• Published 15th Oct 2017
  • 1,858 Views, 250 Comments

For science - Book three - Znegil



Much changes as Chrysalis moves into the library so our pair can "research" her and find a way for the changelings to fit into pony society. Meanwhile, a new threat emerges.

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1 The day after

I awoke from a good night of sleep. Twilight’s body pushed against mine and she held me tight, too tight. I looked at her, she was sweating and shaking, I also heard her mumbling in her sleep. “No. No… Stop!”

It was obvious she was having a nightmare. I tried to wake her as gently as possible, I kissed her eyes and softly stroked her mane.
“Twilight, wake up. Everything is fine, don’t be afraid.”, I whispered to her. I continued this way, increasing my volume every time I said it. After the third time, she opened her eyes and looked around confused. She focused on me and drew me into a deep long kiss.

“Thank Celestia, you're alright.”, she said after our lips parted.

“What's the matter?”, I asked her. “What did you dream about?”

She looked down and tears started to fill her eyes. “I dreamt about yesterday, Chrysalis had poisoned us all and…” She gulped and tears started to flow. “She hurt you and there was nothing I was able to do to stop her… all I could do was watch.”

I lifted her head to look into her purple eyes and kissed her muzzle. “Everything is fine now and that's not how things had happened, she didn’t hurt me.” I used my fingers to wipe away her tears. “I know you feel guilty for not being able to help, I feel it through our connection. But the magic I used yesterday… it felt like the biggest part of it came from you… I think I borrowed your magic somehow.”

She looked at me in surprise. “Really? That's quite interesting. We have to look into this later. Maybe this is possible because of our special connection.”

“I guessed the same. We should try to verify this when we are back in Ponyville.”

“Still, I feel bad for not being able to protect you.”, she said and her mood darkened again.

“There is no reason for you to feel that way.”, I responded softly to her. “You are the love of my life and you bring sunshine to my heart every time I look at you. Please don’t be gloomy about things nopony could have changed.” My hand wandered down her back and reached her rump. “I guess I have to occupy your mind with something else.”, I said smiling while I grabbed it hard, just the way she liked it.

She moaned a bit and started to rub her body against mine. “But she could have done terrible things to you.”

“I don’t think she is cruel, she had her motives for doing what she did.”, I answered while my breathing intensified. “Even back in Nightshade’s tower, all she did was knock me out. If she had been ‘pure evil’, she could have killed me back then, but she didn’t. Everypony has their reasons for doing things.”

“But still…”

I sealed her mouth with a kiss and made sure her mind wasn’t able to think straight for the next half hour.

The wedding reception had been delayed for a day, so we would celebrate the married couple tonight. Therefore the castle was full of activity as I walked through it, a lot of things had to be rearranged. I had quite a fulfilling lunch because they served us all the food items from yesterday that would spoil until tonight. I was on my way to Chrysalis' room, so I could talk to her about what had happened at the wedding. Even though I hadn’t much of a choice last night, I felt guilty for what I did.

I was surprised to find grim looking guards in front of her room. I was used to seeing these guards in a happy and friendly mood, even while fulfilling their duties. But considering what their prisoner tried to do and their helplessness, I shouldn’t have expected any other reaction. I stepped in front of the door and they nodded in silent agreement.

*Knock Knock*

“Yes, come in.”, I heard a voice from inside the room. I pushed down the door handle and enter the room, Chrysalis looked a bit confused when she recognized me. It was a strange feeling standing before her, the creature who has been my biggest enemy only hours ago.

“Hi.”, I greeted her.

“Hello.”, she replied.

There was a long silent pause because we both didn’t know what to say.

“Well, this is awkward.”, the Changeling Princess remarked after some moments.

“Yeah, I know.”, I replied with a sigh.

“Would you really have killed me?”, she suddenly asked out of the blue.

This very direct question surprised me. I thought about avoiding it to have a better opportunity of pressuring her in the future.

I decided lying wasn't a good base for this new relationship… but of course I wouldn’t blindly trust our ex-enemy either.

“No, I was just faking an attack. If you had reacted in fear, there would have been a better chance for me to bargain for that antidote. I'm so very sorry for what happened to Lavender.”

“Good, then my judgment isn't totally off.”, she replied. “My magic couldn't read your feelings as easy as it normally does with ponies, it had been pretty hazy. I know it wasn't your intent to hurt Lavender.”

She took a deep breath before she continued: “Look, let me first tell you this, the princesses gave me permission this morning to contact Queen Lycosa through the hive-mind, our leader. I explained to her what I had done and she was MAD. I don’t think I ever heard someone scream this loud using the hive-mind connection, it felt like my head was about to burst. But after I had endured her screaming, I was able to forward Celestia’s hopes and suggestions for finding a peaceful way of living together and both races benefiting from it. After half an hour she was mostly on board with it and instructed me to respond to all questions as truthful as possible.”

“Can you still connect to the hive mind with this clamp attached?”, I wanted to know and looked at the surprisingly beautiful clamp attached to her horn. If I hadn’t known about its function, I would have seen it as jewelry.

“No, like my other abilities that require magic, this clamp suppresses it. It will be some time before I can report to her.”

“Changelings can magically read ponies emotions?”, I asked going back to what she had said before.

“Changelings can’t, but I or other şahzadə can.”, she answered and looked into my confused face.

She sighed. “You must have noticed my appearance differs from other changelings. I’m not just a bigger version of these, I’m a şahzadə, a princess or a ‘noble changeling’. Not only is the process of laying şahzadə eggs vastly different to normal eggs, I also have a lot of different abilities. One of those abilities is sensing feelings in others.”

This reminded me of the bond I had with Twilight and peaked my interest a bit.
“Do you sense these feelings all the time or do you have to concentrate on a pony?”, I asked.

“Oh, that would be terrible, so much useless information. No, I have to concentrate on the pony. But even now with my magic suppressed, I can get a broad picture of someone's strong feelings, by smelling their sweat. This is something that all changelings can do, but it's only good for strong and broad feelings at very close range. I only use this ability when my magic could be detected or when I disguise as an earth pony or such.”

“Wait, if you disguised as an earth pony you can’t use your magic?”, I asked.

She looked at me surprised. “Sometimes I forget you’re not from this world. Why do you think horns glow when we use magic? The horn amplifies our magic. The bigger the horn the stronger the effect. I could technically use magic while in earth pony or pegasi form, but it’s so much harder to do, it isn’t worth it. Even changing form is harder when I’m disguised as a non-horned creature, and we need very little magic to change our form. I’m surprised you have been able to use this huge amount of magic.”

“I think no one was more baffled about that than myself.”, I answered and thought back to yesterday. I decided not to tell her my suspicion that most of that magic belonged to Twilight.

“So you could smell when I get angry or sad?”, I asked fascinated by the idea.

“Well… a pony closeby… yes. I know these things by experience. You smell quite different, so I have to learn to categorize your emotions to your odor.”

I was quite impressed by her abilities and knew Twilight would be in research heaven writing all this interesting stuff down.

“You will have a lot of opportunities to ask me more about myself and my race.”, she told me. “But right now, could you help me, so I can visit Lavender? I tried to ask the guards about it, but they just ignored me.”

I decided it would be a good move to grant her a wish which wasn’t hard for me to fulfill, everything would be easier if we had a good standing. I looked at the magic suppressing clamp again. ‘There wasn’t much trouble she could cause without magic, right?’, I thought to myself.

“I know where the castle hospital is, I can bring you there.”, I told her. Her mood was brightened instantly as she followed me towards the door.

I opened it and talked to one of the guards. “I want to escort Chrysalis to the hospital so she can visit her injured marefriend, could you please ask Celestia if she is allowed to.”

There was just silent angry mumbling in return. I didn’t like the way they looked at their prisoner, but I also understood why they felt this way. I started to get impatient and decided I wasn’t going to have any of this today.

“Well, I could go to her myself and asked her instead.”, I continued. “And while I’m there I could mention what a wonderful help you are… what was your name again?” At the end my tone had gone quite hostile.

He stared at me for a few more seconds, then he started to walk off. “Wait here.”

He came back ten minutes later, his mood had darkened even more.

“You’re free to take her there.”, he hissed. “But Princess Celestia reminds you never to take your sight of her and she has to be back within one hour. She is dangerous.”

“Thank you so much, good sir, but unlike the palace guards I have defeated her before.”, I replied with a slight bow as we passed him and left this part of the castle.

“I had not expected you could be this way.”, Chrysalis told me with a grin.

I was a bit surprised myself, I usually was much more polite.