Chrysalis whined just softly in the back of her throat as she tilted her mug up and held it for several long seconds. She allowed the very last dribble of the now-cold liquid to seep onto her tongue and fill her mouth with the odd, utterly heavenly taste. And then it was all gone. She sighed faintly and laid the cup aside.
She couldn’t harm Evergreen now. Oh no; he would have a special place at her table—or rather, a special place by her side—as her personal chef. It would be so fun to break him down to the point where he was a simpering fool for her, a slave to her every whim, begging up at her with that drawling accent of his: ‘Ah’ll do anythin’ fer yer, Princess’.
A dreamy sigh left the Changeling Queen as she stared into the embers of the fire. It was morning proper now. The cold had seeped from the air, replaced by a gentle warmth. At least, inside the cottage it was warm. A hoof against the window pane said that it was still cold outside. It would be cold all day, if she were any judge. The wet ground was sapping the warmth from the air, and the scattered cloud cover still muted the sun’s warming rays.
Evergreen obviously concurred with Chrysalis’ appraisal. He was pulling on his jacket as he collected a sack, stuffing several jars and vials inside as he moved towards the door.
“Ah’ll be back,” Evergreen shot over his shoulder.
“How long will you be gone?” Chrysalis asked lazily.
“Ah should be back ‘afore sundown,” Evergreen said with a wave of a hoof. And with that, he opened the door and stepped out into the cooler morning air..
The cottage door slammed as Chrysalis bounded out it and shoved it closed behind her, running after him.
“I’m coming!” Chrysalis stated, her eyes wide. without pause, she snatched the sack from his back and then threw it over her shoulder.
“I’ll carry all your stuff and I won’t slow you down. I promise,” Chrysalis simpered, batting her eyelashes. “I’m really interested in what you—”
“Ahkay,” Evergreen said with a single blink at the unicorn, continuing down the path, unconcerned. Chrysalis was careful not to jostle the contents of the sack, lest she break any of it, while still doing her best to explain her motivations to him.
“—do for a living, and I’ve gotta pay you back for being so nice to me someh—...Wait, what?” she asked, blinking at him as her mind caught up to her mouth.
“Ah said ahkay,” Evergreen said with a slight shrug. “Just try not ta lag behind. Ah gotta go to Ponyville during the trek and buy some stuff.
“Is Ponyville far?” Chrysalis asked curiously. With all of the staggering around during the storm, she didn’t even know the general direction of Ponyville, let alone the distance.
“It’s ah few hours walk,” Evergreen stated, pointing his hoof off into the distance,towards a smoke plume rising above the trees. “That’s Ponyville there. But we gotta walk the long way round. All the best herbs ah found on the game trails.”
“I’ll try not to slow you down,” Chrysalis said with a determined nod. She couldn’t let him get too far away from her. She didn’t want to fade away into the darkness while he was off picking flowers. Ugh. And he was going to Ponyville! She could give him the slip, find a nice couple she could leech from for a few days, and then get out of Equestria before the Royal Guard tracked her down.
She would pay a visit to the oaf’s cottage before she left though, once she had her energies back. She knew a few spells to make him pliant, and she had to learn how he made that wondrous brew. Maybe she would even take him with her to turn him into her faithful slave.
Chrysalis fantasized about it for a few more moments as they walked, letting her mind fill with images of Evergreen bowing to her, catering to her every whim, teaching her how to make his divine beverage and lying besides a roaring fire with him so she could have her every problem soothed.
Chrysalis was brought back to earth by bumping into Evergreen’s flank as he paused in front of a tree to lean down and inspect a patch of moss. She scowled as the contents of the sack jostled, “Warn me before you just stop!”
“Ah told yer three times that Ah wanted to look at the tree. But yer were off in yer fantasyland dreamin’ bout hoof polishes and horn filing,” Evergreen said flatly.
“Then you should have spoken louder.” Chrysalis growled.
“Ah need a vial,” Evergreen said flatly, holding out a hoof.
Chrysalis blinked, and then realised that he wanted something from out of the sack. She was about to reach back and open it with her magic, before she remembered her vulnerability and turned her head towards the sack instead. She reached in and tugged out a vial with her mouth, holding it out for him.
Evergreen took the vial from her, scooped some of the moss into it. he inspected it inside the vial, and then stoppered it back up, handing it to her.
“So... What is that moss for?” Chrysalis queried.
“Ah dunno,” Evergreen responded in a completely transparent way.
Chrysalis gave an exasperated sound, “Then... Why did you collect it?”
“Because Ah dunno what it does. Haven’t yer ever been curious as ta how things work?” Evergreen asked, skirting around the tree and continuing down the path.
“Of course I have,” Chrysalis answered, her head canting to the side as she followed after him. The path was muddy, but the sun was beginning to dry it out and they skirted the worst of the puddles. “But... I generally just pulled it all apart to see how it worked.”
“And that’s what Ah’m doing,” Evergreen said with a faint smile back at Chrysalis. “Ah’m collecting the stuff, and seeing what it does.”
“But... it’s just... moss,” Chrysalis said, bewildered, frowning. His actions were intriguing, but his explanations and his godawful accent did little to explain what he was actually doing.
“Yer’ve been sick before, right?” Evergreen asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I have,” Chrysalis admitted defensively, not knowing where the woodspony was going with this line of questioning.
“And yer were told ter take pills fer it, yeah?” Evergreen continued.
Chrysalis cast her mind back to the few times she had been forced to take medication, “Uhm... Yeah. They tasted horrible.”
“Well them there pills were fungus,” Evergreen stated with a wise nod.
“Ugh. No wonder they tasted horrible!” Chrysalis shuddered.
“Yeah, but yer gotta wonder... How did the ponies way back when figure out ter eat that fungus when yer are sick?” Evergreen asked, pointedly pricking an ear back at chrysalis.
He was going to make her say it, wasn’t he?
A silence stretched out between them and Chrysalis sighed faintly, shaking her head. “Experimenting.”
The stallion grinned “See? Yer already knew the answer all along. and that’s why I experiment. Never know if some fungus or flower I find will be a cure to some malady that plagues ponies.”
“But... What’s the point?” Chrysalis asked after a few moments. “I very much doubt that the ponies who invented those horrid tablets benefited very much from their efforts.”
“Benefited?” Evergreen asked, sounding confused. “Whatcher talking ‘bout?”
“Well... Those ponies. They created this medicine, or discovered it... But then what? What did they gain from sharing that secret with every pony they know?” Chrysalis queried, as Evergreen paused besides a flower. Wordlessly, she dug out a jar for him to take the entire flower and place inside.
“That’s not the point, innit?” Evergreen said with a shake of his head. his tone turned accusing as he continued, “Wot kind er selfish thing to say is that? If yer knew about a secret medicine, you’d share it with everypony, wouldn’t yer?”
Chrysalis blinked. Honestly... she would have to say ‘no.’ It just wouldn’t cross her mind to share such a valuable secret unless there was something in it for her. But then she took to heart that he was a pony, talking about other ponies. If she knew of a medicine to ease the pain of her changeling army, would she share it with them? Definitely. In an instant.
Frowning slightly, Chrysalis shook her head, rubbing a hoof against her forehead.
“That was a stupid question,” Chrysalis covered, taking the jar back and placing it in the sack. “I beg your forgiveness. I am merely tired.”
“Well that’s no reason fer yer to be saying such selfish things,” Evergreen said with a frown. “Yer mother done raised you wrong if you really think that.”
“I... didn’t spend a whole lot of time with my mother,” Chrysalis replied—truthfully, in fact. Her first years had been spent in the lair of the former Queen of the Changelings. Her mother’s love had sustained Chrysalis, but eventually that love had withered away to nothingness, and she had been forced to fend for herself.
“That’d explain some things, alright,” the earth pony said with a short nod at her, frowning a moment. “Come this way. Ah got a special stash over here that likes the rain.”
Chrysalis plodded after Evergreen as he lead her off the path, stepping carelessly through the mud. Chrysalis quite enjoyed the feel of the mud on her hooves. The squishy sensation was rather soothing, and it would give her a reason to have a nice warm bath when they returned to the cottage.
Evergreen paused at a tree, and cast his gaze about. He slinked around the tree and and then pushed aside a palm frond covering a grouping of violently purple flowers.
“Yer don’t want ter touch these at all. And yer don’t want ter let any of the pollen git in yer eyes,” Evergreen said grimly, motioning for her to hand him a jar.
Blinking slightly at the plant, Chrysalis pulled out a jar for him, placing it into his hoof.
Chrysalis watched as, with infinite care, he pressed the bottle over the flower and then began to ease the lid onto it, very, very carefully. With a deft twist of his hoof, he snapped the stem of the plant and then screwed the lid on. When the delicate procedure was done, he wiped the mouth and lid of the jar off with a broad leaf.
Evergreen held the glass jar up in front of her, shaking it slightly. A golden powder floated from the centre of the purple flower, filling the enclosed space.
“Niteshade. Very nasty stuff,” Evergreen stated grimly, “One sniff of this plant’ll put yer in a coma for a week.”
Chrysalis blinked. “Why would you collect such a dangerous flower?”
“It’s worth twenty bits a petal,” Evergreen stated with a smile
Chrysalis blinked once more, and then leaned past him, to look at the crop of flowers, her tone bewildered as she asked, “...Why don’t you take more? That’s quite a lot of bits value in that little bunch.”
“It’s a matter of enterprise, see?” Evergreen raised an eyebrow at her.
“Enterprise?” Chrysalis asked doubtfully, rolling her eyes at him. “I doubt you’d understand how to haggle, let alone work enterprise.”
“Well lookit it this way: Ah can pick all the flowers right now, an Ah’ll get a pretty sum of bits, yeah?” he asked, raising a brow at her.
Chrysalis nodded eagerly at his words.
“And ah would kill the plant doing so. Or, ah could sell one flower every time it rains and not kill the plant itself by doing so, and earn a much larger amount of bits over a period of time,” Evergreen pointed out.
“That... Makes far too much sense,” Chrysalis admitted, a little bit chagrined.
“Told yer so,” Evergreen said with a sly grin, passing Chrysalis the jar so she could place it in the sack. “But yer gotta be careful with that there plant. Yer smash the glass, and yer’ll be in a lot of trouble.”
Chrysalis gingerly took the ja, peering at its contents for a long moment, her eyes narrowing. It really was a pretty flower—beautiful, but deadly. It reminded her of herself.
Carefully placing the jar back in the sack, chrysalis plodded after Evergreen as he moved back towards the path, moving onwards towards Ponyville.
The two ponies made their way onto the main street of Ponyville, heading directly towards the alchemical stores, laden with goods. Evergreen had made quite a few nice finds along the path, traveling a route he obviously knew well. The storms also had helped, bringing out a series of rare flowers that needed fresh rain to flourish. Such flowers were rare at best, given that the required events for their growth were so intermittent. Evergreen was confident he would make a good deal of money from the gathered herbs and plants.
Chrysalis passed off the sack of goods to Evergreen as they reached the front door of the alchemists store. She looked about with a curious gaze. It was a different kind of store to the ones she was used to in Canterlot. There was no lace or streamers, no silverware or shiny surfaces. It was dusty and gloomy, and a unicorn in a dapper suit and a pair of glasses was standing over a cauldron boiling green liquids that he was stirring slowly with a large wooden spoon.
“Ah, Evergreen. I have been expecting you,” the shopkeeper said with a warm smile, moving from the cauldron over to the counter.
“Yea. Was a good rain storm,” Evergreen said with a nod.
“And you have an apprentice?” the unicorn asked, an ear perking at Chrysalis.
For the first time in a very, very long while, Chrysalis felt self-conscious. Her hooves were muddied, and her mane was tussled from not having a brush anywhere near it for a full day now. She shifted nervously under the appraising stare.
“In a manner o’ speaking,” Evergreen said with an incline of his head, pulling out the jars and phials of valuable herbs and flowers he had collected.
“Ah. The niteshade,” the unicorn said, giving a slow grin. “I’m afraid I am overstocked. I cannot buy it.”
Evergreen winced slightly, shaking his head a moment. “Ain’t even the season fer em, either, sure yer can’t take it?”
“Well... I can’t give you full price for it, sir. Perhaps... Eight bits?” the shopkeeper offered. “I do not wish to see such a specimen wilt on your shelves.”
The stallion winced again, and then asked hopefully, “Yer can’t go ter ten?”
The storekeeper took a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh.
“I...suppose I can,” the shopkeeper said begrudgingly, shaking his head and taking the jar, offering ten bits in return for it. “I’m sure you can garner your other goods for sale at the other stores.”
Evergreen nodded and took the bits. His expression was unhappy as he turned and headed for the door, to try his luck with the other stores.
Chrysalis lagged behind, letting Evergreen leave the store before she moved over towards the counter.
“You know... I think I might like to try this negotiating stuff,” Chrysalis said with a sly wink at the shopkeeper.
The unicorn raised a brow, smiling at her slightly. “Indeed?”
“I have a proposal for you,” Chrysalis said in her sweetest tone, reaching over to the jar containing the niteshade and holding it up, shaking it slightly to let the pollen inside it swirl visibly.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Chrysalis asked suddenly.
The shopkeeper paused for a moment, unsure what to make of what she was doing, and an ear perked. “Indeed. But it is not the beauty that an alchemist seeks.”
“Oh, but the beauty has bearing on this situation,” Chrysalis sing-songed, a cheery smile on her face, “Because it is often the most beautiful of all things in the world that are most dangerous. Celestia and Luna for example. They are both very attractive and comely. But to anger them is to know fear.”
“Indeed,” the shopkeeper said, taking the jar from her hooves and placing it on the counter where it was safe. “But I still fail to see your point from a business standpoint.”
“Ohhh, but I’m getting to that!” she said with a silly little wiggle of her hoof at him. She began to slowly pace back and forth in front of the counter, before turning to him and batting her eyelashes, tossing her mane in a way she knew stallions liked. “I am quite beautiful, don’t you think?”
A thoughtful sound left the shopkeeper. He nodded. “I believe so.”
“Very good,” Chrysalis replied with a smile, placing her hooves up on the counter and scooping up the jar of Niteshade again.
“Now... I know two things,” Chrysalis husked, her tone growing quiet and low...
The shopkeeper leaned a little bit closer to her as she lowered her voice.
A hoof came up to gently play with the shopkeepers tie for a moment, tugging gently at it in a playful fashion. Chrysalis giggled and leaned in closer, brushing her nose past his own so she could lean past, eyes closed, to whisper into his ear: “I know you don’t have jars of Niteshade under the counter, that you lied to Evergreen when you said you were overstocked. As a rather accomplished liar myself, I’ve grown competent in spotting it in others, and you, sir, are lying through your teeth.”
Chrysalis’s tone was as sweet as fresh honey, but there was something dangerous in her cheery smile and tone, and the shopkeeper noticed it. His eyes widened, and he tried to scrabble away from her, but her grip on his tie tightened, holding him in place. Her eyes slowly opened, narrowing on the shopkeeper’s own, locking him in her powerful gaze.
“And the other thing I know,” Chrysalis whispered oh-so-softly, “Is that if you don’t pay Evergreen the extra ten bits you owe him, then you will be searching every single meal you ever eat again for traces of niteshade.”
Chrysalis’ tone turned vehement, lightning flashing in her eyes. She lifted the jar of Niteshade in her hoof and shook it in front of the shopkeepers eyes threateningly. “I will destroy you,”
The shopkeeper swallowed hard, squirming and trying to get away from the suddenly-vicious unicorn. His eyes widening and faint gasps left him as Chrysalis’ grip on his tie tightened further, beginning to constrict his airways.
“I will take everything you ever loved... and crush it,” Chrysalis crooned, in her lowest, most serious tone. “I will make you suffer in ways you cannot even fathom, until you’re praying to Celestia that I put niteshade in your next meal just to end my torture over you.”
The pressure on the shopkeepers throat lessened as Chrysalis released the tie. Calmly, she began to gently pat down his lapels, making them nice and neat.
“Am I a good negotiator?” Chrysalis asked, her tone back to normal, grinning at him sweetly.
The shopkeeper wordlessly reached over to the till, pulled out ten bits, and placed them in her hoof. His own hoof was shaking violently, and he immediately began to back away from the counter slowly, away from her.
“I knew you’d see it my way!” Chrysalis said with a smile, saluting him with a hoof playfully. She scooped up the extra bits, and then turned to the door, pushin out of it and onto the street.
Evergreen had just noticed her absence and was looking for her, spying her coming out of the store. “C’mon, Cee. Can’t dawdle here. Gotta sell my stuff, and ah can’t afford to be looking around for yer if yer loitering in some dinky old store.”
There was a flicker of movement from behind her as the storekeeper flipped the sign over to ‘closed’. The lock clicked as it was engaged, and then there was the thud of hurried hoofbeats receding from the doorway as the shopkeeper retreated to one of his back rooms. The changeling hid a smile.
With a sly grin, Chrysalis presented the pouch of bits to Evergreen. “I’m earning my keep.”
The stallion blinked and peered down at the pouch, before asking suspiciously, “How’d yer get hold of these? Yer didn’t steal them, did yer?”
“I’m a good negotiator,” Chrysalis said cryptically, giving Evergreen a wan smile.
Evergreen stared down at the pouch of coins for a moment, and shook his head slowly. “Yer full’er surprises, too.”
Chrysalis felt the bond between them grow in strength and smiled. Even if she didn’t find a couple to latch on to today, she was now getting more than enough energy from Evergreen to sustain her. Maybe even enough to get her magic working again.
The Queen of the Changelings grinned as she fell into step beside the stallion, following him as he went about his daily business.