Fuzzy
Cadance gasped, her eyes blinking away after images from a sudden bright green flash. Half blind, she backed up a step, bumping into the crib that held her infant daughter. Inside and unaware, little Flurry Heart slept soundly. Cadance grit her teeth, charging her horn, and pointed it at the intruder.
“Leave, or I will unleash my full power against you.”
“An empty threat.” Chrysalis, queen of all changelings, sneered and stepped forward from the dying green flames of her teleport. “We both know you can’t stop me. Not at the wedding, not now. I’ve come for what is mine.”
Cadance stood her ground, brows narrowing as she sight returned. She suspected the Queen was correct, but Shining Armor and the legion of Imperial guard were but a shout away, and Chrysalis could not stand against them all. “What do you mean?”
Chrysalis smiled wickedly, her gaze lingering on the cradle behind Cadance.
The Empress lowered her ears and pawed at the carpeting, her horn starting to sizzle with the force of its arcane charge. “No. Nonononono! I don’t know what delusions you’re operating under, but you are not laying a hoof on my daughter!”
“She’s just as much mine as yours.” Chrysalis purred, gliding closer with graceful steps. “Were it not for my...aid...she would not have been born. Or have you forgotten our little deal? My magic to help you provide an heir in return for payment rendered when I saw fit.” She stepped closer, Cadance’s horn glow reflected in her eyes. “Now...I see fit. I see what I want. And you will give it to me.”
“I will not!” Cadance shot a beam of energy at the changeling for emphasis, forcing Chrysalis to dodge to the side. The blast left a smoking hole in the floor, and left the alicorn struggling to catch her breath.
Chrysalis tsk’ed, chiding and shaking her head. “Now now, that won’t do at all. I can’t have you hurting yourself, my pretty little pony. I wish my prize to be one that does that.” She smiled again, her large eyes almost closing to sly slits. “I’ll leave it to you. For now.”
And like that, in another burst of emerald fire, she was gone.
And so Chrysalis, that wicked witch, settled in to wait and to watch her prize grow. Waiting for the day she’d reclaim it. She watched Flurry Heart grow into a foal, reaching out to the child now and then, guiding her toward new ways to control her magic. She silently cheered at Flurry Heart’s achievements, her prize becoming all the more rich and succulent for them. She watched the filly in school, at home, when she slept, when she played.
For many years, Flurry Heart’s parents were vigilant, ever watchful for Chrysalis’ presence or her baleful influence. But it was too subtle. Too slow for them to notice. Each passing year, they grew lacks, their grip on their daughter loosening inch by inch. Until, on Flurry Heart’s seventeenth summer, it faded away entirely.
Like all young mares, especially young princesses, Flurry Heart had a wild side. A sense of wonder about the world and the parts of it hidden from her. At times, whispers, half-heard echos in her mind would call to her, pulling her away from the watchful eyes of her parents and guardians. Teasing her to give chase into the dark places of the castle, into the archives and storerooms below the courtyard. Like a fairy’s promise, it led her to explore, to seek out knowledge, to crave the unknown.
Then one day, in the fateful heat of summer, it led her into the gardens. Under the shade of the willows, near the far wall with its clinging ivy. Near the pond where koi played coy with the dappled light of evening. It lead her to a shadow, to her very own fairy godmother. Chrysalis waited for her there, lounging against the willow bark, a koi caught in the openings of her chitin where she let a hoof linger under the water’s surface. Green eyes welcomed Flurry Heart, a smile played across black lips revealing white fangs.
“Who are you?”
“Who would you like me to be?” Chrysalis idly turned her foreleg, large eyes watching the koi struggle. “Do you want me to be a snitch? To tell your parents where you are? Tell them where you’ve been? Or would you rather I be your friend? Somepony special to you, little Heart of the Empire?”
“Nopony calls me that any more. Not since I was little.” Flurry Heart raised an eyebrow. She didn’t know a pony could have a coat so dark, or eyes the color of dragonfly wings. She glanced back at the main castle behind her. The bell for dinner would sound soon. “I would like it if you didn’t tell my parents I was out wandering around again.”
“But would you like it if I were your friend?”
“Um...I guess so. Who...who are you?”
Chrysalis looked up at the princess, blinking slowly, her voice rich as chocolate. “An old friend of the family. I visit time to time. Like now, but I’m very happy to meet you, little Heart.”
“Why?” Flurry Heart smiled carefully. Her heart seemed to want to race. Those eyes were breath-taking, that voice loving. Slowly, she found herself taking a seat near the charming mare with the interesting coat. “Haven’t we...met before?”
“Once, yes. Long ago. I wanted to give you a gift, but your mother said you were not ready.”
Flury Heart huffed, rolling her eyes at mention of her mother’s controlling ways. Her whole life was one lecture to another about where not to go, what not to do and who not to speak to. It drove her to fits. “Well, I’m an adult now. I can handle it, whatever it is.”
“Can you?” Chrysalis’s eyes glittered like the captured koi’s scales. “I offer you power, little Heart. Control over land and ponies and more. I offer wealth and luxury.”
“But...I already have those things.” Flurry Heart looked around them, waving her hoof at the gardens, the castle and the lands beyond. “Your offer seems lacking.”
“But I offer you more than this.”
“What do you mean?”
Chrysalis turned, releasing the little fish in her grasp, her body stretching across the soft grass. “I also offer me. Come with me, little Heart, and all that your mind and soul desires is yours. Come with me, rule with me, and be my Heart. I can give you so much more than a simple Empire. With you at my side, I could offer you the world.”
“B-but…” The young pony blushed, the honey trap walls closing in. Her dreams were spent chasing voices and fairies. Dark shapes and green lights. She wanted to catch them. Make them hers. She never thought they would catch her instead.
“Or don’t.” Chrysalis pulled herself up, rising her her hooves like a dark cloud on the horizon. “But think about it...won’t you, my little Heart?” The changeling reached up, pushing aside some of the ivy, the bright green revealing a interior green so dark it was almost black.
“How will I find you again when I’ve made up my mind?”
“Don’t worry, little Heart. I’ll find you.” Fangs flashed in a sly smile before the Queen stepped into the ivy that clung to the palace’s rear wall and vanished, the curtain of plant life swaying the only indication of her passing.