The True Shape

by ArtaFactia

Chapter Four

Tarnished pulled his scarf up over his muzzle and his goggles back down over his eyes, staring at the Badlands with a heavy sigh. He had crossed all that distance, so no doubt he could do it again. Still, staring at the fierce, unforgiving land before him was rather daunting.

"It is quite wild here!" Chrysalis had to shout over the wind, which had decided that their appearance was the right time to really start blowing again.

"Yeah! It's the Badlands!" He shouted back, his voice muffled somewhat by his scarf. "And we've got to cross it before we see any quarter!"

"No, no, this will not do!" The sand whipped around her, but it didn't brush against her chitin or find lodging in her mane or tail. It was as if the elements could not touch her. Maybe they couldn't, he thought. Chrysalis was consistently surprising him, and considering what he had seen and heard so far, she was more divine than he had at first realized. She hadn't specifically said what her relation was to Xzalamat, but he was clever enough to read between the lines. He figured he was likely in the presence of the goddess' daughter, which made Chrysalis a goddess as well, or at the very least a demigoddess. "I will appeal to Xzalamat! My powers have not yet fully returned to me, so we will need her assistance!"

"What?! You're going to ask her to change the weather or something?" Up until now, he had only ever seen weather directed and controlled by Equestria's pegasi. To change the Badland's weather would be a monumental undertaking, especially given how wild and unpredictable it was. It would take an unbelievable amount of horsepower and ingenuity to bring a moment's peace to the Badlands when the sun shone down on it.

"Yes, that is precisely what I am going to do!" Chrysalis turned her gaze from him, tilting her head back and looking up at the sky. "Mother, hear me now! This land is wild, and it hungers for death! Tarnished Relic is tired, and he has already suffered enough of its ferocity! Still the wind, hide the sun, and cool us with rain! I appeal to thee for succor!"

As soon as the last word was spoken, the effect was immediate. The enraged howling of the wind turned to a whimper and then fell silent, the sand falling back down to the ground and settling there. A light fluffy cloud mass hovering over the Macintosh Hills moved over the Badlands, expanding in size and getting darker by the minute. The harsh glow of the sun was cut off, leaving the Badlands dimly lit, and then one by one droplets of rain began to fall. Tarnished fell back onto his haunches, his mouth gaping and closing soundlessly like a goldfish, unable to parse the scene before him. The Badlands had never known cloud cover, let alone rain, and the wind only died down at night. He was utterly gobsmacked. He was shortly shaken out of his stupor by the gentle touch of Chrysalis' hoof on his shoulder. "H-how...I just...it's not possible..."

"All things are possible with Xzalamat." Chrysalis helped him onto his hooves, and then she gently nudged his flank with her snout, pushing him forward. "Come, let us not linger. Let us show appreciation for Her succor and make haste to leave this barren land." It took a few more nudges to get him moving, but move he did, a smile slowly stretching across his face. The shade and the rain were refreshing, and he felt alive again as the drops splattered onto his coat. Not only that, but the gentle downpour made the sand clump together, making the going easier as it wasn't constantly shifting under his hooves. He didn't say anything more for the next hour, marvelling at this show of power and feeling that it might be shattered with a word. He turned back from time to time to look behind him, and she would give him a smile each time, but she was content to say nothing, waiting for him to break the silence.

Tarnished had not realized that the distance needed to travel to leave the Badlands from where they had started off was not actually all that far. What had taken several hours to slog through when the weather was vicious took little more than an hour with this unnatural calm. When at last their hooves stepped outside of the visible boundary of the Badlands and onto the base of the Macintosh Hills, the calm was reversed with alarming speed, the cloud withering away to nothing and the wind shrieking back to life with a vengeance. They climbed high onto the hills and looked down at the Badlands that they had left behind. He breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to look at her. "Thank you, Chrysalis. You're a lifesaver."

"Don't thank me, thank Xzalamat. It was by her intervention that we made it through so easily."

"Thank you!" He shouted, looking at the sky. "So...you're her daughter." She nodded. "Ready to tell me your true name yet?" She shook her head.

"No, not yet. It is not the right time. I am saving it for when...well, I am saving it." Chrysalis appeared to have thought better of her answer and cut it short.

"Honestly, you're such a tease! I swear you get a kick out of keeping me in suspense." He said, with no small measure of chagrin.

"I will admit to a flair for the dramatic, yes. It is an almost inescapable trait of goddesses." She tittered softly behind a hoof, and he pouted even harder. "You can't stay mad at me. I know you can't. I can see now that you are merely frustrated, though there is a powerful undercurrent of admiration."

"You...you're reading my emotions?"

"Yes. Those of the True Shape have many abilities, this being one of them. All emotion is laid bare before us. I do not need to read your mind to guess at what you are thinking, since emotions, nuanced as they are, say it all. You cannot lie to me, Tarnished. I do hope you will not feel the need to attempt falsehood, since I will see right through it."

"So then, that means...all this time...you've been able to figure out what I was thinking." She nodded. "That means that you...you knew that I..." He hesitated, and a small smirk began to form on her muzzle.

"That you desire me, that you find yourself attracted to me. Yes. I sensed it, and I was pleased, but I refrained from commenting on it then."

"B-but...you're going to comment on it now, I suspect." The redness of his blush cut through his sepia-coloured coat, and she giggled coquettishly, cupping his chin with her hoof.

"Only if you would like me to," she cooed, fluttering her lashes at him. His mouth suddenly felt dry, and his heart did calisthenics in his chest. When he did not answer, since he was much too stunned to utter a word, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his, and he closed his eyes, pressing eagerly into the kiss. It was not a particularly long kiss, nor was it sloppy or overly sensuous. It was just two sets of lips pressed firmly together, and both participants quite enjoyed it. She gave his lips a quick nibble with her fangs as he made to pull back, making him groan with delight.

"That...that was..." He was rendered speechless. No words could do justice to how that kiss made him feel.

"No need to try to describe it. A kiss loses its power if you can describe it. It was a moment when all was right, when all was love. Do not strip it of its power, Tarnished." She said, practically pleading. He didn't need to be an emotional detector like her to see that the hitherto unflappable goddess was not unmoved, that she was panting and staring at him with just as much hunger as he felt, the pupils in her eyes dilated with excitement.

"V-very well. Let us not resort to words, then." He pressed his forehead against hers, his soft fur rubbing against the base of her horn, their eyes very close. "Is this your plan to get me to change, by getting me to fall for you?"

"I don't know. Is it working?" She asked, lidding her eyes.

"I...m-maybe. It...I'm very conflicted, Chrysalis. You're a very tempting changeling."

"'Changeling'?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I needed something simpler to call you other than 'goddess of the True Shape'. Since you're so eager to 'change' all us ponies into the True Shape, 'changeling' just seemed...fitting."

"Changeling...changeling..." She murmured, tasting the word on her tongue, trying it out. "I like it. It is quite acceptable. 'I am a changeling.' Hmm...it definitely rolls off the tongue."

"I'm glad you like it, Chrysalis. Now, speaking of rolling, we really should get rolling on our way to Appleloosa." He stepped back from her, and already he missed her warmth from a few feet away. Sleeping beside her through the night had been both comfortable and comforting, and he had to force down the coltish giddiness that filled him as he thought about when he would next need to sleep. It was a quick burst of emotion that he knew she caught, but she refrained from commenting on it, lest they wile away the whole day being mushy on the hilltops.

"Of course, Tarnished. I am quite eager to meet some other ponies!" Chrysalis happily clopped her hooves together, her eyes and smile wide with the prospect.

"And no doubt flirt shamelessly with them." He muttered, drawing another giggle from her. Her answer was a playful wink, and he looked aside, still as flushed in the face as ever. "Y-you're incorrigible."

"You love it." He steered himself away from answering that by standing up and turning in the direction of Appleloosa, walking down the other side of the hill, forcing her to stand up and quickly fall in step beside him. After a moment, he wordlessly leaned in against her, and the air above the Macintosh Hills was filled with the hum of her happily buzzing wings.

Author's Note:

Chapter Four, in which our heroes leave the Badlands and then proceed to be nauseatingly cute and mushy. HNNNGGHHH

Comments

[Razzy]

Hnnnnnng indeed.

I also like that you made her so cherry and seemingly carefree. It makes sense, I doubt she was born very long before her sleep, so she's probably quite young mentally.

[ArtaFactia]

7544654

I doubt she was born very long before her sleep

I guess you'll just have to wait to find out! MWAHAHA I CONTROL HER DESTINY, I, THE MAD WRITER!

[Europa]

Oh... introducing Chrysalis is going to be awkward.

[MadDonut]

7544659 THE MAD DONUT DOES NOT TAKE KINDLY TO TITLE THIEVES!!!

[MadDonut]

Well I had my expensive head phones on and since I wasn't using them just letting them sit on my head I decided to just throw some music on while I read and let me tell you Fire Burning was oddly fitting.