A Queen's Adoption

by Danger A Dragon

Castle Tour

“Okay, where would you like to go first? Library? Throne room? Organ room? Your room?” Luna asked as she lead the way.

“I haven’t heard of a room just for organs before,” I said in disbelief as I began following her.

“It only has a single organ in it. That’s why I call it the organ room,” Luna replied. That would explain it but a room just for a single organ? Just how big is the organ!?

“It’s a single organ? I thought it would have been multiple,” I told her with a small shake of my head.

“Yeah, it’s a single four keyboard organ. It actually controls the mechanisms around the castle,” Luna explained.

“So you’re saying this castle has secret passages and rooms built into it then?” I guessed.

“Yeah, it’s fun trying to either freak Celestia out or trap her in one of them,” Luna said with a grin.

“If you want to freak out Celestia, then sneak up behind her,” I replied automatically.

“How? The floor makes it so each hoofstep makes a sound,” Luna said and tapped the floor with a hoof. I did the same but no sound came off of it.

“You sure? I’m not getting that,” I grinned at Luna and continued following her.

“You’re telling me that you’re hooves don’t make sound when you take a step?” Luna said in disbelief.

“I didn’t say that, you did,” I replied and just let her think it over for a bit.

“Alright, I did say that, but I didn’t hear anything when you tapped the floor with your hoof,” Luna said after a moment of thought.

“That’s because of a spell. It’s a silencing spell that I directed at my hooves,” I explained and waited to see her reaction when my hooves started making sound again. Luna’s jaw worked up and down like she was going to say something, but she didn’t make a sound. I laughed at her reaction and patiently waited for her to talk again. While I did that, I took a look at the various paintings on the walls.

“There is one way for me to sneak around like that, but I can’t walk in this world with that way,” Luna said after recovering.

“I could teach you other ways of sneaking around if you want me to. Where’s the organ room anyway?” I offered.

“The organ room is this way and is the room at the end of the hall,” Luna said as she turned a corner before smiling at me. “And I would like that, thanks.”

“You are welcome,” I said and looked down the hall before looking back the way we come in confusion. “Didn’t we already come down this hall?”

“After a little while of going from place to place you’ll learn the routes to each place you’d like to go since the halls are all fairly generic,” Luna explained.

“I wonder how long that’ll take me,” I said sarcastically before running ahead of Luna.

“If you need help just contact me and I’ll be there in a flash,” Luna said as ran behind me. I thought about it and wondered how that would happen.

“How am I meant to contact you?” I asked curiously.

“You’re going to think it’s crazy, but talk to a shadow while you’re in the castle,” Luna said. What kind of mare is this to think that shadows can talk back?

“A shadow?” I asked after sliding to a stop.

“Yes, a shadow,” Luna’s voice came from beneath me. I looked down but could only see my shadow. I righted myself and quickly spun on the spot but Luna was nowhere to be seen.

“So … let me guess. You can merge with shadows?” I guessed in delight.

“And then some. Shadow magic is a specialty of mine,” Luna said as she opened the door at the end of the hall from the other side. I turned around and immediately ran to Luna before skidding to a stop in front of her.

“You don’t need me to teach you how to sneak up on other ponies if you have that kind of magic then,” I told her before walking past.

“True, but I’d like to be able to sneak around without having to use this magic and I can get to know you better at the same time. So, would you please teach me what you know about being stealthy?” Luna asked with puppy dog eyes. Who could resist that look? I tried to but I eventually sighed and nodded. I really hate puppy dog eyes.

“Yes, I will. It may take a bit for you to learn, but I will. Besides, if we play hide and seek we’ll never find each other,” I grinned and poked my tongue out at her playfully before finally looking at our current location. “Is this a room or another hallway?”

“It’s a room. It seems long, but at the end is the organ that controls things. The length is just in case an enemy gets here while we’re in here. There’s traps and other things along the length of the room we can activate from the organ should that happen,” Luna explained as she walked towards the organ on the other side of the room.

“So the organ is like a musical trapper?” I asked and followed behind her.

“Basically. It can be used as a regular organ if you disconnect it from the things it controls, but that’s hidden so only we know where it is,” Luna said.

“Which traps does Celestia not know?” I inquired.

“Mmm, only the ones in here. She still freaks out if you catch her at the right moment, though,” Luna said in thought.

“How can you catch her at the right moment if you can’t see her from in here?” I pointed out and gestured around the long room as I hovered in the air.

“With a bit of luck. That’s about it as far as I’ve found. Scrying her might work, but I haven’t tried it yet,” Luna said with a shrug as we reached the organ. I could see why the room was so tall now. Those pipes really needed the room. I looked down at the organ below me before managing to hover just above the keys silently.

“Do you know which keys go to which trap/secret room?” I asked curiously.

“Over the years I figured them out,” Luna replied.

“Any of these go to wherever Celestia studies?” I said and looked at each key more closely.

“Mom and Dad made sure that the places we each study have a secret door that we can activate in that room or here, but that’s all that’s in her study,” Luna informed me. I bobbed my head from side to side and finally landed next to Luna. I walked around the organ to see if I could go behind it but it was embedded into the wall itself so there was no going back there.

“It’s embedded into the wall,” I said unnecessarily and walked back to Luna. “Can you show me how it works with one of the traps in here?”

“Sure, we just need to make sure to reset and reload the traps that need it afterwards,” Luna said and pressed a key that made arrows shoot out of holes along the walls. I ducked instinctively but then remembered that they were nowhere near us.

“Ouch. That’s certainly not dangerous,” I commented sarcastically.

“Neither is this one,” Luna said and pressed a couple keys that made the floor open up to reveal a spike pit. Yeah, that’s also not dangerous. Definitely not. I waited until the arrows stopped firing before hovering over the spike pit. They looked sharp and would most likely spear any unsuspecting pony.

“Your family went to a lot of trouble to keep this organ safe, didn’t they?” I asked drily.

“It’s not like we have enemies that’d try to kill us in here or anything,” Luna said sarcastically.

“Of course, you don’t. Who would want to harm four powerful Alicorns?” I replied before I burst out laughing. Luna joined me laughing after a moment. “Here’s a fun question. Have you trapped your parents with this?”

“Mmm, no. I haven’t as of yet,” Luna said with a grin.

“Huh. I thought you would have, just to mix it up,” I said thoughtfully and landed beside her again. “Can I press one?”

“Sure, but not every key does something,” Luna said.

“So which keys link to traps in this room?” I asked after a moment’s thought.

“Lethal or nonlethal?” Luna asked. There’s a choice? I thought it was all just lethal traps.

“Nonlethal,” I said.

“Press these two at the same time,” Luna said as she pointed to two of the keys. I pressed the keys and waited to see what happened. This time a cage fell from the ceiling as a couple of round ones sprang from the floor.

“I thought you said it wasn’t lethal,” I said in confusion as I walked up to the cages.

“It’d only be lethal if a head got caught between the bars otherwise it’d just break a bone if something got caught,” Luna replied. That made more sense and I looked at the cages from every angle before realizing something.

“Aren’t they a bit low for ponies to stand up fully?” I asked in concern.

“See the holes? Aren’t they big enough to fit your head and neck through, but not your shoulders?” Luna asked. I looked for what Luna was talking about and saw what she meant as I stuck my head inside for a few seconds.

“Huh. I see what you mean now,” I informed her as I pulled my head out and hovered over to her. “Is there anything else that’s fun?”

“There’s the area I practice magic, a hot spring, the kitchens, and flying around for some other things and places to go to,” Luna said thoughtfully.

“You mentioned the kitchens before. How about we go there?” I suggested.

“Okay, but do you need to eat? I haven’t seen you eat or be fed food since you’ve got here,” Luna said as she lead the way. I shook my head and gave Luna a thin smile.

“I don’t need to eat because I feed off of emotions,” I explained in a straight-forward manner.

“Really? So, you’ve never tasted food before?” Luna asked curiously.

“I never really needed to,” I said quietly.

“Then the kitchens might not be fun for you. I go there to request snacks and sneak things before meals. The chefs get angry, but then sigh and end up laughing at my happy expression as I eat their food,” Luna said.

“It might not be fun but I want to see them anyway,” I shrugged and walked next to Luna as I landed.

“Oh, if Celestia ever gets mad at you give her a cake and she’ll forgive you,” Luna said with a chuckle. So Celestia is a glutton for cake? That’s interesting to know.

“Have you figured out why Celestia likes cake so much?” I asked with a small chuckle myself.

“She says they can go with every meal, but I think it’s really because it’s one of the few things she can indulge in while studying,” Luna said.

“She indulges in cake while she studies as well as while she’s having a meal? Won’t she get chubby from all that cake?” I inquired with a slight head tilt.

“She only eats cake when somepony gives her one or it happens to be at a meal. She just insists that they can go with every meal,” Luna clarified. “If she did eat it all the time then it’d probably go right to her flank.”

“Ohh, okay. That’s something to know if she ever gets mad at me,” I grinned and quickened my pace. “We’re not going to get anywhere if we keep going at this slow pace, you know.”

“True, but it’s not like we’re in a hurry either,” Luna replied as she caught up with me.

“We’re not but there’s just so much of the castle to see,” I sighed.

“This is also true. Would you prefer to see as many places as possible and figure out how to get to them later?” Luna asked.

“More or less,” I shrugged and flicked my tail impatiently.

“Then try not to scream,” Luna said as she sunk us into our shadows. I instinctively held my breath as a wave of coldness washed over me the instant we were completely submerged. “You can breath normally, Chryssie.”

I let out my breath and breathed before giving Luna a look. “Did I already ask you why you call me ‘Chryssie’?”

“No, but I’ll explain. Chrysalis is a bit of a mouth full so I shortened it to Chryssie,” Luna said. I went to protest but then mulled it over before finally conceding.

“Okay, fine. You can call me Chryssie if you want,” I sighed.

“Yay!” Luna exclaimed and flying hugged me.

“Gah!” I choked at the sudden hug, fell over, and wasn’t sure how else to respond other than lay there.

“So, wanna try some food to see if you like the taste?” Luna asked.

“I … I don’t know about that,” I said uncertainly before wriggling out from under her and looked at the blackness around us. “How can you even see in here? It’s pitch black!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s just the reverse of what the colors would be for me,” Luna said with a raised brow.

“It’s pitch black for me so I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I huffed at her.

“Well, let’s get you seeing again then,” Luna said as she brought us out into the kitchen. I blinked at the sudden amount of light and squinted until my vision cleared. One thing I know for sure is that I’m not going back in that shadow world.

“These are the kitchens?” I asked as I looked over the countertops and various fireplaces.

“Yep, these are the kitchens. I can smell some wonderful food cooking for later on,” Luna said as she inhaled with a smile. I raised a brow at her before copying her actions. A look of disgust overcame my features and I sat on my haunches before quickly covered up my nose with my hooves.

“Sorry, Luna. It doesn’t smell pleasant in here,” I said apologetically, my voice muffled from behind my hooves.

“Really? Well, let’s go somewhere else then,” Luna said as she levitated me out of the kitchens at a trot.

“Mhm. Sorry again,” I muttered and slowly took my hooves from in front of my face as we left the kitchens behind.

“It’s okay. You don’t eat food so it cooking isn’t a pleasant smell for you. Luckily, the hot spring is nearby,” Luna said as she began trotting forward. Lucky for me. My chitin will most likely melt off or something like that.

“Do you know where Celestia’s study is?” I questioned as I let her magic hold me.

“Yeah, I go bug her every now and then. The hot spring will clear out the smells from the kitchen if you were wondering why I was taking you there,” Luna said and took a turn. I wasn’t wondering that at all but at least she explained why.

“If we visit Celestia, I wonder how freaked she’ll be if I sneak up on her,” I said thoughtfully.

“She’d probably jump off her cushion,” Luna replied before taking another turn and opening a door.

“That would be fun to see and I need some fun to take my mind off of things,” I commented with a smile.

“Okay, we’ll go there once you breath in some steam to clear out the smells,” Luna said and opened another door before steam began rising through the top of the open doorway.

“Is it a hot spring or steam room?” I asked in confusion as I saw the steam rise.

“There’s both in here, but the hot spring takes up more room,” Luna said as she walked in. It’s a hot spring. Of course, it would take up more room than steam.

“So it’s a mixture of both then,” I said bluntly.

“No, there’s the hot spring and there’s the steam room,” Luna said as she pointed to the hot spring and then an attached room that had steam rising out of its lower ceiling. I blinked at both before facehoofing.

“Okay, let’s just enjoy the hot spring for a while. I believe I need it after what happened to me,” I replied.

“Okay, let’s do that,” Luna said as she set me down and slowly walked into the hot spring before sitting down. I followed her and inched my way into the water before sitting opposite her. As the water relaxed me, I sighed in relief and smiled at Luna.

“This is nice,” I said with a relaxed expression.

“Mmm, I come here after giving a cake to Celestia or after a tough day,” Luna said with a relaxed smile.

“You know, for being a family of Alicorns, I’ve never heard of you,” I commented.

“I hadn’t heard of a changeling before I met you, but I can see what you mean. We rule a very small nation that is really three tribes that don’t really listen to us,” Luna said with a sigh.

“The three tribes being what? Unicorns and some other races?” I asked in confusion. Luna nodded her head.

“Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth ponies. The three each Alicorn has traits of,” Luna answered. I nodded my head in thought.

“So if you have some of all three tribes, wouldn’t that mean you’re stronger than all three of them?” I questioned.

“If we wanted one of us could probably wipe them all out, but we don’t operate like that. We give them advice and let them vote amongst themselves what to do,” Luna explained.

“So you let them squabble while the four of you sit high and mighty in your castle?” I asked skeptically.

“No, we are affected by each of their choices. We get food from the Earth ponies, weather control from the Pegasi, and general other goods from the Unicorns. We live at about the same level they would if they got along, but we can’t seem to get them to do that,” Luna said with a heavy sigh.

“You sound as if this has been going on for a long while,” I commented.

“I can’t remember a time where it hasn’t been like this,” Luna replied.

“So basically since before you were born,” I said and made ripples in the water as I moved my hoof through it.

“Yes, I’m sure mother and father remember a time, but that was probably also a time of war,” Luna said.

“It probably was. What kind of magic do you know besides shadow magic?” I asked in an effort to change the subject.

“Some illusion, dreamwalking, ice magic, the basic magic ponies know, and summoning,” Luna listed off. Those were good choices.

“Huh. You know I can already do stealth magic, but I can also create illusions and know basic magic as well,” I replied with a grin.

“Sounds like you’re geared for espionage, sister,” Luna said with a smile.

“I am because changelings are all about stealth and espionage, Sister,” I said with a fanged grin.

“Well, you did change forms as well. So, finding you must be really hard if you don’t want somepony finding you,” Luna said before her eyes widened a bit. “Not to change the subject, but your teeth are the same as mine in my true form.”

“Really? My teeth were always like this,” I said in surprise. I didn’t think her true form was anything like how I looked at the moment.

“Yeah, I have some draconic features in my true form so my teeth become fangs,” Luna said. My own eyes widened at this and I shut my muzzle in surprise. “My coat turns black, my pupils become vertical slits with green irises, and my mane and tail become wispier and cloud-like while I grow to about the height of Celestia.”

These true forms that the Alicorns have are definitely something else if they can increase height as well as strength and power.

“That sounds slightly less scary than Celestia’s form,” I commented and watched my hoof move about in the water. “How did you get your true form?”

“I was with mother gazing at the moon one night. This is before I had mastered shadow walking let alone the rest of the magic so when a giant shadow overtook us, I instinctively hid in the shadows. Little did I know that it was a dragon flying overhead. It’s appearance must have influenced my form along with how mother looked to me from the shadows since her eyes had turned a greenish color like mine become. When I emerged from the shadow I was in my true form and mother commented that I looked a lot like she does in her base form,” Luna explained with a nostalgic smile.

“You were stargazing, you were with your mother and you hid in the shadows when a dragon blotted out the stars?” I asked for confirmation.

“Yes, that’s the gist of it,” Luna said with a nod.

“I wonder. It probably won’t happen but will I get a true form someday?” I questioned her.

“If you are around those who have a true form long enough and are meant to have one then your true form will manifest. Since you are long lived like the rest of us in the family I’d say you’ll get one eventually,” Luna said. That seemed to answer that question to my satisfaction so to have a bit of fun, I concentrated a spell onto myself and slowly turned invisible until the only evidence I was there were the ripples my body made. “Chryssie? Where’d you go?”

I grinned to myself, kept quiet, and slowly waded over to her. Every time a ripple was made, I made it go away with a constant spell. By the time I got to her side, I used my magic to touch the fur on her other side. Luna looked to the side I’d touched and gained a confused look on her muzzle. I then leaned in close and took my spells off. I then whispered ‘boo’ with a predatory grin. Luna jumped before realising it was me and let out a breath in relief.

“You are far too good at that,” Luna said with a smile. I laughed at that and moved away a bit.

“Like I said before, hide and seek will be a lot less fun considering what we can do,” I grinned.

“True, it would be a good way to test what you’ll teach me, though,” Luna replied.

“It would. Have you been learning whatever Celestia is learning?” I said thoughtfully.

“Same things, but a lesser amount. I tend to have a lot more free time than she does so when she’s still busy I study magic,” Luna explained. I stood up with a stretch and looked at Luna curiously.

“Where does Celestia study?” I asked as I walked out of the hot spring, feeling more relaxed than I have in days.

“In the sun room in the center of the castle near the top of the tower. It’s round and has windows that allow enough sunshine into it to read by no matter the time of day so long as it’s not overcast. Thus the sun room,” Luna explained as she followed me out.

“It’s a room near the top of a tower. Is that where she sleeps as well?” I inquired and walked at an easy pace.

“There’s a bed in the room if she feels like sleeping there, but she has a bedroom as well,” Luna replied. That’s a bit redundant to have two of your own beds in completely separate rooms but I didn’t say this and kept silent for the time being. When we made it halfway to the tower, Luna interrupted my thoughts with something I’d rather not have heard at the moment. “I’m sorry about your hive. I can’t imagine what you went through.”

“You can’t imagine it because you didn’t have the luxury of hundreds of voice in your mind silencing one by one!” I snapped at her with a glowering expression and came to a sudden standstill.

“S-Sorry, I won’t mention it again,” Luna said sadly as she looked away from me. I snorted at her before resuming my walk at an increased pace with a mixture of furiousness and overwhelming sadness on my muzzle. “I-I’m always willing to listen if th-there’s something you need to get off your chest or want to talk about it.”

“B-Be quiet!” I shouted angrily before suddenly rounding on her and firing off a beam of magic. The beam hit Luna square in the chest before she cried out in pain and was knocked back a couple feet onto the floor. “You’re not going to retaliate!?” Luna merely looked at me with a quizzical expression as she stood back up.

“I shot a beam of magic at you and you’re going to do nothing?” I asked in disbelief, my previous anger momentarily forgotten in the face of this development. Luna shook her head before bracing herself. I merely gave a huff and rubbed my hoof over my face before sighing in frustration. “Their deaths are still too raw so don’t mention anything about the hive.” Luna relaxed her stance before leading me towards Celestia’s study once more.

“If you wish to vent your anger inside the castle is not the place to do so,” Luna said after a few moments of silence.

“Then where?” I grumbled. I walked a bit behind her and my head was lowered a bit in shame.

“Out amongst the forest, in the skies outside, or anywhere that is isolated enough that we don’t have to worry about what we destroy,” Luna answered.

“Anywhere outside, basically,” I summed up and breathed in and out slowly in an attempt to get rid of my anger somewhat.

“So long as we don’t destroy something we’d regret destroying, yes,” Luna said with a nod before looking over her shoulder at me. “Do you wish to do so now or when I stupidly bring up another sore topic?”

“Now would be good,” I said with a glare.

“Then I won’t hold back,” Luna said before transporting us far away from the castle to an isolated area. It was a darkened clearing that was surrounded by trees with absolutely no colour in sight. Once I realized how isolated we were, I immediately fired upon Luna again. She dodged to the side just enough to avoid getting hit before taking to the skies as she fired back at me. I vanished on the spot with a well-practiced spell and Luna’s beam struck the ground where I was.

I took a quick walk around the clearing to see how wide the circumference was. It wasn’t really that big so it was no surprise when I joined Luna in the sky and deactivated my cloaking spell. There was much more room here and before I could marvel at the sight of green expanse, I fired a spell at Luna that was designed to make her feel as if her wings were growing heavy. Luna quickly lost altitude when the spell hit her and vanished when she broke through the canopy of the forest below us.

I dived after her only for Luna to quickly disappear into the shadows. I realized she could be anywhere now and quickly began looking around myself as I hovered between the trees. Suddenly, a bolt of magic flew at me and encased my wings in a thick layer of ice. A cold feeling went through me as my wings froze over before I suddenly plummeted and crashed into the ground. The weight of the ice pinned me to the ground and I growled in annoyance and frustration.

“Do you yield, Chrysalis?” Luna asked as she walked out of the trees in her true form. Her coat and wings were now pitch black, her teeth had become fangs, her eyes green with vertical slit pupils, her mane and tail had grown in size and took up a larger area while her height had increased to around Celestia’s. It was just as she had described at the hot spring.

“Not until I have my hive back,” I said through bared fangs, and while her form may have been awe-inspiring, my anger had overridden that feeling.

“Then we will continue,” Luna said with a neutral expression before throwing me into a tree with her magic. I cried out in pain when I hit the tree with the force of a gale-force wind and breathed heavily when I had slid back down to the ground. The ice on my wings still pinned me but now I was in too much pain to think straight. Luna began slowly walking towards me as she fired slow, deliberate shots of magic at me. Each time they hit, I felt pain bloom from the point of impact until eventually I couldn’t take anymore.

“I yield!” I shouted in a pained cry. Luna stopped firing and ran the rest of the way to me before breaking the ice on my wings and bringing us to the infirmary. She then placed me in a vacant bed before gathering some supplies. I let her do what she needed to do while watching her run around the infirmary. I felt pain every time I moved my legs a bit so I kept them still as best I could. “Why?”

“Why what?” Luna asked as she began treating my wounds.

“Why didn’t you leave me?” I clarified and breathed through the pain of having my wounds treated.

“You’re not as smart as I thought you were if you really don’t know the answer to that,” Luna said.

“I know I’m your sister now, and I know why you’re so kind but I’m still practically a stranger,” I replied.

“This is what sisters do. We take care of each other and help as best we can when each other are in trouble or something’s wrong,” Luna said.

“I guess I just needed something to get my anger about myself out there,” I said quietly.

“Any time you need to do that, tell me and I’ll spar with you until you’re satisfied,” Luna said as she worked her way along my body.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told myself and hissed whenever she treated one of my wounds. “I still have time to bug Celestia, right?”

“Yes, you have plenty of time, but don’t push your body. I wasn’t very kind back there,” Luna said with a frown at the end.

“I wasn’t thinking too straight to begin with,” I said with a chortle. “At least you didn’t leave me too horribly wounded and my wings are still frozen stiff.”

“Yes, not too horribly wounded,” Luna said absentmindedly as she finished treating the last of my wounds.

“Fine, how bad did you hit me?” I asked with a resigned sigh.

“I didn’t hit you badly. I was just remembering the last time I sparred in my true form. Celestia was stuck in a bed for three months due to a severely broken leg,” Luna explained.

“Ouch,” I said with a wince and looked down my body. I didn’t think I needed bandages but apparently she hit me enough to warrant them. A few covered all four of my legs with quite a few wrapping around my chest to just in front of my wings.

“She wasn’t able to get into her true form in time and I was still working on keeping my power down,” Luna said as she looked over my body once more. “Okay, you should be able to walk, but you should probably take it easy for the next day or two until you’re healed.”

“Th...Thanks, Luna,” I said hesitantly before slowly sliding off the bed. I touched on the floor and immediately began swaying in place. Luna quickly moved to my side, as she changed back to normal, to support me should I need it.

“Easy, take it slow for now,” Luna said in concern. I was tempted to say that I didn’t need any help but I leaned heavily on Luna so that put a stop to that.

“Can you show me to my room?” I asked curiously.

“Sure, you can always bug Celestia another day. She’s not going anywhere anytime soon,” Luna said as she began guiding me to my room. I chuckled a bit at that.

“How long does she study anyway? All day and all night?” I asked with a small smile.

“Basically. She only seems to take breaks for meals and when she’s told she can by mother or father,” Luna replied.

“Isn’t that a bit unfair to her?” I pried.

“A bit, but I haven’t heard her complain as of yet,” Luna replied.

“She probably complains while chewing on some cake,” I said wryly and looked at the various paintings we walked by.

“She complains when she has cake? That seems it’d be impossible, but she’s bound to complain sometime about something,” Luna said with a grin.

“So her complaining about her studying while having cake is a possibility,” I said with a nod and immediately regretted it when I felt my neck burn up. Maybe it was my imagination but I could swear that Celestia was trying to burn a hole in the back of my neck with her eyes alone.

“Has somepony been telling you that I complain while having cake, sister?” Celestia asked as she glared a hole into me. Okay, turns out that feeling was true.

“Wait, that’s true!? I was only joking!” I said in surprise after slowly turning around to meet my sister’s glare with an astonished expression.

“It is not true. The taste of cake drives away my sorrow and all thoughts of complaining are driven from my mind with each bite of their sweet and delectable form,” Celestia replied with an overjoyed expression as she talked about cake. My jaw fell open and I turned my head to look at Luna.

“Is she serious!?” I whispered to Luna in disbelief.

“Partly. Cake does lift her spirits, but the rest is just her goofing off. That’s why you should give her one if she gets mad at you,” Luna whispered back to me. I closed my jaw and turned back to Celestia.

“So how much do you love cake?” I asked with a raised brow.

“Oh, just a little. They’re good to keep me going when I’m having a hard time with my studies,” Celestia answered in denial. Denial was always something fun to pick at.

“‘A little’? Really?” I deadpanned.

“Yes, a little. They help me continue to study and that is it,” Celestia said with a nod.

“So you never indulge in them just for pleasure. They’re just a ‘healthy’ snack to keep you going,” I stated and smirked at her.

“I don’t know what Lulu has told you, but I assure you that I keep myself fit and do even more physical activity when I’ve had cake to compensate,” Celestia said with a blush. That obvious blush didn’t sway me so I kept pressing her.

“All that Luna told me was that you sometimes enjoyed cake with meals and by itself when you get the chance so I’m just wondering why you’re blushing at my statement. Unless you have something to hide, that is,” I giggled and smiled up at Celestia.

“I-I have nothing to hide, Chrysalis. Y-Your facial expression is what made it seem as if you were implying something,” Celestia replied.

“Oh really? Then what do you think my expression was implying? That you have a chubby flank?” I asked curiously and gingerly sat down next to Luna.

“I have no idea what you were trying to imply, but I must be going now. You’re already injured and need to rest instead of practicing hoof to hoof fighting,” Celestia said as she began to slowly walk away. I looked at her walk before tilting my head at Luna.

“Besides me being injured, was it something I said?” I asked.

“Having a ‘fat flank’ is something she’s afraid of getting since she has so many things that make her just sit or lay around for a good portion of the day. She’s so paranoid about it that she’ll push herself to exhaustion to try to not get one,” Luna whispered as we watched Celestia walk away.

“Well, that’s a bit extreme,” I commented.

“Yes, it is, but she reads for a good portion of the day and sparring with mother or father only does so much,” Luna said with a shrug. I rubbed my cheek with a hoof before standing back up. I breathed, turned, and leaned on Luna again as we resumed making our way to my room. When we got there, I had a look around and realized it was the same room I had woken up in. The same bed, the same dresser, the same vanity.

“This looks like the room from this morning,” I said.

“It is the room you woke up in. Mother decided this was your room after Father hadn’t returned for a day and she’d gotten everything else for your adoption, besides his signatures, ready,” Luna explained.

“That was thoughtful of her. I did sleep here for three days after all,” I said and let Luna lead me to my bed before I hopped onto it.

“Well, I’ll let you get some rest unless there’s anything else I might be able to help you with,” Luna said as she slowly walked to the door.

“Just, um, wake me up when you have dinner,” I said hesitantly as I laid down as carefully as I could. My head faced the door while it rested on the pillow as I pulled the coverings over me with my magic.

“Sure, I can do that. Hopefully, mother and father won’t be too mad at me once they see you bandaged up,” Luna said with a bit of worry in her voice as she walked out and closed the door behind her. Hopefully, they won’t be but I wouldn’t blame them if they did. I watched the door close and let my eyes do the same to let my body heal and rest.

Comments

[Texus]

I nearly forgot Luna had an power up there and Chrysalis still has to get one if she can, but I was suprised that her getting less angry involved fighting Luna more instead of well just train really hard. However I think it made somehow sense, at least I believe I already saw something like this as a solution for anger somewhere else.

[Razzy]

Ouch, Chryssie still blames herself.

Oh, come on, Thunder thighs isn't chubby.