Chips and Salsa
Chip’s third year went better than her second. The initial period of fear, when she worried Chives might go to the guards and get them all killed, came and went. He came back with a robe, and together they began the second stage of her plan. Chip wrapped herself up, and followed Chives out of the stable under the cover of night. She became Blooming Posy. At first just in name, sheltered by shyness and the lie of an illness. When she had collected enough glamor, she no longer needed the cloak.
“That’s good!” Chives led the line of chained drones back towards the stables, cracking his whip menacingly in the air. He didn’t actually hit any of them anymore. None of her drones had acquired any new scars in many months. None of them had collapsed from exhaustion, either.
Chip followed along beside Chives, an identical copy of Posy. She was a pegasus, with her same pink coat, slightly plump build and soft purple mane. Ostensibly she was wearing saddlebags with supplies for her father, all the secrets to his success. Extra water for himself and the drones, medicine for when they fell…
Her presence meant a far tighter control was possible. It meant they could move efficiently, without Chives needing to give commands. Her ability to give finer-tuned commands had grown tremendously, though it still required all her concentration. The so-called “parallel-thoughts” that Riley had often described had yet to come to her, meaning she could only direct her drones when she focused on them completely and held absolutely still. Even then, it was a command like a skilled trainer, not taking control of their bodies as real queens did. She was still too small for that.
Accounts had come to watch them pack up for the night, as he watched many nights. He stood by as they reached the stables, making notes of the way Chives gave his commands and the drones obeyed. They lined up in tight order by the door, waiting for their harnesses to be removed.
Accounts seemed to lose interest then, making his way over to her and his expression softening. “I wish any of my sons were as helpful to me as you are to your father, Posy,”
She smiled her sweetest, most innocent smile. Chip had nearly a year of practice with it. “My dad needs more help than you do, Mr. Accounts.”
He laughed, reaching into his pocket and tossing her a flat bronze disk. A chit. She caught it reflexively in her teeth. “Here, Posy. I’m sure he doesn’t pay you. Get yourself a sweet.”
She nodded, repressing a slight shiver at the surge of glamor. Delicious affection dribbled down her throat, filling a belly that was no longer empty. The chit was near worthless and Chip couldn’t even taste sugar, but that didn’t matter. The concern and gratitude that went with the gift were enough to feed every drone she had for a whole day.
Chip spat the coin into her saddlebags. “Thanks, Mr. Accounts!”
“No, thank your father.” He glanced briefly down at the clipboard levitating along beside him. “Arinna only knows how he did it. Do you have any idea how much these beasts cost?”
She shook her head, returning to her innocent mask. “I don’t know, Mr. Accounts.”
“Well…” He smiled slightly. “An awful lot, Posy. Every one I don’t have to replace is extra for me. Extra for me means extra for your family too. You keep encouraging your father… whatever his secret, it’s going to make all of us very wealthy.”
“That sounds great, Mr. Accounts!”
“It sure is.” He reached out, mussing her mane a little before turning and heading away, clipboard following along through the air behind him. She felt another, fainter flow of modest affection from him. Not as much as the gift, but another nice snack.
Chip made sure he was well on his way back to the city before following Chives into the open door of the stables.
The interior was as much changed from the months before as she was. Still deer-corpses in the trough, though her drones relied on that less and less. They wouldn’t eat it at all, except that she wasn’t around anymore to stop them. Besides, we can’t waste the magic. The deer die no matter what we do. Not eating it would only be more suspicious.
The ground on one end of the stables had a fresh grate, running into an irrigation ditch her own drones had dug into a makeshift septic system that had been further divided from the rest of the stables by a tiny wooden barrier. No more straw on the floor, but honest-to-goodness blankets where the drones slept.
As Chip stepped inside, several of them rushed up to greet her, not the least bit confused by the body she wore. She returned each of their affection, sharing a single drop of glamor with each one who approached her. This ritual was the one that would bond them to her, one day. When she was queen enough to have a swarm of her own.
Chives didn’t look afraid when he turned his attention on her. Didn’t look angry, or urgent, or even a little upset. “Are you coming back with me tonight, Posy?” They kept up the ruse even when they thought no one was around to hear. Originally the request had been hers, but after so long, Chives sometimes thought like he couldn’t tell the difference. Every now and then she got doses of fatherly affection, stronger than the drunk mess of a pony he’d been last year.
“Yes,” she responded. “I’ll be expected. She wanted to show me her newest dolls.”
“Come on, then.” He took the heavy iron key in his teeth. “Let’s go.”
Chip waved goodbye to her drones, eyes more alert and bodies healthier than ever they’d been before. Many of them waved back, thinking regret and longing at her, wanting to remain in her presence.
Yet compared to the faint ghosts of emotions she might feel from the most alive of them, there was a feast waiting for her with the real Posy. A feast that she could share with them next morning.
She walked beside her “father” up the streets to New Alexandria. They stopped at a grocer along the way, but only for half a skin of ale and the night’s meal to bring home. The months where it had been a battle to keep Chives in check were gone now. What she had first done through threat of violence, then the tantalizing reward, had finally changed into something else.
Just like Chip herself had changed to look like his daughter, Chives had changed into a different version of himself. Not a lie, exactly... a different truth. He didn’t have to take out his rage on her drones, because his life was no longer hopeless. Without all his coin going into drink and gambling debt, Chives had enough coin to ensure the real Posy was well cared for during the day. Enough to keep the interest paid so that his debts didn’t get any larger and the collectors no longer hassled him.
Chip changed back into herself as they reached Chives’s hovel on the fifth floor of a cramped tenement building. Her black chitin returned, her bright green mane and tail and the wings that were now little stubs on her back.
Posy greeted her father a few seconds later with an explosive hug, a hug that radiated such affection Chip could practically feed on it just being nearby. She didn’t have to though, because a second later Posy hugged her too. “Hey.” She levitated a sugary churro out from her saddlebags, offering it to Posy. “I got this for you.” Accounts’s little gifts always found their way to the one he thought he was giving them to, earning Chip a second surge of glamor in the exchange. Unlike the one she got from Accounts, the magic that washed over her in Posy’s gratitude was targeted at Chip, not somepony else. Every drop was really hers, to drink without guilt and not drain the pony who gave it.
That was the reason the filly had been told the truth about her. That, and the fact that Chip hadn’t had enough magic to pretend to be anything else the night they met.
“Oooh, you brought carrots for dinner?” she asked, munching happily on the churro. Posy hadn’t become a little pudgy from nothing, after all. “Yay! Much better than hay!”
“I promised I wouldn’t do just hay anymore.” The home had only two rooms, a combined living space and the single bedroom. Chip sat out of the way as Chives spent time with his daughter, removing her pad of paper from her satchel and updating the day’s calculations. Even if Chives had transformed, even if he seemed willing to pretend she was a part of their little family while she was around, Chip hadn’t (and likely wouldn’t) get over the memories of her first year. The terror and pain his presence had inflicted on her drones. The terror she had felt that one day he would discover her.
Chip did not mind that she was repairing his life, if only because Posy was her friend and she didn’t want anything bad to happen to the filly.
A few hours of play later and they were both asleep. Chip woke before midnight to find the house was quiet. There was no worry that Chives might sneak out to gamble or drink—he had his nights for both of those things, and always with a budget Chip set for him. He hadn’t tried to get around her in months now.
Chip slunk over to the entryway, then closed her eyes and focused on her transformation. Though she had plenty of glamour and centuries of experience, this young body was still barely developed enough for what she needed, and so the effort took all her concentration. Chip grew rapidly as old as she could make herself, into a willowy pegasus with the sort of sleek body and curves that ponies found most attractive right now. She gave herself a sleek orange mane with red accents, and perfectly preened feathers.
The transformation was so good that her eyes were genuinely too weak to see Chives until he was only a few feet away, staring at her in shock. He’d climbed free of the shared bed, though he looked half asleep as he stared at her.
“W-who…”
“Chip,” she whispered back. Posy was a heavy sleeper, but even so she didn’t want to risk waking her friend. “Obviously.” Her voice wasn’t a childish squeak anymore, but a sultry, musical tone, calculated every bit as much as the body.
“I thought…” Chives yawned. “You could just…”
“Look like your daughter? No.” She smiled slightly, glancing over her shoulder towards the door. “I practiced one or two others.” A total lie. Chip could imitate practically anyone she’d ever seen. But she didn’t want Chives to know that.
“What are you doing like that?”
“Same thing I do every night,” she whispered back. “Well, for the last few months. I’m earning marks.”
“Idyia’s bones…” Chives seemed fully awake now, staring at her. “You can just… you could just have flown away, months and months ago? I don’t keep you chained up anymore, no lock… and you haven’t gone.”
“Of course not,” she hissed, voice more urgent. “Well, I go every night, but I come back before you wake up. You really think that bonus from last year didn’t run out months ago?” She shook her head vigorously. “Now, I really have to go. Don’t bring Posy with you tomorrow. There’s probably an inspection of some kind waiting, so I’ll be locked up in the stables before you get there. Remember the plan.”
She left without giving him a chance to respond, making her way out onto the landing and then onto the balcony. She took off without hesitation, letting the night air catch her and carry her upward.
There was something fantastic about having an adult body again, even if it was only an illusion. The strength and maturity and power in her body was real enough, even if it was just the effect of glamor. Her first few nights in this body had been… well, much worse than they were now.
Chip had found a non-murdery, non-changeling-drone-slave sort of brothel. What she’d done there had been cinnamon rolls and candy canes compared to the glamor she’d fed on during her first year of life. Becoming one of the most desired mares was a trivial task for her. Chip had experienced all kinds of different sex in all kinds of different bodies—acts that would’ve revolted or annoyed her were now all equally enjoyable, so long as the other party was a pony and they were enjoying themselves. With other changelings, Chip had only ever had enough room in her heart for one, and only a rather vanilla kind of sex at that.
It’s a good thing I’m still too young to worry about that.
She didn’t fly towards the seedy districts of Alexandria, as she had walked during her first few adventures. Instead she turned for the tower, and the larger, stone buildings that surrounded it. She aimed towards one in particular, the exact one she visited every Monday.
Chip hadn’t just listened carefully to the sort of mare that was “in demand” at “establishments” that catered to richer and richer clientage. In a few short months, she’d gone from the gutter to… well, something else.
She landed on the upper balcony of one of the city’s largest manor-houses, her hooves soft as she landed. The Time mannor was as impressive as any of the other lordly houses in the city, if not moreso. The family who ruled it had done so since the city was re-founded, so far as Chip could gather.
Beyond the balcony was a lavishly furnished room, complete with a four-poster so large and ancient she sometimes wondered if humans had built it. Chip moved to the closet instead, where a dozen different outfits in her size hung in all sorts of different fabrics and colors.
The only hint at the reality of her purpose here was how revealing the clothing was, made from lacy frills, straps that rode her flank but opened again, bows meant to bind her tail in specific ways.
She chose the least scandalous dress that hung here, an ordinary white sundress with a tear-away strap, and a white bow for her hair. Her way of telling her patron that she wasn’t in the mood tonight. Didn’t mean he couldn’t still do what he wanted, but… she doubted very much Study Time would.
Chip found her patron in the library, as she always did.
Study Time was a spindly unicorn stallion, and the elegant black suit of noble dress in New Alexandria seemed always to hang baggy on his gray body. His eyes, always hidden behind a pair of thick glasses, were bright yellow, intense as he levitated a book in front of him.
Chip found the night’s refreshments already waiting by the door—a fresh skin of wine resting submerged in ice, a pair of glasses, and a plate of exotic cheeses. They smelled… well, as bland as pony food ever was. Somehow, she suspected any one of the items on the plate was worth more than Chives earned in a month.
She carried the plate over to where Study Time slouched against a seat, reading intently from an ancient book. He didn’t seem to hear her as she set the small table before him, pouring drinks for them both. He didn’t look up on his own, didn’t move at all until she brushed against his foreleg with one wing. “Hello, love.”
“Inversion, you’re here.” He looked up, taking her in with a single greedy stare. Chip didn’t mind, even if she had other things on her mind tonight. Lust was an emotion she could harvest, even if the glamor it provided was scarce. “I was worried you wouldn’t come tonight.” He gestured to the seat beside him, and Chip flew in to take the offered place without complaint.
She didn’t resist as Study pulled her in for a brief, passionate exchange. He was far clumsier with Chip than Chip herself had been with Riley, and on some level she noticed that. On another, she reveled in the flow of glamor untainted by blood, and she didn’t care.
She broke away quickly, at least compared to the way they sometimes acted. Of course, with nearly two months of her company at least three times a week, the novelty had worn off for Study. She was still wearing a body tailored to his tastes, still willing to do as much of whatever he wanted at his whim, but that wasn’t the extent of their relationship.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, watching as she lifted the glass towards him. She let him hold her in his lap as they sat together, not pulling that far away. She didn’t really want to be separate, when every moment together with the otherwise shy and frightful scion of the Time house would provide her with more glamor.
“No,” she lied, finding a creative way to pour the glass. He drank, though his expression became less passionate and more skeptical.
“Something is on your mind. I know. Even if you refuse to share much about yourself, Inversion… I know something is bothering you.”
She shook her head, though that too was a lie. “Tell me about your reading. That looks like an old book.”
“It is,” he answered. “Mystic Rune’s On the Fabrication of Thaumic Metamatter. A little dull for a pegasus, probably. I want to—”
She interrupted him. “What do you think about his conjecture that an uncharged electron hull could universally de-energize an arbitrary active spell? Do you think that’s a testable conclusion?”
Study Time did not look the least bit surprised by her response. She felt his attraction for her grow, and cursed herself for playing right into his hooves. There were plenty of other unicorns as smart and educated as Study, members of the other noble houses his own social rank. But at least so far as Chip knew, Study had never managed to have a relationship with that sort last past their initial encounter. He said and did things to his courtesan he’d never even imagine with another mare in his own class.
“I think it’s not just possible, it’s inevitable,” he said, running one hoof through her mane, gently removing the bow she’d put there and letting it tumble down her back. “His figures are sound. It’s just a matter of constructing the hull. That’s an engineering problem, and I’m sure it can be circumvented.”
“It can,” she agreed. “If I remember right, it was… iridium. Something to do with the free electrons. The first experiments used…” She whined, finding the memories refused to come into focus. Too many lives back. “Okay, I don’t remember. But I know they worked.”
“There were no experiments.” Study sounded only mildly indignant. More amused than anything, which he showed by doing something quite indecent with one of her wings. “You’re trying to distract me, Inversion. This will be easier if you just come clean with what’s bothering you.”
She hesitated, though not for very long. “I…” She looked away, wings twitching back into their proper place on her back. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to visit next week. It’s nothing you’ve done, or not done, and I’m not seeing anypony else… but my life is about to become unpredictable.”
“Ah.” Study sat up a little straighter, levitating his cup of wine and taking a few large swallows. “I see why you didn’t want to mention it. You didn’t want to hear my offer again.” He rose to his hooves suddenly, a tall, thin, slightly-awkward looking pony.
Chip didn’t really see any of that, though. First she’d seen his resources, and the glamor she harvested from him. Now, well… maybe a little more than that. She’d never been a terribly good changeling, in that way. A few months pretending to love someone, and eventually she always cared about them for real. It was a good thing males didn’t usually do field assignments.
“I don’t know where you fly away every night, Inversion… but there’s no need. There’s a place for you in this household. Even if… even if your blood is as common as the dirt, which I don’t believe for one second. But even if it was, Adventure herself wasn’t any sort of nobility until the king granted her our family title. There’s nothing that says you couldn’t become a part of that too. The next part.”
Those words hurt to hear every time. At first, because they’d been so awkward, and parts of Chip still clung to her male identity. Now… now the pain came from guilt. No matter how convincing her illusion might be, a changeling queen could not reproduce with a pony. Even if she had been an adult queen, it would’ve been impossible.
Even still, she wanted it. Some desperate part of herself longed for the steady, unlimited source of food. A world away from the work-crew, from the suffering she witnessed other drones endure. She could leave all that behind and just be happy. Live in comfort with this lordling.
Be the kind of queen you always expected me to be.
“I can’t say yes,” she said. “I want it more than you can imagine, Study… but I can’t. For both our sakes, I can’t.”
He grumbled, but there was no anger in him. Only hope crushed into disappointment. “I’ll keep offering, Inversion. One of these days you’ll say yes. So… you won’t be here next week?”
“I might not,” she agreed. “I don’t know for sure. There’s, uh… a decision point tomorrow, a big one. Even if it goes well, I might be gone a week or two. If it doesn’t… I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”
“Do you need money? A favor? Anything at all I could do?”
She hesitated. A few months ago, she wouldn’t have hesitated a second to take his money. But now… “No,” she admitted. “I already have enough money. It just comes down to how clever I am.”
He smiled. “Should be easy then.”
“Well… you’d think.” She looked down at the couch. “I’m just not sure I’m ready. Could we talk about something else? I’d rather not think about it.”
Study Time gave her something else to think about.
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The fixed sized work crew is bothering me, given theyre using them for building work and reconstruction. I would have thought the more the better, unless they measure the size of crew against the rate of crimnal feed they can supply.
All those drones that dont get on Chips work crew. Which is worse, getting sent to another work crew to work, or another work crew as feed.
I'm rather fine with more chip. Her story is also interesting. Practically everything you write in this universe is interesting. WHY WON'T YOU WRITE EVEN MORE?!?!
I personally find this story much more captivating than that of Oracle. Oracle's story was good worldbuilding and as part of the overarching plot, but it did not really make me sympathize with the charecters.
I wonder how much in back royalties Joe would be getting with reprints, now that we know he is alive.
Chip seems to be expecting trouble tomorrow. I wonder if the whole slavery thing is being done entirely just to find a changeling queen? I mean, Chip's already mentioned the work gang does about the work of two earth ponies, when there's one earth pony employed just directing them and they're noted to be expensive to buy. Between buying and feeding and housing them, surely that adds up to at least another earth pony's salary? Without an ulterior motive, it's not really all that economical, is it?
It's a few generations on from Adventure Time, so I wonder if Chip is going to be around here for Alex's return? I'd still like to see more of that confrontation with the king, and Estel seems like it would be the perfect place for Chip to start that new hive afterwards.
This looks like you left a placeholder while you were writing, and forgot to change CITY to New Alexandria when you decided on the name of the city.
I'm loving the Chip stuff. When I pestered you for it I was just hoping for a oneshot showing his final days, be it with Riley or killed by the plague or something else. Him/her (why do all your main characters almost always end up female) being reborn into slavery was a bit of a letdown, especially with the open ending.
This however. This I like... I wonder if he'll get to see his sister? (possibly daughter?) when she gets her time on the throne. I want to see their reunion, it might not mean much to Ezri but I think it would mean so much to Chip.
Because "Chip and Sauce" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
I was a little caught off guard by how much this was updating, but when a story is on a roll it's on a roll.
I don't think anyone is complaining about the Chip scenes. If they are, then they CLEARLY have poor taste and are wrong.
Frankly I am quite enamoured with these chapters, and I am VERY curious to see where this goes in the future! <3
Oh buck. I'm glad I wasn't drinking when I read that line.
Could this come from hearing Joseph talk about Alex as an idiot but not knowing his language?
8933777
reminds me of a character in several of Estee's stories:
Miranda Rights.
yes, she's a police officer.
Wait.... Adventure Time's family...