A Queen's Adoption

by Danger A Dragon

Stealthy Mechanics

I don’t remember my bed shaking when I fell asleep. I groaned and tossed in bed before presumably facing the wall and tried to get back to sleep. My bed shook again and I groaned without opening my eyes.

“Why is the bed shaking?” I asked in a growl. I was not a morning pony.

“Because I didn’t want to leave you and you’ve been asleep all day. It’s nearly lunch time now,” Luna explained. Turns out I’m not an afternoon pony either. My eyes snapped open and I glared at the wall.

“Nearly lunch time, huh?” I asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, I actually tried leaving for breakfast, but you started tossing and turning the moment I wasn’t next to you,” Luna said. I breathed and slowly rose until I was sitting on my haunches and looked at Luna blearily.

“Did I really do that?” I asked with a tired look.

“Yes, you did. You calmed back down when I laid down next to you again,” Luna said as she sat up next to me. I rubbed my face and looked at her again until she swam into focus. That was a bit disconcerting.

“How do you know it’s nearly lunch time then if you’ve stayed with me all this time?” I asked skeptically.

“Because there’s not as much light getting into the room right now. Meaning that the sun is overhead instead of angled to shine into the room,” Luna said as she gestured to the length of the shadows and amount of light in the room the windows provided. I stared at the waning light and rubbed one of my ears.

“Let’s go to lunch then,” I grumbled when my hoof landed back on the bed.

“Okay, how’re you feeling?” Luna asked as she hopped off the bed. I felt a pain in my chest when I moved off the bed but my legs felt relatively fine, if it wasn’t for the limp when I walked around the bed to her.

“There’s a pain in my chest when I move and my legs are actually starting to feel quite wobbly” I told her before falling onto my front as my forelegs gave out. Luna let out a little noise of alarm before quickly helping me up and supporting me.

“It doesn’t seem like you can walk on your own right now. So, get back in bed and I’ll have a servant bring you some food,” Luna said in concern. I went to protest but closed my jaw before hopping back up onto my bed. I laid down with my head facing the door and Luna before resting in my crossed forehooves.

“I don’t think I can teach you when I’m like this,” I said in concern.

“Not unless you can teach while laying there,” Luna replied before remembering something. “Oh, wait. You don’t eat food, but you need nourishment to heal. Hmm, suggestions?”

I thought about it and frowned. Love won’t cut it so … I guess I can handle food for a bit.

“I haven’t even tried eating food but I know you giving me love won’t heal me as much as actual food does,” I told her after a while of thinking.

“So, a mixture of love and food then?” Luna wondered. I shook my head.

“Love is what we eat to get our nutrients but it doesn’t do a thing to heal our bodies. That’s when we have to actually eat food but I’ve never had this extent of injuries before so it’s something I never really had a problem with,” I explained before giving a short puff of breath from my nose.

“Alright, is there anything you’d prefer to try? I know the smell of the food yesterday made you sick, but perhaps there was one smell that was more tolerable than the others,” Luna said. Now that she mentioned it, there was a smell that was slightly more tolerable than the others but I can’t put my hoof on what it was.

“There was, but I can’t really remember. All the smells seemed to collect together into one overall smell,” I said sheepishly.

“Hmm, that makes sense. Was there a food that looked better to you?” Luna said with a thoughtful expression.

“Out of all the food that I could see, I liked the look of the corn but I don’t know if that was the smell I had tolerated,” I replied with an uncertain look.

“Well, it’s something to start with. So, I’ll have some corn brought to you and if it turns out that you can’t stand the smell of it explain so to the servant, as kindly as possible, and he or she will do what they can to help you,” Luna said and began walking to the door. I gave her a smile before sighing.

“You’ll be joining your family for lunch then?” I asked.

“For a bit, then I’ll return here with some food for both of us, just in case,” Luna said with a smile as she looked over her shoulder at me. I nodded in return.

“Okay. I’ll just be here then,” I said.

“I’d say rest well, but you’ve already done so for quite awhile today,” Luna said with a chuckle before opening the door and walking out. “I will return shortly.”

When she left, I closed the door behind her and idly moved my hoof in circles on the bedspread. Out of reflex, I went to contact one of my drones but quickly remembered that nopony would answer. I stopped my hoof circling and rested my head again with a frown. I would have amused myself with different activities to do but my injuries prevented me from doing any of those.

I snapped out my miserable monologue when my bedroom door opened to let in one of those servants that Luna mentioned.

“Excuse me, ma’am. I was told by Princess Luna to bring you some corn, butter and salt. Where would you like me to place the tray?” the mare asked as she held the tray steady in her magic while she shaked slightly upon seeing me. I subtly sniffed the air and was thankful that this combination of food didn’t want to make my stomach revolt.

“I’ll take the tray. Can you thank Princess Luna for me?” I asked as my magic took the tray over a split second after her red magical field left it and I somewhat felt glad that she shook when she first saw me.

“O-Of course, ma’am. Th-The corn is unbuttered since we weren’t sure how much you’d like,” the mare said as she slowly backed out of the room before bolting as she closed the door behind her. I chuckled to myself and brought the tray over to me after scooting back a bit to make room for the tray.

Now that the food was directly in front of me, I cautiously sniffed it again just to be sure, and was glad that I could actually tolerate the smell. I stared at the butter and salt and rubbed my cheek with a hoof. Isn’t butter meant to be salted already? Avoiding the salt, I poked my tongue out of the corner of my muzzle as I concentrated on the corn and did my best to butter it with my magic. It didn’t work out well as practically half the butter ended up on the corn and the rest of it either around the tray, on my bed, or on the bandages on my chest.

Frowning at this, I wasn’t sure what to do with the puddles of butter other than to gather it in my magic and put it back on the tray with the salt even though a yellow stain stayed on my front where it had struck the bandages. Bringing the corn up to my muzzle, I opened my mouth and took a bite just as my bedroom door opened again. Please don’t let it be that scared servant again.

“Pardon me, miss. It occurred to us that we’d forgotten to give you a drink,” a stallion servant said as he opened the door and stood in the doorway.

“A drink?” I asked with a head tilt after swallowing my bite of corn.

“Yes, ma’am. Would you prefer water, juice, tea, perhaps something a bit stronger than those?” the stallion asked. I blinked and stared at him neutrally. Something stronger sounds good about now.

“Perhaps something stronger?” I asked him.

“A beverage with alcohol in it. We have mead, wine, whiskey, or scotch,” he replied. I thought of the options and realized what they were so I went with the first one.

“Some mead sounds good to me,” I told him with a fanged grin.

“Very well. I will be back with some mead for you, miss Chrysalis,” the stallion said calmly as his eyes widened just a tad at the sight of my fangs before he left and closed the door behind him. He wasn’t skittish like the mare was. Shame. I shrugged to myself and took another bite, happy that I could actually taste the melted butter and the corn instead of something dreadful like ashes. Maybe this whole food thing isn’t so bad after all.

When I was about halfway through the corn, my door opened for the third time. I looked up curiously and stared at the stallion from earlier.

“Yes?” I asked him.

“Your flagon of mead, ma’am,” the stallion said as he trotted in with a flagon on his back. My eyes widened at the sight of the flagon and nodded slowly.

“Oh, thank you. I’ll take that,” I said nervously before my magic enveloped the flagon and lifted it off of his back.

“Is there anything else we can bring you as you recover, ma’am?” he asked. I shook my head at him.

“No, I’m fine for now,” I replied as I put the flagon on the floor in front of me.

“Very well. Um, th-there was one other thing that Queen Night asked me to do for you,” the stallion admitted as he inched closer to me.

“What did she ask?” I asked him in surprise. My eyes widened and I watched him inch a bit closer than before.

“Sh-She asked me, well, told me to do this,” the stallion said before quickly coming over and giving me a kiss on the cheek before quickly exiting my room with a blush on his muzzle. I looked at the closed door in shock and blinked a few times. What is up with the servants? Was it my appearance or something? I went back to eating but kept my eye on the door in case yet another servant decided to help me with something.

“How’s the corn and mead, Chryssie?” Luna asked as she entered my room with a couple plates of food in her magic.

“I like the corn and butter, but I wasn’t too sure about the salt so I left that alone. I splashed some butter around when I tried to put it on the corn and I am yet to try the mead,” I replied as I looked up at her. “How was it?”

“Lunch was well, but I got a bit of a talking to from mother,” Luna said as she tried to hold back her laughter at the sight of the butter all over the place. I stared at Luna trying to hold it in and sighed in self-disappointment.

“How bad does it look?” I grumbled before replying to her. “Did she give you a talking to because you missed breakfast?” I guessed.

“It looks as if you fought the butter instead of spreading it, Chryssie,” Luna said with a quiet chuckle before taking a breath to calm herself before looking depressed. “She told me I should have known to wait longer before mentioning what I had yesterday.”

“Uh huh,” I grunted before taking a swig of mead and immediately felt light headed. It left a burning sensation in the back of my throat and I nearly gagged. “Despite you being impatient, why didn’t you wait longer?”

“You were sad about it and I thought talking about it would make you feel better,” Luna said ashamedly as she made circles on the floor with a hoof. I felt like hitting her for bringing it up again but my light headedness put a stop to that.

“Like I said yesterday, wait a lot longer until I’m able to talk about it and when I am, I’ll bring it up. Okay?” I asked her with a pointed look.

“I know what you said, but you asked me a question and I was answering it. That’s all,” Luna huffed. I huffed myself and resumed eating. When I swallowed, I watched her fidget.

“Do you want to ask something?” I wondered.

“You’re just going to get angry again if I do,” Luna answered.

“Ask or I really will get angry,” I pointed out.

“Fine, would you tell me more about the ‘hive mind’ you mentioned as well as about your race?” Luna asked quietly. My eyes widened and I was about to go off at her but realized that she was asking general questions instead of about the death of my hive. I breathed slowly after finishing off the corn and put the tray near the door with my magic.

“I’ll tell you those things if you can help me clean this butter up,” I told her carefully.

“Deal,” Luna said with a grin as she started to clean up the butter with her magic. I did my best to help but quickly remembered that I didn’t know any cleaning spells. Maybe I should look them up when I’m recovered. We finished and with the trat by the door and half-full flagon of mead on the floor, Luna joined me on the bed.

“So, what did you want to know?” I asked hesitantly.

“Well, I’d like to learn a bit more about that ‘hive mind’ you mentioned last night, but if you feel uncomfortable answering something then tell me and we’ll move on to something else,” Luna said as she fidgeted her wings nervously.

“Okay, I can do that. The hive mind is, was, a collective consciousness. Everypony’s mind was connected to one another and the Queen controlled them all at her own leisure,” I told her as I slowly buzzed my wings to make an annoying buzzing sound.

“Wish we had that for our ponies. It’d make things so much easier,” Luna grumbled as she rubbed her ear closest to my wings. I looked at Luna, then my wings and slowed them to a stop with a dark blush.

“Sorry. I’m just a bit agitated,” I admitted.

“I’m nervous about talking about this with you as well. So, I can understand,” Luna said as she stopped fidgeting her wings. I was grateful that she shared in my discomfort before doing my best to explain further.

“You know how the hive mind sort of works. It can be used to communicate to anypony within the hive. The Queen gives them orders, and they follow them whether they want to, or not, and no private thoughts. Everypony’s thoughts are out in the open for everypony to see if they’re connected to the mind.”

“Hmm, not sure I like my thoughts not being private, but it seems quite convenient for communicating,” Luna commented. “What else is there to know about changelings as a race, Chryssie?”

I rested my head on my crossed forehooves and stared at the door with half-lidded eyes. I wasn’t sure what to tell her because I barely know anything about my species myself.

“They live in hives, they look like bugs taken pony form, they can blend in by changing into whichever species is needed, they feed off of emotions, they don’t really need that much to live on, they don’t need petty possessions and they need to be in a group otherwise … something will happen. I forgot the last one,” I frowned at the door as I listed off what I remembered changelings could do.

“So, what’s your most favorite species to turn into?” Luna asked curiously. I smiled wryly and laughed.

“I haven’t turned into any species other than Pegasi!” I said before laughing uncontrollably. Luna simply smiled warmly as I laughed. When I calmed down, my chest stung from the laughter and I smiled with another small laugh. “I haven’t bothered changing into another species and I haven’t observed any other species for long enough to actually turn into them.”

“Mm, I’m just glad you laughed, Chryssie,” Luna said kindly.

“I can still teach you if we practice in here but … thank you … for getting me to laugh,” I said hesitantly and rubbed my cheek with a hoof.

“After making you angry and failing with my jokes, I’m really happy to lift your mood,” Luna explained as she set a plate in front of me that was full of assorted foods. “What do you suggest we start with while we’re in this room and you’re recovering?”

I looked between the food and Luna before raising a brow. “While I try to figure out if I like this kind of food or not, we can try and get your invisibility spell working.”

“Okay, how do I cast the spell?” Luna wondered. It was second nature to me but I gestured to the space between my bed and my door.

“Stand there and look at me. Try to imagine yourself not being in the room without actually leaving it,” I said unsurely. “This would be a lot better with the spellbook but I believe that was destroyed years ago,” I muttered to myself.

“Right, imagine myself not here while not leaving,” Luna said as she went to where I’d indicated and lit her horn as she closed her eyes. Different portions of Luna turned invisible one after another after a few moments and continued to do so.

“Another way of going about it could be imagining yourself being cloaked in various light rays,” I said thoughtfully before looking at the various bits of food. There were peas, a lump of mashed potatoes, a pile of olives, some bread and a couple of eggs. Hesitantly smelling the food, to my surprise the smell didn’t actually bother me. I looked up at Luna from my inspection of the food and saw different parts of her body still turning invisible. “How’s it going?”

“I’m trying to imagine myself cloaked in various light rays now. So, hopefully, that’ll do it,” Luna said as she slowly faded until she was completely invisible. My eyes widened and blinked. I didn’t expect her to get it that quickly!

“Luna? You still here?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah, am I invisible? I’ve still got my eyes closed,” Luna said.

“You most definitely are. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked if you were still here,” I told her and prodded the spot where I last saw Luna with my magic.

“Hey, that tickles,” Luna said with a giggle as she reappeared.

“You did it. You managed to go invisible,” I said, still shocked about her quick learning. It took me roughly four years to finally master it and she got it down in an hour!

“Imagining myself wrapped in light is similar to a shadow spell I know so it was easier that way than I had expected,” Luna said as she wrapped herself in shadow, creating a pitch black silhouette of her body.

“Yeah, I can see that,” I muttered. “If that’s the case, then maybe you’ll be able to master the other stealth techniques a lot faster than I did.”

“Maybe, but mastering the spell is different from actually using it. So, you’ll probably remain better at them than I am,” Luna replied with a thoughtful expression.

“That remains to be seen,” I told her with narrowed eyes. “The next spell is just a silencing spell that’s directed at your hooves,” I said quickly.

“Alright, how does that one work?” Luna asked as she looked down at her hooves.

“Do you know how to create a soundproofing barrier?” I shot back, before immediately looking down at my plate and idly gnawed on a piece of bread.

“Yeah, I use it when Celestia is being long winded. So, I just direct that to my hooves?” Luna replied as she tilted her head a bit, continuing to look at her hooves. I nodded my head.

“It’s a miniature soundproof barrier placed around your hooves. It covers your horseshoes so that they don’t make any noise when they step,” I explained after swallowing the bread.

“Okay, let’s see how this goes,” Luna said and cast the barrier on her hooves. She tried walking in place and made no sound, but frowned. “It’s four barriers, one around each hoof, right?”

“Right but that’s just the basis of the silencing spell. Basically, you make the barriers as thin as possible but they’re still around your hooves. Except for the fact that they’re so thin that you can’t see them,” I shrugged.

“Right, better work on getting each hoof in a barrier instead of one big barrier for all of them then,” Luna said and began casting again. I saw her begin casting four at once and I sighed.

“Try focusing on one hoof first. Once you get that down, just duplicate that for the other three hooves,” I informed her before chewing on some of the olives. They were salty but I surprisingly liked the taste of them.

“Oh, okay,” Luna said as she cast the barrier on a single hoof and began to thin it down only for it to break from becoming too thin. “This is going to take a while.”

“Why do you think I only said to focus on one?” I asked with a giggle.

“R-Right, is there any trick to thinning the barrier without making it too thin?” Luna wondered as she continued working on the barrier and thinning it.

“There isn’t. You just have to find the right thickness,” I grinned toothily before getting an idea. While Luna was concentrating on her hoof, I lit up my horn and slammed my bedroom door shut before turning invisible. Luna jumped as she twirled around to look at the door before looking towards me and tilting her head to the side in confusion when she didn’t see me anymore.

“Did she turn invisible or did she teleport somewhere?” Luna mumbled to herself as she looked around for any sign of me. I grinned to myself and lit up my horn to amplify my voice so that it would echo around the room.

“Depends. She may have been an illusion that wanted to take you and your family over. She probably didn’t want anything to do with you. So which one is more likely? The explanation I just gave, or whatever you thought?” I asked.

“Which is more likely? Probably yours, but I like mine better. So, I choose to believe mine until proven otherwise,” Luna said as her ears swiveled back and forth as she tried to find the source of my echoing voice. My laughter echoed around the room. Now it was time for a bit of fun.

“Oh, you poor little pony. Did you really expect your ‘sister’ to stick around?” I asked in a childish voice.

“So, this is how you choose to repay everything? By mocking me and how I feel? Fine, my new sister is gone and is replaced by a being who needs to be beaten. Prepare yourself for our next encounter,” Luna said in a hurt voice with tears in her eyes before teleporting away. I admit, that may have been a bit harsh but I wanted to see how far I could push her. Maybe this was too far. Uncloaking myself, I stared at the spot where Luna had been only seconds ago and did my best to concentrate on her teleportation exit.

Breathing slowly, I lit my horn up and felt the world collapse around me before it coalesced into a single point in my vision. Then it widened rapidly and I was suddenly next Luna, still laying down on the floor. Not willing to look at her, I rested my head on my forehooves to look at the room instead.

The walls were coated to make them look like the night sky at midnight. The ceiling had depictions of various constellations which I could scarce even recognise. Her bed was a dark blue to match her coat and the pillows seemed to match. The bed itself looked like it had four posts on each corner with a black canopy that was dotted with stars. I couldn’t tell what was on the other side of the bed but on my side was a wooden table.

“Sorry for saying what I did. I didn’t expect you to begin crying,” I told her from the floor. Luna flickered before dissolving into nothing. An illusion. I couldn’t predict that and she made it seem so real. Now I’m left wondering where the real Luna is.

“Luna? Are you even in here?” I asked the room out loud.

“I expected you to come after me, but not so quickly, Chrysalis. I didn’t think you’d want to encounter me so soon after you revealed your ‘true self’,” Luna’s voice came from around me. She copied my trick. That’s cute.

“Why wouldn’t I after realizing I had made you cry, or was that an illusion as well?” I asked snippily; my ears swiveling on instinct to catch the source of the echoes.

“That was no illusion, Chrysalis, but it seems your entire time with me was,” Luna replied with a bit of venom in her voice.

“No, my time with you wasn’t an illusion. I genuinely enjoyed getting to know you despite that hiccup yesterday,” I told her and grunted when my chest flared up in pain again. How badly did she hit me yesterday!?

“Then you lie far too well because I believe both of your explanations. Oh, your chest is probably going to keep hurting for quite awhile. See, I took my time to aim each shot and to put a little more power into them in hopes you’d yield sooner. I guess I should have just finished you if you were just going to try to take over the family,” Luna replied as I saw a shadowy figure moving about the room rapidly. My eyes flicked from spot to spot as I watched the figure flash between locations in the room.

“I only lie so well because changelings are meant to lie exceptionally well otherwise what’s the point of being stealthy?” I asked rhetorically. “Maybe you should have but you heard your father. He was suspicious of me as well and found my hive to see if my story checked out.”

“He did, but you don’t want to talk about that subject, do you? No, you’d rather fight me than talk about that,” Luna said as more shadowy figures appeared around the room.

“You’re right on both accounts,” I said calmly and tried to stand up but my legs were still too wobbly so I just flopped back onto the floor. “I didn’t mean what I said back in my room. I just wanted to see how far I could push you.”

“Well, now you know. I’ve only ever used this tactic in sparring sessions, but nopony has been able to figure out which figure is me,” Luna explained as the figures began to switch places with each other. I grunted and lifted my head to look at the shifting Lunas. When they stopped, I looked at each of them carefully before firing a beam of magic at the one on my left. The figure blew apart and dissolved into shadows around the room. “Good guess, but no prize, Chrysalis. Do you like being toyed with?”

I don’t, but I kept silent and fired another beam at the one directly in front of me. Once again the figure blew apart and dispersed to shadows around the room.

“So, you’d still rather fight than talk. So be it,” Luna said as the figures disappeared and everything around me turned pitch black. I immediately lit my horn up to get some light going but the darkness just seemed to swallow it up.

“I’d rather talk but I’m scared I’ll shout at you,” I growled.

“Why would you be afraid of shouting at me when you’ve already tried to blow me away with your magic?” Luna wondered.

“Because I don’t want to hurt you even more than I already have,” I admitted through gritted fangs.

“And yet you already tried to by trying to blast me. Oh, and welcome back to the shadow realm,” Luna replied. I snorted at this and continued staring straight ahead.

“I knew those weren’t you and you obviously weren’t listening to what I was saying,” I told her with a frown.

“I listened, but where do the lies stop and the truth begins?” Luna countered.

“You’ll just have to trust me, which at the moment is saying a lot,” I replied.

“Trust you? Trust is something that you build up, but is easily broken. So, how am I supposed to trust you?” Luna said from behind me. I jumped at the sudden location of the voice and swivelled my head to look at Luna over my shoulder.

“You can’t. Nopony trusts changelings so I don’t expect you to either,” I told her with a glare.

“I don’t care if you’re a changeling, Chrysalis. What species you are doesn’t factor into this. Only what you’ve said and done,” Luna said as she disappeared into the darkness again. I turned back to the front with a sigh.

“What have I done that makes you not trust me then?” I asked.

“Fight me for a simple stupid mistake and lie to me just to see how far you can ‘push’ me,” Luna answered as she walked out in front of me. I blinked and huffed.

“If that’s the case then what can I do to make you trust me? Not lie?” I asked with a pursed muzzle.

“No, because I can’t tell your lies from the truth anyway, I had trusted you before you pushed me, though,” Luna admitted. She had a point and I guess I did push her a bit far.

“How can I earn your trust back then?” I asked.

“Mmm...This may seem like a contradictory, but tell me a secret of yours that you haven’t told anypony else,” Luna said after a bit of thought as she brought us back into her room.

“Why? What’s that meant to prove?” I asked skeptically with narrowed eyes.

“That you trust me enough to keep a secret,” Luna answered. I kept my eyes narrowed as I tried to think of a secret that nopony else knew. Considering the only ponies I’ve actually talked to are Luna, her family, my mother and my drones, that’s not really saying a lot.

“Fine, you want to know a secret? My mom kept me sheltered and in the hive. I didn’t know anything about the outside world until a few months ago when I became Queen. Happy?” I snarled.

“Kinda. We seem to be in a cycle of one of us being angry at the other. So, that’s bringing down the mood,” Luna said with a neutral expression.

“So what?” I snapped.

“So, we’re either pretty close or so far apart it’d take a day to fly over the gap,” Luna replied.

“To that, I say both. We’re close in terms of clashing personalities but so far apart we’re not even bothering to bridge the gap,” I said simply, all anger flowing out of me when I realised Luna wasn’t going to hit me again.

“Any suggestions for fixing that then? I’ve only got experience interacting with family and servants,” Luna said as she put me on her bed and joined me. I got myself comfortable and leaned against her.

“I could still teach you about how to conceal yourself but you seem to be good at that already,” I replied with a short bark of harsh laughter. “Other than that, no suggestions from me.”

“Concealment is a basic skill for using shadows,” Luna said with a shrug. “Hmm, tell each other stories about ourselves?”

I shook my head at this. “I don’t think so. I don’t really want to share my past,” I mumbled.

“Figured as much, but also figured I’d suggest it, just in case,” Luna replied before gaining a quizzical expression. “ Hmm...something to bridge the gap or at least lessen it.”

“Maybe play a prank on Celestia?” I suggested. It was the only thing I could really think of that may help us bridge this gap.

“It’s a start and that’s what we need to most right now,” Luna said with a nod. “It has to be funny otherwise it’s not worth it.”

“Can making her angry be a part of that?” I asked hopefully.

“It can, but that seems like more of a bonus for you,” Luna said with a chuckle. I tilted my head from side to side before grinning.

“That may be, but, we can figure out a prank on our way to wherever she is,” I said with a playful smile.

“Trying to get your sister angry for a prank already, you two?” Night said as she appeared from thin air. I teleported to behind Luna’s bed at the sudden appearance of Luna’s mother. This is going so well.

“Um, hi, ma’am,” I said nervously.

“It may take awhile for you to get used to, but you can call me ‘mom’, Chrysalis,” Night said calmly. “You do remember how Celestia got her true form, right?” I gulped and nodded slowly before giving a weak chuckle.

“S-Sorry. Luna told me that Celestia got her true form by protecting Luna,” I replied quietly.

“It’s alright. I just didn’t want you getting more hurt than you already are just to play a prank. Speaking of, how’s everything feeling?” Night inquired.

“My chest gives random spikes of pain and I can barely stand but other than that, I’m fine,” I answered and looked at the back of Luna’s head for a few seconds.

“Hmm, you should have those bandages changed, I think applying some new salves would help as well,” Night said thoughtfully. I looked down at my bandages and was slightly surprised to see a bit of red in the middle of my chest, soaking through the bandages and making them sticky.

“I guess Luna hit me harder than we both thought because this looks like blood to me,” I said carefully as I pointed to the spot on my torso.

“It does. Have you been resting properly?” Night inquired. Let’s see. How long did I rest?

“I rested for most of the day today … Luna slept with me last night to keep me calm and she missed breakfast because of that … I believe I have been sleeping properly,” I said slowly.

“So, you haven’t done any strenuous activities that would reopen or make your wounds worse?” Night asked.

“I did walk a bit before my front forelegs gave out,” I replied and looked up at Luna’s mother when Luna turned her head towards me.

“You hitting the floor might have reopened the wound on your chest,” Luna said. I blinked and stared at Luna before observing the slowly spreading red on my chest.

“It may have but I don’t think I hit the floor hard enough before you caught me,” I said.

“Well, whether it did or not isn’t important. What’s important is that we get you back to the infirmary to treat your wounds again,” Night said in concern before teleporting the three of us into the infirmary. “We need a healer to look at these wounds, now!” At Night’s shout, a trio of ponies trotted over and began undoing the old bandages to examine my injuries.

When my bandages were peeled off, I hissed at the pain and couldn’t stop myself from looking down at my wound. What I could see of it was some shiny substance sticking to my chitin so whatever Luna did in her true form must have cracked the chitin itself and hit the flesh beneath it.

“There appears to be some burned tissue that is keeping the wound from healing as quickly as it would otherwise. Then again, her physiology isn’t the same as what we have trained to treat,” one of the ponies, the one who seemed oldest of the trio and most likely in charge, commented as he sent one of the others to gather some medical supplies. “Miss, have you ever had an injury like this before?”

“No, I haven’t had any injury like this before,” I said scathingly. The pain was most likely affecting how I talked around others.

“Hmm, very well. We will treat you like a regular pony and change what we’re doing if that doesn’t work,” the stallion said calmly as the medical supplies arrived. “Do you have any allergies we need to worry about before beginning?” I shook my head at the medical pony. “Perfect, we’ll apply some salve to the wound and then redress it. If the bandages become dirty or soaked through then come back and we’ll change them for you.” The trio then set about putting the salve onto my wound and redressing it before checking my other injuries. My legs seemed fine but just in case, they applied some more salve to them and redressed them. I looked at my chest, then at Luna, narrowing my eyes.

“You really wanted me to yield, didn’t you?” I asked sarcastically.

“Why didn’t you yield earlier if it was this bad, Chrysalis?” Night wondered.

“I think I said I wouldn’t yield until I … had my hive back,” I said hesitantly.

“So, you still haven’t yielded then,” Night replied.

“I did … because I realised I would have died if I didn’t yield,” I told her simply.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t have lost consciousness first?” Night asked with a smile. I shook my head at her. I knew that no matter what I did, Luna would have killed me regardless of me being her new sister or not. “Hmm, you need to learn more about your sister then.”

“Obviously,” I snarked.

“No need to be snarky, dear. If you had lost consciousness then Luna would have brought you here. Our family has more honor in it than to kill somepony who’s no longer able to fight,” Night explained. Luna nodded her head with her eyes closed at this. I looked at them both, closed my eyes and sighed before lowering my head onto the bed.

“Well, we will leave you to get some rest,” Night said as she ushered Luna toward the exit. The three medical ponies had gone back to their other tasks as well by this time.

“See you later then,” I mumbled quietly.

“Oh, is there anything we can bring you to pass the time or help you change locations?” Night called after she’d stopped. I shook my head before burying my head in my forehooves to try and get to sleep. “Very well, but do let us know if there is anything we can do for you.” Only one set of hooves was heard leaving the infirmary.

“Who’s still there?” I mumbled through my hooves and wondered if Luna was still here or if she just went through the shadows instead of walking.

“Your sister,” Luna said from nearby.

“Why? I thought you would have let me tried to get some sleep?” I asked.

“I am, but I’m also going to watch over your dreams so your sleep is pleasant,” Luna replied as the creak of a bed next to me was heard. I rubbed my nose with a hoof before subtly relaxing.

“Okay,” I said through a yawn before settling down to sleep again.

“I hope you have wonderful dreams, sister,” Luna said quietly.

Comments

[PonyPawz]

“Yeah, I actually tried leaving for breakfast, but you started tossing and turning the moment I wasn’t next to you,” Luna said. I breathed and slowly rose until I was sitting on my haunches and looked at Luna blearily.
“Did I really do that?” I asked with a tired look.
“Yes, you did. You calmed back down when I laid down next to you again,” Luna said as she sat up next to me.

Awwww so f**king cute. Man you, my good sir are good to kill me with this cuteness one day. And you'll do a dam good job about to

[PonyPawz]

I like this chapter cause it open some new light and found myself laughing and/or awwing in the cuteness of this chapter.
For now I have not found anything wrong with this chapter but will tell when I do.

[Texus]

“Did she turn invisible or did she teleport somewhere?”

or did she....I don`t know....used the door? I thought that was, what she wanted Luna to think while slamming the door.

Fight me for a simple stupid mistake

It seems her mother and Chrysalis doesn't think so.

“It’s a start and that’s what we need to most right now,” Luna said with a nod. “It has to be funny otherwise it’s not worth it.”

“Can making her angry be a part of that?” I asked hopefully.

Is having easy mood swings part of Lunas personality here? Does she have that issue to justify Nightmare Moon? I know you could say ponys, or she is just easily hurt, but to me it even looks a little bit like overreacting. I mean after that it looked at least like she easily went calm enough to talk normal with her.

I don't know, I think this is a story where I just sometimes have to dissagree with some things the characters do or how they do it, because you could see it this way, but you also could see it that way.

That's still not saying I don't like it.

[Razzy]

Hah, equal parts adorable and awkward.

[Arkinstone]

Okay, some constructive criticism. And I mean this in the best way.

I personally think that the pacing is quite fast and confusing. They way that Luna and Chrysalis are friends then in a snap moment of teasing are insulted and furious at each other. Maybe try and slow things down? that and the parents are a bit too chillax