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Eros

"I d-don't know what I'm d-doing wro-o-ooong."

Chrysalis watched one unicorn cling to the other, and Trixie's slow, awkward motions to try to pat Moondancer's back. After being told, bluntly, that she would be set ablaze if she "bullied" the newest addition, Chrysalis had naturally decided that she would size up the mare and figure out how easily she could make her into a second minion. What she'd found, however, was one of the most painfully awkward attempts to look seductive that she'd ever seen, and given that she'd once overseen infiltrator training, that was a high bar to clear.

And now the potential minion was crying all those disgusting pony tears everywhere, the taste of her heartbroken despair a discomforting bitterness on her tongue. It had Chrysalis wanting to wallop her over the head until her mood improved, but she was relatively certain that that counted as bullying and so merely sat gloomily nearby.

She and Trixie had taken to using one of the many empty rooms of the castle as a meeting spot, and so once Moondancer had started blubbering, they'd invited her to come do it there instead of on Twilight Sparkle's mattress. And through the sobs, they'd managed to get a rough idea of what had happened between the two, along with learning more about Twilight Sparkle's foalhood than Chrysalis would have ever cared to know about.

"Uh, there there..." Trixie's awkward patting continued. "Trust Trixie, it's nothing you're doing or not doing. Sparkle's just like that."

Chrysalis gave disdainful sniff. "Exactly. The princess is being aggressively celibate about the whole situation. Though..." She gave a fanged grin, placing a hoof to her chest. "As a master of seduction, I'm certain I could improve your approach, if..."

The clinging changed targets, and suddenly the tear-streaked face was buried in her mane. "Please! I'll do anything!"

As potential minions went, Moondancer was close to the bottom of the barrel. There was no inherent deviousness to fan the flames of, and while bitterness and resentment could be useful tools, most of that had been alleviated long before due to her and Twilight Sparkle having already mended their friendship. Gratitude, however, could be an incredibly potent tool, and in a pinch, it was even edible.

Besides, getting Twilight Sparkle into a romantic relationship would result in plenty of ambient love for her to feast on as she recovered, and would provide a good distraction for one of Chrysalis's enemies. So many birds, killed with a single stone.

Chrysalis forced a smile as she offered Moondancer more back-pats. "Fear not, little pony. The magnanimous Queen Chrysalis and her minion--"

"You mean the Great and Powerful Trixie and her assistant--"

"The magnanimous Queen Chrysalis and her minion--" She glared at Trixie before smiling down at Moondancer again. "--Will take your gratitude as payment enough. So dry your tears... preferably on something other than my carapace... and we'll ensure that the princess melts into your hooves."

She sniffled, then hiccupped. "Thank you. Thank you so much..."

It was a beautiful, sunny day at Ponyville's park, and Twilight Sparkle was already panicking.

She'd updated the ground rules for Chrysalis and Trixie, making sure to outlaw, in detail, the array of things they'd done to attack her sanity on the last outing, as well as add several that circled around being nice to Moondancer. Not that either of them had shown any hostility to Moondancer over breakfast, which was concerning. Breakfast itself had been horribly awkward, with Twilight pointedly not talking about where she'd gone last night, though after the sapient dust-bunny had hopped out of her mane and started sweeping the table, she was relatively certain they could guess.

Today, the agenda had been going to the park and having a nice picnic lunch. However, she and Moondancer had barely gotten the blanket set up before Chrysalis and Trixie had vanished without a trace, leaving Twilight running in frantic circles. "Oh this isn't good this isn't good this isn't good... I told them to stick close. It's one of the rules."

"Calm down, Twilight. I'm sure they'll be back soon." Moondancer was laying on the picnic blanket and had already pulled out a pair of daisy sandwiches, looking completely unperturbed by the two AWOL mares. She patted at the blanket. "Now come on. You were going to tell me about your advances in time magic?"

She paused and looked at Moondancer. Despite the intense awkwardness of the previous day, this was still her friend, and the promise of talking magic with a friend was enough to get her to step onto the blanket and start to settle down. "Well that's... that's more of a group effort. My apprentice, Starlight, made the initial breakthrough." Any attempt at a smile turned to a grimace. "Whiiiile she was still a villain and trying to rewrite the timeline to get revenge on me--"

"She what."

"--But the whole thing involved tapping into a little-understood magical artefact, so there's a lot about how it worked that we still don't totally understand." Twilight lifted one hoof, moving it in a quick circle as she spoke. "So we've been trying to kind of... work backwards and figure things out. My current theory for what went on is that it wasn't time travel at all, not really, and more like--"

"Welcome one and all!"

The hoof dropped, and Twilight's eyes went wide. "Oh no..."

"To the most spectacular, marvelous, and fantabulous show you will ever see! Starrrring, the Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie, alongside her new assistant, the Marvelous Morphing Mare!"

"I thought we agreed that I would get top billing, minion," Chrysalis hissed in a stage whisper.

Getting the makeshift stage set up in the park had been foal's play, once they'd managed to slip away from Twilight Sparkle's watchful eyes. Trixie had even provided a spare hat and cloak for Chrysalis to wear, though an outfit made for a pony was less than a perfect fit on a royal changeling, and she'd been adamant about doing this show in her natural form.

Ponies all around the park were whispering, a few of them wandering closer to get a better look. It was a far cry from the welcome she'd gotten when she'd first arrived at the town, but perhaps the ponies here were starting to believe she was... tamed, not unlike what that disappointingly softhearted Discord had become. All the better, really, since they would be caught all the more off-guard when she struck to take her revenge.

"Trixie agreed to no such thing. Now..." The infuriating little mare raised her voice again, her horn lighting with a voice amplification spell. "Trixie and her assistant will need some volunteers from the audience." She outstretched one of her front legs, pointing her hoof at where Twilight Sparkle looked to be about to explode. "Why, those two little lovebirds there would be perfect. Come up here on stage."

The little princess was on her hooves, wings spread. "Oh I'll come up there all right. And put a stop to it!"

"No!" Moondancer hastily hopped to her own hooves, then shrunk down a bit when Twilight looked at her. "I-I mean, aren't you working on reforming Chrysalis? Maybe this is a good sign, that she's helping Trixie put on a show for everypony. You don't want to discourage her."

Yes, that was it. Somepony so close to Twilight Sparkle would be able to smooth over Chrysalis's transgressions against her precious rules so very easily.

Twilight sighed deeply, and clenched her teeth. "...Fine." With a flash of light and a surge of power, both appeared on the stage, Moondancer looking slightly dazed from the sudden teleport. "Here we are. What do you need us to do?"

Trixie grinned, and with a wave of her horn and puff of smoke, a wooden box decorated with chunks of dark stone appeared. She casually pushed open the door with a hoof, then bowed with a flourish. "The both of you just step in here, and the show can begin."

Moodancer trotted in through the door without a moment's hesitation. Twilight glared at both of them, then followed suit. She turned around, opened her mouth as if to say something, and Chrysalis took great enjoyment in slamming the door shut.

"Behold, everypony!" Trixie went on. "This is the ancient Box of True Feelings. Once locked inside, it can only be opened again by True Love's Kiss." She smirk, and struck the box with a flick of her tail. "So our volunteers better get to kissing."

There was a long beat of complete silence from within the box. "...I'm teleporting us out."

"Wait!"

Light was faintly seen through the seams of the box's door, right before a satisfying fizzle sound and it faded again. Chrysalis started to cackle, sidling up to the box. "You remember my magic-negating throne, Princess?" Her voice broke into mocking sing-song. "Your stu-dent never got all the pie-ces."

There was a sharp crack from inside from an attempted kick, but the box still held. "Is that your plan? Lock me in a box and then somehow take over Equestria?" demanded Twilight's muffled voice. "Because I'd love to know what step two is."

"Oh nothing so droll." She rolled her eyes as she leaned against the box, unable to hold back a few more giggles. "I'm just doing a little good deed for a pony who desperately needs my help." She gave it a bump with her hip. "Your cue, Moondancer."

Another long beat of silence. "...Moondancer?"

"Yes?"

"I've had a rough several days and not a lot of sleep. So I apologise if I seem a bit peeved. But..." There was the sound of a deep breath. "WHAT IN DISCORD'S BEARD IS GOING ON?!"

It took a moment for Moondancer to reply. Presumably because it took that long for her ears to stop ringing. "When I first showed up, you kept asking me what had gone wrong that I'd come and offer myself as your harem mare," she started, softly, and her voice started to shake. "A-and the truth is... nothing was wrong. I just thought..." A strained tone, reminding Chrysalis of when she'd been crying. "I just thought, i-if that was what I needed to do to be with you... then I'd do it."

Twilight's voice was barely above a whisper. "You... I... Moondancer..."

Trixie leaned toward Chrysalis. "Are they kissing?"

Chrysalis lit her horn, examining the emotions of the ponies within at length, then shrugged. "Hoofholding. At most."

"Close enough!" She leaped over to one side of the box, then reared up to pull a lever down. The door sprang open, and Twilight and Moondancer tumbled across the stage. "Behold, the greatest trick of all! Two awkward nerds, transformed into a royal couple!"

There was cheering. Confused cheering, but cheering, and once a few ponies started, it spread through the small crowd in the park, until Chrysalis was sure that many of the ponies stomping the ground and hollering had no idea what was going on at all. And yet, the elation was genuine, members of a herd species coming together to share in a moment of pure joy. She let it wash over her, a unique blend of flavours she had never experienced before.

Stronger still, however, was Moondancer's overwhelming gratitude, and she found herself assaulted with more tears, this one the unicorn's tears of joy as she was grasped in a fierce hug. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

This was so much. Especially after she'd teetered so close to the brink of starving to death, this was so much to feed on that she could hardly keep up with the flow. The edges of her hunger dulled, then seemed to vanish, and there was a point where she had to stop feeding, because her internal storage was too full to draw in more.

Ponies were such loving creatures. So overflowing with it. She wouldn't need to feed for days, maybe weeks. If she kept Moondancer around, she wouldn't have to rely on just ponies to rebuild her power. She'd be able to lay eggs, raise up a new generation of changelings. She'd have enough love to share with all of her offspring, and ensure they grew into the most powerful, fearsome drones she could create.

All the power she could ask for at the tips of her hooves, and all it had taken was one act of kindness.

Chrysalis grinned, and made an effort to hug Moondancer back. "Yes, yes, I am magnificent. I--"

And then the world vanished into white.

The stage beneath her drifted away, along with Moondancer's hug, as Chrysalis was lifted into the air without any use of her wings. The love that she'd stored seemed to flow through every inch of her body, every small pain that she'd grown accustomed to vanishing in a flood of comforting warmth. She could feel the holes in her legs closing, her horn repairing, so many scars from ages past mending and fading away at last.

She lost herself in the sensation of healing, and for a precious few seconds, her heart finally felt at peace.

Her hooves met the stage again at last, and the cheers were suddenly back in her ears as the ponies below radiated euphoria and awe. Her mane was a mass of resplendent curls, and bounced around her neck as Chrysalis looked down at herself, slowly, taking in a still-black carapace that faded into a royal purple at her hooves, along with the set of purple gemstones embedded at the base of her throat. Her elytra were purple as well, while her wings, as she buzzed them, revealed themselves to still be teal.

Tearing her eyes from her own form, she looked out at the ponies sharing the stage with her, and found Twilight's smirking face, looking every bit the usual self-satisfied pony princess.

She scowled, jabbing her hoof toward the alicorn before she could open her mouth. "Not. A. Word."

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RainbowDoubleDash

RainbowDoubleDash #1 · May 14th, 2023 · 16 · ·

The magnanimous Queen Chrysalis

Oh no, Trixie is rubbing off on her.

the ancient Box of True Feelings

In my mind's eye as I'm "watching" this, we never actually see Moondancer and Twilight in the box, we just hear their voices, and occasionally the box will shake a little - or jump entirely when Twilight yelled.

She scowled, jabbing her hoof toward the alicorn before she could open her mouth. "Not. A. Word."

Pffffthahahahaha!

See this was kind of how I was hoping "Frenemies" would end back before the episode actually dropped, after we'd learned the premise. Chrysalis accidentally reforms without even meaning to and now she has to deal with it. Not that I mind "Frenemies" as it played out, mind, it may well be my favorite episode in the series, certainly in my top 5. Still, what could have been...

Razzy