Slash Lyric watched her companion, the mighty Midnight Strike, soar through the air, tossed aloft by a vicious attack from the massive armored bulette they were fighting. Midnight twisted in midair, managing to land on her hooves despite the velocity of her trajectory. Her legs buckled beneath her and she tumbled to the ground. The massive armored creature then turned to Slash and broke into a charge.
Slash tensed, raising her longsword in preparation. The bulette didn’t get far; it was stopped short as Jade Thunderbuck bull-rushed it from the side and took a mighty swing with her warhammer. The heavy weapon impacted with the dull sound of metal on metal, and part of the bulette’s iron-hard shell caved in under the blow. The creature shrieked its discomfort and rounded on Jade, hissing menacingly. Jade roared back, much louder than her foe.
Taking advantage of the bulette’s distraction, Slash rushed the beast. Carrying her sword before her, she rammed it at a chink in the armor. The blade missed its target by mere inches, ricocheting off the armor and sending sparks into the air. Cursing, Slash pivoted out of range and waited for the beast to move.
Several meters to her right, Angelic Whisper bent over the crumpled form of Midnight Strike and placed a hoof between her eyes. She closed her eyes and muttered something unintelligible. A rose-colored glow emanated from where she made contact with Midnight, spreading from Angelic to the fallen fighter. Midnight’s heavy breathing eased and some of her bruises and cuts started to fade.
Hovering above, Firefly launched a volley of flaming arrows from her bow into the gaggle of animated skeletons that was slowly shambling towards Angelic and Midnight. The skeletons barely heeded the attack, continuing their march as though nothing had happened. Frustrated, Firefly shouted a curse in some language that Slash didn’t understand at the bulette. The skeletons seemed to pause for a brief moment, then continued their march.
Midnight brushed Angelic's hooves away and hauled herself upright. Sword grasped in her teeth, she charged at the skeletons. The reanimated piles of bones payed her no mind; their gaze was firmly affixed on Angelic. The one she accosted barely turned its head when Midnight’s blade ripped cleanly through its spine. In a continuation of the movement, she whirled and drive her blade across another’s legs. Both skeletons crumbled to bones, lifeless. The two who remained slowly turned to Midnight, bones rattling threateningly.
Behind her, Slash heard the sound of a tussle as the bulette leaped on top of Jade, pinning her to the ground. The beast lunged at Jade with its toothy maw; Jade rolled side to side as best as she could with the massive forelegs pinning her down.
Slash briefly closed her eyes, focusing. Her twisted horn ignited with venomous green eldritch energy and sent an undulating beam of fire at the two remaining skeletons. Both were buffeted by the wave, one crumbling under the onslaught. The other stayed standing, but looked to be inches away from collapsing itself.
As the skeleton turned to hiss at Slash, an arrow exploded through the back of its skull. Firefly dropped from the sky and alighted next to Slash, already nocking another arrow in her bow. She swiveled and fired a shot at the bulette, whose armor plating deflected it effortlessly.
At that point, a huge umber hulk dropped from the ceiling in front of Angelic, and . . .
“Wait, what’s an umber hulk?”
Twilight stopped mid-sentence. She looked to Rainbow Dash, who was regarding her confusedly. “It’s pretty much like a big, apelike bug.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Good enough for me. Can I put an arrow in it?”
“It’s not your turn.”
“I still have one more attack!”
“No, you used it on the bulette.”
“Wait,” Cadance interjected. “I think we skipped me.”
“Did we?” Twilight said. She looked down at her notes. “Initiative order . . . yeah, Angelic goes after Slash. Firefly is at the top of the round.”
“Okay . . .” Cadance flipped through her spell sheet. “Who needs healing?”
“I’m hurting a little,” Rarity said.
“Then I’ll give Jade a Cure Wounds at . . . second level.”
“Thank you very much, Angelic.”
“Alright, is that your turn?” Twilight asked.
“Uh . . . sure,” Cadance said. “Not much else I can really do.”
“You do have an umber hulk breathing down your neck.”
“Oh yeah! Then I’d like to take a swipe at it.”
“Roll a melee attack.”
A twenty-sided die clattered on the table in front of Cadance. She looked between the result on the die and her character sheet. “Twelve?” she asked hopefully.
“Nope, not quite. The umber hulk dodges to the side and your mace whiffs.”
Rainbow snorted. “Twelve?”
“Hey, I’m a healer, not a fighter,” Cadance protested. “Don’t forget who saved your life two encounters ago from those necromancers.”
“Next up is Midnight,” Chrysalis interrupted, eager to get on with the action. Cadance regarded her curiously, a look that Chrysalis determinedly avoided. Instead, she reached across the table to grab a few stalks of celery from the platter Rarity had set out.
“Alrighty then!” Applejack said. “Can I get to that umber-whatsit an’ attack?”
Twilight counted out the grid squares in between the two figurines, mouthing the numbers as she went. “Uh . . . yes, you can just make it.”
“Then that’s what ah do.”
“Roll an attack.”
After a drawn-out, heated battle, both the bulette and the umber hulk were finally felled. Slash tugged her sword from the unmoving corpse of the umber hulk and flicked the tar-like blood off the blade. Several meters to her left, she saw Firefly climb atop the bulette’s body, with Jade and Midnight standing close by. Angelic had knelt and was speaking quickly under her breath, eyes closed, communing with her goddess. Slash strode over to them.
The party gathered together, battered, bruised, and bloodied, but not broken. The carcasses of their foes laid at their hooves. Triumphant words were exchanged, cries of jubilee rang out through the cave, but the brief victory was not to last.
A dark tunnel loomed ahead, foreboding yet inviting. A faint wind caressed their hair. The faint smell of mildew and rot permeated the air. The party pressed forward, the promise of riches and glory hastening their step.
“And I think that’s where we’ll end it tonight,” Twilight announced.
A disappointed cry sounded around the table, one that Chrysalis joined in on. Rainbow pounded the table with her hoof, causing dice to bounce and figurines to topple. “C’mon! Can’t we at least get into the Underdark before you call it?”
“Or at least have a short rest?” Rarity added.
“You guys had five encounters, that was a really long session,” Twilight protested. “I should have ended it an hour ago.”
“I thought it was a good place to end, Twilight,” Cadance said. “Very dramatic.”
“Thank you, Cadance,” Twilight said. She leaned back, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. After a pause, she opened her eyes and her horn lit up, beginning to sweep dice into a bag. “Good session, you guys. That turned out to be way more exciting than I thought it’d be.”
“Mostly ‘cause we got ourselves a saboteur in the party,” Applejack said. “How many innocent merchants do yeh think you offed today, Prism?”
“It was only three,” Chrysalis said. “And you don’t technically know that I did, may I remind you.”
The group, laughing, began gathering up their supplies, packing away papers, dice, and miniatures. Twilight provided Chrysalis with a binder in which to keep all of her sheets.
“This means you’re coming next time, right?” Twilight asked hopefully. “Are you free next Friday?”
Chrysalis looked to Cadance, who shrugged. “I . . . I think so.”
Twilight beamed. “Fantastic! And Shining will be back by then?”
“I’m not sure, Twilight,” Cadance said. “Let’s just say a lot of things have to go right if Shining is going to be back in time.” Twilight’s smile faded a little, and Cadance quickly added, “But I’ll talk to him, see when he thinks he’ll be back.”
Chrysalis had almost forgotten that it was because of her presence here that Shining wasn’t able to make it to game night. She felt something almost like . . . shame? Is that what shame felt like? Twilight’s crestfallen face, pouty lips and downcast eyes . . . her lavender aura flickering ever so slightly. Chrysalis felt sorry for her. However, Twilight cheered up quickly, and the bad feelings passed.
The assembled players slowly filed out of Twilight’s house, talking amongst themselves, recounting the adventures they’d shared. Cadance and Chrysalis were the last ones to exit, with Twilight following them to the door and waving to her departing friends.
As they walked, Chrysalis played over the game in her head, reliving some of the more memorable moments over and over. Like when Firefly had coerced the city guard into letting them into the catacombs by convincing them that she was with pest control. Or when Angelic argued theology with that stuck-up priest of Lathander. Or when Slash dealt the final, decisive blow on that umber hulk.
“You seem to be in a good mood,” Cadance commented.
“Am not,” Chrysalis replied automatically.
“Are too. You were just smiling to yourself. Whatcha thinking about?”
“Nothing. And I wasn’t smiling.”
“Really? Then what do you call it when your lips turn up like that?”
“I wasn’t doing that. It’s dark, your eyes are playing tricks on you.”
“Suit yourself.” Cadance nudged Chrysalis playfully.
Chrysalis spent the rest of the walk in silence, despite Cadance’s persistent attempts to make conversation. Her guard was slipping, though; she almost responded several times, instead of her customary icy silence. She found herself wanting to talk, to speak her mind for once. But she wouldn’t allow herself to. Opening her mouth would be an admission of defeat.
It had been a very long day. One that Chrysalis was ready to be done with. But when she collapsed into bed, dropping Prism Brush’s form and retaking her normal long-limbed splendor, she found herself as awake as she’d been hours previous. Chrysalis stared unseeing at the ceiling, her eyes automatically following a spider as it made its way across the wooden slats.
Chrysalis was horribly confused.
Changeling biology dictated that a member of the species could not feel love, or any emotion within that spectrum. Friendship, comradery, affection, harmony. All impossible concepts for a Changeling. And yet . . .
Chrysalis admired Cadance’s friends. They were accepting, friendly, and uproariously funny. They didn’t hesitate to invite a stranger to their game. Even if Chrysalis hadn’t been disguised as an adorable little unicorn, she imagined the end result wouldn’t have been too different. Twilight would have bent over backward to accommodate her if Cadance had just said the word.
Chrysalis had always scoffed at the Equestrians’ constant drivel about “the magic of friendship”. Such a thing had always been so ridiculous, so foreign. Chrysalis had dismissed it because it was something she didn’t understand. But now . . . Chrysalis felt a spark of something that a member of her species had never felt before. Friendship.
The silence and stillness became too much. Chrysalis levered herself out of bed and strode to the door. A light still shone from the crack beneath the door. Chrysalis shouldered it open and went out into the hall. Ahead, Cadance laid on the couch, a quill hovering next to her head and a roll of parchment spread out in front of her. A mug of something steaming sat on the coffee table, releasing the aroma of something minty. She hadn’t noticed Chrysalis.
“Cadance,” Chrysalis said in a low tone, announcing her presence.
Cadance looked up. The quill dropped from the air, puncturing the parchment and falling over. “Hi Chrysalis. Couldn't sleep?”
Chrysalis didn’t respond. She wasn’t sure what to say. She opened and closed her mouth several times, thinking better of what she was about to say each time. Frustrated, she exhaled heavily through her nose. She needed to get this off her chest.
“Would you like to sit down?”
Chrysalis complied, lowering herself into the armchair across from Cadance’s couch. She didn’t meet Cadance’s gaze.
“What’s up?” Cadance blew gently on the letter she’d been writing to dry the ink and rolled up the parchment, setting it aside to devote her full attention to Chrysalis.
“I . . .” Chrysalis closed her mouth firmly again. Cadance gave her a questioning look. “I like your friends.”
Cadance’s face bloomed into a rhapsodic smile. The brilliant golden aura that surrounded her pulsed, doubling in size. “Chrysalis! That’s fantastic!”
“No,” Chrysalis hurriedly added. “Cadance, you don’t understand, I like your friends. I’m a Changeling. That shouldn’t be possible.”
“What?”
“Changelings, we . . . we aren’t able to feel love, or friendship, or anything like that. The best we can do is consume it from others, but the true emotion of it . . . let’s just say that no Changeling has ever had a friend. We just evolved that way. But something happened to me . . . I don’t know how or what, but I’m . . . feeling. Cadance,” Chrysalis took a deep breath. “This is impossible, but I like your friends.”
Cadance looked on in stunned silence. Her eyebrows lowered and she tilted her head to the side. It was by far the most she’d heard Chrysalis speak at once. Chrysalis had never gotten personal. “Chrysalis, I . . . this is, um, really interesting. Do you have any idea what might have caused it?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Probably.” Chrysalis kneaded her forehead with her hooves. “I have no idea. Nothing makes sense anymore. I just know that whatever happened happened in the past couple days.”
“And you’ve been with me for the past couple days.” Cadance nodded in understanding. “Could it have been . . .” She paused, resting her chin on her hoof. “Maybe back when I first healed you? When you threw me across the room?”
Chrysalis pondered, looking up. “Possibly. Maybe a little bit of your essence got . . . stuck.”
“Stuck?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never consumed from an alicorn before. Setting aside the disgusting implications of that . . . it’s most likely what happened.”
“You mean, a little bit of me is inside you?”
“And is wreaking havoc on my brain’s chemistry, yes.”
“How come you didn’t notice it before?”
“I don’t think it happens instantly. It’s taken a while for whatever it is to fully assimilate. So now that it’s had time to settle, I’m only now noticing the effects.”
Cadance laughed breathlessly. “You’re so . . . analytical about all of this.”
“It’s just chemistry.” Chrysalis shrugged.
“So . . . how are you feeling?”
Chrysalis looked down at her hooves. Her vision swam, and she realized with terror that her eyes were filling with tears.
“I feel good.”