Metamorphosis

by Eneha

Chapter 5: Acquaintances

The next morning, Chrysalis awoke before sunrise. Spike remained in a deep slumber, not likely to wake up anytime soon; she used this opportunity to slip down and out the front door, heading for her minions. Several of them had stayed fairly local—blending in when necessary, but generally lurking just on the outskirts of the forest.

The majority of the Changelings, however, were busy constructing the tomb farther into the forest. Chrysalis knew certain precautions had to be made in order to keep the unicorn confined, but she was surprised with their diligence. Although the interior was no more than a few wing spans wide, the exterior had been built up so much that the construct would now tower over the Queen and her Changeling, its shape both elliptical and elongated by the process.

As she stood in the shadows, certain she was alone, Chrysalis shed her false appearance and grew back into her old form. As her legs stretched, the purple coat of the unicorn seemed to peel back and become consumed by rolling emerald flames, revealing the sleek, ebony body beneath. Transparent, insect wings erupted from her back and her lavender horn cracked and grew, crooked, gleaming with a faint emerald aura.

She inhaled deeply once before she zipped off at incredible speeds to the stream from whence she had entered Ponyville; three or four Changelings had been ordered to stay around the area. They would have found or constructed a decent shelter by now, but Chrysalis expected at least one of them to be on alert for their Queen’s return. She would rendezvous with them tonight and debrief them on their upcoming task.

***

The little dragon yawned, stretching his stumpy arms over his head. “Mornin’ Twilight.”

“Yes, good morning, Spike,” Chrysalis replied, adding a yawn. “I’ll be leaving soon—busy day and all. See you this afternoon?” she asked, heading towards the door.

“Wait! You can’t go!”

“And why not?” she inquired. For a split second, her eyes flashed green with anger. “I just have a lot to do today and I’d probably accomplish things quicker without any company.”

“Oh, I know you have a lot to do today,” Spike said eagerly, “You have to help Mr. and Mrs. Cake replace their oven, take your Astronomy books to the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ and then you get to go on a picnic with Rarity! ..And the other girls.” He blushed, raising a small journal up to Chrysalis’ face. “I can’t believe you almost forgot this thing, Twi,” Spike added, quickly changing the subject. “You always have to follow your schedule down to a T.”

Chrysalis looked through the pages of the planner in dismay. With all of these nuisances to tend to, she’d likely be busy all day. “I guess I forgot I took it out of my bag,” she grumbled, shoving it in the saddlebag that had been cast to the floor the previous night. After bitterly placing the saddlebag onto her back, she again told Spike goodbye and escaped through the front door. Why couldn’t she still be the whiny Princess? No one expected royalty to tend to such trivial tasks.

“Off to find these… ‘cake’ ponies,” she growled, head lowered in discontent, and headed off to the main square. As she walked she began to grow lost in thought and was oblivious to the pastel yellow pegasus that bumped into her.

“Oh! My, I’m so sorry, Twilight; I should have been watching where I was walking,” Fluttershy apologized in her soft, delicate tone as a small slip of parchment drifted down to the ground.

“Yes you should, but it’s fine,” Chrysalis replied noncommittally, not wanting the pony to stick around and continue to talk to her.

“Thank you, Twilight” she cooed, stepping aside for her friend, “Um, Twilight..? Is everything ok?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine; I’m just such a busy pony,” she replied, picking up her pace. She avoided looking at the mare beside her—her deep, blue eyes were just flooded pools of emotion which both energized and irritated Chrysalis. Regardless, she had no time to waste. “Goodbye…--my friend.”

“Oh, ok, good luck with everything, then,” she added with a smile. “Oh! And I hope you can make it to our Pet Picnic Play-date today!” Fluttershy called, waving with her left hoof. “Hmm, now where is that grocery list—ah! Here it is. I’ll make the perfect lunch for all of our little friends,” she smiled, continuing on to some food stands in town.

Comments

[Natzo]

It lives!

[Doc Crowl]

I want to upvote this, I really do... It's just... Well, it's at 69. and I refuse to be the one to change that.

[LunasDaughter]

it takes you 44 weeks to plan and write this out?

[Eneha]

Haha, I wouldn't blame anyone for never upvoting this again. :P However, after a nice and thorough polishing of the old and updating with the new, I'm hoping an upvote will be a bit more tempting/deserved. :)

I'll be either uploading the completed version of the current chapter (#5) later, or release it as a separate, also short chapter.

Edit: Oh my, I got the year wrong when I came back in time. Sorry for the delay in update on your end; I just saw the "May 29th" and thought it was close enough. I will try to keep to an appropriate and timely schedule henceforth, haha.

[Brony4life14]

good story can't wait for you to make the next chapter. i love this face

[Feurisson]

I didn't expect this to ever update again.
By the way, somehow I got two notifications about this, with just a minute between them. Did you accidentally unpublish it once or something?

[Mermaid]

Hey, I remember this story!

[Pinklestia]

Yeah, being Twilight is not easy.