Chapter 63
The range of unsettling emotions being emitted by her trembling daughter had Chrysalis clenching her jaw with worry and her heart pounding with dismay. Anguish blended into revulsion while regret swirled with despair. Guilt commingled with shame as panic united with misery; and linking the entire nauseating cocktail together inside the pained youth was an overwhelming knot of confusion.
All the changeling queen wanted to do at that moment was to find a way to help the poor nymph calm herself and ease the suffering she was experiencing. Unfortunately when Pupa had her outburst she shed her disguise and it only complicated the situation by attracting the attention of all within earshot.
It was obvious to Chrysalis that whatever was happening to her daughter, it had been triggered by the reckless pony foals that almost got themselves trampled; and she couldn’t help but sneer when she briefly wondered if their negligent parents were somewhere among the gathering crowd.
“My queen,” Odonate whispered, “I think it would be best to leave before anymore show up.”
“I’ll take Pupa, you and Bristletail guard the rear,” Chrysalis hissed.
Green fire erupted from the back of the changeling queen as she scooped her daughter up in her front hooves and held the nymph protectively against her chest. Collectively the surrounding herd of ponies gasped and staggered back as a pair of large feathered wings coalesced out of the emerald flames.
“They are changelings too?!” somepony cried out.
“Are we being invaded?!” shrieked another.
“They’re going to cocoon us!” warned a third.
Using her hind legs, Chrysalis leapt high above the heads of the throng and from there it only took a single flap of her powerful wings to triple her distance away from them. Trusting Odonate and Bristletail were watching her back, the changeling queen kept her eyes ahead of her, searching for any threats that might try and intercept them.
“We have a small group of pegasi trailing us,” Odonate announced, “but they are keeping their distance.”
“Guards?” inquired the queen.
“No,” he answered, “just a few of the observers.”
“Chase them off,” commanded Chrysalis, knowing the old changeling was more than capable of performing the task and getting away safely. “Bristletail, you stay with me.”
“Yes my queen,” both changelings said together.
As the urban terrain passed rapidly below her, Chrysalis scanned for a convenient place to take shelter and change her disguise. A busy outdoor market caught her eye and she immediately plunged from the sky, descending like an arrow toward an adjacent alley.
“Pupa, I need you to transform quickly,” the queen said as she entered the narrow break between two buildings and gingerly landed on three hooves.
If the nymph had heard her words, she gave no indication and only continued to shiver as if she had just been rescued from a snowstorm. The changeling queen held her daughter out to inspect the youth and bit her lip when she saw the nymph’s expression, a thousand yard stare of pure despondency.
“Great hive mother give me strength,” Chrysalis whispered to herself, completely at a loss as to what was happening to her daughter.
Regrettably, the necessity to keep moving gave the queen little choice but to force the nymph to shapeshift and she brought her horn down to meet Pupa’s jagged own. With a connection between the two she was able to trigger a transformation for the youth, causing a cocoon of emerald flame to swath the nymph like a blanket. When the heatless blaze dissipated, the changeling queen held in her hooves an orange eyed, russet furred unicorn colt with a messy dark chocolate mane.
‘That’s a little odd’ the changeling queen thought to herself, ‘I didn’t expect to manifest a male transformation…’
Short on time to dwell on a new mystery, Chrysalis next shifted her own form, shedding the impromptu wings but keeping the horn. Her fur became a pale green and the length of her pastel amaranth mane shortened three fold. Turning to check on Bristletail, the queen witnessed the last vestiges of the infiltrators’ transformative green fire as it burned out, leaving in its wake a canary yellow unicorn mare with a carnation pink mane.
Gently placing her daughter onto her back so she could use all four of her legs, Chrysalis found herself grateful that even in her current state the nymph instinctually clung to her. Now she could move freely and wouldn’t have to worry about Pupa falling off.
“There are some little buildings that look like storage sheds on the other side of the market.” Chrysalis whispered to Bristletail. “We’ll move through the crowd and look for a suitable one to hide out in until nightfall.”
“Yes my queen,” softly acknowledged the infiltrator.
Odonate discarded his disguise, narrowed his eyes, bared his fangs and then dove headfirst at the small collection of hovering pegasi. Like a flock of birds avoiding an approaching hawk, the ponies warily retreated away from his approach as a single unit; but the guard felt the moderate speed they took wasn’t adequate enough and he fired a small green beam of stinging magic from his horn. The ray struck one of the stallions among the pegasi directly on the flank and the surprised whinny he made caused the rest of the winged ponies to scatter in all directions.
For good measure and to create an extra bit of distraction, he shot off another blast of magic directed to an empty spot of sidewalk in front of the ground bond ponies below. Shouts of alarm filled the air along with a caterwaul of galloping hooves.
Checking over his withers, Odonate searched for his queen. Two distant specks moved beyond his view, vanishing behind the city’s skyline and he nodded to himself with satisfaction at her unhindered escape.
“Stop in the name of the law!” a commanding voice ordered.
A cream colored pegasus mare sporting a pair of dark sunglasses purposefully winged her way in his direction followed by two others; and upon noting their dress, light blue shirts with dark blue ties and matching caps with golden badges pinned to the front, Odonate knew it was now his turn to escape.
A soft emerald light peeked out from the worn brass keyhole, followed shortly after by the gentle click of the lock’s tumblers becoming aligned. Hinges in desperate need of oil squealed in protest, luckily drowned out by the din of the market’s patrons, as the weathered door opened, revealing a cluttered collection of crockery and old furniture.
With their sanctum suddenly disturbed, the shed’s only occupants’ scurried for cover. Small brown spiders scrambled away, taking refuge in the room’s webbed corners, while a family of rodents scattered to hide under a splintering pallet.
“This will do,” Chrysalis whispered to Bristletail as she stepped over the threshold.
As the infiltrator closed the door behind them and relocked it, the changeling queen glanced up at the shed’s single high-up window. With her magic, she closed the sun faded and moth eaten curtains, cutting the daylight off from streaming in through the dingy glass and leaving the building in near pitch black.
“Pupa?” Chrysalis asked, eyes glowing in the darkness as she looked over her withers at the still unresponsive nymph.
“What happen to her?” Bristletail asked, taking a few steps closer to examine the young queen.
“I don’t know!” Chrysalis hissed angrily in frustration, causing the infiltrator to hop backwards.
Seeing Bristletails startled look, the changeling queen made an attempt to quell herself by taking in a deep breath and then exhaling it through her nostrils.
“I don’t know,” she repeated in a more level tone, “but she had an outburst like this before when she was still a larva.”
Surrounding her daughter in a field of emerald magic, Chrysalis carefully lifted her into the air before sitting the nymph down on a dusty couch.
“Pupa,” the changeling queen said, abandoning her disguise and looking directly into the nymph’s vacant eyes. “Pupa!”
Chrysalis clenched her jaw to the point it creaked aloud, hating the feeling of complete helplessness that ran down her spine like ice water.
“Pupa!” the queen snapped, slapping the back of her hoof against the nymph’s cheek.
Life returned to the young changeling’s eyes, as her hoof tentatively reached up to touch the stinging spot on her face.
“Thank the hive mother,” the queen breathed with relief.
“Mom?” Pupa rasped in a hoarse voice as she looked up at her mother.
“I’m right here,” Chrysalis confirmed.
The nymph’s eyes once again filled with tears as her disguise burned away like a dying flame. She leapt forward, wrapping her forelegs around her mother’s neck in a tight embrace as she began to loudly cry into her shoulder.
“Shhh,” the queen softly said, holding Pupa and stroking the back of her mane, trying to soothe her. “Just let it out.”
Several minutes passed this way with Chrysalis cradling her daughter while rocking her gently. Calming reassurances were repeated and gradually Pupa’s sobs subsided into fatigued whimpers.
“Pupa,” the queen whispered, “What happened to you?”
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Only the eyes feel off to me, after Googling "russet color" to be sure (a bit darker than most of us had probably been assuming, but you could get away with it).
tell pupa please this is affecting you deeply!
I bet the memories were weird and fun at first but then these intense flashbacks of sadder moments catch her hard I hope she shares them!
"I.... Died.... "
I'm sad that we didn't make it to the zoo.
Thought we'd make it there before things inevitably went wrong.
Zoo visit delayed again
Pupa has memories not her own...
That must be Twilight Sparkes doing
Nah... Just kidding
I wonder what Chrysalis can do for Pupa... Licking her memories away would only mentally cripple the Nymph after all...
There is a way to make sure nobody will spread the information about a Changeling sighed in the City.
Anyone know if there is a Grape pressure device in range?
Well now this is an intriguing development. Can't wait to read more!
11514533
Look at the authors profile pic
11516902
Didn't even notice that, was talking about human colors.
It's the popo, cheese it!
And if you hear me talking on the wind
You've got to understand
We must remain...
Perfect Strangers.
Pupa is a mystery that needs solving