For science - Book three

by Znegil

28 Black and white

Darkness…

Strange, I felt my breathing.

I didn’t believe in some kind of afterlife, so why was I breathing? Could I be still alive?

I slowly open my eyes, an action I did a million times before, but this time it was very taxing and I had barely enough strength to keep them open.

It took a while before I could make out details. After a few seconds, I realized I was in Canterlot palace, in the bedroom we usually used when we visited the
princesses. I slowly turned my head to the right and found Twilight's smiling, yet slightly worried, face.

“Hey honey, I'm so glad to have you back.”, she whispered to me and softly kissed my lips. “You had been asleep for a whole day.”

I still felt incredibly tired and decided to just nod as a response. The pale moonlight illuminated the room and only a small lamp on the bedside table spread additional light. I remembered what had happened and my hand slowly wandered towards my chest, but I felt nothing unusual there, just smooth skin.

“Chrysalis has saved you with her regenerative ‘Love Juice’.”, my marefriend explained whispering. “I was told she was barely breathing when they found you.”

I had a lot of questions about all of this but was too weak to ask them now, so instead I gathered some strength and whispered: “Why are we whispering?”

Twilight used her hoof to lift my head a bit. I saw Chrysalis on a chair next to the end of my bed, her head rested on the bed, sleeping peacefully.

“After she had received some energy from Lavender she immediately came to sit here. She told me it was just because ‘she hadn't anything better to do at the moment’, but she was clearly worried about you and how your body would react to this amount of her love-filled goo.”

I showed a weak smile; when I had met Chrysalis for the first time I hadn't expected she would help me to protect Equestria and save my life, I had to thank her for all of this… later. I was way too tired right now and failed to keep my eyes open any longer.

“There is one other thing I should tell you…”, Twilight started but I never heard the end of it, I was already asleep again.

…

It was daytime when I opened my eyes again. I felt stronger than last time but decided it would be wise to avoid sudden movements for now. I looked around and found Chrysalis sitting on the same chair she had been last time, Twilight was nowhere to be seen.

“How you're feeling?”, she asked me. “Twilight just went off to eat something.”

“Surprisingly good.”, I answered. “Thanks to my hero and savior.”

She chuckled. “I've been called a lot of things, but no one ever called me this before.”

“Well, I would be dead without you.”, I stated. “But how exactly did you do it?”

“I thought you had already guessed I used the ‘love juice’ which helped you heal in our little experiment a few days ago.”, she told me.

“Yeah, I figured that much.”, I replied. “But you said you had no magical energy left, and in your case that equals love.”

“That's true.”, she admitted. “But you thought of Twilight and your time together when you assumed you were about to die. I took this energy and directly transformed it into the regenerative goo I forced down your throat… I was really scared it wouldn't work.”

I took me a moment to reply to that.
“Twilight told me they found you barely breathing next to me.”

“I had no time for second-guessing, I just decided to give you everything I got, if I hadn't and it hadn't been enough…”, she didn't finish the sentence but instead wrapped her hooves around me.

“Thank you for everything you did for me.”, I whispered into her ear and we stayed like this for a moment.

When she finally let go of me, she wiped some tears from her eyes; she coughed and looked bashful.

“I think you look quite unique this way.”, she changed the subject. “There could have been way worse side-effects than this.”

“What are you talking about?”, I asked confused.

“Twilight didn't tell you?”, she asked surprised.

I remembered my marefriend tried to tell me something before I fell asleep last time. So far, I hadn't moved to save the little energy I had, but now I had the urge to jump out of my bed and find a mirror.

Again I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down.

“Tell me immediately what's wrong with me.”, I pressed through clenched teeth.

Chrysalis looked unsure what to do.
“I think it would be easier to show you.”, she said after a moment and went to the bathroom next door.

I heard something break and a few seconds later my changeling friend appeared with a huge mirror she was carrying with her magic. The mirror was a bit bent and pieces of the bathroom wall were still attached to one of its screws. She held it above me, so I was able to see myself without moving.

I was surprised and confused by my reflection.

Palm-sized black irregular shapes covered parts of my pale skin. I slowly moved my arm to pull back the blanket. Chrysalis noticed what I was trying to do and helped me with her magic.

My whole body looked the same way.

“I look like a cow!”, I shouted surprisingly loud. “And I… WAIT, ARE THEY MOVING?”

“Yes, but only very slowly, it's hard to notice at a quick glance.”, she told me in a way as if I had slightly messed up my eyeliner.

I stared at my reflection and didn't know what to say.

“I never saw anything like it, but this could be only a temporary side-effect, maybe it's gone in a day or so.”, she tried to calm me down.

I watched one of the blobs slowly wander under the lingerie I was wearing, reaching my right breast. I shivered at this sight. Chrysalis must have thought I was freezing, she covered my body with the blanket again and put the mirror to the ground.

“It really doesn't look bad, just… unusual.”, she continued in her efforts to cheer me up. “Even before you looked unusual to everypony, so it's not such a big change.”

Once again I tried my best to calm down. All of this craziness was eating away the little energy I had right now.

‘So what if I look like a cow?’, I thought. ‘It beats being dead any day.’

I slowly pulled my right arm from under the sheets and looked at it.

‘I look hideous…’, I thought as I inspected my spotted arm and stump.

“Why didn't my hand grew back if your ‘love juice’ has regenerative abilities?”, I asked Chrysalis and showed a big yawn, I had trouble keeping my eyes open.

“Sorry, it doesn't work this way.”, she replied. “It can only heal very recent wounds. For a changeling, serious wounds have to be treated within an hour or the ‘love juice’ has no effect.”

“We should put more research into this stuff.”, I said while yawning again. “Maybe there is a way to change this stuff to help ponies as well. I really think…”, I mumbled while I fell asleep again.

Author's Note:

Tell me if something is wrong or written in a strange way, I have trouble concentrating at the moment.

Comments

[harts fire]

a vary interesting side-effect i like it.

[Nira Lightshine]

Aww I was hoping for more

[ValNitak Choas]

me think she become a changeling or I hope a zerg queen like the queen of blades style now the other style

[Xijadeku]

Ok see how U will make me wishing For next epizone more.
PS posted befor read.

[Xijadeku]

My imagination has failed me today.Somehow I can not imagine Stella's new look.

[Znegil]

8897136
Pretty much like she said. Her body looks like it has a blank and white (pale skin) cow pattern that is slowly changing its pattern.
Like this, minus the animal parts

[ClosetBrony]

"...WAIT, ARE THEY MOVING?”

Interesting. I was picturing it more like Vitiligo though. I'm guessing it's some lingering after-effects of the "love goo" still in Stela's system. I'm glad to hear she is alive. I hope the area at and around the portal has been secured. It's possible that much of what was setup up survived the blast considering the open portal served to direct the blast while it was still open. We don't want anything there ending up in the wrong hands...er..hooves.

Good update Znegil!

[Znegil]

8898001
Thanks, it's always fun to hear the different thoughts of all the readers, it always gives me things to think about.

[Merlin Prime]

Please tell me there are plans to continue this unique story??

[Znegil]

8949797
Well at least there will be a new chapter later today. Life got in the way so there was an unplanned hiatus.