//------------------------------// // Chapter 22 That Painful Revelation // Story: My Daughter Chrysalis // by Scarheart //------------------------------// Edited by DJ_Neon_Lights and iakovl I was stunned and staring. My jaw hung like a rusty porch swing. Daddy stood there like a blind, deaf mute. His expression was slack, giving the impression he was a mere yokel. Anisophira glared at the golden-eyed queen, this new queen was not at all impressed. “Felu,” the gaunt queen greeted icily. “Release my consort, or I will rip your anorexic head from your dilapidated body,” growled Felu. Her mane danced around her face and neck with her rage. The sight alone was enough to make me backpedal a step or two. Oh, yeah...she was angry. Dare I say, furious? The skinny queen harrumphed. “As you wish, dear sister.” I could feel the venom in her words. She looked to Daddy meaningfully and he wordlessly dropped the rifle. Her eyes then flared the brilliant green I was all too familiar with. Daddy slumped, tensed, then looked up and around blearily. He staggered, and I moved to support him. Only, I was not fast enough. Felu slithered up next to him, her form shifting effortlessly, flashing the green flames I used when I changed form. In the blink of an eye, she was a woman, a head shorter than Daddy, with dirty blonde hair to match the shape of her changeling form’s style. It hung to her waist. Her skin was tanned, like country girl on the farm. Her clothing was simple: black sleeveless t-shirt and cutoff jeans. “Michael?” she spoke his name haltingly, her hands on his chest and shoulders as she steadied his wobbling form. “Michael, baby?” His eyes snapped open, fell upon her and stared. All color drained from his face. I was making weird sounds from the bottom of my throat. They might have been words. They might have been gibberish. All I know is I wanted to start beating this bitch to within an inch of her life. “Tabitha?” he managed in an unmanly squeak. So many confusing emotions! I wanted to scream my rage. I wanted to weep. Everything I felt was raw between the two and open. It was dangerous, like forbidden love. “What are you doing here?” he asked, trying to sound like the man in charge. That unmanly squeak was obviously threatening to take away his Man Card. Daddy refocused himself, straightened and pushed her away. “What are you doing here?” Anger bubbled out like lava from a volcano. “For God’s sake, Tabbitha, what the hell are you doing in Equestria?” She rolled her golden eyes. “I live here, you big idiot. I’m from Equus.” “Where’s the popcorn when you need it?” I could hear Anisophira snicker just loud enough for everyone to hear. I was on Daddy’s other side, peering around him and staring icy daggers at Felu. She had a body that women would kill to have and a face to make Cameron Diaz jealous. And Daddy knew her! He knew that body, at least. I was insanely suspicious and I was busy hissing at her as I slid my head across Daddy’s chest. As I gave her the ‘Look of Death’, she finally seemed to notice me and smirked. She smirked! Oh no you didn’t! “Hello, sister,” she bade gently. I felt him give me a reassuring squeeze. “Pumpkin, not now,” Daddy said, putting his hands to my face and neck. Gently he moved me aside and fully faced Felu. “I hate you.” He stated to the woman/changeling queen. “You don’t know what was going on,” she pleaded softly. “I wanted what we had so badly, but Mother forbade it. I didn’t want to leave you.” Daddy stared at her hard, not believing a word she said. “You took my daughter from me, found some other chump to bang, and began to turn my mom and dad against me. You threatened me with lawsuits and custody battles. I went insane. Then my daughter died. And in the three years she was alive, I saw her for all of three months, Tabitha. Three! Now you show up here, here of all places, and expect me to be all lovey-dovey with you? You sadistic bitch. Daddy cuffed his hands around my ears, but I could still hear the rest of his sentence. “Fuck off.” I guess love is not the only four letter word Daddy knows. “Can we discuss this somewhere less in the open?” she asked plaintively, spreading her hands and looking about. “My guards are getting upset with you.” Daddy blinked in confusion. “Guards?” Felu sighed sadly. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me. I’m surprised you haven’t connected the dots already. Then again, you always were a bit dense, love.” Aaaaand she shifted to her natural form. Daddy stared, mouth hanging open. He staggered away from Tabitha A.K.A. Felu. As the changeling queen revealed herself to him, I could practically see the gears jamming in his head. His left eye twitched. His pupils shrank. Horror slowly crept across his face. Beads of cold sweat formed on his neck and face. “No,” he began to moan. “No, no, no, no, no, no. Dear God, no…” Queen Felu stood before him, not quite as proudly as she did when she first appeared, and not quite as arrogant. For a flash of a moment, I felt her hurt. Then, the steel doors to her emotions slammed shut and she stared down the man who was emotionally crumbling before her. Daddy collapsed as his legs went rubbery and all sense escaped him. Bursting into tears, he covered his face with his hands and wailed bitterly. Fleur de Lis stepped between the two. “Comfort your papa,” she said to me softly. “The cruelty of the queens shows itself yet again.” The unicorn glared unafraid at the queen towering over her. If there was ever an example of a pale queen, Felu fit the bill. Fleur had her eyes on the bigger picture. “You will let Queen Anisophira’s hive go. This is Equestrian soil and you will not violate the laws of this nation for your petty civil strife. They have requested asylum and I have the authority to grant it. I have granted Anisophira’s hive asylum and will not allow them to be pursued. Any actions of your changelings upon this hive will be considered an act of war.” “I am to convey Michael, Chrysalis, Queen Anisophira and you, Lady Fleur, to the sanctum of my mother, the Empress,” Felu said with full authority. “All answers to questions can be asked directly to her, though I do not believe you will get the answers you want to all of them. If you wish to know why human children were brought to this world, come with me. If you wish to know why your nymphs were taken from your hive, sister, come with me. If you, Chrysalis, wish to know of the changelings and your one true mother, come with me.” Her gaze lingered on Daddy’s form and softened. He has his arms around me. His head was tilted down, staring at an object on the ground. I followed his line of sight. It was on the rifle. The crying had stopped, but the heavy breathing was intense. “No more,” he gasped, reaching for it. I already could sense what he was doing, but he firmly shoved me away. “No more,” Daddy repeated as I numbly watched him grasp it with his right hand. “No more hurting.” Before I could blink, he pulled on the charging handle. An unspent round flew out of the ejection port and another one was chambered as the slide slammed forward. With both hands, he spun the muzzle and put his mouth over it. “No!” I screamed, freezing his hands in place. Hell, I froze his whole body. “Fleur, take the gun! Take it now!” “So, he is broken,” quipped Felu sadly. Her regret was a bitter taste to my pallet. “I should like to help—” “Don’t you think you’ve done more than enough, you bitch?” I screamed at her, holding Daddy to me possessively. He clung to me like a frightened toddler, mumbling incoherent words over and over again. The air was heavy with his grief and despair. I channeled my own love and poured it into his heart. “I love you, Daddy. I can’t lose you. Not here,” I whispered to him. “You’re going to grow old and happy, with grandkids on your lap. You’re going to spend evenings on the porch, watching the sunset with the woman you love. Stay with me, Daddy, and I promise I’ll make sure that happens! Please, Daddy. Stay. I love you!” As I soothed Daddy, Fleur snatched away the horrible killing instrument. A hurt-looking Felu looked absolutely perplexed and, at the same time, greatly pained. She quickly recovered, assuming her arrogance and turning to the skinny queen. “Your hive may remain here. You are coming with us, along with Chrysalis and her...father.” Why weren’t they speaking their own language? It dawned on me the changeling queens were speaking in Equestrian. Why? “So you already said,” I growled, clutching Daddy to my chest. “What do you changelings want? Why should I go with you? What if I decide right now that I refuse to have anything to do with you all?” I was screaming at her, my mane flying everywhere. My fangs must have flashed in the morning light. The onlooking changelings flinched from me, as well as Fleur de Lis. What had once been a rifle was now a ball of metal and plastic in her telekinetic grip. Queen Felu glowered at me, peeling her lips back slightly to make her fangs seem longer. “Because lives hang in the balance, Chrysalis. Mother manipulates us all to do things we would rather not. It’s how she stays in power. Part of the reason your life is a mess right now is because of her. She is one of the most powerful beings in all the world and the linchpin of changeling society.” “Mother’s pet is engaging Luna—did engage. Dead, now,” growled Anisophira, her eyes going distant for a moment. “A distraction? What of Celestia?” Wait...they are speaking changeling… What? Annie rambled on, growing more and more agitated as her wings buzzed angrily, “What of my nymphs? Was it Mother’s idea to have them taken by that monster? Was it Mother’s idea to have them maimed and wounded? To kill them? To shatter my hive I have labored for so long to make a home for my changelings and their families? All because I would not bow down to her wishes? All I have now in my heart for her is HATE, sister. That you, a queen I considered the most even keeled of all my sisters would side with her madness…” I can understand them both...but my lessons only began yesterday! “Do you think you are the only one she’s gone to great lengths to destroy from within and without?” Felu screamed suddenly, her anger exploding volcanically. “She held my daughter hostage, dangling her with the command to destroy him!” The enraged queen threw a hoof at Daddy, her eyes glowing green with enraged passion. “I was trying to escape with my daughter and Mother had to show off her power by snatching her from my arms in the middle of a flight! She mocked me as the plane fell about us, holding me in her grip while holding the plane at the same time. The people saw her, they screamed, they panicked and I knew they were going to die. Right then and there I realized there was no escaping her reach, Anisophira. She took my Crystal, teleported back to Equus, and left what remained of the plane to fall to earth with me properly chastised.” She grunted back her emotions, her tears falling freely. “All because I did not break the human I had fallen in love with...all because...I would not be the dutiful daughter she wanted.” “Why are you saying all of this?” I asked, not believing a word she had just said. I was sticking to English, thank you very much. “Why are you lying? What point is there in going on with this charade? You’ve done it. Congratulations, you bitch. He’s broken. You can go home now.” I hugged Daddy tighter to me. I knew Felu was not lying, but I didn’t want to believe her. She was a monster. They were all monsters! “We are predators, little sister,” Felu sighed, choking back a sob. “We were never meant to fall in love with our prey. We were meant to feed from them so our power might grow. When we had our fill or they were drained, we toss them aside. Humans are... different. They can give a changeling boundless love. I used Michael, but in the years I came to know him, I fell in love. I gave him the greatest gift any changeling can bestow to someone. I gave him a child. Our child. Mother punished me for giving him my love. You have no idea what it was like to have her voice screaming in my head to destroy him. I could not. I went mad myself. I acted out, did...terrible, evil things against him. I took his daughter away.” I glared at her, wanting to hate her with all by being. “I don’t believe you.” “Would you believe it if you saw his daughter? My daughter? Our Crystal?” Daddy once wished I could have met Crystal. He had once thought we would have been good sisters. But, if time passed a lot more slowly in this world than on Earth...then she would be a little more than four years old! “I would,” I admitted sullenly. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to like you. I still hate you.” She composed herself and nodded. “Fair enough.” The whole time, Daddy tried to shrink himself into my chest, not wanting to look at this so-called queen. The words he spoke were unintelligible and came rapidly, almost as if he was babbling a prayer. I opened my mouth to speak, but Felu hissed sharply. “He comes!” Who? Just then, I heard the sound of an approaching mass in flight. I spun my head upwards, feeling it, no, him. With a loud thud, four massive hooves slammed into the earth not a dozen feet away to my left creating a small crater. The ground... rippled. Dust and debris swirled. A snarl of frustration was heard through the mass of gray pelt and feathers. The largest pegasus I had ever seen had his wings flared out in a threat display, staring down anything within view of him. Electricity crackled from his hooves. His eyes glowed with unrelenting frustration as electrical currents raced up and down his legs and pelt. This pegasus was a living storm, a walking tempest and I could feel his strength. “Distraction complete,” he rumbled with a voice like a fading storm. It crackled as he spat, shifting his eyes to the heavens. “Luna is strong. Gate has been moved. Celestia has chased after it.” His marvelous green eyes swept back and forth between Felu and Anisophira. There was the tell-tale pressure of an incoming teleportation. “KNAVE!” bellowed Luna’s voice from up above. “FACE ME, YOU CRETINOUS EXCUSE FOR A PONY! I WILL NOT BE DENIED!” I stared at this massive pegasus. “Who are you?” I squeaked, drinking in every inch of his magnificence. “Lord Shield,” Felu announced, quickly composing herself. “You did not pick a fight with the Lunar Princess, did you?” It was a rhetorical question, if the sigh in her voice was any indication. “Mayhap,” he replied with a dark chuckle. Luna landed to my right, taking stock of the situation. She spied Daddy. “What is the matter with him?” she demanded, her glare immediately falling upon Anisophira. It went to Felu. “Who are you?” Icy daggers were hurled back at the massive pegasus. “You tricked me!” I noticed Lord Shield looked a bit battered, but a slight smile graced his stoic muzzle. “I am ordered to return to my Empress. I must obey her will. You would have beaten me, Princess Luna.” He fluffed his wings and settled them against his sides. I noticed Luna looked as though she had stuck her hoof in a light socket. She was, well...poofy. “What happened to you?” I asked. Daddy stirred against my chest and whimpered. He was oblivious to the world around him. The alicorn shook her head, never taking her eyes off the pegasus. “Never mind me, what happened to Mr. Spriggs?” “She happened.” I glared at Felu. “She’s the one who started it all!” “Hardly,” interrupted the giant pegasus as Luna opened her mouth to speak. “All can be explained in the lair of my mistress. Now, come.” “You,” snapped Luna with the sort of calm best associated with psychopaths before going on a killing rampage, “are under arrest for assaulting me!” “I am not Equestrian,” grunted the stallion harshly. “I serve my Empress.” She glared at him before readdressing my semi-comatose father. “Why is he not wearing his protection? I do not detect the necklace. It should be around his neck. Where is it?” Annie blurted, “Right front pocket. I might have coerced him in taking it off.” She shied from a very pissed of alicorn princess who moved in a blur of blue shadow, flaring her wings and standing tall before her. “You foal!” Luna sighed, staring at Daddy sadly. Lord Shield moved almost as fast, forcing himself between the queen and the princess. “I cannot let you closer to a daughter of the Empress. Stand down, princess of Equestria.” Oh, God, he’s so hot! “There is too much shenanigans here,” Luna roared, stamping an imperious hoof. “You!” She glared meaningfully at Shield, “You assaulted me. Why?” I busied myself by digging Daddy’s necklace from his pocket. It was easy to find as a bit of the chain was sticking out. As I fixed it around his neck, the giant pegasus answered Luna. “Gauging you. Assessing your strengths. You are strong. Stronger than me, in the long run. I made a mistake and held back.” He ruffled his feathers as his green eyes fixed on her coolly. “It matters not. I would have lost.” The pegasus stared at Daddy, ignoring a fuming Princess of the Night. “Of all beings in existence, the Empress fears his kind. Queen Chrysalis, assist him to his hooves. I will be activating a teleportation stone shortly. The Empress has already contacted Princess Celestia at the underwater grotto where the Gate was hidden. I am instructed to escort the other queens and the selected guests of the Empire as soon as the immediate needs of the refugees have been seen to.” He snorted, lifting his head and glaring coldly at Anisophira. “You were told not to invade his mind. You have defied the Empress, Queen Anisophira, and you will answer for this. How many more times must you defy her?” She laughed at him mirthlessly. “What can she do? I am dying. My hive is shattered. Half of my nymphs are dead or wounded. I have a scant handful that escaped injury, but the mental wounds to them are deep. The others have been taken by agents of the Empress to be sold into slavery or worse. Do not begin to tell me of defiance, Shield. Was I not once your teacher? Was I not a loving elder sister? Did I not teach you the future generations are what matter the most to the common changeling?” Snorting softly, the pegasus turned to Anisophira. His expression remained stoic, yet his eyes had a moment of gentleness. “You were, and I appreciate all that you have done, but that was then and now the circumstances are different, I am no longer a foal and you have angered the Empress for the last time.” Princess Luna snorted, offering no sympathy. She announced loudly, “I want these armed changelings out of Equestria immediately. All refugees are under Equestrian protection. Any changeling requesting asylum will be given it immediately and without question. Details will be sorted later and under less stressful circumstances. Lady Fleur?” “I have already extended Equestrian hospitality to the refugees, your Highness.” “Good.” Her eyes flashed dangerously, causing the gathered queens to flinch visibly. “I want to know why your kind are dallying in human slavery and why some of you deem it proper to enslave your own kind. You have much to answer for and yet you dare cry out for peace?” “I wish asylum for my changelings and myself,” said Anisophira boldly. “I want my nymphs back. My mares cry out for their young and I will never be at ease until families are reunited, Princess Luna.” “Not doubt Lady Fleur has already offered asylum, but it is granted,” replied the dark alicorn without so much as a blink. She glared at Felu. “Stand your soldiers down, changeling queen.” “But of course,” replied Felu, who had recovered. Her eyes flared and the air was filled with buzzing wings as changelings broke away from their positions. Those they had held up were free. They went towards Quint Orca and the others, staying on the ground and being submissive. I could hear nervous chirping coming from some of the refugee changelings. “I will be taking my sister—” Luna glared her down coldly. “Chrysalis.” Luna’s eyes sought me out and made me freeze the moment we locked. “Place the pendant around your father’s neck. Stay with him. This whole thing was a mistake. The two of you will be going back to Canterlot and under my personal protection. I am sending your father home.” My heart surged with hope. An armored pegasus in golden armor landed next to Luna, bowing to her immediately. “Highness! We were not sure of our orders and held back. We were expecting non combatants, not—” he waved a hoof at the armed changelings “—them.” The Guard appeared on the verge of panic, but had enough professionalism to maintain his bearing. “He goes,” growled the giant gray pegasus the queens seemed to be terrified of. I looked at him and fought the urge to drool. Then I realized he was pointing a hoof nonchalantly at Daddy. “The Empress requires his presence to restore her daughter to her fold. I am to enforce the mandate set before Queen Felu at any cost.” I suddenly found him...not-so-hawt. “The hell he’s going!” I snapped. “You mind rapists have messed his head for the last time! If any of you bitches so much as twitch a brain cell towards my Daddy, I’m ripping your heads of of your necks and making all of your skulls into fucking bedpans for my Daddy to piss in.” I felt my magic building up in me as I spoke, my voice rising along with it. “Emeraude!” hissed Fleur de Lis, slapping my horn with the tip of her hoof. “Stay calm, ma fille! Put the gift from the princesses around his neck as Luna instructed you. Do it.” Her voice soothed me through the storm raging in my mind, breaking through the slowly rising red haze. Snorting derisively, I flashed my fangs at Felu, then focused on the task given me. Taking up the pendant, I held it up to the light of the morning sun and stared mesmerized for a moment. The arrowhead glittered and twinkled from both the magic within and the sunshine striking it. Tenderly I put it around Daddy’s neck, shielding his inert form from the view of the onlooking queen. Oh, how I hated her! “I love you, Chryssie,” mumbled Daddy as I fastened the necklace, noting one of the links had broke. I fixed it with a quick and easy spell and cast another the strengthen each silvery link in the chain by ten. “You’re going home, Daddy,” I whispered into his ear. “I’m going with you. This place can rot. Luna’s taking us back to Canterlot.” “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s not your fault, Daddy. It was never your fault. And I love you, too.” The voice of the giant pegasus broke our moment. “You cannot go back. The Empress has commanded me to bring you to her.” “Shut up, asshole,” I snarled at him, turning my head so fast, I made myself dizzy so I could glare him into a puddle of goo. I wish I could have glared him into a puddle of goo. “Language!” snapped Fleur in exasperation. “Control! Self control! Can you not grasp the nuances of the human language so ineloquently?” I wheeled on her, ready to again lash out with my tongue. What I saw in her eyes was a sadness and disappointment I could never properly describe. My anger faltered. “Can you help me with him? He’s heavy.” “I can walk,” Daddy said. We ignored him. “Anzealous, could you please fetch a litter?” Fleur had spotted the fat changeling off to one side, near Anisophira. Wordlessly he nodded and went off in search of one. “I can walk!” Daddy repeated, placing his hands on my chest and shoulders and pushing me away. His shove was rough at first, but he caught himself, gripping my chitin with his fingers. He squeezed them reassuringly. I leaned into him for a hug. “No, Daddy, you’re not right.” “Michael.” Felu’s voice floated over us. “Michael, I’m sorry. Please. I’m so sorry. Everything can be explained, if you would just come—” “Leave him be, changeling,” Luna commanded. “I know not the circumstances…” “He is my consort!” blurted the queen. “Is?” Luna arched a brow as I gave her my attention. “Since when?” Her expression faltered as some things fell into place in her mind. “By my moon, there are changelings on Earth! For how long? How many?” Huffing in exasperation, she muttered under her breath, “Sister, what is taking you so long?” “The human and Chrysalis are coming with me to meet with the Empress,” the great pegasus interrupted rudely. I could hear his voice turning from asking to commanding. “The Empress had commanded you to come and you will obey.” His glare started to dig holes into me. “Or what? You will drag us with you?” I snapped, again lighting up my horn. This... jackass —even if he is drop-dead gorgeous— was not going to take one step near my daddy! “If I must.” I heard a distinct crackling sound at his hooves. I could hear it first, my eyes following where my ears were trained. Static electricity was making Daddy’s hairs stand on end, slowly rising as the energy in the air intensified. “They will do no such thing!” Luna declared loud enough for everyone around to hear. “You cannot take them, scoundrel!” He snorted at her, “Then you leave me no choice.” The pegasus closed his eyes. What the hell is he planning to do? When he opened them, there was a change in their appearance. One of them was blood red. There was a gasp followed by waves of fear from the changelings who were looking at this pegasus. Felu and Anisophira quailed in the face of this display, paling with widening eyes. “What's happening, Fleur?” I could feel pure terror from some of them, why did such a small thing scare so many of them He spoke in a reverent voice, as if to himself. “My empress, your shield asks permission to enforce your will.” “Who is he speaking to?” I wondered out loud. Empress? Somehow, I was looking around as if I was expecting a demoness to appear and start hurling death and destruction down upon us. Eh, me and my overactive imagination. Oh, look! Impending doom looming in front of me! Why am I suddenly so afraid? “GRANTED!” A voice came from him, but was not his. That word filled me with terror beyond my wildest dreams. That one word had the same effect on all changelings around us, and then i saw it, Lord Shields eyes changes again, now both of them to a golden color as he cracked a smile and i felt my heart drop, this was not a pegasus... not anymore. This was an avatar of lightning! Bolts of crackling electricity was arcing from different parts of his body. “Who are you? What are you?” I could hear Luna asking with her eyes wide open, she was stunned by the display before you “You are a pegasus, how can you do such things?” His answer was simple. “I was a pegasus, but not anymore.” I saw some changelings falling to their knees, lowing their heads and exposing their necks, they submitted themselves to his mercy. “MOTHER!!!” Anisophira shouted into the open space in a trembling voice, “I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, MOTHER! Call Lord Shield off! We will come to you! We will all come to you as you wish, but for creation’s sake call him off.” The pegasus turned to her. “I knew you could be shown to see reason,” hissed the voice of power from the pegasus. The crimson glow of the left eye faded away. The lightning around this so-called ‘Lord’ Shield’s body started to die off, his golden eyes rolling back to green. “I am glad you stopped me Queen Anisophira. It would be a shame to see further harm come to you and your hive” “Why did you promise such a thing?” Luna asked Anisophira. “I will have a say in this matter! Nopony and noling is going anywhere until I am answered!” “Because if I haven’t, none of us would have made it out of here alive, while mother prefers subtle manipulations and vast plots… she also knows how to use a Hammer when she need things done. you don’t want to see what could have happened if i haven’t ask her to call him off, none of us would.” I could feel her fear diminishing “Why do all of the changelings fear that pegasus?” Luna wondered “What is he?” Anisophira looked at her. “He is Mother’s shield and enforcer, our brother and watcher. We fear him because we know what happens if you do not stop him when he changes. For a brief moment, he is like a god, his power unmatched. Mother says he can challenge one the likes of an alicorn. Princess Luna, there are few things changelings fear more than him, we know what he can do when his eyes turn gold, pray that you never have to find out.” Luna snorted. “If you are so formidable, pegasus, then why did you flee me?” Her attention had shifted towards the pony known as Shield. I could sense her wariness. “You proclaim your desire to engage me in combat and flee.” “I was denied permission,” grunted Shield flatly. “To fight you would be one of the pinnacles of my life. Another time, perhaps.” A smile seemed unnatural on his muzzle, yet one formed there. By now, Luna had slowly placed herself between us and the giant. “So you say.” “Your sister awaits us in the home of my Mistress,” Shield went on, ignoring her barb. “She has met with my Empress in the place where the Gate once was. It was moved. I am commanded to inform you the dragon had broken the thrall placed upon him and was acting on his own and unfortunately in the name of the Changeling Empire. The Empress expresses her desire for peace and is willing to concede some points of interest Equestria feels is necessary for her security. But not here,” he added, looking around, settling for a long moment at the ponies ushering changelings into the forest. “Anisophira, your hive may remain here. They will be unmolested.” His eyes flickered to Felu. She curled a lip in a slight snarl at him. “I do not prey upon changelings who cannot defend themselves.” Fleur de Lis was not paying attention to the monster. Instead, her attention was diverted to something small and buzzing chirping at her hooves. We both looked at the source and found a small black changeling approaching Daddy. He was so tiny and adorable! For a moment, I forgot the tension around us. “Bitey.” Daddy’s voice broke that moment, his right hand reaching for the little changeling. Was I ever that small? What was with the name? The little guy’s ears perked up and he bounded into Daddy’s lap, happy little changelings sounds as adorable as adorable could be. All eyes went to this little union. I could certainly feel the trust from the little colt for Daddy. I could also sense the beginnings of a bond. Then I knew this new changeling was a part of our little family. A clicking sound came from my throat, soothing and welcoming. I wanted him to be a part of our family. I wanted him to feel safe and secure. I wanted him to feel loved. What was happening? It was as though our minds had linked, much in the same way Daddy’s mind was linked to mine. The next thing I knew, our muzzles touched and we chirped at each other in a slow exchange of back and forth. What was I doing? Why was I doing it? The scent on him was...vacant, as if a vacuum needed to be filled. No. It was more than that. It was as though a tapestry was missing an image that needed to be woven within it. I felt a warmth in my heart and the world for the moment consisted of only me, Daddy, and the little colt he called Bitey. “What are you doing?” Daddy asked, his face following the chirps as if he was at a tennis match. “It sounded...nice.” He stroked Bitey between his ears. The little guy crawled into his lap, butting against his chest like a cat. “I have no idea,” I admitted. “Congratulations, sister,” Anisophira said softly. “Your hive has been reborn. Love him like your son, lead him wisely, and he will never forsake you.” “I approve,” buzzed Felu. Her tone suggested she was not happy about something. I felt longing from her. Longing and sadness. She doused it before I could focus, but I suspected Daddy had something to do with it. He was pointedly ignoring her, curled around Bitey protectively and petting him. “Hail Queen Chrysalis.” Bitey is a crappy name, isn’t it? “As it should be,” growled Shield. I still thought he was nothing more than a big jerk. A big, sexy, delicious jerk. I would love to shove something splintery and bad down his throat. I didn’t like the vibe coming off him...yet why was I so drawn? Anzealous returned with a stretcher, as well as Quint Orca and the rest of the team. It was rolled out and Feathersong helped set it up. She eyed the nymph in Daddy’s lap and gave it a gentle smile. Steel Jaw and Shatterdown glared at the changelings. The unicorn looked ready to start a brawl. Fleur leaned into his ear and whispered, indicating towards Princess Luna and Shield as her words carried some intensity. I could barely hear what she was saying. Basically, she was telling him to shut up and mind his manners, or else he’ll just piss off Luna and the Big Gray Beast. “Yer worship?” Quint asked Luna, warily casting his eyes at the two queens and the massive gray pegasus. “Orders?” “Bear the human. He requires immediate aid. Mental fatigue induced by mind manipulation. Post traumatic stress disorder.” She flattened her lips, a single ear flicking as she narrowed her stare at Felu. Then, she regarded with gray pegasus. “I have not yet heard from my sister. I will not move nor allow anypony or anyling from this spot until I have contacted her. I need to know if she secured the World Gate.” Shield growled, taking a step towards her menacingly. “I really do not care if you frighten these queens. I am not afraid of you, pegasus.” She flared her wings and straightened, her ears perking forward and her chest sticking out. “Until I hear from Celestia, we are not moving. I will happily engage you in battle if you wish to contest my will. I will also have words with your Empress, who seems content to hide behind your eye instead of meeting me face to face.” Her eyes were white flares, crackling with intensity. Shield appeared unsure of himself, flaring his nostrils. I could tell a part of him wanted to attack Luna, he closed his eyes for a second. “We can wait,” he said, grudgingly. Something was holding him back. “I want to know what happened to my nymphs,” Queen Anisophira mewled worriedly. “Why did Leviatan take my nymphs? I have mothers fraught with worry. Half of them are dead, Lord Shield. You were supposed to be the guardian of our kind. Why would you let a dragon take the lives of those who have yet begun to live? I helped to teach you, Shield. I showed you how to love and care for our nymphs. Where were you?” Her voice grew stronger and stronger as she approached the brutish pegasus. She threw a hoof at Daddy with Bitey. “Look at that young one, Lord Shield. Tell me, would you forsake that? Would you abandon an innocent to the whims of a monster?” Unflinching, he replied, “We are all monsters, Majesty. Some more then others.” The queen gave out a hiss. “I freely admit I am a monster, but you are the keeper of monsters. You are a monster to keep us monsters at bay.” She curled her lip. “But we have purpose. Mother will not let us live up to that purpose. We want peace. She wants everything.” Luna perked her ears at that statement. “Everything?” Shield sighed heavily. “That is not the truth.” “Mother wants all the queens to kneel before her and obey her every whim. She taught us all to rule our hives as we see fit, to move them when we think they are threatened. Of late, she has wanted us all gathered. Her motives are unknown to me. I never want to know anymore. Nor do I care.” Anisophira had turned to Luna, her ears splayed back. “I wish to check on my changelings. Their well being...I must…” Luna nodded. Meanwhile, Daddy was resigned to lying down on the stretcher. A doctor had materialized from somewhere and was already checking his vitals. I took the moment to fish out his hat, a pair of socks, and his boots. Bitey was curled up on his belly because it was warm. Nobody bothered the little guy as Daddy was checked over. A hand was busy scritching behind one ear, then transitioned to the other. Bliss was the mask the little colt wore and he wore it proudly. “Those my boots?” he asked when he noticed me fishing through my saddlebags. I set them on the ground next to him. “No, I stole these off a homeless guy,” I replied with a grin. I wanted to see him smile. Right now, I was seeing an old man, teetering on the brink of insanity. “Awesome,” he grunted, reaching for them. The doctor put a hoof on his shoulder and gently forced him back down. “Those boots aren’t going anywhere, Mr. Spriggs. Please, just relax.” Feathersong spoke. It was the first time I had heard her speak. “Do as you are told,” she scolded. He gave her a look. “Lady, that sums up this hell since I got on this world. I haven’t been able to do much for myself. Everything everybody else wants me to do. Right now, I want to put my goddamn boots on. Pumpkin, take Bitey, will you?” “I refuse to call him Bitey,” I groused. “Come here, little guy I promise to find a better name for.” I beckoned him with a hoof. The colt happily slid from Daddy’s stomach and bounded to me, chirping loudly. He wanted to please me. Oh, crap, I’m a queen now, aren’t I? I don’t wanna be a queen! I wanna be Chryssie! I don’t wanna be Queen Chrysalis! I wanna be Daddy’s little pumpkin! My rump fell to the ground as the realization struck me. Bitey simply latched on to one of my front legs, making happy sounds. Daddy grunted his way to a sitting position, dusted off his feet and began pulling the socks out of the boots. As he shod his feet, I was still turning over my slow realization of what I had been called by a changeling I never knew to be my sister. So much to take in! “Tabitha?” I looked up and saw Daddy looking with firm line of determination in his face. He finished lacing up his boots and wrapped his arms around his knees. “Tabitha!” he called again, louder this time. “Mr. Spriggs, you are in no condition—” insisted the doctor before Daddy reached over and put his hand over his muzzle. “Is your name Tabitha? No? Shut it.” “Mr. Spriggs, please,” insisted Feathersong. “You just tried to harm yourself. I don’t think it’s a very good idea for you to continue stressing yourself.” “Right sex. Getting warmer.” Daddy gave her a snarky glare, then looked past her. “Tabitha! I just have one question for you, dammit!” Both ponies looked pleadingly at Luna. She merely shrugged and motioned with her head for them to back off. Warily she watched Daddy, fully aware he had tried to kill himself. Craning my neck during the commotion, I could see she was startled at his voice and the name. She had done little to approach him. I could clearly make out Daddy’s anger and confusion, but there was something else: curiosity and a desperate hope. “Where is my daughter?” Fleur drifted in like a ghost, nudging me to move from my father quietly. “Let us give them time. We shall not go too far, oui?” I nodded mutely, gathering up Bi— You know what? Screw that moronic name Homer Simpson gave an opossum. “Alexander,” I said to the changeling nymph. He looked up at me. “I name you Alexander.” The newly minted cutie bug chirped at me happily as I scooped him up with a hoof and set him on my back. “Daddy, I’m going with Fleur. Call me if you need anything,” I said, throwing icy daggers at the bigger queen...and apparently my sister. His fingers brushed against my shoulder in reassurance and Fleur whispered something into his ear. Daddy blinked, gave her a look of confusion and a single, hesitant nod. Luna, I noticed, was some distance away and talking to some guard officers and Quint Orca. She paused in what she was doing and gave Daddy her attention. The alicorn excused herself from the group and moved to meet Fleur. Feathersong and the doctor stayed very close to him, watching him like a pair of hawks. He was on suicide watch. Queen Felu’s form again flashed green after she spent some time regarding the man she had just moments ago claimed as her consort. The human form once more emerged from the green flame with downcast eyes and fidgeting hands. Her clothing had to be an illusion spell. As a human, she was a few inches shorter than Daddy. She was pretty in a natural way, I guess. She was perky, but not big. Smallish, but with good muscle tone. Felu had played on Daddy’s preferences when it came to human females. Even though he had proclaimed his hatred for her, I felt a stirring from him that could only be described as lustful. It was the grossest thing I had ever felt come from him when it came in regards to a changeling that had basically driven him to the brink of madness. Darkly, I growled under my breath unintelligible words. Even when I changed into a human girl for Daddy last year, I went with what I wanted to look like, not what he wanted in a daughter. She was trying to get into his good graces. She had a long way to go down that hellish road before he would even blink neutrally at her. I was going to do my damnedest to make sure it was going to be harder than that. “What does she want with him, anyway?” I complained to nobody in particular. Alexander chirruped my mood. His little perforated hooves encircled my shoulders and neck as he pressed into the back of my neck through my mane. “A guilty conscience can strike even the hearts of the most powerful of monarchs,” replied Luna mysteriously. She sighed sadly, looking at the human and the transformed queen with the eyes of an oracle. “They have a little one to discuss, do they not?” “Crystal. He had a little girl named Crystal.” I did the math between the two worlds, pausing briefly as I tilted my head slightly in consideration. “She’s four years old here, I think. Maybe five.” The very idea had me reeling. I could only imagine what was going through my daddy’s battered mind. The fact he had gone from weeping like a child just told his mother had died to a man seemingly in full control of himself. I knew better. “Sheer stubbornness,” remarked Fleur de Lis as she turned and looked at the awkward meeting at the stretcher. “I do not think the human is capable of understanding the meaning of self defeat. Ma Emeraude has kept his madness at bay, I think.” “Perhaps,” Luna agreed, giving me a smile. “It is said the stronger a queen’s mind, the better those who partake in her hive can prevail in the worst of times.” Her interest shifted. “Chrysalis, what do you know of this daughter your father has with this other queen?” Shaking my head, I replied, “Not much, really. Sorry.” Alexander climbed up my neck and draped himself between my ears, making funny clicking sounds at Luna. “Behold, my mighty army,” I giggled, rolling my eyes up at him. He sneezed twice, riled up for a third go and decided to let out a mighty little yawn instead. It was a nice distraction from the tension building. “He seemed attached to Mr. Spriggs,” observed Luna as she smiled at the little guy. She was worried about her sister. “I think Daddy fed him love. Anisophira either asked him or forced him to do that.” “Humans are very emotional creatures,” Fleur said. “I have unfounded suspicions in regards to the very sickly queen and her reasons for taking him, but I suspect her focus is indeed the well-being of her foals. There are a goodly number of them wounded from what I have seen, les chéris malchanceux.” She was right. There was a ton of the little nymphs that had to be carried. The sounds they made was pitiful and heartbreaking. Luna wickered sorrowfully. “I will see what I can do to help. I did not anticipate so many injured. They need aid. Let us go to them and do what we can to offer succor and comfort.” I shook my head. “I can’t leave them alone!” I cried, glaring at the humanized bitch. Alexander echoed my sentiment with a raspy hiss and buzz of his wings. “She means him no harm,” Luna ascertained firmly. “He is forcing himself to confront her. Mr. Spriggs should be an emotional storm, yet his control is astounding.” “He’s leaning on me,” I said. “I’ve always supported his mind with my own. I take his pain and give him my calm. I keep him from falling apart. I always have.” No ex girlfriend is going to wreck my Daddy’s mind. But they had a kid together. What does Crystal look like? She’s a half human, half changeling, right? Is she weird? Does she do strange things? Can she walk on walls? “I always will for as long as he needs me. I still need him. His daughter needs him.” Luna paused in consideration, then nodded. “This is an interesting development. If there is a hybrid child between the two of them...most interesting indeed. I can understand the conflict, I think.” Pity etched across her flawless face. “What I cannot understand is the bond between the two of you. You are a changeling. He is a human. Two vastly different minds able to connect and support each other.” Wordlessly I turned my head and regarded Felu...Tabitha. “She changed him. I think she did, anyway. I don’t like it. She’s done nothing but hurt him.” Daddy was filled with barely restrained anger. His lips moved carefully. Clearly the words forming in his mind were screened, put through the tortures of American customs agents, before taking the journey to his tongue and coming out as speech. A vein in his forehead throbbed and his eyes were as hard as diamonds. Felu had folded her legs demurely beneath her and sat on her heels, her hands folded neatly on her lap. She would not look at him, instead focusing on the ground between them. When she spoke, her words were quiet and meek. Felu would on occasion be the one asking a question, her eyes darting up long enough for the question to escape her lips before falling back down. “Anything from Princess Celestia?” I asked, wanting to not think of Felu and how she had Daddy wrapped around her hoof for a long time before I fell into his care. Luna was silent, looking off into the horizon. “Not yet,” she answered a few seconds later. “We can only communicate between each other in our minds to a certain distance. I should be able to hear a faint whisper from her, an acknowledgement of her presence, at least. I sense nothing.” She shook her head. “Come. Let us follow Lady Fleur’s suggestion and lend our aid.” “What about that Shield pegasus? He’s just sitting off to the side looking smug with himself.” I indicated him as he sat alone, watching the queen and Daddy discussing whatever. “He is dangerous, but seems content to wait. I will be watching him closely.” Luna snorted derisively. “The Empress needs him. He is far older than he should be. His magic is not fully pegasi. He’s been changed. It’s all a game to him.” If it was possible, her fur shifted to a darker blue, like midnight. “No, he has another purpose.” “What do you think it is?” “He said it himself. He is a distraction. I fear something is amiss.” “What about Daddy and...her?” About then, Daddy was being pushed onto the stretcher by a pair of ponies while the doctor quietly spoke to him with pleading urgency. Felu kept starting at the ground, listless. Daddy reluctantly lay down, glaring spitefully at the pseudo human. “They will be fine,” said the white unicorn, shifting in her pale armor. “Let them be. Mr. Spriggs still loves her, I think. A strange love. He is the master, not the queen.” I think Fleur de Lis was jealous. Wait… What?!?!