A Curious Thing
Chrysalis snarled, rose up on her hind legs, and slammed a forehoof down on the stone table. As one, the gathering of her wiser drones startled, fell silent, and drew back, turning their eyes on her.
“Enough!” she shouted, before leveling a hoof at her master of the dungeons. “Phagos, If our stock of prisoners to feed on is growing thin, then kidnap more of them!”
The heavy changeling shifted on his haunches. “Your majesty, the hive has not been at full strength since our… setback… at Canterlot. Our raiding parties capture those they feel will not be missed, but—”
The sounds of shouting and heavy hooffalls upon stone interrupted him. Chrysalis looked past the drones as the chitinous door at the end of the chamber burst open, admitting a knot of guards clutching an ill-kempt earth pony.
“My queen!” The prisoner bellowed, managing to lunge forward despite the sticky green substance that was hobbling his legs and the guards fighting to keep a hold of his withers.
Chrysalis drew herself up to her full height. “What in Tartarus is the meaning of this?”
One of the guards stepped away from the pony and bowed. “Your majesty, we found him crossing the great swamp around our borders.”
Phagos stood. “How dare you bring a prisoner directly—”
The prisoner shoved several of the guards in one sudden motion, breaking free and staggering toward her as quickly as his bonds would allow. The drones at Chrysalis’ table tensed.
“My queen,” the pony said, his lips pulling back into a beatific smile. “I could not let them drain me, for my love is yours alone!”
Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and looked at the guards. “He would not ‘let’ you drain him? Why should I keep guards that won’t subdue a trespasser who says ‘no?’”
The nearest guard swallowed. “Please, your majesty, his strength…”
“Is yours!” The prisoner roared as he threw himself down at her hooves. He leaned in to kiss them, but Chrysalis recoiled. The prisoner shuffled after her. “Please, my queen, I ask only that you take my love yourself. Grant me this one request!”
Chrysalis took a long sniff at the air. “His scent is fulsome… but nopony in their right mind would ask to be drained.” She turned back to the drones at the table. “Phagos, examine him.”
Phagos approached the prisoner, who ignored him, gazing at Chrysalis with wide, bloodshot eyes. “Please… the common rabble did not see the beauty of your conquest over Canterlot, but to me, it was inspiring. You are my muse and my avenging angel; beautiful and terrible in equal measure.” He shook, and curled his parched lips into a rictus. “Please. I love you. Finish for me what you started on that day of judgment!”
She frowned, and looked from guard to guard. Many wouldn’t meet her eyes. The few who did either tightened their lips or bowed in deference.
Eventually she looked back down at Phagos, who shrugged. “Your majesty, if it pleases you, I see no harm in draining him before we take him to the dungeons.”
“Very well…” Chrysalis stepped closer, gripped him by the neck, and opened her jaws.
She inhaled—
An effusion of sickly green energy veritably slapped her in the maw, forcing her back several steps as she struggled to contain it. Her eyes widened, and her breathing grew both deep and rapid. The pony shivered and jerked, face contorting in a look of ecstasy marred now and again with shudders of pain.
Long moments passed as the feeding continued. Chrysalis’ knees grew shaky, and she fell down on her haunches, throwing her head back with abandon. The pony’s eyes fluttered, then rolled up inside his head.
In time, it ended; they collapsed together, each gasping for air as faint flickers of green light dancing about their bodies. Chrysalis turned a wide-eyed look at the filthy but unassuming earth pony with whom she was entangled. She raised a hoof to stroke his mane—
—Then realized that her guards, and council, were still present, and staring at her with alarm, uncertainty, and a mix of other feelings.
She struggled to her hooves, smoothing her mane down and attempting to limit the pace of her breathing.
“T… take him away,” she said.
“Your majesty, please... let me leave a guard.”
Chrysalis’ expression darkened as she strode across the length of her private chamber toward the door, where Phagos waited next to the disheveled Earth pony prisoner.
“No,” she said, approaching them. She took a long look at the prisoner, whose mouth was stopped with something green and sticky, and who was wrapped in heavy chains. “I... wish to be alone with him this time.”
Phagos tensed. “Your majesty, he could be dangerous!”
“I could be, too,” she said, her tone icy. “Especially when being crossed by a mere drone.”
He fidgeted. “Very well, then... I... will wait outside your door. When you are ready to be done with him—”
“Fine,” she interrupted. Chrysalis maintained her steely gaze as Phagos bowed and exited the chamber, closing its door behind him.
The prisoner began a jerky hop towards her, but a flat look both stopped him and made his face light up in a smile.
“You’re going to tell me what is really going on here,” she said, before raising a forehoof and ripping the sticky gag off of his muzzle, taking no small quantity of fur with it.
His eyes went wide with momentary pain before his smile returned. “It’s just so simple, my love; I am asking you to drain me.“
She narrowed her eyes. “What are you getting out of this?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “I get to see you grow stronger and more prosperous, my love.”
Chrysalis tasted the sweet air, and shivered. “I… I will not drain you, if you tell me nothing…”
He laughed again. “You will, my love, because you know that all I wish to do is let my love sustain you!”
Her face tightened, and she took another step toward him. “As if I need a pony to sustain me…”
“Hold me,” he whispered.
Chrysalis’ brow furrowed. “W… what?”
“Hold me,” he repeated, lowering himself to the ground in a pile of clinking, heavy chains. “Hold me as you drain me now,” he purred.
Chrysalis’ muzzle curled in revulsion as she studied the prisoner’s smile, seeing his features pull back so far as to strain his face close to its breaking point.
“I don't understand,” she said, quietly.
He mouthed the words, “I love you.”
Her breathing deepened, bringing with each inhalation still more of the cloying, unmistakable scent of deep, abiding love.
She felt a tremor spread through her whole body as she lowered herself to the floor next to him. He strained against his chains, shifting slightly closer. She brought one trembling forehoof up to his mane as she wrapped one hind leg around his barrel. She lowered her muzzle close to his.
And she inhaled the greenish essence of his love, bringing raw waves of ecstasy crashing down upon them.
Chrysalis looked away from Phagos, and settled deeper into her chitinous throne. “And you’re certain that he… cannot be fed upon?”
Phagos shook his head. “I’m sorry, your highness. Your choice of prisoners to feed on is, of course, your prerogative, and I am no expert in pony physiology. But I’ve seen many prisoners look this way before their final feeding, and you ordered me to caution you if…”
She nodded, wincing as hunger wracked her gut.
“You might, of course, feed from another prisoner,” Phagos added. “But if I may speak frankly, this one was unwell when he arrived in my dungeons, and the… intensity… of your feedings have only hastened his deterioration.”
“You cannot know the sweetness of his love,” she breathed. “He doesn’t see me with revulsion, but with reverence. He…” She found herself blushing like a fool. “I… held him, the night that you brought him to my chambers. He asked me to, and I… the love was so much sweeter.”
Phagos cleared his throat. “Your highness, with respect… that pony may have been at Canterlot when we invaded, but I don’t think that who he was survived our invasion.”
“So what?” Chrysalis spat. “The love I feel from him is genuine!”
“Highness, you’ve said that nopony in full command of their faculties would wish to be taken by us...”
She snarled. “And you think that he is not? How could I be feeling what I feel from him, were that the case?!”
Phagos bowed. “I beg forgiveness; I have spoken out of turn.”
Chrysalis inclined her head. Her features softened. “I... wish to see him. Will you take me to him?”
“Yes, of course, your majesty.”
Their walk took them through a dark and twisting underhive that had been alternately carved through rock and dug through simple dirt. The only constant source of light as they descended came from Chrysalis’ horn.
They stopped at the end of a dank, despondent line of barred doors. Phagos opened a lock, and Chrysalis stepped in.
Her heart leapt as she spotted him lying on the floor, but she frowned as she watched ragged breaths flow in and out of his emaciated frame. “He looked so much healthier when he first came to us…”
She turned her gaze toward the walls of the large cell, and froze. Portrait after portrait stared back at her. Some depicted the pony and herself locked in a lovers’ embrace; others were simply of her alone, looking regal, or fearsome, and sometimes both. Hardly a hoof-span of the walls had been left bare.
Chrysalis approached him, looking from artwork to artwork. “What does he draw with?”
Phagos coughed. “Anything at hoof, your majesty.”
She looked away. “They’re beautiful,” she whispered.
“Majesty?”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. Nopony has ever simply… given me their love.”
Phagos’ mouth opened. Chrysalis hissed at him before he could speak. “I’m not a fool!” she spat. “We could kidnap a doctor if his ailment was merely physical!”
Phagos held up a forehoof defensively. “Please, your majesty, I dare not judge you. I only wish to see you… happy.”
Chrysalis’ shoulders slumped. She turned, and ran a gentle hoof through the pony’s mane, thrilling at the touch.
“Enough.” She drew herself up, and managed to keep her voice steady. “Break his legs, badly. Take his tongue as well. Then leave him in the nearest pony village with a hospital.”
Phagos bowed. “As you wish.”