//------------------------------//
// Adult 
// Story: You’ll Be Just Like Me 
// by RB_ 
//------------------------------//

"What am I saying, of course you didn't," Ocellus continued. "You didn't have it in you to."

She sighed. "Did you ever even love me, mother? Did you have the capacity for love? Sometimes I thought you showed it, but, well, you never did come back for me after you lost your empire."

She smirked. "Which I'm totally not bitter about."

Chrysalis was, of course, silent.

Ocellus slipped the bag on her back over her head and laid it down on the grass.

"I loved you though," she continued. "I did. When I was younger, before the change. Now, though, I despise you. Everything you were. Everything you stood for. There was a better way, and you ignored it."

From the bag, she retrieved two items.

"Did you know?" she asked the morning air. "Did you know that sharing love was an option? I choose to believe you didn't, but, well, who can say? You certainly aren't speaking up about it."

She sighed.

"But every time I think about you, all I can think about is one thing:"

She unscrewed the lid of the bottle of lantern oil.

"Am I going to end up the same way?"

She set the lid down on the grass.

"Thorax wants me to lead the changelings after him," Ocellus said. "Doesn't he know how dangerous of an idea that is? After all, you and I are more alike than he realizes. I know you were a bit off... mentally... towards the end. I can't afford to have that happen to me, too."

She lifted the bottle and poured its contents over her head.

"I'm not going to take that risk," she said.

She lifted up the box of matches. Pulled one out.

"Mother?"

The match sizzled as she struck it.

"I defy you."

She raised the match into the air over her head, closed her eyes, released her hold...

"OCELLUS!"

Someone tackled her from behind. The two of them rolled across the grass, her and her assailant, until they came to a stop with her on the ground and him pinning her.

Ocellus opened her eyes.

"What the heck are you doing?" Gallus asked, panic in his voice. "You could have burned to death!"

"That was the idea," Ocellus said dumbly. "Why are you...?"

"I spotted you on my way to morning drills," Gallus said. "What are you doing here? I thought you were at the hive!"

"I needed... to see my mother."

"Your mother?" Gallus glanced back at the statue. "Chrysalis is your mother!?"

Ocellus nodded. "You're talking to the once-princess of the changeling empire."

"That's... wow, okay," Gallus said. He shook his head. "That's not important. Why were you about to kill yourself?"

"I can't let there be another Chrysalis," Ocellus said simply. "I'm just like her."

"You're nothing like her."

"You don't know her, Gallus! I do! She—" Ocellus began to cry, her emotions finally boiling over. "We're more similar than you realize. I'm her daughter. Gallus, I killed a changeling yesterday."

“You… what?”

“He snuck into my bedroom and tried to stab me,” Ocellus rapidly explained. “And I killed him! Without even thinking about it! It was an instinct!”

“Then it was self defense,” Gallus said. “That’s not your fault, you were just protecting yourself!”

“I didn’t have to kill him! I could have, have, restrained him or something, but I didn’t! Just like my mother would have. I’m becoming—”

"You're not going to turn into Chrysalis!" Gallus shouted. "Not in a million years. We wouldn't let you."

Ocellus looked up at him. "We...?"

"Your friends!" Gallus said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We're here for you, Ocellus! If something's going wrong we find a way to fix it. It's what we do! You don't have to go off and... and..."

Now he was the one crying.

"Promise me you won't do something like that again."

"But—"

"No buts! I want a Pinkie promise. Right here, right now."

Ocellus was silent for a few moments. Then, she brought her hoof up.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Gallus let out a long sigh of relief. He rolled off Ocellus and onto his back, lying on the grass and staring up at the morning sky together with her.

"You really scared me there," he said.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

They were silent for a few moments.

"Drill instructor's going to kill me."

"You can go," Ocellus said.

"Nope," he replied. "Staying right here."

Ocellus smiled.

"Thank you."







"Ohmygosh Ocellus!"

Ocellus was abruptly swallowed in a feathery hug.

She grinned. "Hi Silverstream!"

They were in the girls' dorm room at the School of Friendship. Ocellus had just finished unpacking, and Silverstream was the first to arrive after her.

Silverstream released her from her embrace and set her back down on the floor.

"So!" she said. "How was your break?"

"Oh, you know," Ocellus said. "Uneventful. I got to spend some quality time with my mom and dad."

"That's so sweet! You know me too, but also I—"

As Silverstream launched into a stream-of-consciousness about her break, Ocellus couldn't help but smile.