We Rise

by Dark0592

Chapter 2

The viscous material covering her was familiar, it was calming. She recognized this feeling, being born again. But there was something else, some traces of fear and confusion that didn’t feel like her own. Chrysalis opened her eyes to see the walls of the rebirthing pod she had expected to see and smiled. The unfamiliarity nagged at her again, though, and as she examined her pod more closely she remembered what was wrong. She was supposed to be recycled, Twilight was supposed to lead her hive into prosperity.

But that’s not how it happened, Twilight had converted the pod into a royal rebirthing pod at the last minute, and then joined her to be rebirthed as one. The girl never ceased to surprise her, but she realized something else was wrong entirely. Those little feelings that weren’t her own, they weren’t her own. They were Twilight’s, but she didn’t feel like the culmination of two individuals fused in rebirth. Her other senses slowly came back to her, and she realized she was entangled in something else.

She was startled as the mass of nearly white chitin she was intertwined with opened its eyes, those pretty lavender eyes had an inner ring of teal now. A hand on her cheek, and the weak love that came with it, calmed her rising confusion.

“Let’s get out of here.” Her voice resounded in her thoughts, echoing strangely as her senses hadn’t quite acclimated to being used again. The voice wasn’t an actual voice, of course, it was over the hive mind. She did not remember it being so well organized though, but for now she had a duty to her children. She could not be their queen if she was lazily stewing in this pod all day.

“You can do it.” Twilight’s voice assured her as she tried to push the pod open as normal. It didn’t budge. She was surprised as a blade went through the translucent material of the front of the pod. She followed it and saw that the blade was coming out of Twilight’s forearm. The girl motioned towards it with her head, lethargically sloshing the liquid around. Chrysalis knew what she had to do, then. With little more than a thought, her own blade extended from her other arm and she put it through the pod. As one, they sliced it open and tumbled onto the organic cement of the floor.

“It’s true!” They heard as they hacked and coughed the solution out of their lungs. The light was blinding, but only for a moment, as their eyes adjusted. The voice came from Nilan, who was standing at the door, looking iwnded. She had just sprinted the entire length of the hive to get here.

“You… You’re both… but…” The acting-queen stuttered out after realizing just how literal Stella’s statement had been.

“It’s good to see you, Nilan.” They both said simultaneously as they shakily got to their feet. Nilan hunted for them in the hive mind to make sure their links had regenerated properly, but gained a worried expression when she could find neither of them.

“Mother, I can’t sense either of you individually in the hive mind… I think something went wrong.” Nilan started, but was stopped as both queen put their hand up. Again they spoke in unison.

“We are as one, don’t you remember?” They said, though after that they started speaking somewhat normally.

“Would you be a dear and fetch me a mirror? I have no idea what I look like right now.” Chrysalis asked. Nilan stood there, mouth agape, for a moment before nodding and shooting off.

“I think you look stunning, even covered in birthing solution. The Lavender in your eyes and hair suit our position wonderfully, I assume I have similar alterations?” Twilight asked. Chrysalis nodded.

“You still look like the young woman I left my hive to, just with a bit of myself in you.” The elder queen said with a smile. They both closed their eyes and focused then, reestablishing their link and fully immersing themselves in it. They saw their massive tree, how the ashlands had merged with the forest, and they both noticed the single cerulean tree flickering in and out of existence. They set some attention to it at all times in case it stabilized long enough.

They noticed that their entire hive froze again, at them reconnecting. Above that, though, they felt something change. They recognized this feeling, whenever a large-scale transmutation was shared through their queens. This one, though, they felt it. Uproarious joy spread throughout the hive mind as everyone possible rushed to their chamber to look at them. They found their queens, still holding hands, trying to clean themselves of the birthing fluid as their connection to magic hadn’t quite woken back up yet.

Nilan was back with the mirror, but as she made it to them she dropped the mirror. It was reinforced so it didn’t shatter, but she realized at the same time as her brothers and sisters how they were so happy. She felt the room become saturated with love, directed at the queens. Coming from THEM.

“I’m glad it worked, but I don’t think I’d have minded this turn of events even if it didn’t fix our little problem.” Twilight said, knowing what her brood were thinking as they thought it. The two opened their arms wide, and those that could fit swarmed in to embrace their queen. Love was exchanged, then, and Chrysalis couldn’t help but be brought to tears at it. So much love directed at her, from her children, and she could give it right back. This was something she never even thought possible, never thought she’d ever feel. She managed to catch a glimpse of Twilight through the pile of Chitin, she had tears on her face too. They weren’t her own though, it was almost as if she was crying Chrysalis’ tears of joy with her.

“Alright, that’s enough. We were just born again, our chitin is soft and we’re starving. Prepare for visitors, we’ll be having company over the next week.” Twilight said. Chrysalis sighed in relief, but only a tiny bit of relief, as the sea of Chitin was no longer crushing her. She knew what Twilight meant, the ambassadors and proxies with their friends and allies had informed them of such and most were already on their way.

Every single drone they passed gave them as much love as time would allow before they had to continue on their way, to the point where they were so stuff they were being forced to spread it back into the hive it was so much. Something started to bother both queens, though, as they came to the same realization at the same time.

“It must be part of the curse, then.” Twilight started.

“Maybe, but then that wouldn’t explain our progress before the relapse.” Chrysalis replied. They both hummed in thought as they walked hand in hand.

“Hopefully Crystarium finds something useful, I wonder if this change reached her.” Twilight sighed.

“To be honest, with the improvements you’ve made, I don’t know if skin would be possible without reverting many of them.” Chrysalis thought aloud as they sat down in a mess hall and had two unfolded pods with fresh lasher steak and two drink pods with wine in them placed in front of them. They were both triple orders.

“Maybe that’s it. Honestly, at this point, it’s far less important than it used to be. All of our allies know that we aren’t enemies and they’ve come to accept changelings as more than monsters on a more general scale, though there will always be bigots and anti-changeling groups.” Twilight mused between bites.

“True. I think your improvements have made us rather beautiful. The guardians are an interesting idea too, I’m glad they were successful. You’ve done well with our hive, I’m happy to share in that honor again.” Chrysalis said, leaning onto Twilight’s shoulder. They finished their meal in relative silence, occasionally joined by a friend or a wraith just so they could see their queens and share their love.

They just wandered the hive after that, the entire place felt different. It was like a new experience, even though they had lived there for as long as they have collectively. The sun was going down by the time they finally returned to their chambers. They got into the bed after the long day and stared at each other, their fingers still intertwined.

“I missed you…” Twilight said softly. Chrysalis didn’t reply, electing to just pull closer to the lavender queen and rest her head against the others. Twilight giggled. “I’ll take that as ‘I missed you too.’” She said. Chrysalis hummed in response, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

“I may have been sleeping for months, but it wasn’t nearly this comfortable.” Chrysalis said. Twilight put a hand on her face then, so she opened her eyes just in time to see the happy tears in Twilight’s eyes just before the lavender queen kissed her.

Chrysalis had come to understand the importance of a kiss to the other humanoid races, and their equivalents in other races. Changelings had no need of such displays of affections, and until now Chrysalis may have been made uncomfortable by it. Now, though, she actually understood it on a personal level. Not just because of her shared experiences from Twilight, but because she could finally understand the pure love the kiss came with. She couldn’t help but shed Twilight’s tears of joy as she returned the kiss, wrapping her free arm around the girl.

This is what it’s like to love and be loved by another, truly, without any obligation to muddle it up. And she was basking in it. They separated before long, no intentions of it going further than the kiss tonight.

“I’ve been waiting to do that for so long…” Twilight said, resting her head against Chrysalis’ and nuzzling closer. The many kisses goodnight Twilight gave the sleeping queen came to their minds at once, and they both smirked at it.

“To have it returned, you mean? I’m just happy I finally understand this… love… and it’s all thanks to you, Twilight. Now, our hive can finally prosper.” Chrysalis retorted, ending in a happy tone as she yawned and shifted to get more comfortable. It was almost like their chitin had grown perfectly to hold each other comfortably. In truth it probably had.

“Thanks to us. We are as one now, intertwined in mind and genetically. I’m surprised we didn’t come out as a single new queen, though. We must have really shaken the norm of changeling evolution.” Twilight corrected. Chrysalis just hummed softly as they finally settled down in silence. It was never actually silence, though, the constant hum of the hive and the symphony of the ive mind was ever present. It lulled them to sleep, acting more as a lullaby than anything. They would need their sleep, afterall. Today they were born again, but tomorrow they would return to the world.

Author's Note:

as a great man once said, 'Kept you waiting, huh?'

Comments

[Sonic Rainboom Dash]

is it one body with two personalities? or are they still separate individuals with some hints of the other in them?

[Dark0592]

8513829
They're two separate bodies, but their individual minds have somewhat fused, as have their genetics. There's enough of them left that isn't fused to still be two different people, but only just.

[Sonic Rainboom Dash]

sweet!

[Razzy]

Huh, didn't see that coming. Nice twist. Plus it let's them do the creepy finish each other's thoughts speak.

So good to see Chryssie back.

'standing at the door, looking iwnded' - I think you meant inside?

'where they were so stuff they were' - stuffed

[LostArchivist]

Okay, so they aren't some siamese twin-being or some weird abomination. And the shared mind thing isn't too weird since there's a hivemind already.
Still, I bet they get to have a bit of fun where they make their eyes glow white, and then start speaking in unison in some creepy tone.