leave without any complaints. As for the duel… Closing my eyes again, I ran over my ideas for the fight tomorrow. It won’t be like with Husk, but if anything, I can and will do more. If he wants to duel me instead of Chrysalis, of course. … “-ir… S… Sir?” I felt an itch in my right hand, but this alarm clock has a voice… “Wh-Wha’?” I muttered, trying to move my sluggish brain into some form of functionality. “Sir, please.” Finally managing to barely open my left eye, I turned my head to the right. My blurry vision took a few seconds to focus showing me a worried-looking changeling mare with a French main hat on her head, in front of her horn. Noticing that I’m lying on my back, I took my time to fully stretch followed by a lazy roll to my right. Since my brain was still swimming through a swamp of sorts, I asked the first thing that came to my mind, hoping that I sounded at least understandable. “What’s on your head?” “Excuse me, sir?” She tilted her head to the left and perked her right ear. Chewing on empty to get some sense into my mouth I swallowed a small amount of sleeping venom I accidentally released. We are immune to it anyway, so I didn’t care. “Wha… What is that on your head?” I yawned between words but at least I’m certain that this came out as actual words. “Oh, this? She pointed her left hoof at the hat, “I kept it from my previous job, back in Equestria.” She wore a wistful smile for a moment before schooling her features again. “You were a maid, I’m guessing?” Yawning one more time I figured that there must be an important reason I’m being woken up… Ah, fuck. Sighing I rolled onto my stomach and then slowly slid off my bed. “Yes,” She skipped in place with a happy smile on her face at the memory, “I worked for Lady Cloud Cover, in Cloudsdale for six years.” “Why’d you quit?” I noticed a green pitcher full of water and a green glass next to it on the nightstand. Igniting my horn, I slowly grabbed both and poured the water into the glass, emptying it in a single gulp, and then repeating it two more times. Only then did I feel awake. “I… didn’t,” Lowering my head to look at her, as her tone of voice more than implied sadness, I wasn’t surprised to see her low-hanging head and wilted ears. She sniffed once, lifted her head, and turned to face me while looking as dignified as she could, “Lady Cover died of old age. Her son… didn’t… they asked me to leave soon after. I never asked why. “The old Queen never let anyling near her, and I was sent to work in the mines four years ago. Now though,” A small smile touched her face, “with the new Queen, I got a new chance to do what I like.” “Oh, and that is?” Turning around wasn’t an issue, there was plenty of room after I moved the bed directly to the wall along with pushing the nightstand closer to it. I prefer to lean my back onto the wall itself during sleep, an old habit. “Oh, I’ll be in charge of the new maid team,” She passed by me with a skip in her step after a short bow. The level of enthusiasm she showed did not make waking up feel any better though. I felt my brow rise slightly once what she said wormed itself into my brain. “New maid team? Since when?” Noticing that the room’s door was open, and the ‘maid’ was trotting to it, I followed slowly after her. I needed to find a clock, or at least check the sun to get my bearings on the current hour. “Since this morning,” She turned around and looked at me with a raised eyebrow (she is certainly more open than the maids in the Canterlot castle), “It's almost noon, sir. The queen said that they will be back with the representatives in an hour.” ‘Oh fuck,’ Well, I’m wide awake now.   Chrysalis   Lying, belly down, on an outcropping (around three barrels above ground) I had a full view of the entrance to the Badlands. With me are four changeling soldiers, two of the larger ling guards (which Patch wanted to call Primaris lings, for some reason), and Captain Spine. All out of their armor, despite their protests. ‘So nerve-wracking…’ With Patch asleep thanks to yesterday’s exercise, I have the perfect excuse to greet the representatives on my own. ‘I failed once to secure the future for my changelings… I won’t do so again,” I felt myself drift back within again, and, with a shake of my head, I refocused. Looking around I took a moment to reassure myself, ‘At least this time, I have actual help, instead of a demon promising riches.’ Looking around one more time, this time out of boredom, I looked up to make sure that we had enough time by the position of the sun. It’s around ten in the morning, plenty of time. The location we chose to wait for the delegates is right at the barrier between Equestria and Badlands, roughly twenty-barrel lengths away from the greenery. I so desperately wanted to explore, to feel the grass under my hooves and belly… ‘How long has it been since I have even smelled a flower?’ I felt my head tilt from left to right as I pondered. A short intrusive thought got into my head, and I tried hard to ignore it… but at the same time, I really wanted to order one of the guard lings to pick various flowers for me to smell and taste. Alas, I am not that kind of mare… “Spine?” “Yes, ma’am?” He answered. Standing up slowly, I hopped off the edge of the outcropping landing softly with the help of my wings. Turning my head to look behind me, I noted that Spine was also lying, belly down, under the shade of the ledge I rested on. His eyes are closed, and he is taking deep breaths looking for all intents and purposes as if he’s asleep. I knew that the other six lings were around us, hidden in the shadows (much like Spine is). They were all communicating using our sensory pings, but that is a new system that Husk never practiced so I needed to learn from the ground up. Tilting my head left, then right, I ‘listened’ their pings until I had enough. “Please let me know when the representatives get close to the border,” I had just enough time to see his eyes open wide before I faced the greenery in front of me. My steps are slow and unsure. Husk never left Badlands unless absolutely necessary, opting to make any excuses she could to stay in her castle and act mighty. Due to that, I rarely saw anything other than the blacks of the castle, the brown and greys of the rocks around it, and, occasionally, the blue of the sky ever since my imprisonment. Over five hundred years… Stopping, I looked down at the new additions to my frame that I was still getting used to, but that have proven particularly useful: my claws… and the fact that I just barely touched grass with them. Switching between looking up and down several times, I took a deep breath, thoroughly enjoying the ‘new’ (old) scents (and several actually new ones) before I took a brave step forward. The steps slowly turned into prancing… then a run… a gallop… I don’t know when, but at some point, I found myself crying and laughing like a madmare, overjoyed at the new world I got to experience. In less than five minutes my shell was scratched up from running into branches, splattered in several places from berry bushes I rolled through, and my claws and hooves were smeared from skidding along the grass whenever I could. I’m a mess… but a happy mess. I didn’t feel my mind pull on me, dragging me inside, and I knew, for a fact, that I was just a big transformation away from reaching Canterlot within a day if I wanted to visit Patchwork and Velvet in the future. Finding a small ‘cave’ of sorts in the rocks, surrounded by tree roots, I squeezed in and made myself comfortable. I let the other know where I was with a ping, and I closed my eyes easily. This time, I didn’t have to take a deep breath before I fell asleep. … “My Queen?” Though sleep came easy this time, my senses were still active. So, it did not take me long to wake up and crawl out of the cave. “Thank you, Spine,” Closing my eyes I took my time to stretch my tingling limbs, only opening them when the last vestiges of sleep left me. By the time I was standing straight, Spine was gone but the rustling of leaves on my left told me where he had gone. Taking a deep breath in order to settle my rising nerves, I used my magic and gave myself a quick touch-up to remove all the dirt and grime, fix my scratched-up shell, and ‘brush’ my mane. Only after all of that, did I make my way back to the Badlands barrier entrance. “How far away are they?” I raised my voice slightly to be heard. I sensed my Captain about twenty barrels away, and when I cleared the leaves, I could see him as well. “They should be here in a couple of minutes, your Highness. You’ve been out for roughly an hour,” Nodding my head, mostly to myself, I passed by the jagged pillars of rock that served as an impromptu gateway into the rough Badland terrain. I enjoyed the feel of grass under my hooves for five more minutes until the clack of claws on stone reached my ears. At that point, I turned around and faced the greenery once more, except this time I was able to spot a large white dot slowly approaching. Sighing I sat down and straightened my back making myself look as regal as possible. “Time to welcome them,” With a loud buzz of my wings I got my children moving. The two largest lings took their positions on my left and right, slightly behind me. The four smaller lings positioned themselves behind the larger ones (two on my right and two on my left) and Spine sat down directly on my left. Now it is just a matter of patience. … The massive leading carriage that eventually stopped several barrels away from us was a thing of beauty that made me raise an eye ridge in slight envy. Roughly ten barrels long and four barrels wide, with two windows on the left and a large door on the right, the white monstrosity of a carriage also had a good two and a half barrels of height. It was pulled on four large sets of wooden wheels evenly set to leave enough room for the door to open and to handle the size of their load. The four earth ponies pulling the whole thing looked like they were forged from mountains themselves almost reaching the size of the ‘Primaris’ guards, but easily making it up with their sheer bulk. There wasn’t much decoration on the window side (the window frame looked to be made of solid gold from where I stood), with three gemstones under them. An opal, a garnet, and an amethyst, all polished into a round shape and set up along the bottom length of the carriage, front to back (with garnet at the back and the opal on the front). On the door section of the carriage, there are two golden suns on the left and right of the door, at first looking like an image, but with a slight thickness that I barely noticed I concluded that it’s more than just two paintings. What those two reliefs are made of wasn’t something that I wanted to bother myself. The rest of the transport frame wasn’t a mere block of wood, with its edges decorated with thin bands of gold in the shape of rising flames that gathered up on the roof of the vehicle, crowning it with a golden halo of still fire. I couldn’t see the back, but on the very front of the thing is a large white flag of Equestria (with two alicorns circling a sun/moon) covering the entire face of it. I noticed one wider ‘carriage’ behind the equestrian one, but I opted not to move much, especially when the door opened and a massive, but attractive, red earth pony mare hopped out. “Oh, wow…” She whistled the moment she spotted me, “Ya knows wha’ Sunshine? Patch never mentioned tha’ she a looker.” ‘Ah… Shield Strike I bet.’ I raised an eyeridge at her comment, but otherwise, I didn’t react. I did not notice when a large, muscular, sky-blue minotaur disembarked from one of the carriages, but I did notice the golden, bejeweled, crown on his head, between his horns. He took even, measured steps stopping only slightly behind the red mare. “This is, preferably, a diplomatic mission, Captain Strike… Such comments should be kept to yourself,” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. Easily as tall as me, he wore no armor to speak of, beyond the crown and several visible pieces of jewelry (one on each ear and two rings on the fingers of the right hand), instead choosing to go for a tight sleeveless…robe? The white robe, held securely around his waist by a golden rope, almost reached his hooves, but it did not hide the bulky muscles that were still clearly visible. Unlike the bulls of old though, his blue eyes held reason and kindness that I never had the privilege of seeing in my youth. Interestingly though, his horns aren’t nearly as large as the old minotaur horns, and to even further compound this, his horns are cut after roughly two hoof lengths and the ends have gold caps attached to them. His black mane is short and unkempt looking, but his beard is full, immaculately braided, and reaching down to his stomach with no additions to it. He looks both younger than I would have assumed, but also older, based on the only visible wrinkles being around his eyes. “’Kept to mah self’, he says?” Captain Strike looked up at his with a smirk on her muzzle, “I don’t remember you complaining when I calleds ya ‘fine lookin’.” “Shield…” A feminine sigh made me look towards the door of the equestrian carriage. I couldn’t see much beyond four golden armoured hooves and soft, rainbow tail but I assumed that Princess Celestia is behind the door. “Fair is fair, Celestia,” The minotaur king, Spirit Truehorn (I assumed) spoke in a supporting tone, raising his left arm into a single-shoulder shrug. Looking at me, he smirked, “Though I will admit… She does carry an alien sort of beauty for which you are just as famed.” I’m not sure whether I should be flattered or shocked at the brazen compliment. Then the door closed after two more ponies hopped out, a familiar one (Velvet) and an unfamiliar young blue unicorn stallion, and then I felt my jaw drop when the most beautiful creature I ever laid my eyes on showed herself once the door closed. ‘She is married…’, I had to remind myself, ‘She is MARRIED!’ I would not have any issues admitting (if asked) that I would, gladly, fight Shield Strike for the right to win the hoof of her wife. Regardless of how vile that thought makes me feel. I have seen her, but only a hoof full of times through Patchwork’s memories, but Husk never saw her, never even looked for her directly (and if she did, she took the memories with her when I finally removed her). Even before that, I had heard of Celestia, but actually meeting her… now I am certain (that had I been a better leader) things would have probably been different, were I not so proud. Now though… “Though I wish not to wait longer, conversing on the borders of these lands is not something befitting us,” A male Abyssinian revealed himself from just behind King Truehorn. His height reached just below the minotaur’s chin, and he is covered from top to bottom in flowing blue robes that hid the entirety of his body, only leaving a slit around his eyes revealing dark-grey fur and golden yellow eyes. “Ah, to be so young,” Truehorn smirked in good humor, and I finally managed to shake myself out of my trance. Opening my senses to get a better feeling of my visitors I got a nice medley of emotions; amusement from the majority of equestrians, the minotaur king is largely curious, the abyssinian is nervous… To my knowledge, I am missing two more individuals from the traveling group, and focusing a bit further, I got a decent amount of negative emotions from inside the equestrian carriage, and another strong feeling of boredom way in the back. ‘Right…’ I swallowed hard and took a step forward. “Welcome, dear representatives and rulers of faraway lands. I greet you, as the rightful Queen of changelings.” My one and only chance to fix the wrongs of my past. To prove to myself that, unlike before, I don’t need to sell my soul and body to a demon. That I have learned my lesson and do not harbor any foolish pride. “My name is Chrysalis,” I raised my right claw and placed it on my chest. “And we all hope to prove that we, at the very least, if not allies, are not enemies anymore.” I could feel their intense stares on me as I kept my pose, and though their emotions had not changed (with King Spirit running his right hand through his beard while the other rested on his hip), the silence slowly turned oppressive. “Well… that’s a grim proclamation,” Spoke the blue unicorn behind Celestia.