//------------------------------// // chapter five // Story: Changeling Heart and the New Moon // by ambion //------------------------------// Changeling Heart and the New Moon chapter five Chrysalis, Queen of changelings, used her magic to brush away fallen soil. The last echoes and shock waves still reverberated around her chamber. Compared to the opulence of Equestria, the dugout was especially spartan. Other than the dirt and the bed of living fungus there were only the three jewels, and those danced a slow waltz, weaving between one another in the clutches of her magic. “My Queen, you sent for me?” a small voice said softly from the doorway. Not that there was a door, as the changelings simply respected her privacy without issue. Regardless, or perhaps due to that, Surreal hesitated to step across the invisible threshold into the chamber. “I did. Now tell me, how is Luna?” The Queen motioned the little changeling forwards, but did not rise. “Mistress Luna is... um... adjusting.” Chrysalis gave her subject a flat stare. “Adjusting.” “Yes?” Surreal asserted with growing uncertainty. “So she found out how long she’s been here,” Chrysalis said, shaking a little more soil from her mane. “Every changeling and half of Equestria probably heard that little outburst. I didn’t think a princess would use words like those.” Surreal shuffled awkwardly on the spot. “She’s adjusting.” “Is she treating you alright?” Chrysalis asked softly, but somewhere in the kind words was a hooked barb. Surreal met the gaze of her Queen. “Yes.” “Don’t lie,” Chrysalis chided. Surreal’s green changeling eyes shot wide with an expression running from aghast to ashamed, but Chrysalis only smiled down at her. “I already know Luna flung you off the nearest ledge when you told her the truth.” Surreal drooped as if the stubbornness in her were a physical thing that had broken. “I’m so sorry, my Queen.” “As you should be for presuming to lie to me. But enough of that. Are you alright?” “Yes. I can fly well enough. I didn’t fall.” “That’s good to hear. Now-” Chrysalis tried to stand as she spoke, but a sharp wince of pain cut across her speech. “My Queen, you’re hurt!” “I’m fine,” she growled, but little Surreal was already going half frantic with worry and she skittered to the Queen of changelings’ side. The eggshell-like breaks running along Chrysalis’ hind leg made the little creature gasp with fright. “Please, my Queen!” the changeling pleaded. Chrysalis gazed into the wide trembling eyes of her strange little subject, chuckled, and let herself slump down again. “If it is so important to you... fine. Be done with it.” “My Queen,” Surreal said reverently, “thank you.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Just do it already.” The little changeling nodded eagerly, and leaned closely over the damage. For a second Surreal shut her eyes tightly and shuddered, then hiccupped. A steady stream of viscous green fluid began to flow from her mouth. The stuff was thick enough to be stretched and shaped between her fangs, which otherwise would more accurately have been called spinnerets. With a dab of her tongue, the goopy bandage was pressed into the fissures where it congealed and darkened. The Queen of changelings relaxed at the substance’s cool touch, while the mewling of the changeling at work were familiar sounds and made for a calming lullaby. Chrysalis sighed contentedly, enjoying the treatment too much and too assured of herself to be embarrassed. “You would have made a much better bridesmaid than those idiot ponies,” she crooned. “You fwatter me,” Surreal managed to say around the flow of fluid she worked into the cracks. “Of course I do. Be quiet and take the compliment.” “Yeth, your mazethty.” The way the little changeling could say it seriously made the Queen laugh. “That’s enough,” she managed to say after the chuckles. The changeling nodded eagerly and bit off the stream, then self-consciously coughed out the dregs of what she’d used. Chrysalis paid her no mind, instead opting to test her leg. She stood and it bore her weight without pain. Given a few days of ease, it’d be fine. Glad to be back on her hooves, the Queen flared her wings and stretched out her leg. “Our little moon certainly doesn’t do things by half. Tell me about her.” “My Queen? I’m not sure my opinion is worth-” “Just tell me your thoughts of her,” said Chrysalis impatiently. “Your opinion is worth whatever I say it’s worth, and right now I am saying it is worth my time. Speak.” Surreal’s head sunk low and she stared at the ground. “She scares me.” Chrysalis raised the little changeling’s chin with a hoof. “Of course she does. She tossed you off a cliff. That’s worse than I’ve ever done to one of my subjects, and she will be hearing about that, mark my words.” The Queen of changelings’ smiled her sharp toothed grin. “No, my Queen... that’s not what I meant.” “Oh?” “Being flung was a shock, but it’s not what she did that scares me. It’s who she is. Standing next to her is like standing under the night sky: the wind blows this way and that, I can’t see what it is that is so clear to feel. I don’t know what it means, or what it will bring.” Black, gray, and blue: the jewels stilled from their silent dancing. Chrysalis gazed into them and when she spoke it was as if from a distance, as if she spoke to them and Surreal was merely eavesdropping. “Yes. She’s like that.” The little warden shuffled nervously, but said nothing. Nor did she need to, for Chrysalis drifted out of her reverie with a soft chuckle. “Opportunity. Uncertainty. Change. That’s what she is. What she brings... Even what these jewels are, I suppose.” “My Queen? Wh-why me?” Surreal squeaked nervously. When Chrysalis eyes turned to her, Surreal could keep no thoughts secret if she had wanted to, and it all came gushing out. “I mean, there’s bigger and stronger and braver than me. There are changelings that have spent more time with ponies. If she really tried to do something... I wouldn’t be able to stop her at all, and I know that I’d have to do the right thing and try anyway.” “Shush, you,” the Queen said with softness and sternness in equal measure. Surreal gulped back her anxiety and struggled to master her emotions. She took a steadying moment to breath. “I just don’t understand why you chose me, my Queen. I fear I don’t live up to what you want of me.” “Do you trust me?” “Of course! With my life!” The Queen of changelings made a sweeping gesture and turned back to her bed. “Than trust me to take good care of it.” Surreal lurched forwards boldy. “But what does that mean? What is my place in this?” Realizing her audacity, she squeaked and recoiled on the spot. “Forgive me.” Chrysalis turned back with a lazy smirk. “For what? We both saw how well it went when I made the plans alone. My subjects have minds of their own, and I won’t neglect that fact anymore. I will make use of it, just as I intend to make use of you.” Surreal stood agape. Her mouth moved, but no words came out. Ignoring her, Chrysalis nestled down into her bed once more. “Don’t gawk like that. If it makes you feel better, I’ll give you this much. Everything you said I already knew. I chose you anyway. Trust me to know why, and do as I have commanded. So far, you’re doing just fine. Don’t let me down.” Surreal flared her wings and trilled a jubilant cry. She was still confused to no end, but her Queen, the Queen, had complimented her, Surreal. She took a deep breath to shout her joy and thanks and- “No,” Chrysalis hastily interjected. “Luna’s outburst was enough. It’s late. Go back to her, get some sleep. If you really want to thank me, do so with your service.” “I will!” The changeling said with a cracking voice, and leapt to the chamber entrance. The Queen smiled sleepily. “Now I just want some rest. I’m holding you accountable if Luna has another moment of...adjusting.” “Yes, my Queen,” Surreal chirped excitedly. There was no real menace to the Queen’s half-hearted threat, and even if there had been, it could not dampen Surreal’s soaring spirits, and she skittered from the chamber with zeal and energy. It was therefore quite the shame that two minutes later, Surreal was struggling to contain herself and watch over the tiny chamber granted to Luna. She tried, she truly did, to squeeze her thoughts into calm, stoic, watchful intent, but she kept bubbling up through it like a wellspring. She’d been chosen for a reason. She’d been complemented by her Queen. If only she could get her breathing steady and focus. She curled up and tried to pay attention to her charge. She wasn’t disinclined to sleeping on the open ground of a corridor... she was a changeling with a duty to uphold, but... She shook the thought from her head and stared at the curtain that, at Luna’s adamant insistence, had been hung for privacy. It was the princess' traveling cloak, or had been, but three days in damp and uncaring storage had left it musty with mildew On her side of the impromptu curtain, Luna lay awake. On a bed. A real bed, if small and somewhat moth ravaged. But a group of nameless changelings had silently carried it here for her, and at Luna’s insistence brought the tattered curtain as well. A part of her, a part she hotly denied having, wanted to be thankful for what little she’d been given. For the most part, she tolerated these mere indignities with seethingly poor grace. Or would, but her heart wasn’t in it. Not really. Ever given to her passions Luna went through the motions of them, but that was only the surface. Her true thoughts lurked far below the thrashing storm waves, darkling and peaceful. For all the reasons she had to be a raging, avenging fury, she couldn’t embrace them. It was a strange and unfamiliar calm, and even the small sounds of the elated, awkwardly placed warden shuffling about in vain were more a reassurance than annoyance. Seconds passed to moments, which as is the way of the night turned onwards to minutes and minutes more, and still the small sounds of the restless and shifting changeling lightly played over the silence. Luna sighed. As a gesture it worked perfectly well for both her amusement and vexation with the changeling’s antics. With a lazy flick of her horn a soft blue eminence lit up the curtain and gently dragged it to one side. Her warden blinked sleepily then belatedly startled with surprise, her changeling eyes sliding from fright to suspicion. “Do changelings normally sleep upon the floor?” Surreal quickly composed herself to a haughty air, a fair feat considering her situation. “I do whatever my Queen asks of me.” “Then let me rephrase the question: are you content to sleep on the floor?” The changeling blinked through the pause, her eyes almost glowing in the near total darkness “If I must.” Luna couldn’t help but smile. “In other words, you do not want to.” The changeling huffed and looked away. There was a stronger flash of Luna’s magic and the tatty cloak-curtain tore free of the wall. It floated out into the corridor and dropped unceremoniously over Surreal. “It is not much, but it will keep you off the floor, at the very least.” The little changeling fumbled her way free of the mouldering cloth and blinked with confusion. “But, mistress, your privacy-” “Doesn’t help me in the slightest from hearing you fidget.” The princess’ eyes narrowed, somehow focusing the darkness between her and the changeling. “I have already been on display to all for three nights, one more without a door should be as nothing.” With a scowl in the darkness, Surreal stopped moving. “You were treated with the dignity and respect you deserve.” Luna bit off a harsh edge of laughter. “Clearly I have not earned much of either, than. Do I taste good? Do I make you salivate to be near me, or whatever it is changelings do?” With a soft glow of changeling magic, the curtain pulled away from the little warden’s body and fastened itself back in place between them. Luna felt like a petty idiot. “Surry!” she hissed imploringly, her voice tinged with regret and anger. “Call me Surreal, mistress. Or ‘changeling’ if you prefer,” the gentle voice whispered back coldly. “Goodnight.”