Chapter 3: Cutie Mark Crusaders, Cthulhu Cultists
Word had been getting around. Chrysalis had found herself busier than she had hoped with her plan of collecting love in exchange for repairing relationships. In the past week and a half, her hive had gone from the brink of starvation to having a surplus of love to store. At this rate, by the end of a month she would be able to start selling love to other hives. Sometimes, its good to be the Queen.
A knock sounded on her door. “Odd,” Chrysalis thought to herself, “there are no appointments right now and Harshwhinny uses the intercom.” Aloud she said, “Come in.”
Slowly the door opened and in walked a very elderly green earth pony. “Pardon, yer Majesty. But Discord said ya might be able to help my young’n with a friendship problem.”
Chrysalis was a little surprised and pleased. Referral business already? “Did Discord happen to tell you what my price is for helping ponies?” she asked the earth pony.
“Eyup,” replied the earth pony, “Y’all take some of the love you help put back. Granny Smith is the name by the by. And my young’n is little Apple Bloom. She an’ her friends have a powerful friendship problem. Even that there Princess of Friendship couldna’ fix it.”
Chrysalis thought for a moment. She knew who Apple Bloom was, of course. Before her abortive invasion of Canterlot she had dossiers prepared on each of the Element bearers and their families. Apple Bloom meant the Cutie Mark Crusaders. All of whom were fillies.
“I don’t drink from fillies or colts. They are too young. But,” said Chrysalis holding up a hoof to forestall a home spun interjection, “I am willing to drink some of your love, in advance, now, as payment for the attempt.”
“Fair enough, Yer Majesty,” said Granny Smith, holding out a hoof.
Chrysalis opened her empathic senses and tasted Granny Smith’s love. It was rich, full, and flavourful. Wound through with the triumphs and tragedies of a long, full life. It was all there, every flavour of love combined into a powerful, heady bouquet. Only the discipline of a Queen let her break free of that hypnotic flavour.
“Granny Smith, I want you to promise me something,” said Chrysalis.
“What’s that?” asked Granny.
“Never be alone with me or another changeling again unless you want us to drink you dry,” Chrysalis said.
“How’s that now?” Granny replied.
“You have had a long and full life, your love for your family is full, and so rich. The flavour is quite addictive. Another changeling might not be able to stop," explained Chrysalis. “Have your granddaughter and her friends here tomorrow. I’ll do what I can.”
Chrysalis cleared out her schedule for the coming day.
Chrysalis heard them before she saw them. The door to her office opened, and in came three young fillies, being herded by an orange earth pony. Chrysalis recognized Applejack trying to ride herd on the trio. They were furiously squabbling with each other.
“Excuse me,” Chrysalis said as she tried to exert some control on the sudden situation. “EX-CUSE me.”
"LISTEN UP, Y’ALL!” bellowed Applejack. Sudden silence reigned in the room.
“Thank you, Applejack,” said Chrysalis. “I will send for you when we are done.”
“Chrysalis,” Applejack said, "Ah don't rightly trust you. But you gave Cadence your word and Ah trust her. So, Ah'll give you a chance. You treat my sister and her friends right, ya hear?"
"I will treat them as if they were my own," said Chrysalis.
Applejack just glared at her for a moment, then said, "You three, listen up to what Her Majesty has to say. Ah'll be back later." She turned, and with a final glare at Chrysalis, left.
“Now then, you three,” said Chrysalis staring down at the trio before her. “We will start off simply. I will ask you questions, one at a time. You will answer as truthfully and as completely as possible.” The unicorn of the group held up a hoof for attention.
“Yes...Sweetie Belle, isn’t it?” said Chrysalis.
“Yes, um, your Majesty,” said the filly hesitantly. “Aren’t we supposed to be talking about our feelings and stuff like that?”
“Usually, yes,” answered Chrysalis. “But your reputation proceeds you, and I thought as you are all of school age, a more school like setting would be more appropriate.”
“Um...okay,” said a nervous-looking orange pegasus filly. “Why do you have holes?”
“For now, I will ask the questions,” responded Chrysalis, ignoring the non-sequitur. “I understand that something happened with regards to your friendship.” All three began to tumble out a stream of words regarding something. It was impossible to make any details out of the babble.
“STOP!” commanded Chrysalis, loudly. “No one can understand anything when you all talk at once.” “You,” she pointed to a yellow Earth filly, “in your own words, without interruptions,” she said, glaring at the other two, who shrank back at Chrysalis’s glare, “tell me what happened.”
“Well, Sweet Apple Acres has been in the Apple family for a long time,” began Apple Bloom. “And things haven’t always been where they are, and some stuff isn’t where it used to be. So, sometimes, some stuff gets forgotten in some places.” Chrysalis felt her head spin a moment trying to follow the logic. “Anyhow,” continued the filly, “we found what we think was one of old Uncle Crab Apple’s root cellars. We were lookin’ though the place and we found some old books an’ were starting to look through them when the cellar started to fall in on itself. We ran out just in time.”
Seeing the other two fillies were getting antsy to say something Chrysalis turned to the unicorn filly again. “Your turn. Tell me what happened after that.”
“Well, after that, Ma’am, um, Your Majesty, um…Rarity says its important to get ponies names right,” said Sweetie Belle. “Excuse me, but what should we call you?”
“Your sister is quite right to insist on proper protocol,” said Chrysalis. “In general, I should be referred to as ‘Your Majesty’. But due to our informal setting here, I am willing to accept Madam or Ma’am, for short.”
“Um, thank you, Ma’am,” said Sweetie Belle. “Anyway, as my 'former friend' was saying, we had gotten out just in time with the book and we took it back to our clubhouse. We read it and it talked about ways to contact the Grape old ones. We figured they must be some oldpony relatives of the Apples.”
“The...Grape...old ones,” Chrysalis dragged a hoof down her face at yet another fruit based name. “Wait, pegasus, Scootaloo, isn’t it? Continue with what happened; this story is...unreal.”
Scootaloo continued, “I read through it, and some of the stuff looked pretty scary, but also pretty cool. According to the book all we needed to do was follow the instructions and we could talk to these Grape ponies and they could do things for us like give me a pair of wings that would get me off the ground.”
“Or convince Applejack that I’m big enough she doesn’t have to watch me all the time,” interrupted Apple Bloom.
“Or make Rarity as proud of me as I am of her,” said Sweetie Belle, interrupting the interruption.
“What did I say about ‘no interruptions’?” Chrysalis said loudly, overriding the argument even as it began.
“Anyhow,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah started to put together stuff for the ‘write you’all’ so we could talk to these Grape ones. And things were going good too! Ah only needed one more thing.”
Chrysalis began to feel the icy fingers of fear crawl up her malleable spine as she realized exactly what the Crusaders were talking about. Somehow, these fillies had found a book of forbidden knowledge. A book of rituals to contact one or more of The Great Old Ones, perhaps even dread Cthulhu himself.
“All ah needed,” continued Apple Bloom, completely unaware of Chrysalis’s realization, “was a cup of unicorn blood. Ah figured Rarity would be more than willing to donate to help us out.”
“What happened next?” Chrysalis prompted. As she spoke she cast a very subtle delve spell at the three fillies. Thankfully, they showed only the barest touch of the darkness they had interacted with. There was still hope, if they could be reminded of their friendships.
“Well, Ah asked Rarity if she would donate an’ she refused!” said Apple Bloom indignantly. “So, I decided to take some when she was asleep, which is when Sweetie Belle ruined everything!”
“I found you beside my sister’s bed, in the middle of the night, with a knife, a tourniquet and one of Zecora’s sleep potions,” said Sweetie Belle hotly. “You were gonna bleed my sister!”
“Ah only needed a cup,” complained Apple Bloom. “All that stuff was to make sure she didn’t feel any pain and that Ah didn’t take too much. She woulda been fine!”
“It was my sister’s blood!” shouted Sweetie Belle.
“Hush!” commanded Chrysalis. “Scootaloo, do you know what happened next?”
“Yes Ma’am,” said the pegasus filly. “Sweetie screamed, Rarity woke up, saw Apple Bloom with the knife and screamed. Apple Bloom screamed and next thing everyone knew all of Rarity’s friends were there and so were all of us.”
“And then Twilight took the book away and now I can’t send a message to the Grapes because I need the book,” Apple Bloom pouted.
“Okay fillies,” said Chrysalis. “I think I have a fair idea of what’s going on with you three and I think I can help you. But first, excuse me a moment.” Chrysalis stepped outside and went to one of the two guards who had become semi-permanent fixtures in her office. “I need you to bear a message to Princess Cadence immediately. She is to relay the message to Celestia at once.”
“What is the message?” asked the guard.
“Code R’lyeh, Sweet Apple Acres, Castle of Friendship, Apple family, Twilight Sparkle, one book,” said Chrysalis. “Repeat that back please.” The guard did. “Good, now get going.”
Chrysalis walked back into the room where the three fillies sat in silence, staring at each other. It was almost cute. This was definitely a friendship she had to save. For all their sakes. “I need to shake them out of their anger,” Chrysalis thought. “I need to be blunt. I need to hurt them so they understand the pain the others are in. It’s a good thing I am skilled in hurting ponies.”
“So,” Chrysalis drawled out. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders, friends forever. I believe you all made a solemn promise of friendship to each other?” The fillies nodded. “But it seems all it took was a book and the promise of things you can only dream of to end that friendship.” The trio looked down, faces sad. Chrysalis could see the beginnings of tears, and while she would not feed from them, the "taste" of the room as whole, suddenly became acidic and raw.
“You know, before I invaded Canterlot I had considered snatching the three of you and replacing you with infiltrators,” said Chrysalis. The three fillies looked up. “Do you know why I didn’t? Because I decided that the bond between the three of you was so strong as to make you impossible to hold with my magic.”
“We are strong, we’re just...” said Apple Bloom, unable to finish.
“You,” said Chrysalis, “are unable to do something that all friends have to do for each other. Something I thought the three of you had learned a long time ago.”
“What’s that?” asked Scootaloo.
“True friends forgive each other when they make mistakes. They don’t hold grudges,” said Chrysalis. “Each of you has wronged the other.” The heads of the three fillies shot up. “Apple Bloom, you wanted what wasn’t yours to ask for, and then when you were told ‘No,' you tried to steal it. Sweetie Belle, you leaped to conclusions about the book without asking for help. You didn’t go to your sister about either it or Apple Bloom’s request. And Scootaloo, you were willing to watch them, just to get a chance at bigger wings. You first found the book, and I think you at least had an idea how dangerous it was. But you assured your friends it was ‘cool.'”
Scootaloo nodded, “Ya, anything written in blood can’t be good. I’m sorry for saying it was red ink, gals. And I’m sorry for thinking of myself first.”
“I think Scootaloo has made a good start here,” said Chrysalis. “Apple Bloom, do you have anything to add?”
“Ah’m sorry too. Ah shoulda known that anything that involved takin’ instead of givin’ was bad news,” said Apple Bloom.
“And?” prompted Chrysalis.
“And Ah’m sorry for breakin’ into the boutique and scaring everypony,” said the Earth pony. With that all eyes turned toward Sweetie Belle.
“I should have spoken to Rarity right away,” said Sweetie Belle. “I should have asked somepony older for help and, I should have been honest about how mad I was that Apple Bloom was going to do something magical instead of me.”
There was a long pause, then all three, at the same time said, “I’m sorry, can you forgive me?” The three looked at each other, smiled and with laughter, embraced in a group hug.
Chrysalis smiled at the resiliency of youth, saying, “So, little ponies, how strong ARE your hearts?” It was a cue and the ponies went with it, breaking into song. “Celestia watches over foals and fools,” thought the changeling, listening to the song and basking in the rekindled furnace that was the friendship of the Crusaders.
The song ended and the trio looked up at Chrysalis, who was sitting there with a pleased smile on her face.
“You did that on purpose!” exclaimed Scootaloo. “You were mean on purpose, so we could see how mean we were being to each other.” Chrysalis said nothing and just smiled enigmatically.
“And when we saw how mean we had been, we felt bad and apologized. Which made us remember our friendship and how much we mean to each other,” realized Sweetie Belle, her mouth clearly working as fast as her brain.
“Ah think she needs some payback for that dirty trick. What do you think, girls?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Oh, please,” said Chrysalis. “Like you could do anything to- ack!.” Chrysalis found herself swarmed under by the three ponies who tackled her in a massive combined hug.
“Ah!...Guard!…Help!” yelled Chrysalis, half in jest. “I’m being hugged!”
The fillies just hugged her harder yelling, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CHANGELING HUGGERS...YAY!"
The CMC's song...
Shout outs to my three editors on this chapter. My wife, Serenetea, Damaged and Cross Lament.
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suggestion make (hold on let me think up the most awful pairing i can imagine) nightmare moon and luna (nightmare moon turned out to be another alicorn (fimfiction story's prove this is possible) or just do some other equally weird pairing. if not ignore this comment
7737584 That definitely could be interesting. The hard part would be getting them both in the same place. Plus, would Luna even want to be reconciled with Nightmare Moon. I'll give it some thought.
7737624 they could have been lovers in the dreamscape and then nightmare moon became physical after the eoh blasted her and she just went into hiding.???? it could work
... Why wouldn't I put past the CMC to actually do something like that?
... It must happen scarily often if they have a special code for that.
Enjoyed this, great to see a new chapter. Also encouraging to see that friendship problems are dealt with too, not just relationship ones. I think Limestone and Marble Pie would be interesting to see, with one realising how much her aggression was keeping the other quiet. And if there's a chance for Maud and Chrysalis to have a truth-off, that would be great. It could also be interesting to see Rainbow Dash properly realising the extent to which Scootaloo has adopted her as a surrogate parent, and how that involves responsibilities as well as fun stuff.
Lovecraft seriously? I mean ok thats some idea but ughh even necronomicon should make you crazy its forbidden knowledge because its unthinkable etc plus cthulhu wasn't even worst of old ones in this situation hastur would be way worse or even azathoth what will just devour worlds.
7738138 Interesting ideas, and they one or more might find their way in. Now that I have The Bridle Path done, this story will get updated more often as I was on a big push to get that finished.
7738138 Interesting side note. If you re-watch A Canterlot Wedding you may notice that Chrysalis never lies to Twilight. She plays the part of Cadance, she lies to other ponies, but she never says an untrue word to Twilight...
7741737 I hadn't noticed that, but it makes sense, that's what makes her so dangerous. The sirens tormenting Sunset in Rainbow Rocks use a similar tactic. Do you go with the view that Twilight saw through the disguise because she knew Cadence better, or that Chrysalis acted up deliberately, so as to paint Twilight in a bad light and alienate her from the other Elements of Harmony?
Cute!
I've got a pairing I'd like to see, though not sure what their issue would be:
Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich
7741752 Now that you mention it, I guess it's possible that, once Chrysalis realized she didn't know Cadence well enough to fake it with Twilight (starting from "sunshine sunshine ladybugs awake") she did that deliberately.
7738197 a good chunk of the sanity loss involved in lovecraft-mythos knowledge actually stems from the crushing realization of just how small your place in the cosmos is. However, when you have two princesses who can literally haul the sun and moon around and who can influence the motion of stars, you don't have to worry quite so much about anything that can be kept at bay by making sure the stars aren't "right", and so these revelations are less crushing (barring the really-high end stuff). As it is, these three fillies did still suffer some san loss (as Chrysalis noted, though not in those terms).
Is hugging in this case an equivalent of force feeding?
This story is very sweet and fun to read.
D’awwww.
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