//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A Strange Encounter // Story: Forbidden Friendship // by Dream Searcher //------------------------------// Forbidden Friendship Chapter 1: A Strange Encounter Cadance was walking through White Tail Woods; it was her favorite forest. The rays of the sun would shine through openings between the leaves of the trees, and they would warm her coat. Little creatures would come out of their homes to say hello to Cadance; she represented love after all. White Tail Woods represented peace and serenity. Little birds would sing their songs to the occasional pony who traveled through the Woods. The sound of a little stream would break the silence if the birds wanted to take a day off. Everything about the forest seemed calm, it was a place where one could forget their worries and just enjoy nature. The Woods would take good care of the occasional visitor. Today, Cadance was its visitor. She needed some peace and quiet, she needed to be away from the Palace of Creation for once. It all became too hectic for her. Discord was always trying to get on Celestia’s nerves, Luna and Dream were always playing with each other. Cadance just wanted some rest and she knew that she wasn’t going to get it in the palace. Not even staying in her room would bring her some peace. Her choice for some calmness was White Tail Woods. She knew that not many ponies traveled through the Woods, since it was quite some distance away from the civilized world. Not many ponies traveling through White Tail Wood meant that she didn’t have to change into her disguise; her Pegasus form. She didn’t know why all the ponies were afraid of Alicorns. Her mother, Light, and at the same time the almighty Fausticorn, never told her about that and from the looks of it she wasn’t going to do it anytime soon. She shrugged it off, she knew that sometime in the future the ponies would begin to approach Alicorns… or she hoped that they would that. Truth be told, she was lonely. Sure, Celestia and the rest were always there for her and always made time to play with her, but she wanted somepony else. She wanted to meet new ponies and try to befriend them. She didn’t want to live her life in the palace, she wanted to be free. She needed some love from another pony, and not just from her family… she needed a friend. She didn’t know that today was her lucky day. ***** Chrysalis was walking through White Tail Woods, it was a new forest to her. The Badlands were completely different from this new country. The Badlands were dry, it was a dessert with no trees as far as the eye could see. In this new, strange country there were plenty of trees. The only creatures that inhabited the Badlands were Changelings - her own race - and dragons; and dragons were known for their inhospitableness. Here, the creatures even said ‘hi’ to her. Well, they didn’t speak, but they waved at her, and some squirrels even offered their nuts. She declined their kind offer, but thanked them nonetheless. She had eaten some strawberries a few minutes ago and while they tasted good and satisfied her hunger for some time, she knew that she had to find her real source of food… love. That was the bad part of being a Changeling. You needed to find a pony to feed on, and Chrysalis actually didn’t like doing that. She hated having to disguise herself and search for an unsuspecting pony to feed on. To Chrysalis, it was like stealing something that wasn’t yours. That was one of the reasons why she decided to leave her father’s hive, but that’s a story for another time. She had taken a small hive, consisting of just 20 changelings, with her. She had ordered them to stay in a cave near the forest. She thought it was wise of her to order them to stay in that cave, it was better to do some recon when you’re alone. She didn’t want to endanger her hive, as they were her responsibility now. Her ears perked up when she heard some humming, and it was coming closer. She waited for a moment, she needed to make sure it wasn’t just a little creature of this forest. She could feel the link with her Changelings, they were becoming restless. Due to the link they could feel that their Queen was in some kind of danger and they wanted to help her, but Chrysalis told them to stay put, she told them that it was nothing. With much resistance they calmed down again. The humming was very close now and Chrysalis had to do something fast. She knew that it wasn’t a creature of the forest, it was a pony. She could just keep standing there and try to talk to the pony or maybe disguise herself, but being the shy soul she was, she decided to hide in the bushes. When she jumped into the bushes, they made some noise, it was the leaves brushing against her exoskeleton, and now she really hoped that the pony who was coming didn’t hear or see her. Chrysalis was really conflicted right now. She wanted to meet the pony who was coming towards her so that that pony could help her and her hive, but her shyness prevented that. Always being locked up in a cave with her father and the rest of the changelings didn’t really help her social skills. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to go back to her father, but she knew that going back wasn’t a possibility. Her father would kill her, just like he did with her mother. He was a tyrant, he ruled the changeling race with an iron hoof and if Chrysalis ever became Queen then she would run things very differently. She would be kind, she would try to establish a good relationship between the changelings and the ponies, and she would create a new rule: Changelings can only feed on ponies who are willing to give a part of their love to the Changelings. She could hear the pony, it was very close now. She could even feel the pony’s love radiating towards her. That was something that was very strange for Chrysalis. Normally you had to have a good relationship with a pony before you could feel even a little bit of love, but it seemed that this pony was the incarnation of love itself. She pushed some leaves out of the way and she immediately laid eyes on a beautiful light-rose pony. She had a mane that consisted of three colors: dark violet, moderate rose and pale gold. She had a horn and wings, just like the Changelings. Maybe she’s a Changeling in disguise. Still, I don’t know if she is, so it’s better to just stay put. Cadance, just a couple of feet away from the bushes where Chrysalis was hiding in, levitated a nice little yellow flower towards herself. She really enjoyed this spot in the Woods, it was always different. Sometimes a nest of squirrels inhabited the trees around this spot and on other times, very rare flowers decided to grow around this spot. She sniffed it and it smelled wonderful. A nice sweet scent invaded her nostrils and she cursed herself for not bringing a flower pot to put the flower in, so that she could take it with her. It was also then that she heard a rather quiet sound. “Shhooo.” Something said, barely a whisper. Her ears perked up and she dropped the flower. She was the mare of love and as such she could feel almost all of the emotions a creature had in its voice, or in its behavior. The creature that spoke to her was terrified. Cadance didn’t know what do to. The best choice of action was to leave the creature alone, since it was terrified, but her curiosity wanted something different. It wanted to look at the creature, maybe it was in danger. In the end her curiosity won. Very quietly she walked towards the bush, where the sound originated from. She avoided stepping on leaves from the oak trees, maybe sound scared the creature, and she didn’t want that. She wanted to have a good look at the creature before it escaped, so patience and carefulness were her best friends right now. For Cadance, the bush in front of her was the same bush as the one next to it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and she really began to think that she had scared the creature, and that it ran away, or that the creature just didn’t exist and she imagined the sound. She thought that, but then she locked eyes with a green pair of eyes. Those eyes, those green eyes. They had something mystical, like an ancient magic that nopony knew of. But there was something else in those eyes, it was fear. The creature in front of her was scared, and if she had to believe the motions in the bush then the creature was shaking like an earthquake. She lowered herself to be as friendly and unintimidating as possible and spoke. “Hello? Are you a pony?” Oh why didn’t I disguise myself? Stupid, stupid, stupid. I might as well answer and talk to her. She could become my first friend… if she doesn’t run away, that is. Chrysalis mustered up all her courage, she was going to talk now, and then there’ll be no way back. “I-I am… k-kinda.” It was a whisper, a whisper of timidness. That was one trait Chrysalis hated. How was she going to lead her hive if she was as shy as a mouse. Cadance, on the other hand, was surprised. She thought that it was just a squirrel or something like that, but the creature said that it was a pony. The ‘kinda’ that the creature used made her feel a bit uneasy though. “Could you come out? I won’t bite.” A little giggle escaped her lips. It was on purpose, she knew that body language played a major part in a conversation, and especially if you are trying to comfort somepony. She held out her hoof and waited for the pony in the bush to grab it. Chrysalis really wasn’t sure. Yes, the pony in front of her was friendly and rather nice, but her shyness wanted her to stay in the bush. The bush was like a safe haven for her. She was safe in the bush, safe from the big bad world that wanted to hurt her. But then her mind focused on the love that was radiating of the pony, and she immediately calmed down. The love told her that the pony in front of her wasn’t going to hurt her. She could feel that she was a good pony, so she took the plunge. “O-okay, just don’t be scared alright?” She extended her hoof and grabbed the pony’s hoof. Cadance snickered. “Why should I be afraid of… you?” She stared at the… creature that slowly came out of the bushes. From what Cadance could see it had a horn, but it wasn’t a horn like unicorns had, it was more… demonic. It had little fangs, which Cadance associated that with vampony’s. It had an exoskeleton, which hardened at the place where its insectoid wings were. And lastly she looked at the creature’s hooves and she saw that they had holes in it. It was a rather sickening image and Cadance just said the first thing that came to her mind. “Your hooves, they have holes in them.” Chrysalis felt the love diminishing and she knew that this was the situation that she feared. The pony in front of her was scared of her, but she couldn’t blame her. She knew that she was abominable with those holes in her hooves, with her coat as black as death itself and her tattered hair. Why didn’t I change into a pony? I’m a Changeling, for Goodness sake. Chrysalis was sure that this was the worst case scenario, so she just waited for the finishing blow: the pony in front of her running away. “You’re scared.” She broke contact with the pony and took a step back, at the same time her expression was saddening. Cadance just kept staring at the thing in front of her. It wasn’t a pony, but it looked like a pony, only a bit different. Her mind couldn’t process the image in front of her and it took a while before she even registered the sentence from the creature, ‘You’re scared.’ It said and it was right, she was scared. Maybe she was scared because of the rather sickening creature in front of her, or maybe she was scared because she was a bit shy. It didn’t matter and her mind told her to run away, and that was what she did. “I’m sorry.” She quickly said, and ran away. It wasn’t a gallop, but it wasn’t a trot either, it was something in between. She took a quick glance at the creature, and she saw that small tears began to form in the its eyes. With a large amount of guilt, she disappeared behind some bushes. Chrysalis still looked at the bushes where the mysterious, yet friendly pony had disappeared behind. She kept staring at those bushes for several minutes, constantly hoping that she would return, but she knew that she wouldn’t return. She broke her trance and looked down. There, just in front of her hooves, lay the small yellow flower that was being sniffed by that mysterious pony just a few minutes ago. Chrysalis picked it up with her magic and brought it to her nose. She never really experienced the scent of nature. The Badlands were dead, nothing could grow there. Once, many years before she was born, the Badlands were alive. There used to be green fields as far as the eye could see, but a volcano eruption changed that. The ash of the volcano blocked out the sun rays and the plants died. The volcano transformed a beautiful piece of land into a barren wasteland, but that’s nature, and nature is still the mightiest force in the world. She sniffed at it and it smelled wonderful, a bit sweet actually. Then her mind went back to that pony and she really wished that things could have gone differently, but she didn’t have the power to turn back the hooves of time. She pushed the flower against her face and opened the flood gates. She knew that nopony was around, but crying in public was still something she was ashamed of. “What did I do wrong?” She asked the flower, but, naturally, the flower didn’t answer. She was about to release the flower from her magic and go back to her Changelings, but suddenly she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She sighed, it was just another pony who wanted to hurt her, but she turned around nonetheless. Chrysalis was surprised, and that’s putting it lightly, because in front of her stood that mysterious pony from a few minutes ago. “Wha-?” She started, but she was interrupted when that pony in front of her placed a hoof against her mouth, silencing her. The pony then smiled and hugged her. “It’s not your fault, I was just shy. I’m Cadance by the way.” Cadance said while she hugged the thing in front of her. It felt good to give some love to this creature, it looked like it needed it. Chrysalis just kept staring at Cadance, she wasn’t even hugging. Her brain still had to recover from the shock and it hadn’t even registered that Cadance was holding her tight. After a second or two her brain finally shot into action and she wrapped her forelegs around the pink mare. It felt good to receive love, but it felt even better to give it to somepony. “Don’t worry, I’m also shy. I’m Chrysalis.” Chrysalis said. She was still crying, but right now they were tears of happiness. She hugged Cadance tighter, she never wanted to be left alone again. “Are we friends now?” Chrysalis could feel Cadance nodding. “Of course, that is, if you want to be friends.” Cadance said hesitantly. Cadance really wanted a friend, somepony different than her family, and now she had found one, if she accepted her friendship. “I’d love to be friends.” Chrysalis answered. Her dream came true, she had a friend. They broke the hug after a couple of seconds and sat down next to each other. They both wore a smile and Chrysalis' tears had dried. Still, there was a question on Chrysalis’ mind and she needed that question answered. “Why did you come back?” She asked, breaking that silence between them. Cadance’s smile wavered a bit, but it returned after a second. “I guess I should explain that one. Alright, try to make yourself comfortable and I’ll start…” A/N: This is the start of a ‘What if Chrysalis and Cadance were friends’ story. They are each other’s greatest enemies, and yet I think they would be great friends if things took a different path. This is part of the Team Awesome comic on DeviantArt of Bonaxor. You should check it out, it’s awesome. I also think that Cadance and Chrysalis as foals are just adorable. Cadance is 12 and Chrysalis is 13 years old. E/N: Arandompenguin here, I would also like to recommend you to the comic, it is a unique idea and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As to this story, I liked it and I hope you guys stick around for the later chapters.