//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: The Others // Story: The Queen's New World // by Moon_Skritch //------------------------------// Chapter Five The Others _________________________________________________________________________________________ Claude 'So that's what her subjects look like...' Claude thinks as he follows Chrysalis through the forest, following a younger changeling. Worry starts to overcome him. What if the other changelings attack him thinking he is some kind of threat? He then sees Chrysalis turn her head around and smiles at him. A small tingly sensation comes over him. Her smile always does that to him, and he thinks she knows it.   It shouldn't be too far now. His ears catch the sound of voices coming through the forest, and the next thing he sees is a group of about ten changelings come into view, possibly more. Immediately, all of them look to Chrysalis, and their eyes widen.     Chrysalis is then almost tackled to the ground by hugs. He can hear them all saying things like "We missed you Queen." "We were worried you were gone forever." Some of the changelings are even crying. This is truly a touching moment.     One of the changelings turns its head to Claude, and the others follow suit. Terror comes over Claude. He knew that this was a bad idea to follow her. "Um, your highness, who is that?" one of them asks.     Chrysalis moves out of the pack and over to Claude. He feels a bit uneasy about all of this. 'What if they all see me as a threat? They would destroy me in an instant.' "Everyone, this is Claude. He is no threat to us. Do not worry." She puts her holey hooves around him, pulling him into a hug. "Why is he here?" another asks. "Well, he is... my lover." Claude smiles at the word "lover". He looks out at the crowd and nods his head. "But... your highness, isn't he a different species?" Next thing they know, Chrysalis changes into her human form; same clothes and everything. "Remember, we are changelings. We can be anything." She smiles and changes back into her normal form. "What about the mission we were on? You know, to take-" "No. That plan is dead. I don't ever want to be reminded of that." The changelings just look at each other and then back at her. "So... what do we do now?" "Well, one thing's for sure. We won't be taking over places. I don't wish to harm anyone anymore." The changelings look at her like lobsters are crawling out of her ears. They look at each other once more in silence and turn back to Chrysalis. "So, how will we feed on love?" "Um..." This worried look came over her. Claude remembers her telling him that love is changelings’ food. He decides to speak up since he knows more about this world than they do. “Love is everywhere. Finding it should be pretty easy,” he says. “Where exactly?” “Well, there are other humans like me out there but you have to watch out for them also. If the other humans spot you in your changeling form, they will flip out, and they will, more than likely, call the government or something.” “What would this ‘government’ do?” “They would do many things that I don’t even want to discuss...” Claude looks down. The thoughts that come in his mind of what the scientists and others would do to the changelings... “So what do we do then? We are starving.” “Just hide away from the humans. Make sure they can’t see you. Feed from a distance.” The changelings look at each other once again and speak in some type of low chittering sounds. He can barely hear it. He looks over at Chrysalis as she is trying to move her ears so she can hear them, but she looks at him and shrugs. After a minute or so, they turn back around and smile. Claude is a bit scared at the moment. He has no idea what they were talking about. It could be about anything. He really wants to go home right now. This is becoming too much for him "Where do we go now?" one of the changelings asks. "We should be where our queen is," another one says. Claude immediately holds his hands up. "Oh no, you don't! There is not enough room in my house for all of you. Besides, you will get caught by the humans. You don't want them to see your normal form. They will freak out!" "But we need to be with our queen! That's how hives work." "My house is not becoming a hive..." He then looks over to Chrysalis and sighs. He doesn't want to make her sad, but he also doesn't want them to get caught. He looks over the group once more. Ten changelings shouldn't be too bad, should it? "Fine, you can stay at my place, but do not, I warn you, do not get caught by the humans! You don't want to know what they would do if they saw some strange creatures going in and out of a home." "Oh, don't worry, we won't cause too much trouble," it says. Claude has a bad feeling about all of this. "Let's go back then," he sighs. He feels a nuzzle on his side, and his worry fades a little. Chrysalis being there will help him immensely. He knows with her there, the changelings won't do anything too stupid. The group then trudges through the forest back to Claude's house. He hears the changelings chittering behind him again, causing him to worry. He has this bad feeling that even though Chrysalis has changed her alignment, her subjects didn't. He is going to keep a close eye on them. He looks over to Chrysalis who is smiling happily. He wonders if she suspects them like he does. He puts his arm around her neck softly and hugs her. They finally reach the exit of the forest and the smell of barbecue fills his nose. He peeks out and looks at his neighbors. "I thought that party was tomorrow..." Claude sighs. "What's going on?" one of the changelings asks. "All of you are going to have to go invisible or something. There is a whole group of humans over there." Next thing he knows the whole group of changelings vanish including Chrysalis. "Alrighty then... follow me." They walk out of the forest and up to his house. All of a sudden, he hears his name called out. "Hey, Claude!" His neighbor waves at him. He waves back. "Why don't you come on over and grab some grub? You've been cooped up in that house for too long. You need to socialize." "Um... sure... just uh... give me a second I need to take care of something inside first." Claude says. He didn't want to be rude and say no. Besides, all that walking made him hungry. He opens the back door and walks in. He waits a moment, and then asks, “Is everyone in?”     “Yes,” he hears them all say in unison. Claude shuts the door, and all the changelings drop their invisibility.     “Well I have to go over there... I’ll be back in a while. Don’t destroy the place while I’m gone, please,” he says looking at Chrysalis. She nods her head, and he walks back out over to the neighbors. Claude never really came out of the house much ever since his parents died, except to go shopping or go to school. His neighbors were always friendly to him. They even gave him some stuff to help him when his parents died. He walks over to the neighbors and hears a familiar voice. “Hey, Claude, I didn’t know my cousins lived next to you!” Claude turns around and sees Tim standing there. “Oh hey, Tim. I didn’t know that either.” He chuckles a bit. For a jock kind of guy, Tim is rather cool. “So what were you doing in the forest?” Tim asks. “Oh, nothing really. I was just taking a walk.” Claude was never good at lying. He didn’t like to lie either, but Tim seemed to buy it though. “Ah, alright. Cool. So how has life been for you since the party?” Claude shrugs. “It’s been okay, I guess...” He looks over at the house and wonders what the changelings are doing in there. ‘That place better not be a mess when I walk in.’ “Claude, you sure you’re okay? You seem kind of out there.” “Oh, what? Um... I don’t know... I’m just meh.” “Hey, maybe some food would make you feel better.” he says as Claude’s stomach begins to growl. “Yeah,” Claude smiles. The smell of the barbeque is driving him nuts. About an hour or so goes by of talking, eating, and hanging out. Claude hasn’t had this much fun in a long time. Then he remembers. The changelings are still in his home, probably causing havoc. “Hey, Tim, I have had a lot of fun, but I should probably get going. I got stuff to do at the house, cleaning and stuff.” Claude says.     “Oh, okay then. You and I need to hang out more. you are pretty cool to be around.” Tim says putting his fist up for Claude to fist bump it.     “Thanks.” Claude fist bumps. He tells the others at the party goodbye and gave thanks for the food and walks back home. The sun is starting to set.     Claude walks back to the house and opens the door and walks in. He closes the door behind him and locks it. As he is going to the living room, he notices that it's quiet. Too quiet. He puts his guard up just in case.     He walks into the room to find it empty. The sounds of chittering came from down the hall. Walking past his parents’ door, the sounds get louder. He stops. "They better not be..."     He steps back and throws open the door to his parents’ door and sees the changelings in there, but no sign of Chrysalis. The room isn't messy at all, thankfully, but the fact they are in there is slowly enraging Claude.     One of them points to him and they all turn their heads to him. "Hello, Claude," one of them says.     "Who told you that you could be in this room?”     “Well,” one of the changelings started to speak. “We were-“     “I don't want anyone or anything, pony, changeling, whatever in this room. No one comes in here! Now get out," he seethes. This is his parents’ room, and his parents meant a lot to him. "Why?" The changelings look at him blank faced. "Because this is my parents’ room, and well, they are dead. I would like to keep this room in good shape in remembrance of them. Now I will not ask again. Get out of this room!" he stares at them. "Fine, we'll go." They all get up and walk out and go into the living room. They make a circle on the floor and continue their chittering. "Where is Chrysalis?" Claude asks to no one in particular. "Behind you," a voice says from behind. Claude turns around and smiles at Chrysalis, she doesn't look too happy though. "Chrys? You okay?" "I don't want to talk about it..." She looks away from him. "Are you sure?" She nods and stays silent. Claude walks over to her and puts his arms around her pulling her into a hug. Hugs always help, right? Chrysalis nuzzles him. “I love you, Chrysalis,” he says. “I- I love you too, Claude,” she says. He feels her hoof go around him, hugging him tighter. He smiles. Chrysalis is the best thing that has ever happened to him. He leans his head up and looks at the changeling queen’s face. Her green eyes stare back at him and she smiles. Claude cannot get over her unique beauty. Slowly their faces come closer to each other and their lips meet. The sweet taste of raspberry comes into Claude’s mouth once again. The taste is almost intoxicating. They break apart and Chrysalis gives him the look. He immediately knows what that means. Chrysalis puts her hoof in his hand and he holds it. She then pulls him into his bedroom. Claude has wanted this for a long time. She would be his first ever. He is ready. —————— Chrysalis She cannot believe they are here. Some of her subjects actually survived the explosion. The small changeling walking in front of her is proof enough they are alive. She takes a quick glance behind her and sees Claude following her. Claude looks a bit worried. He is probably thinking her subjects will attack or something. She smiles at him as he looks up at her. He smiles back. She knows her smiles drive him crazy. Chrysalis can hear voices through the forest. They must be near. Coming to a clearing, about ten changelings sit around talking. They all look over to her and their eyes widen. Next thing Chrysalis knows, she is almost tackled to the ground by hugs. “We were worried that you were gone!” “We missed you Queen!” Those were just a few things they said to her as they hugged her. Chrysalis smiles and wraps her hooves around them. She is so glad to see they are still alive and well. “Um, your highness, who is that?” she hears one of them ask. She almost forgot Claude was with her. She gets up from the pack and walks over to him. He looks a bit uneasy. Putting her hooves around him, she says happily, “Everyone this is Claude. He is no threat to us. Do not worry.” “Why is he here?” another subject asks. "Well, he is... my lover," she says. This warm fuzziness comes over her when she says that. She really does love him. "But... Queen, isn't he a different species?" She pulls away from Claude and changes into her human form. "Remember, we are changelings. We can be anything." She smiles and changes back into her normal form. "What about the mission we were on? You know, to take-" "No. That plan is dead. I don't ever want to be reminded of that." She is no longer evil. She just wants to be happy, and she is happy with Claude. The changelings just look at each other and then back at her. "So... what do we do now?" "Well one thing is for sure, we won't be taking over places anymore. I don't wish to harm anyone anymore." The changelings look at her like lobsters are crawling out of her ears. They look at each other once more in silence, and turn back to Chrysalis. "So wait, how will we feed on love?" "Um..." Chrysalis has no idea. She gets hers from Claude. She realizes that the other changelings could feed off of him also. She casts a small spell, her horn only glowing slightly, but not very noticeable. The spell will block the other changelings’ ability to feed from Claude. “Love is everywhere, finding it should be pretty easy,” he says. “Where exactly?” “Well, there are other humans like me out there, but you have to watch out for them also. If the other humans spot you in your changeling form, they will flip out, and they will more than likely call the government or something.” “What would this ‘government’ do?” Hopefully her subjects don’t want to try and fight this government of Claude’s. She remembers the last time they all tried to take over something. “They would do many things that I don’t even want to discuss...” Worry rises in Chrysalis. The group needs a place to stay out of sight of any other humans. “So what do we do then? We are starving.” “Just hide away from the humans. Make sure they can’t see you. Feed from a distance.” Her subjects look at each other and start speaking the changeling language. She can understand every bit of it. They don’t know that though. “I do not trust this human.” “Me neither. I think he is trying to change our Queen into something she’s not.” “She is being corrupted by this human. We need to do something.” She notices Claude looking over at her as she is leaning a bit closer to the others as they talk. She looks over to him and shrugs as if to say she doesn’t understand. What a lie that was. She hates lying to him, but if he heard what they were saying, he would send her away forever. She loves him too much to leave. “What do you suggest we do?” “We find a time where Claude isn’t there and we transform our queen back to the way she was.” “What do we do then?” “More on that later. Now, we must follow this ‘human’ and find his weakness.” Chrysalis starts to get a little angry. ‘If they do a single thing to Claude......’ “Where do we go now?” A changeling asks. “We should be where our queen is.” Another says. "Oh no, you don't! There is not enough room in my house for all of you. Besides, you will get caught by the humans. You don't want them to see your normal form. They will freak out!" “But we need to be with our queen! That’s how hives work.” “My house is not becoming a hive...” Claude looks at Chrysalis and sighs. “Fine, you can stay at my place, but do not, I warn you, do not get caught by the humans! You don’t want to know what they would do if they saw some strange creatures going in and out of a home,” he says. Chrysalis feels really unsure about this. She wants to say something but she doesn’t want to cause a scene. “Oh, don’t worry. We won’t cause too much trouble.” Chrysalis knows good and well that they will be lots of trouble. They never acted like this back in Equestria. Why are they acting like this now? As they walk through the forest back to Claude’s house, she notices how Claude seems a bit on edge. She nuzzles his side to show that she still loves him. She knows the changelings are planning on tearing apart their relationship, and she is not going to let them. She listens closely to her subjects behind her as they speak the changeling language. “How do we find his weakness?” “We have to find something important to him. If we get rid of it, he will freak out and become weak. At that moment we take our Queen and make our way back. We need to convince the Queen that we don’t belong here.” “For now, we must keep on his good side.” As they walk back, Chrysalis tries her hardest to keep a smile going so Claude doesn’t worry. He puts his arm around her neck and hugs her. She is not going to let anything happen to him. He is the greatest thing that she has ever met. After a few minutes of walking in silence, this odd smell fills Chrysalis’ nose, a scent she has never smelled before. She wants to ask what that smell is, but Claude has this look of worry on his face. “I thought that party was tomorrow,” Claude says as he looks out at some other humans. “What’s going on?” one of the changelings ask. “All of you are going to have to go invisible or something. There is a whole group of humans over there.” Chrysalis lights her horn, and the others follow suit. Claude turns around; looking shocked at first, but relaxes. “Alrighty then... follow me.” As they walk to the house, this voice sounds from the party, “Hey, Claude!” the other human waves. Claude waves back. "Why don't you come on over and grab some grub? You've been cooped up in that house for too long. You need to socialize." Chrysalis chuckles at that, "Um... sure... just uh... give me a second I need to take care of something inside first," Claude says. Chrysalis kind of hoped he had said no. She didn’t really want to deal with the group alone, but it looks like she is going to have to. He opens the back door and walks in. Chrysalis follows inside after him. After a moment, he asks, “Is everyone in?” “Yes,” They all say at once. Claude shuts the door and they drop the invisibility. “Well I have to go over there... I’ll be back in a while. Don’t destroy the place while I’m gone, please,” he says as he looks at Chrysalis. She nods her head at him. They watch him walk out and as soon as the door closes, the others dart off. Chrysalis sighs. “Here we go...” She follows her subjects. “I know your plan. And I will not allow it. You are not taking my love from me. He is the first legitimate love I have ever had in my life.” “He is pulling you down. What about the plan of taking over Equestria?” one of her subjects say. “That plan failed. Don’t you remember? It got us sent here. I just want a nice, happy rest of my life. I am sick of the evil we do.” “That human has changed you Queen, and we are going to fi-” “No, you stay out of it!” “How come he isn’t frightened by your appearance?” Chrysalis halts for a moment. “What do you mean by that?” “Well most of the ponies would run in fear when they saw us. What spell did you cast on him?” “I didn’t...” She sighs. She did cast a small spell on him. Right before she showed her true form, it was a spell that made him love her no matter what. It was a small dose, but just enough to make him not scared of her appearance. “You used the spell didn’t you?” “Yes. I didn’t want him to run in fear. I love him. I have never loved anyone, but there is something about him that makes my heart go crazy.” “You need to tell him the truth.” Chrysalis’ heart stops. She can’t do that. She doesn’t want him to hate her. She has finally found someone that loves her as much as she loves him. “I... I can’t.” “Either you tell him, or we will.” “But, I am your queen!” she yells. She cannot believe her own subjects are doing this to her. “Why are you doing this?” “We want you to be yourself again. We don’t like this new you. What happened to the queen that wanted to take over Equestria and feed off of the love of other ponies?” “I... I can’t do that anymore. After meeting Claude, everything that was evil inside me just disappeared.” A smile appears on her face as she thinks of her love. “What about us, your subjects? What are we supposed to do?” “I don’t know, okay?! I am sorry that you got brought here due to my inability to plan things right,” she sighs. “I wish I knew what to do...” The changelings look at one another and speak in the changeling language. They still don’t know that she knows it. “We need to get her away from Claude. He is messing with her mind and changing her. We want our Queen back, don’t we?” “Yes!  We must remove this human, so we can have our Queen back to her old self.” Chrysalis stares at them as they discuss their plan. She can’t believe they really want to change her. There is nothing that will stop her from loving Claude, and she will make sure of that. She walks out of the room and into Claude’s bedroom, keeping the door ajar so she can keep an eye on her subjects. She watches them as they go into another room in the hall, a room she has never seen open. She shrugs it off and lies back on the bed. How long is this party supposed to take? She wishes he was home now so she can show her subjects that she is not giving him up for anything. She pats the covers of the comfortable bed. It’s very comfortable. Next thing Chrysalis knows, she hears a loud yelling from the other room. “-keep this room in good shape in remembrance of them. Now I will not ask again. Get out of this room!” “Fine, we’ll go.” The changelings leave and make a circle in the living room and continue their chittering. Chrysalis gets up from the bed and walks up to Claude as she hears him ask where she is at. “Behind you,” she says and he turns around and smiles. She doesn’t return a smile though. “Chrys? Are you okay?” "I don't want to talk about it..." She looks away from him. "Are you sure?” She nods her head silently. Claude then walks up to her and wraps his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. “I love you, Chrysalis,” he says as she nuzzles him. She puts a hoof around him. “I love you too, Claude,” she says as their faces come closer together and lips meet. She can taste this odd flavor on his lips; kinda sweet, but tangy at the same time. Probably something he ate while he was over there. She liked the taste. A certain feeling comes over Chrysalis, a feeling of want, a need for Claude. She pulls away from the kiss and gives him a certain look. She has heard the ponies call them “bedroom eyes”, for obvious reasons. She puts her hoof in his hand and pulls him into his bedroom. She looks over his shoulder to see her subjects staring at her. She gives them a little wink before closing the door. [End of chapter 5]