Words spoken on Painted Canvas

by LucidTech

Spoken by the Queen

Twilight glanced sidelong towards Alice as the chariot, upon which they were passengers, flew through the air. After their encounter with Photo a week ago the ponies had managed to get in touch with Chrysalis, who had hidden herself, and the remainder of her changelings, from detection. They had managed some degree of negotiation through Photo but it was clear that they would need to meet, ruler to ruler, to complete negotiations.

Alice leaned out of the chariot, though carefully keeping her feet within the incredible flying vehicle, and spread her arms wide as the wind raced by her face and brought out a smile. Beneath her the country land sprawled and her heart soared ever higher. This must be what birds felt like, flying through the air high above everything. Rainbow never missed a chance to show off and had quickly left the chariot and had started flying alongside the chariot right next to the girl. Displaying her ability to keep up with the entourage while performing rolls through the air.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw the smiling faces of the other chariot riders looking back to her. She knew the names of all but one. Pinkie was there, as were all her friends. However the name of the large unicorn/pegasus still evaded her. Curiousity ever her master, Alice began to gather some of the black substance and formed it into an orb in her hand. Twilight had helped her with her magic control, though it was slow going without being able to converse. They had, however, settled on a name for it. ‘Ink’. Which Twilight called whatever she called the stuff on the end of her quill when she wrote.

Alice began to lift the orb towards Celestia, but her hand was grabbed in a telekinetic yellow. She looked toward Celestia who shook her head with a playful smile. Alice smiled back shyly and then dropped her hand, letting the Ink fade away as she did so. Though she wasn’t sure why the large being had declined the action she suspected it was for the best and decided to let her keep her privacy. She turned her attention back to the open air and closed her eyes, enjoying the wispy air as it covered her in a blanket of crisp morning chill.

She heard the chatter of the ponies around her but she felt separate from it, as if she were in an entirely different realm then it. It was a common feeling for her by this point. They were her friends, that was clear, but it was hard to be much more then that when conversation was difficult. Fluttershy had tried her hardest to bring Alice into the circle of friends, but taking an hour out of her schedule to chat about weather was something that even her kindness couldn't manage to do all the time. Which was probably for the best.

The girl had come to enjoy her time alone, knowing she had friends made her solitary bearable. And the looks on their faces when she gave them the results of one such lonely, yet peaceful, drawing session always brought a smile to her face. So, Alice had decided, even though she was sometimes lonely, she was never truly and completely alone like she had been before.

This idea alone was enough to comfort her heart in the moments of self doubt that had started coming less and less often. So, from the girl’s perspective, everything was perfect. She didn’t want to interfere with so tight a friendship, and she knew she could rely on any of the six ponies to help her if she needed it. It was the best kind of companionship that she had ever had in her life, and the idea that she was so blessed was enough on it’s own to bring a smile to the painter’s face.

A sharp noise caught her attention and Alice turned to see Fluttershy clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, the sign they had developed for when she wanted Alice’s attention. The pegasus signaled towards an empty seat and smiled. Contendedly, Alice took a seat on the chariot and Rainbow Dash flew in to sit next to her. The vehicle began it’s descent into a patch of trees and each of those on board did something to reinforce their seating position.

The landing was a little rough, but the pegasus who had been flying to carriage were very experienced and managed to land without injuring any of those aboard. Each of the females aboard stepped off and turned their gaze to the massive black pillar of a hive that the changelings had hid with all the magic they could spare. After the large graceful being spoke to the pegasi who were still attached to the carriage she turned and nodded to the others.

Alice followed the six mares towards the large dark building that towered high overhead. As she approached a growing feeling of unease came into being in the pit of her stomach. The changelings all gave her dirty looks as she walked past them, even more than Celestia it seemed. Alice didn’t know why she was so hated, but the chill that ran down her spine kept her silence. She tilted her head downward and began to kick her feet. She wasn’t sure of the reason behind the hatred, but you don’t need to understand something to be affected by it.

Celestia glanced at the human and a look of sympathy came over her face, but she couldn’t comfort her with words. Not only that but if she were to use magic to ease her pain the changelings might overeact. So the human had to remain depressed as they walked through the halls of the hive. Celestia desperately wanted to explain that the changelings held a hatred for things that they didn’t understand, but she couldn’t.

Things only got worse a few steps away from the changeling queen. Ink had started to gather around the girl, putting the changelings on edge. Using slight magic the princess attempted to comfort Alice, but to no avail. So they entered the throne room. As they entered Alice glanced upwards and gasped as she looked upon Chrysalis. The Ink began to deteriorate into the ground but Alice stopped it, holding it in the real world. Chrysalis raised an eyebrow and began to chat with Celestia.

Alice didn’t understand them of course, but even if she could she wouldn’t have been paying attention. Her mind had flashed alive as she gazed at the changeling queen. Alice left the room immediately, heading towards the chariot. The ponies made to go after her but was stopped by Celestia, who nodded to a changeling that had ran after her. The ponies took comfort in the fact that they recognized the changeling as Photo. Twilight looked at her friends before nodding to the princess, she nodded in response and the meeting started.

An hour or two had passed at they had been about to leave for a break. Chrysalis was proving a troublesome being to compromise with. She refused to budge on several topics that Celestia could not let stand. They stood from their chairs and all of them made to leave but were stopped as Alice ran in in a blur, Photo tailing behind her. Under one of her arms Alice held a canvas that was covered with a cloth. Celestia turned towards the human with a smile but was surprised when she ran past her towards Chrysalis.

Several guards blocked her off, afraid she may be trying a mad attempt on the queen’s life. Alice handed over the painting to them and pointed excitedly towards the queen. Hesitantly, one of the guards held the canvas in a magical grip and brought it to Chrysalis. The other eyed the human, not taking an eye off of her. When the queen received her gift she looked towards the human with a look full of questions. All the ponies had stopped their exits and had turned to watch the events that were unfolding.

Chrysalis removed the cloth to look at the painting underneath. In shock her magic stopped and the canvas began to fall, ever on the ball she managed to catch it before it hit the ground. Detailed on the painting was a drawing of Chrysalis, showing a sort of beauty that no one would think could be applied to her. Light drifted down at a perfect angel as Chrysalis’s hair flowed behind her. Words couldn’t do it justice, after all, how could you describe a beautiful picture of changeling? Yet here it was. The queen sat in shock while Alice smiled boldly. The second guard, who thought that some spell had been cast on the ruler, turned around and hit Alice across the face.

She tumbled away weakly, her beret sliding across the slick floor. Shocked by the action Alice’s emotions collapsed. Chrysalis immediately began berating the changeling, but Alice couldn’t hear her, she was beginning to cry as she lay on the floor. Chrysalis looked toward the human and began a slow approach, placing the painting on the table for everyone to look at as she stepped closer.

Alice cringed and Ink rose from the ground, the Ink seemed to examine the situation for a moment before it formed a shell around the girl, protecting her from anything that might wish her harm. Chrysalis paused in surprise, then took the last few steps. Upon arrival she tapped the shell and found it to be quite solid. Chrysalis’s face twisted in rage but she didn’t act upon it. The queen turned around, seeing Celestia and the other ponies engrossed in an examination of the picture. Looks of awe covered all their faces.

Chrysalis approached Celestia and began to chat. A look of surprise came across the princess’s face for a moment before she smiled softly.

Alice cried, tears poured from her eyes onto the floor. She wasn’t sure why she was crying anymore, she didn’t know what had happened, all she remembered was that she had been hurt. Slowly, Alice composed herself. With a final sniffle she turned her gaze upward and found herself encased in a shell of Ink. The human tried to dismiss the Ink only to find that she couldn’t. She began to panic, a memory surfacing of when the Ink had tried to kill her upon entering the Everfree. She pushed against the surface, but it didn’t budge.

A new set of tears came to the girl’s eyes as she was struck with an unnatural fear for dying alone by this strange magic. She sat down and looked at the black abyss that had formed around her. She had closed her eyes for a moment when a cracking noise caught her attention. Alice looked up and saw green veins shooting through the shell. The green spread in erratic patterns until it covered the entirety of the shell. Then, it broke in a rush of flame.

The bits of the shell melted as they flew through the air, turning from solid to liquid to gas before finally disappearing altogether. Alice looked up in surprise and spotted Chrysalis standing over her, the queen’s horn flickered with her telltale green flame and Alice knew at once who was responsible for freeing her from her prison. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Chrysalis as she fought back tears of joy.

The changeling queen looked to the pony’s for answers about the act but they all shrugged in return. Chrysalis turned her attention back to the human who held tightly to her and let a shard of a smile shatter her stoic mask. Celestia smiled to herself as she watched the Changeling queen and couldn’t help but feel that if it hadn’t been for Alice nothing would have been accomplished that day. Now, though, judging by the look in Chrysalis’s eye, there may be hope yet.

Comments

[PinkPearl]

can you write a chapter where she does a picture for applejack?

[LucidTech]

1850234

I could dang well try. Oh oh! I could have it be an apple family reunion and she does a massive painting of all the apple family.

[PinkPearl]

1850575 do it XDDD

[shira]

Weird. I have no fucking clue what's even going on, why things are happening...yet I am compelled to keep reading.

[LucidTech]

1864263

You shouldn't lie Shira, it's bad for your health.

It's horrible isn't it? Oh it is, I just know it is!

*Enters throes of depression.*

[shira]

1864421

Another artist becomes depressed, news at 11.

If I'm going to be nitpicky, I'd say that I'd like a bit more description for things. We went from "met changling" to doing a portrait for "changling queen" awfully fast. The inky magic/stuff/whatever is really cool though totally the deus ex machina and I find Alice's mood to be a little bipolar. Cheery art girl to emo-girl-one-step-from-cutting-and-writing-bad-vampire-fanfiction in 2.5 seconds.

That said, the scenes you pain with your words are amazing, and the possibility that you're doing humans and changelings is awesome! The inky stuff is really, really cool, especially since it also seems to have a mind of it's own. Really, I'm still in this happily

[PinkPearl]

please update soon?

[warpd]

Why did my update did not catch this chapter!?
Sigh, well I liked it.

[bubblybubbles]

Please update I really love this story