Chapter 17
Aside from the brief experience of the Wind Whispering, Chryssi really didn’t know many people outside those living on the farm.
True, despite being far from the town, the farm still had its fair share of visitors. Tributary peons brought in the harvest, got their tools fixed, used the storage, or sought counsel from Meadowsweet or Willowbark or Master Sottile. During the winter they often came for the food kept in the granaries and the pantries, and sometimes there were cows that came bringing in cheese and leaving with produce or even, occasionally, some spell. And then there was the occasional messenger, arriving with bags full of scrolls and leaving with bags full of scrolls, although different ones.
But Chryssi had to hide every time. The rules out there differed from those on the farm and apparently being discovered was really dangerous. The reason had never been fully clear, but since she had gotten her wings, every adult had been even more worried when some stranger came knocking at the door.
Hiding hadn’t been an issue for Chryssi though. She was good at it, and Lulu and Tia making a game out of it only added to the fun. It also often was an occasion to get free time without supervision, a treat that had become all the more enticing after weeks of being grounded.
It had made the arrival of a gray pegasus with saddlebags and a silver messenger’s chain around her neck a blessing.
Lulu had not yet abandoned the idea that Chryssi had still to undergo training for the day her love would be in danger, and so they were just in the middle of an epic battle against a warlock capable of becoming mist as their sprout of freedom revealed itself to be a short one. Meadowsweet calling out, “Chrysalis, Luna, Celestia, come here right now!” made that pretty clear.
There was a moment of absolute silence as Tia and Lulu watched each other, their emotions mirroring a wordless discussion going on between them before they turned to Chryssi. The question was clear. Chryssi raised her hooves and said, “I did nothing either. I think.”
They looked around. There wasn’t any visible damage in the room, and they could dismantle the blanket fortress and clean up with little effort. They hadn’t made too much noise, and in the last week, they had carefully avoided borrowing things without asking first. It had almost broken Tia’s heart as she had left Fidelis’ stone-eating chisel alone as he had to abandon it briefly after stubbing his toe. Lulu had mumbled something about entrapment, but they hadn’t touched it.
Nothing came to mind which would spur Meadowsweet to use their full names.
They exchanged more looks. Silent accusations and evaluations danced fro and back. Situations were analyz–
The door opened and Meadowsweet looked inside. She frowned and said, “What are you doing? I called you, and I’m certain you heard me. Why did you–?”
Chryssi, Tia, and Lulu cried out in almost perfect unison, “We didn’t do it!” In hindsight, Chryssi had to admit it wasn’t probably the smartest move. Still, the display of synchronicity was admirable.
Meadowsweet squinted at each of them, her eyes peeling away defenses and digging deep down in their souls. “Didn’t do what?”
“We…” Tia gulped. “We don’t know? You seemed angry, and you used our full names, and…” She looked around the room. “We were good and don’t want to be grounded any longer.”
“Oh.” Meadowsweet closed her eyes, took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and looked at them again. “I’m sorry. You aren’t in trouble, and it‘s true that you have been good. I didn’t want to scare you. We just received a message that spells trouble and made me jumpy. I will try to do better, but now come, we have to talk.” She looked over the fillies. “And that fortress is nice, but it will have to disappear before bedtime, alright?”
Chryssi nodded along with her friends, but couldn’t make head or tail of the mix of emotions coming off Meadowsweet. No, that wasn’t right. She roughly recognized worry, affection, determination. But it was as if they weren’t pure. Chryssi blinked. She was getting more complicated aromas. She was–
“Chryssi, come on, we have to go.”
–she was staring lost in thought. Chryssi shook her head, then stood up and trotted out of the room, Meadowsweet closing the door behind her and herding them into the kitchen.
Everybody was there, a mixture of frowning and smiles on their faces, with worry, excitement, and the smell of cabbage hanging in the air. The latter came from a large pot on the hearth bubbling contently and liberally dispensing its enticing aroma.
Chryssi was hungry now. Maybe she could get a bit of the salted Roc meat from the barrels left behind. It would make dinner even better. Which was far away in the future. Too far away.
Maybe if she made that growling sound Tia and Lulu made when they were hungry she could get something sooner. Right now would be perfect.
“Now that everybody’s here we can start.” Master Sottile floated a scroll up in his magic. “We just got a message that Starswirl is going to visit us. He will be here tomorrow to talk to me, so we have to prepare.” He sighed. “And this mostly means finding a hiding place for Chrysalis.”
There was a moment of silence, and then there wasn’t anymore.
“Starswirl of The Thousand Bells will be here? The vanquisher of the Great Ice Worm?” cried Tia while she jumped up and down.
“The wizard who recovered the Book of Dangerous Names from the Shadow Library? That Starswirl? EEEEEEE” screeched Lulu while turning in circles.
“I don’t know who that is!” screamed Chryssi. No reason to be left out, she thought.
“Calm down!” Donna Copper Horn’s voice rumbled like an avalanche over through the kitchen. She rose from her chair and towered in the room, her presence pressing down on the fillies, who stopped in their tracks and looked up at her. “I get that you are excited because an important pony is coming here–”
“He’s Starswirl! He’s the greatest hero alive!” blurted out Tia. She stared Donna Copper Horn right in the eyes, then shrunk back and whispered, “Sorry.”
Donna Copper Horn glowered at the filly. “As I was saying, I get that you are excited, and I see that you’ve been listening to the bards at the Spring Festival, but we have a problem. Starswirl is a hero, a pony that does a lot of good, and one that has saved countless lives.” She glanced over to Master Sottile. “And I know that it is a great honor to have him here, but this won’t be a fun kind of visit. He will be here to talk about important things, and–” She passed a hand over her eyes. “–he is a wizard that follows the philosophy of Banish now, ask questions never.”
Chryssi tilted her head, then glanced over to her friends. In a surprising turn of events, they too seemed a bit lost regarding what that meant.
Meadowsweet sat down beside Chryssi and put a hoof on her shoulder. “What she means is that Chryssi will have to hide even better than usual. When some pony sees her it’s a problem, but of the kind we may be able to solve. If Starswirl feels she’s dangerous and decides to banish her, well…” Meadowsweet pulled Chryssi in a hug. "If that happens we don’t think we may be able to stop him. We don’t want that."
Tia gasped. Lulu cringed, then said, “But he’s a hero! He does good things for ponies.”
“He does. I know him, and I know that many are rightfully grateful for what he has done, but…” Master Sottile, looked up to the ceiling, took a deep breath, and continued, “Chryssi, Fidelis told me that you scared that young griffon and his father during the Wind Whispering, right? I know you didn’t really mean to, but it happened. Well, Starswirl has seen many, many scary things, and all of them tried to do something bad to ponies. You are different, I know that, everybody here on the farm knows that, but Starswirl, well, he can’t be sure of it.”
Silence fell on the room. Chryssi leaned into Meadowsweet’s hug and bit her lip. She remembered Geno and Giovanni’s expression. She remembered the taste of the surrounding air. It was weird. Despite the warmth of Meadowsweet’s coat, a shiver ran down Chryssi’s back.
“Chryssi is good! She’s even more good than us!” Tia stomped her hoof and almost growled. “That’s– That’s all wrong. And unfair too!”
“Yes, it is.” Fidelis was leaning against the wall, twirling a ladle between his fingers. “But so it is. We can try to make the world better, but to ignore how things are is dangerous. And we don’t want to put little bug in danger. So she hides for now.” He put the ladle down and walked around the table before kneeling down in front of Tia and Lulu, smiling softly. “Is good that you think it’s unfair. Means heart is in the right place, and that when you can you will do things to solve it.”
Chryssi felt Meadowsweet’s hoof pet her head. “That is true. And, you know, if Starswirl wants something from us, then maybe we can be careful and get his help too. You are a good filly, Chryssi. And Harmony helps good fillies.”
Master Sottile stood in the door, looking out over the open court to the gate in the walls surrounding the farm. Two earth ponies in travel-armor stood there, their heads whipping right and left, suspicious glares thrown at every barn, hayloft, and cart. Behind them, he could see more figures move and hear the clanging of metal and the confused murmur of voices.
“Last time I saw him, he didn’t have such a following.” Donna Copper Horn passed him and leaned against the wall of the building, her eyes never leaving the guards. “Kinda jumpy, but at least they seem to halfway know what they are doing.”
The guards stiffened when they saw the minotaur. One whispered something to the other, then they changed their stance.
Donna Copper Horn sighed. “I stand corrected, Master Sottile. They are way too eager for a fight to know what they are doing.”
”Hmmm. I’ll have to talk with Starswirl about his. I understand caution, but that–” Master Sottile pointed at the guards, "–is almost offensive. We value hospitality.”
“Damn you and the madmare who didn’t strangle you in the cradle! You are all useless wastes of space, you illiterate worms.” A young, gray stallion with a short white beard stormed through the gate. He wore a wide-brimmed hat and a cloak, both blue and both tinkling with dozens of bells, and a deep scowl decorated his face. “Get out, you worthless sacks of rotten horse-apples. I have to talk to ponies and having you around makes me stupid.”
“I think the offensive part may not bother him,” whispered Donna Copper Horn. “He has improved little from last time.”
Starswirl passed the guards, turned around, then grabbed them both with his magic and moved them out, slamming the gate closed behind them. He stood there, then looked upwards. A pegasus, peeking in from over the wall, was met with a string of obscenities that made Master Sottile’s ears burn. This was soon followed by a couple of lightning bolts from Starswirl's horn chipping the stone, which finally convinced the guard that discretion was the better part of valor.
Cracking knuckles pulled Master Sottile out of his stupor. Donna Copper Horn’s voice was almost a growl. “If he says that stuff with the fillies around I won’t care who he is, I’ll throw him out right over the wall.”
“I…” He looked up at Donna Copper Horn, at the frown, at her eyes. “I understand, but it won’t be a problem. He can contain himself, and he shows at least a modicum of respect to me.”
Starswirl turned around, muttered something, and then came up to them. He stopped a length away, nodded to Donna Copper Horn and then said, “Master Sottile, I need help. Let us go somewhere with no extraneous ears listening.”
A multitude of different thoughts went through Master Sottile’s head almost all the time, and the current situation wasn’t an exception. Yet years of educating fillies and close proximity to Meadowsweet and Donna Copper Horn had apparently shaped him, because the most prominent of all the things his mind screamed at him was Scold him and educate him on the proper way to talk to others. Not that he could do that right now. He doubted that Starswirl would react well to it, and, after all, he was an honored guest. A rude one, but still he couldn’t insult him by scolding him like a little colt. Still, there were ways. Master Sottile smiled and said, “I welcome you, Starswirl, and am delighted you have come to visit me in my humble house. Please, allow me to invite you inside and to offer you bread, salt, and beer. Your travels must have been tiring, and a bit of rest is the least I can offer.”
What he got was a confused look on Starswirl‘s face. “What?”
Master Sottile stepped inside and said, “Well, I invite you into my home and offer you food and rest. You are welcome. Donna Copper Horn, please set up some food and then put up some water for a herbal infusion for later. Starswirl, please follow me, we shall find some tranquility in my study.”
While they entered the inner court Master Sottile swiveled his ears. There was the faint clinking of Willowbark working in his laboratory. Distant hammering informed him of where Fidelis was carving. From the kitchen behind them, he heard Donna Copper Horn move. He smiled. No sign of the fillies, which meant that, for once, they had listened to him. No, that didn’t do them justice. They were good fillies, they often listened to him, they learned, they did their best. It was just that, well, the times they disobeyed had a tendency to become spectacular. Harmony preserves us, he thought, let this not be one of those times.
They climbed the stairs and entered the study, the dry smell of parchment and ink embracing them in a warm welcome.
Starswirl’s horn lit up, and a translucent bubble grew from it until it encompassed the whole room. Soon the aura died down, and Starswirl said, “Very well, no scrying nor divination spell cast on this room.” His head turned left and right, he squinted, then nodded. “There doesn’t seem to be anybody eavesdropping. Right. Master Sottile, I need your help. I know I can trust you and–”
Master Sottile raised his hoof. “Please, bread and beer will be here soon.” A pair of pillows floated into the middle of the room form a corner. “Please, sit down, rest a bit. There will be time, and I am curious about your recent adventures.” Master Sottile sat on a pillow. “And then you’ll have to tell me about your traveling companions. I remember you preferred smaller groups.”
“What are you doing? I need your help, and I don’t care about bread, or beer, or those mistakes posing as ponies following me around.” Starswirl huffed. “Look, I came here just to talk to you.”
“Mhhh, yes. You came here, in my home, to talk to me. And I offered you my hospitality.”
“Yes, yes, you did, so I was…” Starswirl looked around, sighed, and sat down. “I came to your house for help and you offered me hospitality. I gladly accept it. And forgive me, too much time passed with things that want to eat me, dismember me, or drive me insane. It… it doesn’t help with my manners.”
“I understand, do not worry. I just hope you will remember it when ponies will be less accommodating than us here. Which, to be honest, brings me back to your companions. I thought I saw them all sporting the same symbol, but couldn’t see it well enough. Tell me, have you started your own house or your own guard?”
“Hah, no. The stars preserve me if I get soft in the head and do something like that. No, that load of empty-headed buffoons is something Goldhoof the Overbearing insisted on hanging on to me. I saved his daughter while I was trying to get the Night Almanac from a temple in the Hayseed Swamps. He then insisted on paying for a company of guards for me. I think he was kind of conflicted between generosity and greed because those failed heaps of manure out there is what I got.”
“That seems to be a quite harsh judgment of–” Master Sottile stopped as Starswirl’s head whipped around and he glared at the door.
There was a brief knock before Donna Copper Horn pushed it open and entered with a tray with an ewer, a loaf of bread, and a collection of small bowls. She kneeled and put it on the floor between the two unicorns. She nodded to Master Sottile, then, without a word, stood up and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Master Sottile lifted the bread with his magic, broke it in the middle, and floated one half over to Starswirl. The ewer floated up and poured a bit of brown beer in one of the empty bowls. The one filled with salt was pushed forward.
With a roll of his eyes, Starswirl sprinkled some salt on the bread, ate it, then drank a sip of the beer. “Here, better?”
“Better indeed.” Master Sottile smiled, ate a bit of bread, and gulped down his bowl of beer. “I’m glad you accepted my hospitality. I am happy to have you here, and I will help you, but rites and traditions have to be observed, even more so with the kind of things you tend to anger. You should know that better than most.”
“Traditions…You know that they mostly are sloppy tricks, right? We can do better if we decide to finally understand them, if we finally break the shackles of habit.”
“By the Stars, such strong words from somepony dedicated to recovering the past like no other creature I know of.”
Starswirl frowned. “Well, you need to know where things came from to remove all the useless clutter. Which kind of brings me to why I need your help. What I will say now shall never leave this room.” His ears flicked, he took a deep breath, and said, “The plague that hit us last summer wasn’t natural. The sickness itself was the usual imbalance of humors, even if it came sooner than expected. But the magic-leeching, well, that was some kind of curse attached to it.” He leaned forward and put his hooves on Master Sottile’s shoulders and looked straight in his eyes. “Do you understand? Something out there has put a curse on a malady, using magic to leech magic. That shouldn’t have been possible, and yet it happened. And nothing good can come from this, Master Sottile, nothing.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“Absolutely certain. No doubt about it.” Starswirl sat back and removed his hat. He put it down on the floor, the bells clinking. “Some malignant entity set that upon us, upon the Concord. And I’m trying to find it and prepare to defend us against it. But–” He turned the hat and flicked the point with a hoof. "–I don’t know how. I have tried to read the stars, to compile my charts and see at least where I could look for answers, yet what they told me was nonsensical. And that is when I discovered that our old maps and charts have become useless."
Silence fell. Master Sottile tried to wrap his head around the idea. The extent of something like that boggled his mind. “The stars have changed?”
“No. Well, the stars change all the time, I’ve seen ancient star maps and they were a bit different. But no, that’s not the issue. The problem is that after the disruption of the plague that robbed our magic, the Moon and the Sun have lost their rhythm, and I doubt there’s somepony competent enough in the Celestial Council to fix that. Not sure if they are even aware of it. Without the Sun and the Moon in the right places, I can’t read the stars properly.”
Master Sottile stood up and paced. “That is… How… Are the prophecies false? Have we been misled for generations?” His eyes swept over the scrolls laying in their niches, the books standing on shelves up to the ceiling, the piles of parchment sheets. “How much of this is useless?”
“Nothing. Well, not more than usual at least. No, your tomes are safe, and our old prophecies should still be reliable enough. It’s the new ones we must mostly discard, at least until I can read the new patterns. Which is why I need you.”
A scroll floated up to Master Sottile and unrolled. His eyes danced along the lines connecting symbols and stars. Old writing ran in every direction in apparent chaos. “The news you bring is troubling. What can I help you with? Your talent in reading the skies has always been greater than mine, and your knowledge of magic went well beyond what I could teach you a long time ago.”
“That is true, but not the point of my visit. I trust you even if I may not agree with you every time. And you had always had a talent for finding subtler meanings and reading between the lines.” From below Starswirl’s cape came a crystal. It flew up to the center of the room and glowed. Below it sparks of light coagulated in a rough map. Six stars formed across the map, from the icy north down to the south, from somewhere in the eastern sea all the way to the depths of Donkey territory. “I found traces and hints of old foundation knowledge. It’s all there in our classics, time and time again. It’s where we got our knowledge about how to read the skies. And I intend to find them.”
“That is a lot of territories to cover. I’m honored that you thought of me, but adventuring is the purview of the young.”
Starswirl snorted. “Hah, I respect you, but you wouldn’t survive the first room of whatever old ruin holds that knowledge.” The map disappeared and the crystal returned to whatever hidden pocket of the coat had held it before. “No, I will send you copies of whatever is there, and you’ll have to help me translate it and find the connections. I already talked to others to get their help. If we are lucky, I will able to get something out of the whole.”
The ewer filled up Master Sottile’s bowl as he sat down. He took the bowl in his hooves and sipped from it. The offer was too good to refuse. He would have jumped at it in an instant if it was only for him, but there were others he had to think about. This was an occasion he had to seize. “I will help you, but you will have to help me too. I think that’s only just.”
“My request isn’t something that I’m doing for myself.” Starswirl glared at him. “What I ask you to do is for the good of all of ponykind.”
“So is what I intend to ask from you.” Master Sottile put the bowl down. “I want you, once I can’t teach them any more, to educate my charges in the art of magic.”
Starswirl blinked. “Your charges? Wha–The fillies? By the stars, you are still obsessed with that stupid prophecy? Even after all these years?”
“Yes, more than ever.” A chest opened at one end of the room, and a bundle of scrolls floated to Master Sottile. “For the first time, I’m certain that I shall see the prophecy be fulfilled before my death. And I want you to teach them once they are ready.”
“You are wasting your time on a mistranslation.” Starswirl stood up. “Waiting for some kind of savior is stupid beyond belief. I intend to do do something real for ponykind. By the Stars, do you really expect me to–?” The scrolls Master Sottile held with his magic unfurled. Starswirl looked at them, glared at Master Sottile, then returned to read what was written in front of him. After a while, he asked, “What is this?”
“These, dear Starswirl, are Luna’s and Celestia’s take on the Sun and Moon spells. Compiled in one morning, and cause for their cutie marks.” Master Sottile smiled. “You do not believe that the Alicorns will rise, I understand that, but I have two fillies with incredible potential. Even if I’m wrong about the prophecy, they will do great things. I will help you and you in return shall educate them if they ascend. And if not, you still shall consider the idea if they meet your expectations.”
Starswirl grabbed the scrolls. His eyes darted over the diagrams, the calculations, the invocations. Other scrolls opened, orbiting around him while his attention danced from one to the other. Finally, they all rolled up again at the same time and carefully piled up at Master Sottile’s side.
Starswirl grabbed his hat and put it upon his head. “If you help me, then we have a deal. Once you can’t teach them more, I will give them a test. If they pass it, and only if they do, I will take them as apprentices.”
There was a high-pitched squee coming from behind the door. Master Sottile felt his heart fall as Starswirl’s head whipped around. “What was that?”
“I–” Before Master Sottile could even answer Starswirl marched to the door. His magic enveloped it while from the other side came a sudden cracking and squelching sound.
As the door flew open, Master Sottile could see everything they had built fall apart. There was no stopping Starswirl, they couldn’t save Chrysalis, they couldn’t–
“You two must be Master Sottile’s charges, and you… Right, shouldn’t be surprised. Eavesdropping… I’m very disappointed. I should go back on that deal with Master Sottile.”
No storm of magic energies, no glowing banishing circles, no screaming. Master Sottile was confused. Relieved, but confused. He stood up and walked to the door.
In the corridor outside were two fillies and the ugliest griffon chick he had ever seen. Celestia sat there, the kind of grin on her face that usually indicated that there was something on fire and she wanted to convince you she had nothing to do with it. Luna had a green-tinged face and her eyes were wide as she stared at the griffon.
The griffon chick had… The color of her coat and plumage could be described as an accident between a haycart and a particularly scum-rich pond, all uncharming browns and green tones. Her beak was crooked, her eyes too, and one of the wings was smaller than the other. On top of it all, she had very confused and worried expression. One he knew.
Master Sottile was a scholar, a learned stallion, and he was, at least according to his family and friends, very wise. He didn’t need any of those traits to get a vague idea about what had happened. He wasn’t sure if it would be another miracle or another headache, or maybe both, but for the moment it seemed to have fooled Starswirl. One worked with what Harmony gave. Master Sottile stood straight and, with all the authority he could manage without his voice cracking, thundered, “Celestia, Luna… Gerte! What are you doing here?”
The two fillies and the chick looked up at him in surprise, before Celestia gasped and said, “Master Sottile! We–we heard about the famous Starswirl being here and… and me and Luna and Gret–Gerte, we wanted to meet him and then–” Luna made a dry heaving sound. “–and then we came to the door but Luna got sick because she has eaten something she shouldn’t and we didn’t want to eavesdrop and… and…”
Gerte piped up. Her voice dissipated any lingering doubt Master Sottile could have harbored. “We are sorry. It was my fault. I heard so much about you and wanted to see you.”
“Hmpf.” Starswirl glared down. “I’m not some silly story, I am me, and I have important things to do and discuss. I’m not here for your entertainment.”
“Fillies, and chick, I’m very disappointed with you. Now go to Donna Copper Horn and tell her what happened. I will deal with you later.” He shoved them out in the corridor. “I have important things to discuss yet.”
His heart almost fluttered as he closed the door. He was far too old for this kind of emotion.
“Curious little fillies.” Starswirl’s horn lighted up and a shimmer briefly ran along the walls. “And I have been far too careless. I forgot to cast my spells again after Donna Copper Horn brought beer and bread.” He frowned. “See, Master Sottile? This is what happens when one dallies in useless niceties. Now it was two fillies and that unfortunate creature, but it could have been something far worse. This is how heroes die, and it’s not how I intend to leave this world.”
“And yet you learned something. I doubt that something similar will ever happen to you again. Harmony teaches us if we are open to it.”
Starswirl shook his head and returned to his place. “Harmony, right... Let us not disagree about that now, we don’t have the time for it.” He sat down. “Despite what I said, I still accept your help at the conditions we agreed upon.”
Raising his cup once more, Master Sottile smiled. “Let us drink on that. And let me know when you think you’ll be able to send me those scrolls.”
Each hair of the coat wriggled like a worm, the color shifting through all the hues of the rainbow until it became a shining black. They rolled up themselves to become little boils, pulsing and shivering. From between them, sharp edges came up, covering the writhing mass and fusing together in smooth chitin plates. A second later where there had been the leg of a griffon, was Chryssi’s hoof.
Nobody said anything for a while.
Chryssi looked up and bit her lip. There was a general feeling of revulsion hanging in the room, and most of the expressions on the faces of her family quite openly matched it. Donna Copper Horn and Master Sottile kept a fairly neutral expression, even if the distinctive taste from them showed Chryssi that they shared the general sentiment regarding her ability to transform. Willowbark and Tia, on the other hoof, were a complete exception. Both showed open excitement and curiosity, and their outside matched their inside.
“That was…” Meadowsweet broke the silence. “I mean… Chryssi, sweetie, is there any way to make it less…” She brought a hoof to her mouth, the slight green tinge of her coat similar to those Lulu and Millet had.
Donna Copper Horn put a hand on Meadowsweet’s back and said, “I think what she wants to say is that the way you transform is disturbing. This is not a fault, but could you try to do it differently?”
That was a weird question. Something Chryssi had to consider. From the excited chattering from Tia, it seemed that his thing she could now do was the solution to every problem and incredibly awesome and all that. But Lulu hadn’t talked at all, and Chryssi could taste how she was uneasy. Maybe there was a way to do things differently. “I don’t know. I can try?”
“That is all that we ask you.” Master Sottile nodded. “We will try to help you too, as far as we can.”
“We will!” Rarely had she heard such enthusiasm from Willowbark. “This is such a wondrous development. We need to know more. And maybe that will also allow you finally to come out and meet others. Oh, such mimicry, I never expected to see something like that!”
Chryssi nodded. "I'll do my best."
"Do that." Willowbark took her hoof and looked at it. "You'll have to transform a lot of times before we can understand the process, though."
At those words Lulu shivered and looked away. It was almost funny.
That night fear and anxiety oozed like thick slime from Lulu's dreams, coating everything in a bitter, sticky coating. She trashed and whimpered in her sleep, and trembled when Tia cuddled her between her forelegs.
Chryssi had never felt so guilty.
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I can't think of anything more awful than knowing you are your best friend's nightmares.
Ah, I see that Chryssy struck again. That read disturbingly; I can only imagine how bad it would be to experience!
Squirming oozing microscopic polyps...
Every day she grows closer to being a cute and intelligent Shoggoth
Derpy's ancestor?
Damn I've already favorited and upvoted this. I guess I'll have to leave this comment saying how excited I was to see this chapter and the happy little dance I did upon Chrysalis' adorably horrific transformation.
Must be one hell of a disturbing process.
Well, that certainly explains the fire. It could hide any number of horrible stomach-curdling mid transformation sights.
"Master Sottile, looked up the ceiling, took"
"Master Sottile looked up at the ceiling, took"?
"couple of lighting bolts from"
"couple of lightning bolts from"?
"Harmony preserves us, he thought"
I can see that working, but just in case: "Harmony preserve us, he thought"?
"floated in the middle of the room form a corner."
"floated into the middle of the room from a corner."?
"scrolls laying in their niches, the"
"scrolls lying in their niches, the"?
"I will help you and you in return shall educate"
"I will help you, and you in return shall educate"?
"if they meet to your expectations"
"if they meet your expectations"?
"her family matched quite openly matched it."
"her family quite openly matched it."?
Very nice. :)
At long last, the anomaly has evolved its characteristic ability to shapeshift. The process, however, is crude, loathsome to behold, and in dire need of refinement. Still, there is good cause for optimism, as the creature's talent is undeniable.
Yeah that's definitely Starswirl.
SHE DID THE THING.
DEFINITELY Starswirl. Dumb idiot couldn't even finish his spell because he was too blind to see it needed harmony magic to work.
Awww poor Lulu and Chryssi
9384148 Certainly, its talents lay in the field of government.
9384074
You should probably read the first story.
I miss when this updates a lot.
This is a blessing because I got to read two new chapters at once.
Keep up the good work.
Sadness!
Yay, shapeshifting!
...
And that last line is heartbreaking.
Willowbark is a consumate scientist, though. Maybe he can help Chryssi figure something out.
And lo, it came to pass, that little chryssie became a gryphon, which we had forseen.
9384512
let's see.
Hair trigger horn, no capacity for social interaction, towering sense of his own infallibility, total disregard for any theory he didn't come up with, with bells on.
Yup, That was definitely Starsquirrel the Bearded.
Your Starswirl is exceptionally starswirly. Also, yay for "Gerte"! Good thing Chryssi is quick to improvise, even if her understanding of griffon anatomy is still kind of wonky.
9383811
Some bloodlines run strong through the millennia.
And no, I didn't suggest that detail. Though I did wholeheartedly approve of it.
9383660
Yeah, I agree with that sentiment.
9383688
Then I did my job well
9383711
I think she's already pretty cute and smart
9383811
9384755
Derpy deserves a proper Chain of Office too.
9383820
It was time for it. And I'm glad it's entertaining you
9383917
It isn't exactly appetizing, I concede that.
9383944
A séparé was kind of clunky to carry around.
9384132
Fixed things. As usual, thank you!
9384148
9384364
Well...
9384594
9384334
He got better with time. Not much better, but at least he mellowed out a little bit.
9384489
I shall try to update a bit more often in 2019. At least I hope I will.
9384511
She'll get better
9384512
Willowbark is in for a long ride of frustration and mysteries. He'll love it.
9384534
I admit I'm not one for unnecessary curveballs
9384666
Thanks for the remark on the Starswirlitude., I really appreciate it
9384921
No problem! Thanks for fixing it.
9384827
You're welcome. :)
Thanks for writing this!
I'm sure if they pulled a Gandalf and explained Chryssy first, everything would be fine.
9385461
That would require Starswirl to listen
9385342
Will try to deliver the next chapter a bit sooner.
Sottile is so smooth, pop singers 1000+ years hence will still be singing his accolades
Yay, she did the thing! Adoracreepily.
Oh c'mon, Luna, that'll be perfect experience for your future job!
Aww... That last line was sad.
9385481
So, you're saying that Starswirl is... not the type to listen... Well, I can certainly see that. He is properly paranoid for an adventure, yes, but he has yet to learn the valuable lesson that kind words can be as dangerous as any magical sword. Angry, impatient, judgemental... sounds a bit like a shounen protagonist.
I hope we see more of him.
9385739
And you have to yet see him dance.
9386726
It's the pain of growing up and understanding cause and effect.
9387919
Well, he got better, but it took him a couple of millennia in exile in some form of limbo AND a practical demonstration by the princess of friendship before he started listening properly.
Really lovely chapter as always, even showing chrissi's budding transformation powers!
Though it did break my heart to see lua so scared from it, I'm sure she will be over her fear in no time
Ah, he's been to Washington, D.C.
9385461 This our demon slime pony from another dimension! When she first got here she was a ravenous ball of ooze and teeth! But now she's much better and only eats some things alive!
*Starswirl starts casting Magic Missiles at Chryssi immediately*
This is the best, most vivid description of a changeling transformation I've ever read.
9390633
Okay, then.
9390089
Can't be D.C, they'd want to empty his wallet first...
9397236 They usually do that de facto as they're devouring their victims' souls.
This remains a great and surprisingly deep read, please continue. :3
9388937
9391595
Thank you!
9390096
Actually, he casts at the word "another"
9397488
Will do. The new chapter is getting written right now.
Oh hey, Starswirl.
Uh oh, Chryssi what did you do? I wonder if is an accident that developed when she was playing nursemaid.
Excellent disguise. The first changeling full body change! At least, the first that wasn't a long term molt from a base form into something more advanced.
Wow. Much Edge. Very Chrissy.
I'm finally caught up! Here's hoping for a new chapter soon.
9398260
Fairly certain it's Tirek...
That's the spirit!
The sirens can confirm that.
Try something with fire. Simply because that would look cool!
I laughed so hard