Keep her?!
Do you question my judgment, commander?
N-no, my queen! It’s just that—
Just what, commander?
…nothing, your highness.
I understand your worry, but this is the only way I can provide for him. Now, take the swarm and search for love. I will stay here and tend to Ditto. No one is to enter my chambers, save you. Is that understood?
Yes, my queen.
~~~~~
She could recall no dreams as Roseluck was reawakened by a rogue beam of sunlight shining down upon her face. She yawned and moaned lazily, for her body still felt weak and frail, but an enticing scent wafted through the air and into her open nostrils, coaxing her to rise from the hard ground she lay on.
The mare rubbed the tension out of her eyes and did a quick look around for the source of the alluring smell, but her search turned out to be a short one when she discovered that it was right in front of her, in the form of a platter of a small loaf of warm bread and a few bruised apples. A large, metal cup of fresh water stood next to the platter, combining her strong hunger and thirst into one.
She dared not question whether or not she was still within a dream. After all that she had been through, she felt that questioning things would only lead her to more bad luck. Her stomach growled fiercely and she dove straight for the food, greedily stuffing the loaf into her mouth and flushing it down with a swig of water, which was surprisingly cold, which thankfully aided in holding back the skin-tingling humidity that surrounded her.
“Ah. You’re awake…” hissed an eerily familiar voice nearby. “That’s good…”
Roseluck went wide-eyed. She dropped the apple she was about to take a hefty bite out of and slowed her chewing to a halt. She looked up from the platter, and almost gasped when she saw Queen Chrysalis once again staring at her with worried eyes from outside her chamber of confinement. She swallowed hard, but soon discovered the consequences of not chewing your food properly first. She coughed repeatedly, gagging on the pastry stuck in her throat.
Chrysalis sighed. “Here. Let me help you.”
The queen’s horn lit up with magic, and Roseluck’s water cup was lifted from the ground and up to her lips. Desperate, the mare snatched the cup out of the air and drained it of its precious liquid. Her forced food went down, and her raspy coughing slowed to a stop.
“Are you alright?” asked Chrysalis.
“Alright?” Roseluck looked back at Chrysalis and scowled. “Alright?! What am I doing here? What’s going on?”
“P…please, just listen for a moment.”
“Listen? You want me to listen?! Where am I, how did I get here, and what did you do to me last night?!”
“I will explain everything. Just—“
“Yeah yeah. ‘Just listen.’” Roseluck mimicked the queen’s words with a goofy face and her tongue flapping about like a child. “Well you’d better start talking, or else I’m gonna—“
Roseluck was interrupted by the sudden sounds of soft crying coming from outside her damp cell. She could hear squeaking, as if a newborn foal was somewhere in the room.
“Oh great,” Chrysalis huffed, rolling her eyes. “Now you’ve woken him up!” Chrysalis rose from the ground and walked with haste across the room to a small bed of green ivy. The queen reached into the bed and lifted a small bundle out of it, swaddled in a purple blanket that looked like it has seen better days.
“What the…” Roseluck breathed as the queen stubbornly walked back to her place with the squeaking bundle resting on her back. “Who did I wake up?”
“Give me a moment,” Chrysalis sternly ordered as she carefully unwrapped the bundle. Roseluck watched through one of the slits in her cage as the blanket was slowly peeled back, revealing the smooth, darkened face of what she could only guess was an infant. Whatever it was, it was certainly not a foal.
“What on earth is that?” asked Roseluck.
Chrysalis stubbornly ignored the mare’s question, keeping her irritated scowl. The queen then lowered her nose to the squeaking infant and gently began to rub it against its forehead. Her strange caresses had some effect, and the infant’s squeaking was silenced. Roseluck was stunned.
“This is my son,” Chrysalis announced, turning her attention back to Roseluck. “And I expect that you will keep your voice down from now on.”
“Y-your…son?”
Chrysalis nodded.
“Oh…” Roseluck sighed. “But that still doesn’t explain what I’m doing here!”
Chrysalis felt that a good, thunderous retort would silence the annoying mare, but quickly backed down from the idea, thinking about her son first.
“Well?” Roseluck continued, raising an eyebrow.
“Give me a few moments peace, and you will have your answers. Now, keep your voice down, and listen.”
Roseluck groaned and frowned, irately hunching her back.
“Fine.”
Chrysalis smiled weakly. She looked away from Roseluck, deciding on where she should begin.
“Several months ago, I was informed by one of my own that I was…pregnant, and thus I gave birth to my son only a week ago.”
“And that’s a surprise to you?” Roseluck looked confused. “You’ve got like hundreds of children, or whatever the hay they are.”
“That’s not how it works!”
“Oh really?”
“Yes, really. We changelings do not work like you ponies do,” Chrysalis guffawed. “This one is special…”
“Shouldn’t you feel that way about all of your children? You know, like a good mother should?”
“Well…yes, but this one is special in his own way.”
“How so?”
Chrysalis smiled again and lifted the bundle into her embrace. She completely unwrapped it and set the blanket off to the side. The infant opened his eyes and smiled up at his mother, whose smile grew even wider as she playfully nuzzled her son’s cheek.
“Erm…what was your name again?” asked Chrysalis.
“I never told you,” replied the mare, glaring. “Roseluck. It’s Roseluck.”
The infant reached up and brushed his tiny hooves against Chrysalis’s nose, causing her to giggle silently. To Roseluck, seeing the queen smile or even say she was sorry was a strange enough occurrence as it was, but hearing her giggle? There was no greater mystery.
“Well then, Roseluck, this is Ditto, the first changeling ever born in over five-hundred years.”
“I j-ju…what?! How is that possible? Are you things immortal or something?”
“Once again, that is not how it works. It would take too long for me to explain it, but even now it pains me knowing that my own burden is why you are here…” Chrysalis frowned.
“What…what do you mean?” Roseluck started to become worried.
“What I did to you last night…it was for him,” Chrysalis gestured a hoof towards Ditto. “As you may already know, love is our only source of food in this world, and it’s becoming scarcer each day…”
“I-I don’t follow.” Roseluck felt an uncomfortable pang in the pit of her gut.
“My changelings are dying. We raid towns and passersby for whatever love there is to be had, which is absorbed in the form of an exotic energy, but sadly, our hunger is never sated. It is simply not enough. We must have sustenance, or else we will wither away and die. What I did to you last night was…regrettable, but it was the only way I could provide for Ditto.”
“So you…drained me?”
“I did more than that. I had to. It took a great deal of my power, but know that what I am about to tell you I did only because I was desperate…”
Her knees began to quake and her mind felt on edge as fear surfaced in the mare’s heart.
“Roseluck, my newest emotions force me to give my greatest and most sincere of apologies, but a piece of your own soul is now bound with me. You can never leave this place.”
Roseluck’s eyes nearly popped out of her head with shock. Her breaths became ragged as she slowly backed into the cage’s south wall.
“W-what d-do you m-mean?” Roseluck shivered.
“I mean what I said, Roseluck. The love your body now generates is what feeds my son. You are his source of food. You may try to escape, but each time you will find it impossible.”
“L-Love doesn’t work that way!”
“You’d be amazed at what a little magic can do.”
“B-But I have friends! I have a family!” Roseluck broke down, letting tears fly loose from her eyes. “You can’t do this!”
“I have to do this! Don’t you get it?!” Chrysalis yelled, her own emerald eyes now quivering. “Without you, my son will die!”
“B-but you love him, right? Can’t you just feed him with your own love?”
“I’m afraid not. I have never transferred love from my own body before. The risks are too great,” Chrysalis sighed. “Besides, I need this love to feed myself. My changelings gather their own under a temporary leadership. What I did to you was in the form of a powerful spell of my own design. Your own heart now works like a factory. So long as it is nourished, it will continue to produce love.”
“Th-then I’ll just s-starve myself to death! Huh? How does that make you feel?”
“There are more ways than one to force feed a pony, Roseluck.”
Roseluck looked away, desperately searching for even the slightest glint of hope.
“Th-the guards! M-my friends! They’ll be worried sick about me! They’ll send out search parties, lots of them, and when they don’t find me in Ponyville, then even you can guess where they’ll look next!”
“Nopony would ever dare attack our homeland directly. Many will perish if they try.”
This isn’t happening! This isn’t happening! This is all just a dream! One big, horrible dream! thought Roseluck, biting her lower lip until it bled. I’m just going to shut my eyes, and wake up in bed! Safe and sound!
Roseluck followed her thoughts. Multiple times she closed her eyes and hoped of reawakening in her own bed, but each time she did, she only found herself in the same, unbelievable nightmare. She curled into the fetal position and buried her face between her knees, bawling.
Chrysalis wiped a tear from her eyes and flicked it off to the side. “Forgive me, Roseluck, but this is the only way…”
As disturbing as it was, all through the while, Ditto continued to smile away. He reached down and gnawed on one of his own, tiny hooves to entertain himself. Though cute, it brought no new smiles to his mother’s stricken face.
“I’m sorry, Roseluck. I’m sorry…”
A ten-ton deadweight of negative emotions pressed down hard on the queen’s motherly mind. Chrysalis rewrapped Ditto in his blanket before walking back across the room and placing him in his crib to rest. She turned to leave the room, but stopped at the exit and turned back to face Roseluck, whose shuttered eyes continued to flow with tears. She had nothing more to say. Something of this nature would weigh down on her memory for countless years, but she kept her conscience from collapsing completely with one, single thought.
Whatever she had to do, whatever risks she had to take, it was all for Ditto’s sake. With a hefty sigh, the queen left the room, leaving Roseluck to wallow in misery.
Whoa...poor Roseluck...
...Not sure if monster or mother...I think that means your story is working.
I wonder if the binding can be reversed.
Two spots where you forgot to space after ending your italics:
like a good mothershould?”
How does thatmake you feel?”
I just... and then...
Why did it have to be Roseluck of all ponies!
Also no errors that I could see, but this sentence;
but she kept her conscious from collapsing
Did you mean "conscience" or did you mean conscious as in her?
1327699
Conscience, I believe. Damn MSWord spelling suggestions! :L
1327583
There are no errors that match the ones you pointed out
...Um...Not to call you a liar but...yes there are...
“Shouldn’t you feel that way about all of your children? You know, like a good mothershould?”
“Th-then I’ll just s-starve myself to death! Huh? How does thatmake you feel?”
Both of those were directly copy pasted from the chapter. the only difference is that the italicized words are no longer italicized...
1327790
Oh, found them. That was an error on my part
Apparently pressing the I key gives the command for italics to be placed, thus resulting in the error
Also, I hit the "unpublish" button again by accident instead of the "edit" button
1327812
Knighty should really put some space between those buttons, that seems to happen frequently on this site.
That child may be the best hope the changelings may have to survive with out exploiting others, seems to me the best solution is for Roseluck to take him to Ponyville with her.
Not sure who I feel more sorry for, Chrysalis, Roseluck, or Ditto.
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You're doing a good job, man. Keep it up.
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1327942
Your image. It has phailed to show itself
Good chapter. I kinda feel sorry for Roseluck. Oh, I just saw that there is a Roseluck character tag, if that is why you were using the other tag.
Surely this will resolve itself... somehow
1328075 It says "This is some scary shit" while showing a person 'flipping the fuck out'
Oooh, nice. Conflict, angst, passion, all nicely wrapped up in a bundle. Please, more.
1327728 I disagree. Conscience is what Jiminy Cricket is. Also, I hope Roseluck plays a bigger role here, because if she were just some one-off character, I'd have to show you my collection of decorative spoons.
AND KNIVES.
1327872
I'd say I feel more for Chrysalis right now. Roseluck is incredibly unlucky, but Chrysalis should never have to be put into this position to begin with. later on in Ditto's life, he'll probably end up being the one I feel more for, but for now it's Chrysalis.
Sweet Celestia! This is amazing! I haven't read too much of your work other than one of your second person fics a while ago, but you are a DAMN good writer. I said I wasn't going to do a full on review, but I still want to list what I found exceptional. Characterization. Maybe Chyrsalis changed a bit too fast, but the way it changed was absolutely stellar. Roseluck's character was quite good too! The plot idea! Pure genius! It's original and it's entertaining. In Romance, I like cliche stuff. But here, it's best to avoid it. And you've done probably what I was expecting least of all. If you told me Roseluck was Chyrsalis' plan after chapter 4, I would say you're crazy. But you made it work! The suspense! You always leave the reader wanting to know what's going to happen next. Setting description and Show vs. Tell. Almost never left me wondering what an area looked like and you didn't flat out state it. (I just noticed you're the owner of the "Writers who don't give a toss about show vs. tell." Um. Lol?) I think you get the picture. You're a damn good writer with a story that I'm looking forward to seeing continued!
I was looking for the Skype message involving this story for about 10 minutes, but it's about 5 messages in about 5000 in the conversation so I'll take a guess at how it went.
Simplistic: I posted the new chapter (Link here)
FlutterDashFTW: Hivemind Plug? xD Why?
Simplistic: His story is really good ._.
FluttrerDashFTW: Uhm. Okay. *Adds to read later*
I'm glad he did though because I wouldn't have read this epic story otherwise. Best of luck with future writing!
You'd think it would've been one of the elements of harmony or something.
If the child is threatened, a real mother will fight with everything she has, even if death is assured
"That's a mother's love" quoth my mother
factor in that Changelings need love energy to live, and that ponies at large are completely unwilling to cooperate... can anyone who respects the infant's , and by effect the mother's, need really see any other option that would provide for the infant with viable success?
not that this makes it right, but currently there is only one pony that's been chained to the changlings, and as long as she lives, probably no others will have to be abducted either
perhaps a compromise could be made... but without Equestrian cooperation... there is reallistically no chance... unless I'm missing something... and I do not view genocide as any solution
. . . So Chrysalis has the ability to just . . . bind souls to her.
And she never did this before . . . why?
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1st thing that popped into my head.
Liking this a lot! I have to say, your title is spot on for making me think at this point. It's been said many a time and it's obvious in the natural world, but a cornered mother with child is as dangerous as 10 armed men.
This is indeed a mother, who is feared as a monster.
She has no choice! Ponies will always be the pastel sponges of harmony and prosperity- they just can't handle something like changelings.
Awaiting further releases.EDIT:Whoops! Wrong line!
I shall read on!
1591170 Its okay, its not finished XD
Err Great job?
damn you for toying with my emotions, it's getting sadder and sadder with each chapter
ok that end is a bit dark and unexpected but I guess I can understand it.
She could have adopted some orphans ( three or four) and raise them, they would love her directly plus Ditto would have some companies