• Published 5th Feb 2017
  • 6,262 Views, 291 Comments

The Bug in the Herd - Skijarama



(Set after season 6) Chrysalis has been struggling to survive in the aftermath of her hive's reformation. By pure chance, a resident of Ponyville may be her best chance for survival, and possibly even redemption.

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4 - Memories of Loved Ones

When Tone Shift finally got himself out of the kitchen and back into the living room, it had been several minutes. He glanced to his left and saw Chrysalis sitting on the couch, staring into one of the books from the bag intently, by the looks of it she had just reached a new chapter. Her eyes were focused entirely on the page, as though she were actively trying to force her attention away from Tone.

With a sigh, Tone Shift looked towards the front door and started towards it. He glanced towards Chrysalis as he passed, seeing if she acknowledged him at all. She didn’t.

“Hey, I’m going to head out for a bit. Got some work I’m going to audition for.”

Chrysalis’ ear briefly flicked in his direction, but she otherwise remained steadfast in staring into the book. Nodding to nothing in particular, Tone Shift slipped outside, closing the door behind him. A few minutes passed in silence before Chrysalis’ eyes began to become unfocused and bloodshot, her body starting to shake more and more violently.

Her gaze drifted lazily downward to look at her torso. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of her ribs becoming more visible as her chitin-covered skin began to recede. The book, now completely forgotten, dropped from her hooves to the ground with a deafening thud. She fell over, slamming hard into the ground and groaning in pain.

She mentally cursed herself for being so reckless and stupid. She had used far too much energy to read Tone’s memories, the result now making itself known. Her body was trying to compensate for the loss of magic energy by draining directly from the love she had recently consumed. Since she had so little of it to begin with, she was shriveling up and growing weakened. In short...

She was starving.

* * * * * * *

“Alright, that should be fine. We’ve got it recorded and will contact you if you get the role.” The audition manager said from his position outside the recording booth. Tone Shift gave a nod and stepped away from the microphone he had just been giving an energetic speech into a few moments ago.

“Thank you for the opportunity.” Tone Shift said simply with a professional smile on his face before turning and stepping out of the booth. He was in Town Hall, where a set of rooms had been rented for the next couple of days by a radio company putting together a sort of comedy drama hybrid radio play. The auditions had only just become available today, and Tone Shift was lucky enough to hear about it while he was out getting the eggs and books for Chrysalis.

He found himself idly wondering how she was enjoying that book she was reading. She had been pretty engrossed in it when he left, but it also seemed like she was ignoring him. As he exited town hall and began his return trip, he couldn’t help but wonder why she was ignoring him so heavily when he left. The look she had in her eyes… it had almost looked like she was afraid.

But afraid of what? He racked his brain for anything she might have said or done that could give him some idea of what she was so afraid of, but nothing came to mind. The Changeling Queen was undeniably a mysterious individual, being able to hide what she was feeling or thinking so easily when she needed to. In a way, as admirable and useful a trait as that was, Tone Shift found himself wishing that Chrysalis would just tell him the gist. As long as she was in his home, he wanted to make sure she was something approximating comfortable. But fear and comfort don’t usually go well together.

But it might not have been fear… He thought to himself, analyzing the memory in his head and trying to see what other emotions her posture and look could convey. None were positive. She had been tense and unwilling to look him in the eye, staring instead into the book as if it were all that existed.

With a mild shrug, Tone Shift made the turns on the familiar streets until his home came into view. As he approached, however, something began to feel a little off. A chill ran up his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Without even knowing it he had broken into a gallop before throwing open the door of his home.

“Oh, no…” He said in barely a whisper before slamming the door behind him. Chrysalis lay on the floor, unmoving and barely breathing, her ribs showing through her chitin and her belly shriveled up horribly. One of her forelegs twitched slightly in response to the slamming of the door. She was still alive!

Tone Shift stood in shock for several moments before getting his head together. “Oh, no you don’t! Don’t you dare die on me!” He said loudly before shooting forward and gingerly hefting Chrysalis up. She was so skinny at this point that she seemed to weigh practically nothing. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was slightly agape, as though waiting for food to fall into it.

“Come on, come on…” Tone Shift said to himself as he moved Chrysalis onto the couch. “Alright, okay, let me think…” He said to himself, trying to assess his options. Based on her appearance, she seemed to be starving, which meant she needed food. I could scramble some more eggs… Her chitin let out a spine chilling crack as it shrunk down ever so slightly more, causing Chrysalis’ ribs to become even more pronounced. “Dangit, no time!”

He dashed into his kitchen anyway to look for something, anything that Chrysalis could ingest to at least stave off starvation long enough for him to find a better solution. But there was nothing of the sort. He cursed violently to himself as he finished rummaging through his fridge and cupboards before quickly returning to the living room.

Chrysalis’ chitin hadn’t shrunk again, but Tone Shift knew it was only a matter of time - time that he was running out of but had no means of adding on to. “What do I do…?” He muttered, trotting to Chrysalis’ side and sitting down next to the couch, looking her over. “...Darn it, what do I do?!” Tone Shift found himself repeating the question over and over, trying to think of what he could do to help her. Nothing came to mind. He had exhausted all of his options and could now only look at her helplessly as a shallow, shuddering breath went through her.

“Chrysalis, please! Say something! What can I do?! What do you need me to do?!”

Chrysalis didn’t answer. She didn’t even respond. Another, shallower breath came and went.

“For the love of Celestia, say something! PLEASE!” Tone Shift practically screamed, giving her a shake with his hooves, hoping in vain for a response. Heck, even a hoof gesture towards something he could use would be enough in his eyes. But there was nothing. No response. The futility of his efforts began to sink in.

But then, suddenly, a memory entered his mind…

“Mom, come on! You can beat this! You have to!”

A soft smile spread on his mother’s lips. She inhaled deeply…

And then breathed out one last time. The long, droning whine of a flat-lined heart monitor began to sound.

He screamed.

Tone Shift fell completely silent, his eyes briefly replacing the image of Chrysalis on his couch with one of an elderly, compassionate mare on a hospital bed. “Not again…” He uttered to himself, sagging helplessly. “I can’t have another pony die in my hooves… not again…” He blinked, tears pooling into his eyes as the memories began to return en masse.

Without another word, he set his forehead against the edge of the couch, quietly weeping to himself. For several seconds, the scene persisted, Chrysalis half dead upon his couch, Tone Shift crying his eyes and heart out. Then, a faint green glow began to emit from Chrysalis’ horn; soft, subtle, but still there. Tone didn’t even notice as pink energy that had been coming off of him in thick waves became visible in the air, filling much of the room with a gentle, soothing glow. His eyes were too tightly closed to notice as the pink energy began to gather just above Chrysalis before slipping into her mouth.

For several minutes, Tone Shift remained enveloped in his memories, letting out months of built-up stress and sadness in one continuous stream. Finally, with the sleepy feeling that comes with such sadness, Tone slowly fell into a restless, miserable sleep, honestly believing that he had just had another pony die right in front of him...

Silence fell over the house for almost an hour before anything else happened beyond the pink energy leaving Tone and then being instinctively consumed by Chrysalis. Eventually, she managed to crack open her eyes, an unusual grogginess filling her system. She was used to being wide awake within a few seconds of waking up, usually. Here, she felt tired, distant and weak. She went to lift a hoof to wipe some sandy crust from her eyelids when she remembered what had caused her to pass out in the first place.

“...I’m alive?” She mumbled to herself before glancing down to her side, spotting Tone Shift sleeping there, his face buried in his forehooves and his ears lying flat against his head. She could see trails of love energy still drifting off of him in surprising amounts. Some of that energy reached her tongue and mind, causing her eyes to widen as she ‘tasted’ it. She stared at him blankly for several seconds, mouth agape before clamping her jaw shut and putting on an angry look. “Hey! Wake up, pony! You’re drooling all over my mattress!”

THWACK!

“Who, what?!” Tone Shift loudly exclaimed as Chrysalis swatted him across the back of the head with a forehoof. He shot up and shook his head before wiping at his eyes with a foreleg. Then he froze. After several moments, he slowly lowered his foreleg to look at Chrysalis, who was glaring at him impatiently.

“And what are you looking at?!” Chrysalis barked at him, causing him to stand up and back away.

“Wha… How… Chrysalis, you’re… alive?” Tone Shift sputtered, his mind trying to piece together this new revelation and failing miserably.

“Do I look like a corpse to you?” Chrysalis deadpanned, rolling her eyes at him before looking down towards the floor and spotting the book she had been staring at - but not reading - earlier. “Now be quiet. I’m going to go back to my book.”

“No, wait, hold on!” Tone Shift blurted, stepping forward swiftly. “You were on the floor, practically a skeleton! I saw you on the verge of death from starvation! How the heck are you still alive?! … Uh, b-but that doesn’t mean you being alive is a bad thing! I’m glad!” he hastily added, flinching and shrinking slightly at how he had said that.

“Ugh… if you must know, you were, for some reason, letting off enormous amounts of love energy for your mother when you found me like that. Instinct kicked in, causing me to consume the energy in the air. I had a substantial meal as a result and, by extension, you saved my life. Again.” She spat out the last word like it were poison. Tone Shift looked down at the mentioning of his mother.

“My mother…”

“I won’t ask.” Chrysalis said simply before bringing the book up to her face in her magic. ‘Daring Do and The Marked Thief of Marapore.’ She opened it up and actually started reading.

For several moments, Tone Shift stood silently. Finally, he gave a subtle nod and trotted out of the room, heading for his bedroom and leaving Chrysalis to her own devices. Once she believed he was out of earshot, she took a moment to talk to herself.

“...I won’t ask because I already know, all too well.” She blinked before shaking her head and turning her eyes to the book in front of her, starting to read it with a small amount of curiosity.

Author's Note:

A shorter chapter than I would like it to be, but for the life of me I couldn't find any ways to extend it without making it feel over-fluffed and drawn out to me. :derpyderp2:

Oh well. Lemme know what'cha all think!