Chapter 1: A New Realm

Chapter 1
A New Realm
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Chrysalis

Their eyes lighting up to a bright white, horns crossed, and a flaming pink heart floating above Cadence and Shining Armor; was the last thing Chrysalis saw before she was shoved into the air along with her subjects, leaving Canterlot for good.

She looks at her subjects, some of them are out like lights, or at least she thinks so. She looks down at the ground below her, which is getting smaller by the second. Some of her subjects are laying there, more than likely dead from the impact. She can't help but cry... What have I done to my subjects, I just wanted to get them their food, but... I have failed them...

Just then a light shines around her. She closes her eyes so she doesn't go blind from the bright light. When she opens them again she notices that the ground is coming toward her at an accelerated pace. Chrysalis' eyes widen, quickly she thinks of what to do so she doesn't die from the impact, an idea strikes her and her horn illuminates, a green field appears around her. Her momentum starts to slow but its too late, she lands on the ground and tumbles across the grass almost hitting a tree.

As she is tumbling she hits her head and everything goes black for her...

What seems like ages later, she finally awakens, she opens her eyes to see the sun shine through the trees. It looked to be early morning. She groans and rubs her head with her hoof. “Where am I...” She says, she gets up slowly and looks around, she is in the middle of a forest.

“Well I'm not gonna know where I am at by just standing here.” she says and starts to walk to, what looks like, a way out of the forest. As she gets closer to the opening she hears these strange roaring sounds, nothing like a bear or river, but a different type of roar.

She reaches the exit and is taken aback by what she sees, a neighborhood, but there is something different about this neighborhood... no ponies... just these strange metal carriages roaring across a black road. “So those things must have been what caused that roaring sound.” she says to herself.

Just then one of the doors open across the street and this two legged figure steps out, carrying a pack on its back. As it sighs, it starts to walk down the sidewalk. What is that creature?! Chrysalis continued to look at the two legged creature. It hung its head low and every now and then it looks around itself as if it is looking for something. It then looks right at the queens direction, she immediately ducks behind a tree. She peeks around the side to see the figure shake its head and continue walking. I must follow to learn more.

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Claude

Claude sighs as he gets up from his bed, it is finally the last day of being a senior at Bridgeville High School. Claude is the shyest person at the school, has no friends, because he won't talk to anyone, he just keeps to himself and does his own thing.

Claude stretches and his back pops, he sighs in relief. He opens his dresser to pick out clothes for the day, and takes them to the bathroom. He takes off his pajamas and such and hops in the shower, turns it on, and washes the grime from yesterday.

After a few minutes he turns off the water and towels off, he puts on his clean clothes, throwing the old ones in the hamper. As he walks down the hall toward the living room, he sees his parents room, he opens his door to see their bed made up like it normally is and always will be. He sighs and closes the door and walks into the living room, empty also.

Claude looks over at the fireplace mantle and sees the family picture. He walks up to the fireplace and looks at the framed photo. I miss you guys... He sighs and grabs his backpack from next to the couch, he slips on his shoes and walks over to the front door. “Just one more day...” he mumbles under his breath. He grabs the door handle and opens the door letting that early spring morning air into the quiet house.

Stepping out into the new day, Claude takes in a deep breath and sighs. Time for another unsociable day. He closes the door, locks it and starts walking down the driveway and down the sidewalk. As he is walking he feels this odd feeling, he looks around him frantically. Is there someone watching me? He looks over to the woods across the street and sees a black figure duck behind a tree. What was that? He waits a moment to see if there is any more movement, but nothing happens. He shakes his head and walks down the street toward the school, the whole way feeling like he is being watched and followed at the same time.

He finally gets to the school and the bell rings right when he steps through the front door threshold. People have tried in the past to talk to Claude, but all that gets them is silence from him. He has been that way since...well forever, but more so now since his parents died in that car accident.

“Hey look its the quiet boy, got nothing to say to us today do ya?” one of the jocks call out to him, and as normal, Claude tunes them out. Claude walks into his first class, sits down at the desk, and just waits for the class to end, today is pretty much a free day since it is the last day.

He listens to some of the conversations going on around him... “Did you hear about the party at Tim's house tonight?” he hears from one of the girls a couple of desks in front of him.

“Yeah it's going to be awesome, his parents aren't even going to be there so it's going to be hardcore!” the other one says.

A party... woohoo... whats so great about that... Claude sits there idly waiting for the bell to ring, when he feels that same odd feeling again... like he is being watched... he turns quickly to look behind him at the window and sees nothing, the people behind him look at him and then at the window, Claude just silently looks at them and scratches his chin on his shoulder nonchalantly and turns back around. This feeling is really beginning to bug him...

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Chrysalis

She has followed the creature all the way to this large structure, the sign in the front of the place said “Bridgeville High School” and under it said “Have a great Summer!”, she has been following the creature invisibly. She didn't want to risk herself being seen. She notices the lots of other creatures that are like the one she has been following, but each of them look different.

Chrysalis walks to the side of the building, looking in each of the windows to find the specific creature she has been following the whole morning. She almost gives until she reaches the window for the room it is in. She looks inside to the specific creature sitting in a desk, looking bored.

The creatures around the one she is following seem to be conversing with one another, she can fainty hear them, but understand what they say. And what is really odd is that they speak her language, Equish, she puts her ear up against the window to listen, "Dude, that party after school is going to be awesome!" one of the creature exclaims, practically bouncing in its seat. Dude, usually means that the creature is male... doesn't it?

"I know right? I heard almost everyone is invited!" The other creature says. Just then the, she would assume, male, due to the fact it has the same body structure like the other creatures that were calling one another 'dude'. The creature she had been following turned around quickly gazing out the window right at her. She immediately tensed, then realized he cannot see her, invisibility works wonders doesn't it? The other male creatures look at the one she's been following then at the window then back at him. He then scratches his chin on his shoulder and turns around. Apparently he is aware of a presence following him but he doesn't know who it is... thank goodness...

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Claude

Okay this feeling that I am being watched is really beginning to freak me out. I swore I saw something outside the window but I am not sure... Claude looks at the clock and stands up just as the bell rings to end the class. He tries to shrug off that feeling of being watched and walks to his next class. As he walks down the hall, his head hung low, he can hear the jocks calling out to him “Look it's the quiet boy, got anything to say to us?” they say. Claude just continues on his way to his next class.

Two more classes go by in no time at all. Claude sits in his last class going over what happened over the year in his head. One memory sticks out... the day it happened, in fact it was only a few months ago, though he remembers it as if it was just yesterday...

It was just another school day, it was raining outside, it was chilly, it seemed like any other normal winter day...until that moment when a police officer knocked on the classroom door, the teacher opened the door and the police officer called a name out, “Claude Maynard.” Claude looked up at him without saying a word, everyone having that look on their face that says 'Oh crap, what did he do?'.

Claude stands up and walks out the door, the whole class is silent, the officer apologizes for disrupting the class and takes Claude to the front office. The principal stands at the door and they ask Claude to sit down.

“Um...did I do something wrong?” Claude said shyly, obviously scared out of his wits.

The officer and principal shake their head, “No... it's just...” the officer sighs, “Your parents were involved in a car accident earlier this morning...and well...they didn't make it...”

Immediately Claude stood up, “Wh-What? Are you sure it was them, it couldn't have been...” he said, his eyes starting to water.

“Yes Claude we have proo-”

“I want to see them!” Claude yells through tears causing the officer and the principal to jump.

“Okay, then follow me.” the officer says with a sigh

Claude follows the policemen to his cruiser and hops in the passenger seat, He looks over to the school and can see other teenagers peeking through the windows at him, he turns his head down to look at his feet and the cruiser takes off to the morgue. News seemed to spread like wildfire around the school because when he came back everyone was being nice to him, except the jocks, they could care less.

Claude still can't shake that feeling of seeing his parents laying there on the table, they looked like they were asleep, but they weren't breathing. He feels his eyes start to water again and a tear drop falls on the desk. He shakes his head hastily, making his dark brown hair whip around. Okay no more of that... I am picked on enough...

He doesn't even notice the eerie feeling anymore, he knows it's still there, but he is ignoring it. Claude lays his head down on the desk and closes his eyes, trying to push away the memory, until he feels a tap on his shoulder. He ignores it thinking someone threw something, then he feels it again. He sighs and leans up to see some dude hand him a paper. Claude looks at the paper in the guy's hand and at the guy as if to say 'What do you want me to do with that?'.

“It's an invitation Claude, you never seem to talk to anyone and I just thought maybe you wanted to come to my party, you know, get to know some people.” The guy says. Other people start to look at them, Claude looks around him to see everyone else in the room staring at him. He turns back to the guy holding out the invitation and slowly raises his hand up and takes the paper. “Names Tim by the way.” The guy says.

Claude nods slowly, “Thanks...” he says it so quietly almost no one hears him. Though Tim apparently did.

“No problem dude! Address is on the invitation, hope you can make it.” Tim says and smiles at him. Claude starts to smile a bit and nods.

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Chrysalis

The Queen continues to watch the male creature, trying to figure out more about him. A couple of questions still go through her mind: Why is she here in this strange realm, and how?

She is broken out of her thoughts as she sees the creature lay his head down on his desk. She watches as another male poke him in the back and hand him a parchment. She notices that the other creatures have gotten silent, Chrysalis listens closely as the standing creature says something. “It's an invitation Claude, you never seem to talk to anyone and I just thought maybe you wanted to come to my party, you know, get to know some people.” Claude takes the paper from the other creature. “Name's Tim by the way!”

Claude…That must be the name of the creature I’ve been following… She watches as Claude say something very quietly, so quiet Chrysalis can’t even hear. “No problem dude! Hope to see you at my party!”

Wait…A party? I need to attend this party, maybe I could get closer to ‘Claude’, I don’t know what I find in him so interesting, it's just I am so curious about who and what he is. Just then a bell rings loudly, and Chrysalis can hear cheering and whooping, she watches as Claude stands up and walks out the door of the classroom, leaving only the teacher.

Chrysalis turns to run toward the front of the school and is immediately halted by a running female creature, this is going to be difficult to do... then she remembers... her wings. She flaps her wings a bit and she hovers above the ground, she flies over to the front of the school and notices Claude right away, he is looking at the invitation Tim gave him. She follows him all the way back to his home.

At one point he turns around looking right dead at her, thankfully he cannot see her...

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Claude

The bell rings finally, Heh, why not. Might as well go to this party. I doubt I will talk to anyone there, I never do most of the time anyway, but it might be good for me to get out of the house every now and then and not think about the past.

Claude walks out the front door of the school and opens and reads the invitation, 'Tim's Senior After-School Party, 6:00PM, 461 Rockham Dr., anyone is invited!.' Claude smiles a bit at the parchment, its the first time anyone has invited him to anything. It's a good thing Tim doesn't live far from his house, he can just walk there easily.

As he walks back to his house he gets that eerie feeling of being followed again, this is really beginning to bug him majorly, he turns around quickly, nothing is there. Claude grumbles under his breath and continues walking. He knows for sure something is following, what... he doesn't know...

He reaches his house and quickly goes inside slamming the door shut behind him. He takes a deep breath and lets it out, and walks into the living room and throws his backpack onto the couch as he passes it walking into his room, Guess I should get ready for this party then...

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[End Of Chapter 1]

Chapter 2: The Party

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Chapter 2
The Party
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Chrysalis

The Queen moves out of sight and lets down her invisibility. It takes a lot out of you if you stay invisible for almost seven to eight hours. What do I do now? He is about to go to a party and I don't know how I can follow him inside, my appearance will surely frighten them... She then remembers something. I cannot believe I forgot, I am the Changeling Queen. I can change myself into one of the creatures. She facehoofs herself.

Chrysalis' horn illuminates and a green aura goes around her and she morphs into a female creature, she looks down at herself and notices she isn't clothed like the other creatures, she also notices her horn is gone, and her wings. Oh no... What am I going to do for clothing... Wait, maybe I can still use my magic even though my horn isn't here. She closes her eyes, concentrates, and she feels fabric land at her feet. She opens her eyes and sees a dress laying there plus undergarments. She is still able to use her magic, she knows she definitely cannot fly though, no wings equals no fly.

She slips on the clothes and she walks back up to the houses. As she is walks by the windows she looks in one and sees her reflection. She still has her teal hair, but there are no holes in it. She looks herself over and the dress fits perfectly. From what she can tell by these creatures, she looks beautiful. Now she needs to follow Claude to the party, there she can possibly talk to him, so she can learn more of him. She walks up to the house as he walks out, she follows behind him but staying out of sight.

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Claude

Claude looks in the mirror. His first party ever. Hopefully it doesn't go bad, though it probably will. He picks up the comb on the sink and runs it through his dark hair, which doesn't do anything, his hair is too curly. After two or three minutes of trying to work with his hair, he gives up.

He walks back into the living room and looks at the clock on the wall, five-fifteen. I should probably get going... He picks up the invitation laying on the table, heads out the door, and walks down the street toward Tim's house. He quickly glances around to see if anyone is following him, no one...

Twenty minutes of walking go by and he sees the party house. Cars are lined across the road and people are walking up to the relatively large house. It looks the the other houses on the street; nothing special.

Claude walks up to the front of the house and sees a guy stand there with a clipboard, looks to be Tim, checking off things. Guess he takes his parties seriously. Claude looks behind him once more and sees a few random people walking behind him, just some people from school, but one girl stands out among them. She has long teal hair and she wears a dress, she looks rather... cute.

As Claude reaches the line the teal haired girl stands a couple of people behind him. As Claude walks up Tim looks at him and nods without looking at his board, Claude smiles and walks in. A couple of seconds later he hears Tim say, “I don't think I've seen you before.”

“My name is Chrys- Chrissy.” The teal haired girl says shyly.

“Well I'm sorry you aren't on the list.” Tim says. Claude begins to feel bad for Chrissy, a girl that adorable should at least come in. He then gets an idea.

He nonchalantly walks past the door and looks out, he fights his shyness heavily with this, “Hey Chrissy! I didn't know you were here!”

Tim looks at him oddly, “You know her, Claude?” he says.

“Yeah man! I haven't seen her in ages, come on dude you have to let her in!” Claude says.

Chrissy then says, “Claude? Is that you?” and smiles.

“The one and only!” he says.

Tim chuckles and says “Okay, go on ahead.” Chrissy runs inside to Claude and hugs him, to keep the act of them knowing each other going.

During the embrace she whispers "Thanks for that. I heard about this party and I wanted to attend, but I just didn't know how I was going to."

“Anytime.” He says, “You want to hang out with me?”

“Sure.” Chrissy says with a smile.

All of a sudden some techno music starts up, and people start dancing around them. “It’s a bit crowded in here isn’t it?” Claude says.

“What?” Chrissy tries to yell over the music.

“I said we should go somewhere where it’s not as crowded!” Claude yells. Chrissy hears him and nodded. They go into another room where there are still people but the music isn’t as loud as it was in the other room. They find an open couch and sit down.

Claude’s shyness takes over once more and sits there silently, he looks over at Chrissy and smiles. He finally gathers enough courage to say, “I don’t think we have introduced properly yet. I’m Claude” He stretches out his hand.

Chrissy hesitantly shakes his hand “I’m Chrys- Chrissy.” She says. When she touches his hand, Claude feels this sort of happy feeling come over him, not really sure what it is. They finally let go of each other’s hand and smile.

Claude starts to feel more comfortable around her, his shyness dissipating. “I haven’t seen you around school much, are you new?” He asks. Chrissy nods.

“Where are you from?” Claude asks her.

She hesitates, “It’s a long story, and you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, and I kind of don’t want to talk about it.”

Claude realizes it’s a touchy subject and immediately starts on a different subject. “Okay um… What do you want to talk about then?” he says.

“Why not talk about you, you seem interesting, can you tell me more about yourself?” Chrissy asks.

“I am not that interesting…” He says looking down.

"Hey you are interesting to me.” Chrissy says smiling at him.

Claude looks up at her and smiles back, he takes a deep breath, “Well I am probably the most shyest person at school, even though it doesn’t seem that way now. It’s easy for me to talk to you for some reason.” Claude sees Chrissy blush a bit at that. “I am also the most picked on by the jocks and other dweebs from the school. Most people are nice to me, just not them… I am picked on constantly by them, I just ignore them. “

“Why do they pick on you?” Chrissy asks.

Claude shrugs. "No idea. They just do. I just think they do it so they can feel like they are on top of the 'food chain'." He makes quotes with his fingers and chuckles. Chrissy emits a cute giggle, which makes Claude blush a little. He gets that feeling again and realizes what it is: he is starting to have feelings for Chrissy. When he realizes that he says, "Would you like something to drink?"

Chrissy nods and Claude stands up and walks into the other room and goes over to where they have the drinks. I just met her, how could I already have feelings for her. Though she is kind of cute, and she is actually nice to me and wants to talk to me. I will just be myself and everything will be cool. Claude picks up a couple of drinks and walks back to Chrissy, before he walks in the room he is stopped by Tim.

“Hey man, you enjoying yourself?” Tim asks.

“Yeah, great party, I am having fun.” Claude says.

Tim looks in the room and sees Chrissy sitting there, “I see you and Chrissy are catching up on a lot of stuff.” He says and grins.

Claude nods, “Yeah, she is really cool. It has been a while.”

“So, are you going to ask her out?” He asks. Claude hesitates, and Tim laughs, “Just messing with you.” Claude sighs at that.

“Well dude, I will catch you later, Chrissy is waiting for me.” Claude says.

Tim nods, “Go get her man.” He pats Claude on the shoulder, almost making Claude drop the drinks, “Whoa that would have been messy.” He laughs, “See ya dude.” He says and walks off to some other guests of the party and talks to them. Claude sighs and walks back into the room where Chrissy is waiting.

Claude walks up to Chrissy and holds up the drinks, “Hope you don’t mind, it’s Coca-Cola.” He sits down on the couch next to Chrissy, handing her the cup of soda. Chrissy hesitates and takes a sip.

“You’ve never had Coca-Cola before?” Claude asks. Chrissy shakes her head. “I guess you try something new every day.” He says with a chuckle.

They finish their Cokes and sit there a moment, “So what do you want to do now, the party is still going on.” Claude asks.

"Anything you want to do Claude.” Chrissy says with a smile

"Want to go outside and walk around? So we can get away from the craziness of the party?" He asks. Chrissy nods. They stand up and walk outside, throwing their cups in the trash on the way.

As they walk out the door the cool night air welcomes them, a slight breeze goes through them. Claude looks at Chrissy and he sees her hair move a little in the wind. He is sure of it now; Chrissy is the most beautiful girl he has ever seen in his life. The two walk in silence around the yard, away from the party.

Claude sees a bench beside a hedge, “Hey do you want to sit over there? The music isn’t as loud out here.” He says.

“Yeah the music was kind of getting on my nerves. I was wondering if you wanted to lay in the grass, I love looking up at the stars at night.”

Claude smiles a bit, “Same here, stars are quite wonderful aren’t they?”

They lay down on the soft grass, looking up at the stars. “I wonder if there are other worlds out there.” Claude says out in the open, not talking to anyone specific.

Claude feels a shifting next to him and then Chrissy’s hand bump his. He smiles as he looks up at the stars. He is sure of it now; he has feelings for her, even if they practically just met not two hours ago, maybe Chrissy feels the same way.

Just then in the distance they hear a song come on, it’s a slow song. About a few seconds in Chrissy starts to fidget a little, “You okay?” Claude asks.

“Yeah, just… hang on a second.” Chrissy sits up, she clears her throat and sighs. “I think I need to go.” She says standing up.

“What? Why?” Claude asks standing up with her, “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t explain now, until we meet again Claude, and don’t worry we will, I promise.” She says and runs off toward the gates, leaving Claude standing there.

After a few minutes of standing there, Claude finally comes to his senses and walks toward the gate. “Hey Claude!” he hears behind him. Claude turns to see Tim walking up to him, “Ya leaving dude?” he says.

“Yeah…Chrissy had to go home, or something, I don’t know. I had fun dude, I will see you later.” Claude says.

“Alright man, take care of yourself.” Tim says giving him a fist-bump.

Claude walks in the darkness toward his home, he feels that eeriness of being followed again, he turns quickly, though he wish he hadn’t…

Three random guys stand behind him, “So Mr. Quiet boy, Still have nothing to say?” they tease. Claude ignores them and turns around. One of them runs up to him and grabs his shoulder, “Don’t ignore me, I asked you a question.” The guy says. Claude shoves his hand off of him.

“Don’t… Touch…Me, or else…” Claude says through gritted teeth.

“Else what, you silence us to death?” They all laugh.

Claude shakes his head and starts to walk away. “Hey, Whoa, we didn’t say you could leave.” The same guy says, grabbing his shoulder again, only for it to be shoved off again.

“I SAID, DON'T TOUCH ME!” Claude yells, swinging at the guy who put his arm on him, landing a punch right in his cheek.

“You mother- GET HIM!” the guy yells holding his cheek. Claude books it down the road only to be cornered by more people, he is surrounded.

“You shouldn’t have done that quiet boy, now you will get it.” The guy says and lunges at him.

The world seems to slow down as he watches the guy lunge at him, next thing Claude knows, this dark figure jumps from the darkness and tackles the guy. The figure then punches the guy and knocks him out.

“What the hell is that!” one of the others say.

“Well whatever it is, let’s get it!”

Claude finally gets a good look at the figure. It has four legs, each of them with holes. He can't see its hair color because of the darkness. These strange semi-see-through wings and crooked horn it possessed were cringe worthy. The scariest of it all was its jet black chitin.

The figure then turns to him and opens its eyes, glowing green, “Go.” It tells him. It’s voice has an odd sound to it, like it is auto-tuned or something.

One of the guys runs after it, only to be punched in the face by one of the dark figure’s legs. “GO!” It yells. Claude finally snaps out of it and runs.

What was that thing? Whatever it was, it saved my life. I’ll have to find it later, I need to thank it. Claude finally reaches his home, unlocks the door, and runs inside. He slams the door shut behind him, and leans against it, out of breath. Whew, that was a close one…

Claude walks into the kitchen and makes him a sandwich. He hasn’t eaten much all day, except at lunch. He glances at the clock as he walks into the living room eating his sandwich, ten o’clock. Claude sighs. What a long day… Finishing his sandwich, he walks into his bedroom and lies down on the bed. Sleep doesn’t take him right away. He cannot seem to get Chrissy out of his mind, the whole time with her was amazing.

Another thing will not leave his mind… the dark figure that saved him from those goons from school. He remembered her voice, how strange it sounded, and how familiar it sounded also. He shakes his head, Come on Claude, get some sleep, deal with it later… Claude rolls over and closes his eyes, letting sleep overcome him.

−−−−−−

Chrysalis

Chrysalis continues to follow Claude down the street toward this ‘Party’, staying out of sight. Claude turns around every now and then to see if anyone is following him. She stays out of sight by hiding in the shadows.

When they reach the house she notices all of the creatures standing around talking, she still can’t understand how they know Equish. Claude turns his head around again and looks right at her. Claude smiles a bit and turns back around. He then walk up to this other creature, which looks to be the Tim from earlier. Tim nods his head and Claude walks inside.

She finally reaches Tim, “I don’t think I have seen you before.” He says, Chrysalis looks up at him confused.

“My name is Chrys- Chrissy…” She says shyly. I don't want them to know my real name right now...

“Well you aren’t on the list, sorry.” He sighs.

Next thing she knows she hears, “Hey Chrissy! I didn't know you were here!” She looks closer, sees Claude and she smiles a bit, feeling something in her chest.

“You know her Claude?” Tim says, looking at him oddly.

“Yeah man! I haven't seen her in ages, come on dude you have to let her in!” Claude says.

Chrysalis gets the idea of what Claude is doing and goes along with it, “Claude? Is that you?” she says and smiles.

“The one and only!” Claude says.

Tim chuckles and says, “Go on ahead.” Chrysalis walks in, almost running and hugs Claude, she doesn’t know why she does, but it feels right, she shakes that feeling away and continues to hug him.

“Thanks for that. I heard about this party and I wanted to attend, but I just didn't know how I was going to.” She says, letting go of Claude.

“Anytime. You want to hang out with me?”

“Sure.” She replies with a smile, Claude seems like a nice enough creature, though she doesn't know any others.

Just then some weird music comes out of nowhere almost making Chrysalis jump. The other creatures start to dance around them. The music is so loud she doesn’t even notice Claude is saying something to her. She looks over to him to notice his mouth moving.

“What!?” She says loudly, so Claude can hear her.

“I said, maybe we should go somewhere less crowded!” He yells, Chrysalis nods and follows him to another room where a couch and other random creatures are. The music is still loud but not as bad as it was in the other room.

They take a seat on the empty couch, she notices Claude is a bit nervous so she smiles to reassure him. He smiles back and says, “I don’t think I’ve introduced myself properly yet. I’m Claude.” He holds out his hand for her to shake.

“I’m Chrys- Chrissy…” She says, almost saying her real name. She shakes his hand, and she feels this feeling coming from Claude, she immediately knows what it is. Claude is getting feelings for her; she can feel his slight love. Though she is feeling something else than just his love coursing through her, could she be starting to like this creature? No, she couldn’t she doesn’t even know him that well. Maybe it’s that thing called love at first sight.

After about what seems minutes, which was only seconds, they let go of each other’s hand. “I haven’t seen you around school before, are you new here?” He asks. Chrysalis nods her head. “Where are you from?”

She freezes at that question, she doesn’t want to tell him the truth and make him think she is some weirdo. “It’s a long story, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you anyway. I don’t want to talk about it.” She says shyly looking down.

“Okay um… so what do you want to talk about then?” he asks.

She wanted to learn more about what he is and who he is, she is very interested in Claude, though she still doesn’t know why. “Tell me more about you. You are an interesting person.”

“I am not that interesting…” He says looking down.

“Hey you are interesting to me.” Chrysalis says smiling at him.

Claude looks up at her and smiles back, he takes a deep breath, “Well I am probably the most shyest person at school, even though it doesn’t seem that way now. It’s easy for me to talk to you for some reason.” Chrysalis blushes a bit at that. “I am also the most picked on by the jocks and other dweebs from the school. Most people are nice to me, just not them… I am picked on constantly by them, I just ignore them. “

“Why do they pick on you?” Chrysalis asks, concerned for Claude.

Claude shrugs his shoulders, “I have no idea…”

They stay in silence for a moment, and all of a sudden Claude asks, “Hey are you thirsty?” Chrysalis nods and Claude gets up and walks out of the room toward the madness of the party room. I can feel his love start to build for me, it is small but it is love. Chrysalis looks around at the other creatures, she really wishes she knew what these things were, but she didn’t want to ask, if she did she could possibly blow her cover.

The music is still going in the other room, she can hear the creatures whooping and yelling. These creatures have a very strange behavior… She looks up to see Claude walking back with two red cups in his hands. He hands her one of them, inside is dark bubbly liquid. Is this some kind of potion? What is this stuff?

“Hope you don’t mind, its Coca-Cola" Chrysalis hesitantly takes a drink. It fizzes in her mouth as the sweet taste overcomes her mouth. It is actually really nice and refreshing as she feels the fizzy liquid go down her throat.

“You’ve never had Coca-Cola before?” Claude asks. Chrysalis shakes her head. “I guess you try something new every day.” He says with a chuckle.

They finish the drinks and Claude asks, “So what do you want to do now, the party is still going on.” To be honest Chrysalis didn’t care as long as she was with Claude.

“Anything you want to do Claude.” She says, smiling a bit.

“Want to go outside and walk around? So we can get away from the craziness of the party?” He asks. Chrysalis nods and follows Claude, tossing her cup where he threw his. The house is completely packed, and it’s hard to maneuver through the people without getting in their way.

They finally get outside, the music becomes quiets down, but they are still able to hear it quite well. They walk around the yard Chrysalis was thinking about lying down on the grass. She wonders if it feels the same as it does in Equestria.

“Do you want to sit on the bench? The music isn’t as loud out here.” he asks.

“Yeah the music was kind of getting on my nerves. I was wondering if you wanted to lay in the grass, I love looking up at the stars at night.” She says with a smile.

Claude smiles back, “Same here, the stars are pretty awesome.” He says. They both lay down on the grass looking up toward the sky, the only light around them is at the house, but they are far enough away that the light doesn’t stop them from seeing the stars.

Chrysalis can feel the love grow in Claude for her. She smiles and feels that same feeling grow in her. Am I seriously falling in love with Claude? I don’t even know what he is, but it feels so right.

“I really wonder if there are other worlds out there, like ours.” Claude says aloud.

If you only knew Claude, if only…

Chrysalis moves her hand over and touches his, not grasping it, just touching it. It felt like the right thing to do. She feels his love grow even more at that. They stay that way for a moment when all of a sudden, some different music comes in, way slower than the last one that played. A few seconds go into the song and Chrysalis starts to feel a continuous pulse of love coming from the house.

She shifts in her place a bit, uncomfortable by the amount of power she is gaining from the love. There must be a lot of love coming from that house. She could feel the love from the other creatures, but it wasn’t as great as it is now. “You okay?” she hears Claude ask from beside her.

“Yeah, just… hang on a second.” Chrissy sits up, she clears her throat and sighs. “I think I need to go.” She says standing up.

“What? Why?” Claude asks standing up with her, “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t explain now, until we meet again Claude, and don’t worry we will, I promise.” She says and runs off toward the gates, leaving Claude standing there. She feels bad for doing that, but she feels with all this power she could lose control of her form and could scare Claude, she didn’t want that. She runs out of the yard and toward the forest across the street. As she is running she sees other creatures looking at her.

She runs into the forest out of sight of any other creatures, so they can’t see the light from when she changes. She sighs, and changes into her original form, starting to feel better already. Changing into a creature is more work than just turning invisible.

She walks back to the edge of the forest facing the party. She can see Claude walk away from a creature and onto the street heading towards home, his head hanging low. She feels really bad for walking out like that, but she had to change back. Without walking onto the street or sidewalk, she follows him.

Just then three other creatures come up behind Claude, Chrysalis didn’t even notice them, she was too busy paying attention to Claude. He turns around and sees the three creatures. “So Mr. Quiet boy, Still have nothing to say?” They tease. One of them runs up and grabs Claude’s shoulder. “Hey, Don’t ignore me, I asked you a question.” Chrysalis starts to feel a bit of anger rise in her. These must be the jerks Claude mentioned.

“Don’t… Touch…Me, or else…” Claude says shoving his arm off of him. Chrysalis can clearly see that he is very angry also.

The creature starts to laugh, “Or else what? You’ll silence us to death?” he laughs. The others laugh also. Chrysalis wants to help him, but she doesn’t want to be seen.

Claude starts to walk away from them, and the same creature grabs him again and says “Hey, Whoa, we didn’t say you could leave."

“I SAID DON’T TOUCH ME!” Claude yells and punches the guy right dead in the cheek.

The creature fumbles back, holding his cheek, “You mother-… GET HIM!” Claude takes off down the road only to be stopped by more creatures. The others come up behind him, Chrysalis had to do something…

Claude doesn’t know what she looks like normally, so she decides to jump out there and help him. She books it out of the forest and hoofs one of the creatures in the face, knocking him out cold.

“What the hell is that thing!?” One of them yells.

“Well whatever it is, let’s get it!!” another yells going after Chrysalis.

She looks at Claude and says, “Go.” She kicks another creature knocking him down. Claude stands there in awe. “GO!” She yells. Finally Claude snaps out of it and runs home. Thankfully she remembers where he lives.

The other male creatures come at her again. She illuminates her horn and holds them. She pulls one of them in front of her. She looks at him with her bright green eyes and says, “If you even dare touch Claude again, that will be the last thing you touch. You got that!?” The creature looks horrified. “That goes for all of you! I will be watching.”

“P-Please… Let us go… don’t hurt us.” The creature in front of her says. She drops them on the ground and her horn flashes again and she disappears.

She appears back across the street where she can see Claude’s house, he is just walking into his house. Good, he’s okay… She lays down on the grass and closes her eyes. She needs some rest after today’s happenings.

[end of chapter 2]

Chapter 3: Learning More

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Chapter 3
Learning More
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Claude

Claude shifts around in his sleep, dreaming of the dark figure standing before him, it talks to him in that strangely familiar voice. “You need not fear me Claude, I will help you.” It says to him.

“Why do you help me?” He asks the dream figure.

“Do not worry about that; just know that I will help you.” It’s eyes glow at him and he sees it smile at him and fade.

He awakes as the sunlight comes through his window onto his face. He rubs his eyes to get the gunk off of them and sits up. The dark figure still is in his mind, he shakes his head swiftly, making his hair whip around. He realizes how quiet it really is in his house when all of a sudden he hears a knock at the front door. He looks at his alarm clock, seven thirty. Sighing, he gets out of his bed, still in the clothes from the day before, and walks down the hall, through the living room, and up to the door.

Opening the door slightly to look out, he sees a familiar girl standing on the other side. “Hey Claude.” the girl says smiling a bit.

“Oh, Hey Chrissy!” Claude says, excited to see that she is okay. Though he realizes something, how does she know where he lives? But he decides not to ask.

“I want to apologize for last night, I don’t really know what happened, I just started to feel strange and I had to go.” She says.

“Hey, it’s no problem, I am glad you are okay though.” He smiles. “Wanna come inside?” he opens the door more.

“Sure.” She walks inside and smiles. Claude can’t seem to get over how beautiful she looks. Her hair, her figure, just everything about her is… perfect. He watches as Chrissy examines the room, he doesn’t mind though it gives him time to think of what to say to her, since he isn’t really good at talking to girls, even though he is comfortable around her.

Chrissy then walks up to the mantle where the family photo sits. She looks at it closely, “Is this you?” She asks.

Claude walks up next to her looking at the picture also and sighs, “Yeah, that’s me, a few months ago in fact.”

“Who are they?” She asks, pointing to Claude’s parents.

“I had a feeling you would ask… th-they are my parents…” He pauses a moment, trying to not let emotions take him over. “They died recently… a few weeks after that photo was taken actually…” He looks down and his eyes start to water. “Give me a sec…” He says as he walks over to the couch and sits down putting his face in his hands.

Chrissy goes over to the couch and sits next to him, “I’m sorry that they are gone…” She says, putting her arm around him. She pulls him into her, giving him a hug.

Claude lets his emotions overtake him and the tears start pouring out and he starts to sob. He leans into Chrissy, “I’m sorry that you have to see me like this…” He says in between sobs.

Chrissy hugs him a little tighter. Claude is absolutely sure now; Chrissy is the girl he loves. After a few minutes he stops crying. Chrissy lets go of him and he sits up with a sigh. “Feel better?” Chrissy asks.

"Yeah, much better thanks..." he says with a smile. He hopes that she doesn't think of him any different. "You are really awesome you know that?" He gives her a quick hug.

She hugs him back, "I'm not that special Claude..." she says.

"You are to me." He hugs her a bit tighter. After a minute of hugging a sound breaks them apart. They both start to laugh a bit, "Stomach, why do you have to ruin good moments..."

"Are you hungry?" He asks her. She is silent for a moment then nods."Alrighty, I'll go make some eggs and toast wait here." He gets up and goes into the kitchen and starts up breakfast.

As he is preparing the food he is thinking about Chrissy, and how much he has fallen for her over the past few days. He starts to think he is going into the relationship too fast, but Chrissy doesn't seem to mind.

Just then he hears a sound at the table. Looking over, he sees Chrissy sitting there, "You okay?" He asks her. She nods, "Yeah, the smell brought me in here, smells really good."

"Well, good thing you are in here, cause they are done." He says, dipping eggs from the pan onto plates. He puts the plates on the table with some silverware. He then gets them some milk and places it on the table.

As they eat Claude asks, "So, how long have you been around here?"

"A couple of days ago." She says taking a bite of egg.

"Where'd you mo-" he starts to ask but remembers from the party, she doesn't want to talk about that.

She sighs, "If I told you, you would think i was insane or something."

"Try me." Claude is really interested in Chrissy. He's not sure why though, it is just that there is something about her he finds
interesting, which he is why he really likes her. He has always liked mysterious girls, he likes meeting new people, but he never talked to them. He has also noticed that he is more comfortable around her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I find you very interesting." He says, and smiles a little.

Chrissy sighs once more, "Actually, how about I show you something first, but not right now, I want to show you at night. I will be more comfortable then."

Claude nods, "Alright, as long as you don't turn into some strange creature and try to kill me or something." He says, chuckling.

"I would never hurt you Claude. I don't hurt anyone I like, especially ones I really like." She says and hides her face in her teal hair to hide the blush. It takes Claude a moment to realize what she just said, he thinks she just said she liked him, and he thinks it's that way too.

“You like me?” He asks, to see if thoughts are correct.

Chrissy stays silent for a moment then nods her head slightly. “I- is that bad?” she asks kind of worried.

“No, it’s just no one has ever liked me that way before… Most of everyone just ignores me…” he says looking down at the table.

“Really? You have never been… loved?” she looks from behind her hair.

Claude shakes his head, “No… except by my parents, but that’s kind of normal.” I think no one really likes me because they don’t know me at all. They are nice to me but they just don’t know the real me.” Claude says with a sigh.

After a moment Chrissy moves her hair out of the way and puts her hand on his, “Well, I know you and I like you for who you are, even though we just met yesterday, I feel like I have known you forever.”

Claude turns his hand over to hold hers, her hand is warm and soft to the touch. “You are one nice girl you know that?” He says. Chrissy blushes once more and smiles.

They sit there for a moment in silence, holding each other’s hand, when the clock chimes the next hour, snapping them out of it. Claude looks at the clock, Nine o’clock. He lets go of Chrissy’s hand and picks up the plates, cutlery, and the cups and places them in the sink.

“So what do you want to do now?” Claude asks.

“Is there any places around here that are interesting?”

“There’s the mall, but there is a lot of people there including the people who bully me...”

“Well let’s go then.”

Claude looks at her strangely, “Why do you want to go to the mall knowing that those people are there?”

“We could just ignore them, plus you’ve got me.” she smiles.

What’d she mean by that? Claude has a bad feeling that he isn’t going to like this. He sighs, “Alrighty then, let’s go.” he says. He picks up the house keys and his wallet off the table beside the door as they walk out. Eventually Claude is going to need to get a job, the money he got from his parent’s isn’t going to last forever, he also needs to get a car of some kind.

As they are walking down the sidewalk, Chrissy grabs Claude’s hand and holds it. Claude feels his hand tingling from the touch, he has never really been this close to a girl before, let alone hold a girl’s hand.

They continue to walk until they see bench and a sign next to it that says “Bus stop”. Just as they walk up to the bench to sit down the bus drives up and stops in front of them. Claude pulls out his wallet with his free hand and gets out two dollars. He climbs up the steps to the bus, Chrissy following hesitantly, he puts the bills into the slot to pay for the ride. Claude looks at the other passengers, not many people. “Where ya headin?” The bus driver asks.

“The Mall.” Claude replies. The driver nods his head, and Claude and Chrissy find a seat. Claude lets Chrissy get the window seat, she wants to see more of this town anyway.

The bus lurches forward and takes off to its next destination, the mall. Chrissy grabs his hand and holds it again, the nice feeling reappearing in his hand. He smiles at Chrissy and squeezes her hand lightly. She smiles in return and squeezes back then she leans her head on his shoulder. Claudes heart is just exploding right now, it seems like he has finally found his dream girl.

After about ten minutes of riding, the bus stops in front of the bus stop to the mall. Chrissy and Claude get off and walk down the parking lot toward the mall. It’s still early so there isn’t that many people here.

They walk up to the doors and Claude holds the door for Chrissy, she smiles at him and enters. “This place is huge, I’ve never been to a mall before.” She says looking around.

“Yeah it is pretty big.” Claude says as they begin to walk past the shops.

The mall time goes by quickly, Claude noticed Chrissy really wasn’t interested into the shops and what they had. They go through almost all the shops, passing the ones that were either too small or too dark, like that Hollister Shop, It was too dark plus it had a million different odors in it that made it smell horrible.

Being the normal human Claude is, hunger gets to him. “Hey Chrissy?” he asks as she is looking at some knickknack on a shelf in one of the kiosks.

“Yeah Claude?” She replies looking up at him.

“You wanna get something to eat?”

“Uh, Sure… I guess.” She says.

They walk to the food court and Claude decides to get a burger and fries, such a normal meal when going to the mall. He notices Chrissy sneering at it. “Not a meat lover huh? That’s okay Vegetarians are cool people too.” He smiles. He gets her a salad and they find a table to sit.

As they eat their food. Claude notices some people in his peripheral vision coming toward them. He doesn't even need to look to see who it is.

"Hey, quiet boy, how's it going?" It's the guys from last night, Claude ignores them and looks at Chrissy shaking his head.

"Whoa-ho looks like quiet boy has gotten himself a lady friend." The guy leans in close, "Is she quiet too?"

Claude feels his anger increase, he drops his burger whips around to face the guy. "Look, I don't want to have to punch you in the face again, so do us all a favor and go away." Claude says through gritted teeth.

The guy stands up, "Oh yeah that reminds me." He then kicks Claude right in the shin making him fall out of his chair clutching his leg in pain. "That's for punching me." Chrissy goes around the table to him and holds him. "Where is your freaky creature now?" He says.

Next thing the guy knows is that he is being picked up high in the air by nothing it seems, then is thrown away from Claude. He crashes into one of the tables breaking it. The other guys panic, "Oh god, it's here!" One of them says and they all split. A couple of them go and help their leader, then they leave.

"You okay?" Chrissy asks him. Kinda seems like a dumb question since he just got kicked in the shin, hard.

Claude coughs, "Yeah, what happened, i was in too much pain to notice what was going on."

"Something picked up one of them and threw him. Funny thing was there was no one there, it was like he was floating or something." Claude gives her a strange look. "I'm not lying, ask them." She looks over at a couple of people, who nod, still freaked out by what just happened.

Claude can only nod, unsure of anything right now, his leg hurt too much. "They also said something about a creature, what was that all about?" She asks.

Claude remembers last night, the dark figure with the glowing green eyes that helped him. He gets back up in his chair, with Chrissy's help. She goes back to her chair and listens to Claude as he explains everything that happened last night.

He explains everything about that night after she left, the guys trying to hurt him, the creature coming out of the forest and taking
care of them, even to the part where he got home.

"So a dark creature came out of the woods and saved you? What was your reaction?" She asks.

"I didn't really have time to react, it all happened so fast, I can barely remember what it looked like." He says and sighs.

She nods her head, "Well, I am full." She says, Claude looks at her salad, it looks as if she barely touched it, he decides to not point it out. He starts to get up, the pain in his shin subsiding. He picks up both of their trays and walks over to the trash can and throws them away.

He looks down the path at the doors, and notices it's getting dark outside, time sure does fly when you go to almost every shop in the mall and look around. He then looks back at Chrissy, who is sitting there and smiling at him cutely. This day was worth it.

Claude walks back over to Chrissy, "Hey, you wanna head out of here?" He asks. She nods and they walk out of the mall back to the bus stop.

They hop on the bus when it arrives, Claude puts the money in and tells the driver where they need to go. The driver nods and they sit down.

"So are you going to show me what you wanted to show me?" He asks.

"Let's wait until we get back." She says as she holds his hand.

He sighs, "Alright then." He says.

Another ten minutes or so of riding goes by and the bus finally stops at the bus stop near his house. They get off and walk back to his house.

"Come on Claude, remember we have to go to the woods so I can show you." She says as she starts to walk off to the woods across the street.

He excitedly follows her, he really wants to know more about her, she is so mysterious and he loves it.

They walk into the dark woods quite aways until they find a clearing, "One thing I ask of you... don't freak out..." she says as she steps back into the moonlight.

Claude is half excited half worried of what she is going to show him. He watches her as she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, a green glow goes around her. Claude's eyes widen as she completely changes to a dark four-legged creature, just like the one from last night. The glow goes away and she stands there in the moonlight her eyes glowing green in the darkness.

In the moonlight Claude can see more features about her. He sees the holes in her legs, her hair, and her tail. "Wh-what are you..." he says his voice shaking a bit with fear.

"I am a changeling, obviously not from your world." She explains with that strange voice that makes his skin stand on end.

"A what?"

"I can change into any creature like you."

"So you never were a human, it was all a disguise." It hits Claude like a ton of bricks. "Was that love fake to? Was it all a disguise?" He says in a sad tone. He can't believe he fell in love with just a mask.

"No, i-it wasn't fake... even though you and me are not the same, I actually really like you, maybe even love you." She says softly.

"R-really? So when you said you would never hurt me, you were telling the truth?" He asks, Chrissy nods. She takes a step toward him. He stays still and keeps his guard up just in case.

She reaches him, she notices she is still the same height as him almost. She remembers back on Equestria, one way two ponies could show affection for each other was by hugging, she wonders if it will work on Claude. She raises her two front legs and wraps it around him pulling him into a hug, "I would never hurt you." She whispers.

After a moment of silent hugging he raises his arms and lightly puts it around her, not squeezing, but just holding lightly. She sighs, "Now you know my true self... you probably don't want to see me any more... I'll just go now..." she says and starts to pull away, knowing that she will never be loved for true self.

"No, don't leave, you are the only being that has ever loved me. I don't care about how you looked as a human. Now that I know your true form, I can love the real you." He hugs her tighter.

They break the hug, and Claude is able to see her face fully. She maybe a bit strange looking, but she has her own type of cuteness. "Yo-you still love me? After all of that? After ev-" Claude interrupts her with a kiss. It was Claude's first kiss, and he is glad it was with her.

After a few seconds go by, they break the kiss. Claude smiles and hugs her again, "Does that answer your question?" Chrissy nods.

"I should probably explain where I am from, and what I am before we rush into things." She says. Claude nods.

"Wanna head back to the house? We would be more comfortable there." He asks.

"What if some of the other humans see me? I don't want to get too much attention."

"Don't worry it's late, no one is up right now, come on." He gives her a quick kiss on the cheek and they start walking through the forest back to the house.

They trudge through the forest and out through the opening. Just before they go out fully, Claude sees a flash of green light. Turning
around he doesn't see anything. "Chrissy?" He says worried that she left.

"Don't worry I'm right here." Said an invisible voice. "I just don't want to take any chances."

Claude nods his head, and they walk across the street to the house, he unlocks the door and lets the invisible Changeling in first. She flashes green once more revealing her true form in the brighter light.

Claude can see even more of the changeling, the colors, the structure of the body, she kind of resembles a pony, but more bug like. In his eyes he doesn’t care how she looks, she looks adorable to him.

"So I guess i should start explaining myself then..." Chrissy says. Claude nods and sits on the couch, he motions for her to sit down. Pretty much she has to lay down, because she can't sit up real well. She lays her head on Claude's lap and she begins.

"First thing though, my name isn't Chrissy, though it is very close. My real name is Chrysalis. I was a queen back on my world, Queen of the Changelings."

"So your kind was the only species there?"

"Not exactly, I came from a world named Equestria."

"Wait, so it's a world full of nothing but talking horses."

"Ponies, they like to be called ponies, but anyway there are four types: Earth, Unicorn, Pegasus, and Alicorn."

"Where do you come in?"

"I, uh, well, for us to survive we feed on the love they give out. So when they love for each other, that feeling, we feed upon that."

Claude raises an eyebrow, "I don't follow."

"Back at the party when we first shook hands you had feelings for me, and I could feed on it."

"Wait, so you knew that I liked you from the beginning?"

Chrysalis nods, "Yes, and I have fed on it."

"So that's all I am to you? Just food?"

"No! You are more than that, so much more. I can't really stop feeding on it, it's involuntary, I don't control it. Claude you are the only being who hasn't ran in terror of my appearance or knowing what I am, and that makes me so happy."

"Well, you have your own type of cuteness, others may find you scary, but I find you adorable." He puts his hand on her cheek and
caresses it, she smiles up at him. "So how'd you end up here?"

She points her eyes down and her eyes start to water, "Because, I am a failure... I have failed my kind, I was supposed to be a queen and help my subjects, but... I failed them." She buries her face into Claude and sobs.

“What happened?”

“Well, please don’t think of me different, but well, ponies thought I was evil, and I was, I tried to take over Canterlot, tried to take the groom away from Cadence. I did it all so I could feed my subjects, we all need food or else we die… And I didn’t want my subjects to die, but I guess it’s too late for that…” She cries even more now.

Claude slowly, warmly, and comfortingly hugs her, not saying a word, but speaking through his heartbeat which was almost audible due to the sheer passion that he was emitting.

After a brief eternity, he lets go of her. She smiles at him, “So you still love me? Knowing what I am, and what I did?” She asks.

Claude replies with a nod, and a peck on her forehead. “What happens in the past is just that, the past. You can’t change it.”

“Claude… you are amazing. You know that? You really are, I am normally used to feeding off of love not actually feeling it, and you know… feeling it is much better than just feeding.”

“Love is powerful.” He says smiling. Chrysalis then lets out a yawn. After which he yawns. Yawns are pretty contagious no matter what you are, human or not. “We should probably get some sleep.”

Chrysalis nods in agreement and gets up off of his lap, Claude stands up and stretches. “So where do you wish to sleep Chrysalis?” he smiles when he says her actual name.

“Well… I was wondering if… I could… you know…” She says shyly.

Claude knows exactly what she wants to do, “Yes, come on.” He smiles. She smiles back and gets up off the couch. As they walk out of the living room Claude cuts off the light making the room dark. He looks to Chrysalis and sees her eyes glow, “How do you do that?”

“Do what?” she asks.

“Make your eyes glow that’s really awesome.”

“Oh I have no idea, they just do.”

“Huh, well that’s pretty cool, I find your eyes very… intriguing. Also the fact that my favorite color is green helps there also.” He says with a chuckle.

They walk into his bedroom, flicking on a lamp upon entering, and he lets her climb into the bed first, thank goodness it’s a double bed, otherwise one of them would be on the floor.

“Lemme change into my pajamas real fast, it won’t take long.” He says and throws off the clothes he is wearing, tosses them in the hamper and looks in the drawer for some others, though he is unlucky to find any clean. He looks at his hamper once more, it is filled with clothes. “Crap, I knew I forgot something…” he says under breath.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“Oh, it’s just I forgot to do laundry… so I have no PJs… So I’m going to have to go to bed like this.” He says. He wasn’t going to sleep in normal everyday clothes, because that’s uncomfortable. Last night didn’t bug him because he was exhausted.

He flicks off the lamp and climbs in the bed with her. He pulls the covers on them both and puts an around her, pulling her closer, he looks at her, seeing her green eyes glow at him dimly. Next thing he knows he feels her lips touch his, he sighs softly and smiles. They break the kiss and Claude has this urge to taste his lips, he licks them and tastes raspberry, wait raspberry? That’s a bit odd, but he isn’t complaining.

Claude scoots even closer to Chrysalis to where their bodies touch; her skin is smooth, slick, and warm. He leans her head against her feeling her hair tickle his face and neck, he smiles and squeezes her lightly and closes his eyes. Sleep takes him and he falls asleep after a long day of greatness.

‒‒‒‒‒‒

Chrysalis

Chrysalis' ears perk up at the sound of nature awakening to the new morning. She opens her eyes to see the sun slowly rising in the east. She stands up on her four hooves and stretches. Sleeping on the ground is not fun.

She looks over to Claude's house, hoping she didn't scare him too much last night... she wants to go over to the house and see him and see if he is okay, but she worries that he is still asleep.

She waits around for another hour and changes into her other form, the one that looks like the female creatures. She walks across the street toward Claude's house, and up to the front door.

She hesitantly reaches her hand up to the door and knocks, she sighs and waits. She sees the door handle jiggles and the door opens slightly, Claude pokes his head out a little bit and sees her, “Hi Claude.” She says with a smile.

“Oh, Hey Chrissy!” He says in an excited tone.

“I want to apologize for last night, I don’t really know what happened. I just started to feel strange and I had to leave.” Chrysalis explains.

“Hey it’s no problem, I am glad you are okay though.” He smiles, He actually does care about her, her heart warms a little bit. “Wanna come inside?” he says opening the door fully and he stands there wearing the same clothing from the night before.

Chrysalis smiles and says, “Sure.” Homes here are not that different than Equestrian ones. It has the same basic furniture and everything, kind of odd really. She walks around the room looking at random stuff, being her normal nosy self. She comes across this picture on top of the mantle.

“Is this you?” She says pointing to what looks like him in the frame.

“Yeah, that’s me, a few months ago in fact.” He says with a sigh. She then sees two other creatures in the photo that look a bit older than he does.

“Who are they?” she points to the other two creatures.

“I had a feeling you would ask… th-they are my parents...” he says, Chrysalis can see water forming in his eyes. “They died recently… a few weeks after that photo was taken actually…” He looks down and his eyes start to form more tears. “G-give me a sec…” He says, walking over to the couch he sits down and puts his face in his hands. Chrysalis thinks he can hear sobs coming from him.

She walks over to the couch and sits next to him, feeling really bad for him, being alone can’t be good. “I’m sorry that they are gone…” she says. She puts an arm around him and pulling him into a hug, hoping it will make him feel better.

She can hear him continue to cry even more, she feels him lean into her a little bit, “I’m sorry that you have to see me like this…” he says in between sobs.

She hugs him tighter, she cares for him deeply and she doesn’t like to see him cry, but she feels he needs to let it out. She feels the love for her increase more from him. A few minutes go by and he stops, she lets go of him and he sits up and sighs. “Feel better?” she asks him.

“Yeah, much better thanks…” he says with a smile. Chrysalis has never comforted anything before. Most of the others in Equestria were scared of her mere presence, so no one ever saw her true self. “You are really awesome you know that?” Claude hugs her. She has never been called awesome before.

“I’m not that special Claude…” she says.

“You are to me.” He squeezes a little tighter, but not too much, Chrysalis’ heart warms at that, she has never been special to anyone… and that’s when she realized, even though Claude was a different being than she was, she is falling for him. A sound comes from Claude’s stomach, and they both laugh. “Stomach, why do you have to ruin good moments…” he says.

“Are you hungry?” He asks her. Chrysalis never needs actual food, since she feeds off of love. Love is all she needs to survive. She can eat the food but it won’t really do anything to her, it still has taste but that’s about as much she will get from it. It just goes right through her, like nothing is even there. She doesn’t want to say no because Claude will think it is odd she isn’t hungry.

She nods, “Alrighty, I’ll go make some eggs and toast, wait here.” He gets up and walks into another room. She can hear him clattering around with stuff in there. Claude is so nice to her, she is actually considering showing him her true self, just to see if he will still love her after he knows what she is. Just that mere thought makes her worry a bit. What if she did show him, and he didn’t want to see her again.

The smell from the kitchen comes into her nose, even though she doesn’t need to eat, she can get cravings every now and then. She gets up and walks into the kitchen and sits at the table.

“You okay?” Claude says looking over at her from the pan.

She nods, “Yeah, the smell brought me in here, smells really good.”

“Well good thing you are in here, cause they are done.” He says, serving the eggs on plates. He sets up the table with milk eggs and silverware, not much food but that’s okay, she’s not going to eat much anyway.

They begin to eat and Claude asks, “So, how long have you been around here?”

“A couple of days ago.” She says taking a bite of egg, which is really good.

“Where’d you mo-“ he cuts himself off.

Chrysalis immediately knows what he was going to say, “If I told you, you would think I was insane or something.” She sighs.

“Try me.” He says. She doesn’t want to tell him about Equestria yet, in fear of the fact he would think she was nuts and wouldn’t like her anymore.

“Are you sure?” She asks.

“Yes, I find you Interesting.” He replies with a smile.

Chrysalis sighs again and gets an idea, “Actually, how about I show you something first, but not right now, I want to show you at night, I will be more comfortable then.”

He nods, “Alright, as long as you don’t turn into some strange creature and try to kill me or something.” He says, jokingly.

She tenses up when he says that, strange creature... Why did he have to say that… “I would never hurt you Claude. I don’t hurt anyone I like, especially ones I really like.” She says but is immediately embarrassed she said that last part, she didn’t mean to... She hides her face behind her hair to hide the blush marks.

“You like me?” he asks.

She is worried now, “I-is that bad?”

“No, it’s just no one has ever liked me that way before… Most of everyone just ignores me…” he looks down.

Chrysalis is surprised, a nice being like him, never been loved? “Really? You have never been… loved?” she looks from behind her hair.

He shakes his head, “No… except by my parents, but that’s kind of normal. I think no one really likes me because they don’t know the real me.” Claude says with a sigh.

Chrysalis now knows her purpose for being here, to be with him, he needs to be loved… Moving her hair out of the way, she puts her hand on his, “Well, I know you and I like you for who you are, even though we just met yesterday, I feel like I have known you forever.”

Claude then flips his hand over and holds hers, his hand is warm and rough, but she doesn’t mind. “You are a nice girl you know that?” he tells her. Chrysalis blushes, she’s never been called nice before. She smiles at him.

A moment goes by, they hold each other’s hand, just then a sound chimes from the other room, making them both jump, Chrysalis turns around and looks at the object that made the noise, they don’t have anything like that in Equestria. Claude lets go of her hand and he cleans up the table.

“So what do you want to do now?” He asks her.

She didn’t care, only if she was with him they could go anywhere, “Is there any places around here that are interesting?”

“There’s the mall, but there is a lot of people there including the people who bully me…”

“Well, let’s go then.”

Claude looks at her strangely, “Why do you want to go to the mall knowing that those people are there?”

“We could just ignore them, plus you’ve got me.” She smiles. If anyone starts anything with Claude she will use her magic to take care of them.

“Alrighty then, let’s go.” He says, he picks up some object off a table that jingles as it moves and some flat object and stuffs it in his pocket, Chrysalis really needs to learn more about this world…

As they walk down the sidewalk Chrysalis grabs his hand and holds it like they did earlier at the table. She holds all the way down the road until they reach a bench and a sign that says "bus stop". She still cannot understand how they know the Equish language. They start to sit down and then out of nowhere this strangely large metal carriage comes up the hill. What is really strange about it is there are no ponies moving it, it's like it is controlled by magic or something. She didn't think they had magic here.

Claude pulls the black flat item out of his pocket and pulls out two pieces of green paper with writing on it. The doors to the carriage open and they step on, Chrysalis is hesitant about getting on at first but she gets on and follows Claude after he says something to the driver, she wasn't really paying attention, and sits next to him.

She looks around her and notices there aren't that many other creatures on the carriage. She grabs Claude's rough hand again and holds it, she feels more secure when she holds it, even though she can almost take down anyone with a mere glimmer of her magic, but still she feels good when she holds it.

The metal carriage moves forward down the street, passing houses, then plains, and other structures. She is awed by it all. Minutes go by and the carriage finally stops in front of large open area filled with other carriages, but they are much smaller than the one they are on.

They walk down the open area toward the building she presumed to be the mall. They reach the doors and Claude opens one for her, such a gentle being. She walks inside and the room is massively open, "This place is huge! I've never been to a mall before" She exclaims.

"Yeah, it is pretty big huh." He says.

They start to walk around going into random shops, Chrysalis doesn't really want to buy anything from the shops, nothing interests her, but she doesn't care, she is with Claude so she is happy.

They continue to go through different shops skipping those that were just too dark, like that one shop, Hollister, that place was too dark and had a horrible odor creeping from it. Other than that they went to most of them.

They are at one of the random kiosks, Chrysalis is looking at some little knickknack on the shelf when Claude says, "Hey, Chrissy?"

"Yeah?" She puts the knickknack down and turns to him.

"You wanna get something to eat?" He asks. She of course was not hungry, but she didn't want to weird Claude out.

"Uh...sure, I guess." She says and follows him to an open are where the smell of cooked meat filled the air. She was shocked at first at the fact that these creatures were also meat eaters. They walked up to one of the food counters and Claude ordered a thing that had a meat patty of some type with bread on top and below it, in the middle had lettuce, tomato, and pickles.

"Not a meat lover, huh? That's okay, Vegetarians are cool people too." He says and orders a salad for her. Claude is probably one of the most nicest beings she has ever met, he just keeps getting nicer and nicer, she isn't complaining at all.

They take their food over to a table, sit down, and begin to eat.

"Hey, quiet boy, how's it going?" It's the guys from last night, the ones she thought she had taken care of... she told them to leave him alone but it doesn't seem to register in their small brains.

"Whoa-ho looks like quiet boy has gotten himself a lady friend." The guy leans in close to Claude's ear, "Is she quiet too?" She heard him say that and she is ready to fling him across the room with her magic.

Chrysalis can see that Claude is ready to explode; he drops his burger whips around to face the guy. "Look, I don't want to have to punch you in the face again, so do us all a favor and go away." Claude says through gritted teeth. Chrysalis does an internal cheer for Claude, for him standing up to the jerks.

The guy stands up, "Oh yeah that reminds me." He then kicks Claude right in the leg making him fall out of his chair clutching his leg in pain. "That's for punching me." Chrysalis immediately gets up and goes to Claude's side. "Where is your freaky creature now?" The guy says. Freaky creature? Well this freaky creature can kick some tail.

Chrysalis uses her magic, even though her horn isn't here, and levitates the guy up and throws him across the dining area. He crashes into one of the tables breaking it. The other guys panic, "Oh god, it's here!" One of them says and they all split. A couple of them go and help their leader, then they leave.

"You okay?" Chrysalis asks him. She kind of feels dumb at asking that since he just got kicked hard in the leg.

Claude coughs, "Yeah, what happened, I was in too much pain to notice what was going on."

"Something picked up one of them and threw him. Funny thing was, there was no one there. It was like he was floating or something." She can't tell them she was doing it otherwise he will definitely freak out. Claude gives her a strange look. "I'm not lying, ask them." She looks over at a couple of people, who nod, still weirded out by what just happened.

Claude nods, "They also said something about a creature, what was that all about?" She asks.

Claude gets up to try and sit in his chair, Chrysalis helps him and she goes back to her chair and listens to Claude as he explains everything that happened last night, while using a bit of her magic to heal his leg slowly.

He explains everything that happened from the part where she left, to the part where the figure helped him, even to the part where he got to his door.

"So a dark creature came out of the woods and saved you? What was your reaction?" She asks.

"I didn't really have time to react, it all happened so fast, I can barely remember what it looked like." He says and sighs.

She nods her head, "Well, I am full." She says, she hasn't eaten much of it, mainly because she is never hungry. She watches as Claude gets up and cleans up the rubbish still using her spell to make his leg better.

It must be late they have been there forever, she is ready to head back to his house and show him. From what he told her about seeing her like that he wasn't terrified, at least she hopes he wasn't terrified.

Claude walks back over to Chrysalis, "Hey, you wanna head out of here?" He asks. She nods and they walk out of the mall back to the bus stop.

They hop on the bus when it arrives, Chrysalis watches as Claude the paper currency into a box. Claude tells the driver, who was different than the one before, the address of the other stop, he nodded and they took to their seats.

"So are you going to show me what you wanted to show me?" He asks.

"Let's wait until we get back." She says as she holds his hand. She has really started liking to hold his hand, the warmth; the roughness; it gave her a nice feeling.

He sighs, "Alright then." He says.

Another ten minutes or so of riding goes by and the bus finally stops at the bus stop near his house. They get off and walk back to his house.

"Come on Claude, remember we have to go to the woods so I can show you." She says as she starts to walk off to the woods across the street. Worry starts to creep over her.

They walk into the dark woods quite aways until they find a clearing, "One thing I ask of you... don't freak out..." she says as she steps back into the moonlight.

She ignites her magic, and a familiar green glow surrounds her, her body morphs back into her original scary form, during the green glow she could see Claude's face change from happy to awestruck, but there was fear in the face too. Worry rises higher in her.

The glow fades and she stands there on all fours, she lets a weak smile over to Claude, who looks as if he has seen a ghost.

"Wh-what are you..." he says his voice shaking a bit with fear.

"I am a changeling, obviously not from your world." She explains. She notices her voice is back to normal now, she never really noticed before when she first changed. Claude obviously notices.

"A what?"

"I can change into any creature like you and other things too."

"So you never were a human, it was all a disguise." His face changes to a sad one, "Was that love fake to? Was it all a disguise?"

She immediately speaks up,"No, i-it wasn't fake... even though you and me are not the same, I actually really like you, maybe even love you." She doesn't want to lose him at all.

"R-really? So when you said you would never hurt me, you were telling the truth?" He asks, Chrysalis nods. She needed to do something more to show him that her love for him is true. She takes a step toward him. He tenses up.

She reaches him, she notices she is still the same height as him almost. She remembers back on Equestria, one way two ponies would show affection for each other was by hugging, she wonders if it will work on Claude. She raises her two front legs and wraps it around him pulling him into a hug, "I would never hurt you." She whispers.

Next thing she knows she is getting pulled back into a hug, She feels his hand rub her back.

"No, don't leave, you are the only being that has ever loved me. I don't care about how you looked as a human. Now that I know your true form, I can love the real you." She gets hugged tighter. Is he being serious? Does he still love her?

They break the hug, "Yo-you still love me? After all of that? After ev-" Claude interrupts her with a kiss. It was the most magical feeling ever for her. This was her first kiss with anyone ever...

After a few seconds go by, they break the kiss. Claude smiles and hugs her again, "Does that answer your question?" Chrissy nods and blushes.

"I should probably explain where I am from, and what I am before we rush into things." She says. Claude nods. Since now he knows what she is, he should learn everything about her

"Wanna head back to the house? We would be more comfortable there." He asks. She didn't care where they were, she just wanted to be with him.

"What if some of the others see me? I don't want to get too much attention." She doesn't the whole world knowing that she is a Changeling...

"Don't worry it's late, no one is up right now, come on." Claude kisses her on the cheek which makes it tingle. She smiles and follows him through the woods. She is relieved of the fact that he doesn't hate her. The kiss comes into her mind and her smile grows even more.

Just before they reach the opening, Chrysalis' horn lights up and she goes invisible, she doesn't want to take risks. "Chrissy?" Claude says looking around frantically.

"Don't worry I'm right here. I just don't want to take any chances." She says. Claude nods and they walk across the street to his house. He pulls out his keys and unlocks the door, opens it, and lets her walk in first. Such great manners.

She walks in, ducking down so her horn doesn't get caught on the door threshold. She checks if the curtains are closed, they are, and she flashes green and drops the invisibility spell. Her jagged horn almost touches the ceiling. Claude closes the door and walks over to her.

"So I guess i should start explaining myself then..." Chrysalis says. Claude nods and sits on the couch, he motions for her to sit down. She can't really 'sit' on the couch like he can, so she just lays across the couch, laying her head on his lap, being careful that the horn doesn't stab him.

"First thing though, my name isn't Chrissy, though it is very close. My real name is Chrysalis. I was a queen back on my world, Queen of the Changelings."

"So your kind was the only species there?"

"Not exactly, I came from a world named Equestria."

"Wait, so it's a world full of nothing but talking horses."

"Ponies, they like to be called ponies, but anyway there are four types: Earth, Unicorn, Pegasus, and Alicorn."

"Where do you come in?"

"I, uh, well, for us to survive we feed on the love they give out. So when they love for each other, that feeling, we feed upon that."

Claude raises an eyebrow, "I don't follow."

"Back at the party when we first shook hands you had feelings for me, and I could feed on it."

"Wait, so you knew that I liked you from the beginning?"

Chrysalis nods, "Yes, and I have fed on it."

"So that's all I am to you? Just food?"

"Well, you have your own type of cuteness, others may find you scary, but I find you adorable." He puts his hand on her cheek and caresses it, she smiles up at him. "So how'd you end up here?"

She points her eyes down and her eyes start to water, she had to tell him sooner or later, "Because, I am a failure... I have failed my kind, I was supposed to be a queen and help my subjects, but... I failed them." She buries her face into Claude and sobs. She actually really misses her subjects... but they are probably all dead.

"What happened?"

"Well, please don't think of me different, but well, ponies thought I was evil, and I was, I tried to take over Canterlot, tried to take the groom away from Cadence. I did it all so I could feed my subjects, we all need food or else we die... And I didn't want my subjects to die,
but I guess it's too late for that..." She cries even more now. She knows now that being evil gets you nowhere.

She feels Claude's arms wrap around her head and he hugs her. She nuzzles him and let's the tears run out.

After a brief eternity, he lets go of her. She smiles at him, "So you still love me? Knowing what I am, and what I did?" She asks.

Claude replies with a nod, and a peck on her forehead. "What happens in the past is just that, the past. You can't change it."

"Claude... you are amazing. You know that? You really are, I am normally used to feeding off of love, not actually feeling it, and you know... feeling it is much better than just feeding."

"Love is powerful." He says smiling. Chrysalis then lets out a yawn. After which he yawns. Yawns are pretty contagious no matter what you are, human or not. "We should probably get some sleep."

Chrysalis nods in agreement and gets up and stands on all fours, “So where do you wish to sleep Chrysalis?" Claude asks.

She didn't exactly want to sleep on the couch..."Well... I was wondering if... I could... you know..." She says shyly.

"Yes, come on." He says with a smile. As they walk toward the hallway he flips a switch, causing all the light in the room to vanish. Chrysalis still wonders if they have some kind of magic. Claude turns to her, "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" she asks.

"How do you make your eyes glow? That's really awesome."

"Oh I have no idea, they just do." She honestly had no idea her eyes glowed in the dark, she would have to see for herself sometime.

"Huh, well that's pretty cool, I find your eyes very... intriguing. Also the fact that my favorite color is green helps there also." He says with a chuckle.

They walk into his bedroom, Claude turns on a lamp, she knew what those were, though the ones they have in Equestria have flames, not just pure light coming out of an orb like this one. She looks over at the bed, it's rather large. She notices Claude motioning for her to get in first. She gets up on the bed and she lays on her side facing Claude. She waits for him to join.

"Lemme change into my pajamas real fast, it won't take long." Claude takes off the clothes he is wearing and throws them in a container. She watches him as he looks through his dresser for some other clothes. "Crap... I knew I forgot to do something..."

"What's wrong?" she asks.

"Oh, it's just I forgot to do laundry... so I have no PJs... So I'm going to have to go to bed like this." He says. She didn't really mind at all, since she wore no clothing at all.

He clicks off the lamp and the room is almost pitch black, the moonlight seeping through the window illuminates the room a bit to where she can see Claude's silhouette.

She feels him climb in the bed next to her and his arm go around her she puts one of her forelegs around him. "A kiss good night?" She asks. Her question was answered by Claude's lips touching hers. Chrysalis feels as if she is floating, yet she isn't moving her wings. It is amazing.

Still holding the kiss they scoot their bodies closer together, Chrysalis can feel Claude's chest touch hers, his skin is warm and smooth but dry. Finally they break the kiss and they cuddle each other. Chrysalis closes her eyes and thinks about what has happened over the course of the past couple of days.

When she first came into this world she had no idea she was at, now she feels like she is home. She notices the tightness of the hugging from Claude has decreased. She opens her eyes and sees him sleeping. Smiling, she lightly nuzzles him and closes her eyes again, sleep comes soon and she is out.

[End of chapter 3]

Chapter 4: Visitors

View Online

Edited by: Selkowitz

Chapter 4
Visitors
____________________________________________________________________________________________

Claude

Claude is awoken by the sound of constant water droplets hitting the ground outside. Opening his eyes, he sees that it is raining heavily. He smiles at the peacefulness of the quiet dripping of the water. He looks over to his left to see the Queen lying there; her eyes closed, as a very soft breath comes from her. He still had so many questions to ask her.

He gets the urge to stand up, but he doesn’t want to wake up Chrysalis. Instead, he lies there with his arm around the Changeling. She shifts around in her sleep and mutters sleep language. He can’t get over the fact of how adorable she looks. Others would say she is scary or hideous, but she isn’t any of those. She is beautiful in her own way. Claude runs his hand through her soft, silky mane. He notices the holes in it and wonders how it does that. How does it have holes in it, yet he is able to run his hand through it and it not fall out? Well, she is from a different world and logic there could be different than the one here on Earth.

Claude sees a flash of light come from the window. A low rumble soon follows. Great… a thunderstorm… how pleasant…

Chrysalis stirs in her sleep more, and she smiles. He faintly hears her say his name in her light muttering. He hugs her slightly, so to not wake her. He then turns his head to look at his alarm: Eight thirty-seven. As he stares, he watches as the eight flips over the seven. He turns his head back to Chrysalis.

The smile on her face drops, and she gets a sad look on her face. “No… don’t… don’t go…” he hears her say. He gets an idea. Claude moves his head closer to her ear and lightly whispers. “Don’t worry. I’m right here… I won’t go anywhere.” The smile returns on her face as she sighs happily.

Another flash appeared from the window, followed by a quicker and louder thunder. The sound makes Chrysalis groan a bit. Apparently loud noises bother her.

A few more minutes go by, but Claude doesn’t mind. He is happy where he’s at. His stomach growls slightly, but he ignores it. He doesn’t want to move from his spot.
He gets another idea; a kiss… maybe that will wake her up. He moves his mouth to hers and softly kisses her, keeping his eyes open to see if hers open. After a moment, her eyes open; those green orbs staring at him. Her eyes are one of his most favorite things about her.

"Good morning, my queen," He says as he pulls away.

"Good morning," She says, with a cute smile that makes Claude's heart go nuts. "I see that it's raining. Wait... is it thundering?" Chrysalis asks, just as they see a lightning bolt streak across the sky. A loud crack of thunder sounds not two seconds after, making Chrysalis cower a little.

"You’re scared of thunderstorms?" Claude asks. He didn't think she was scared of anything.

She sighs. "Back in Equestria, this was before my stupid plan that failed and practically ended my race. I was flying back home, trying to get back before the storm began, but I was too late. Lightning bolts started appearing around me. I was almost there when it happened. A bolt struck me, and it made me lose my balance. I fell like a rock toward the ground. Thankfully, some of my subjects saw me. Otherwise I would not be here right now."

"Well, I am glad they caught you. Otherwise, I would have never met you..."He gives her a quick peck on the cheek. Lightning strikes again, and she cowers a little more. "Don't worry Chrysalis, the storm cannot get you here." He pulls her closer. "I will not allow it to." They embrace each other for a moment.

"We should probably get up, even though we both do not want to." Chrysalis says.

Claude sighs. "Yeah, we should. Besides, I need to take a shower... I probably smell like hell." He throws the covers off of him, stands up, and stretches.

He goes over to his dresser and gathers his clothes for the day. He turns to Chrysalis and smiles before making his way into the bathroom. He takes off his clothes and hops in with the water running. Claude wonders what they will do today. She will have to change into her human form so others don't see her true form and call the government or something.

He finishes washing himself and gets out, towels off, dresses himself, and walks into the living room where Chrysalis stands, being her normal nosy self. He doesn't think she heard him so he sneaks to the side of her and hugs her. She flinches but relaxes and puts one of her holey legs around him.

"You know I've always wondered about those holes. What are they for?" Claude asks as he holds one in his hand. They kind of look like hooves.

"They help me fly, since my body is heavier than pegasi bodies. These holes reduce the weight just enough so I can fly." She flaps her wings, which kind of looks like wings of a fly. "Most ponies think I look like a bug..." she sighs.

"I like your holes. They are pretty awesome," Claude says and kisses her hoof. He hears her giggle a bit, and he smiles. Claude looks up at her face and those beautiful green eyes staring back at him. She gives him a smile and leans in.

"I love you, Claude."

"I love you too, my queen," Claude says. They hug each other for a moment and Claude's stomach begins to growl. "Heh, I guess I should make something to eat." He pulls away and heads to the kitchen to prepare himself some cereal.

As he is getting the bowl out of the cabinet, he sees a green flash over by the table. He looks over and sees a plate there. It has eggs, bacon, two biscuits, and orange juice for a drink. Chrysalis smiles at him. "I thought you might have wanted something more than just a simple breakfast."

Claude walks over to the table. Steam is coming from the food. A legitimate hot meal... he hasn't had one of those since... his parents...

"Th-thank you, Chrysalis..." Claude says as tears started forming in his eyes. No one has ever been so nice to him before...

"You okay, Claude?" the changeling queen asks, stepping closer to him.

"Yeah, I am great right now. Actually, I feel amazing knowing that I have the greatest girl ever. No one has ever been so nice to me like you have been... and I thank you for that. You are truly amazing, Chrysalis," Claude says. He looks at the changeling to see her smiling as tears formed in her eyes.

He walks up to her and gives her a kiss on the cheek. She puts a hoof around him and pulls him into a full kiss on the lips. This time, he feels her trying to slither her tongue into his mouth. He's never French kissed before, so he has no idea what to do except allow entry. He feels her tongue on his; the taste of raspberries filling his taste buds.

Claude has never made out with anyone before, and boy, has he been missing out on something amazing. He puts his arms around Chrysalis' neck and continues to make out with her. It was an amazing feeling. His tongue finally finds entry into her mouth and he explores it.

A minute goes by and they pull apart so they can take a breather. Claude looks at the changeling queen’s mouth and notices this green stuff coming from it. "Uh, Chrysalis... what is that?"

She must have already known what he was talking about. "Don't worry. It is not harmful at all. That's normal for changelings. It's our saliva."

"It's kind of sticky." Claude says licking the inside of his mouth. Her saliva must be what tastes like raspberries. It's kind of odd...

"Yeah, that's because we use it for cocoons also," Chrysalis says with a grin. Claude stares at her. "Don't worry. I won't cocoon you. I would never do that to you."

Claude smiles in reply, but he is still a bit worried about it. He decides to say something to liven up the mood. "It's funny. That stuff tastes like raspberries to me," Claude chuckles.

"Raspberries? Really? That's actually quite funny, because no one has ever said it had a taste to begin with," Chrysalis says.

"Well maybe they couldn't taste it like I can. Don't worry. I actually like the taste of raspberries. In fact, they are my favorite berry," Claude says, giving her a smile.

Chrysalis smiles back at him. “Well, more will have to wait, and you should eat.”

Claude totally forgot about his breakfast, which is probably ice cold now. He looks over at the food and sees that it’s no longer steaming. He sits down at the table and takes a bite. It is kind of warm but not hot. He doesn’t care at all. After making out with a great girl like that, nothing else matters.

He finishes his meal. Even though it wasn’t hot, it was still delicious. Getting up from his seat, he walks up to Chrysalis and gives her a hug. “Thank you for breakfast. It was amazing.”

She puts her front hooves around her and hugs back. “So what do you want to do today?” Claude asks the Queen.

“I’ll do anything, as long as you are around,” Chrysalis says, nuzzling him.

“Well, it’s up to you, your highness.” He steps back and bows. She giggles a bit, and then sighs.

“Oh, you don’t need to bow. I’m not really a queen anymore since I no longer have any subjects to rule over,” Chrysalis says looking down.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Think about it. If you were still there ruling, you wouldn’t have met me,” Claude says giving her a silly smile.

She chuckles. “You’re right. You have actually made my life livable. If I had never met you, I’d probably still be lurking in the woods somewhere.”

“I’m glad I met you too. You’ve changed my life completely. I was in such a sad state I never thought I would recover from after my parent’s death, but then you came. My life went for the better. Ever since that moment at the party, everything has changed, and… I’m happy. That is something I haven’t been in a long time: Happy. Thank you Chrysalis.” Claude steps forward and wraps his arm around her neck and hugs her.

They stayed that way for a few moments, enjoying every second of being in each other’s arms, well, hooves in Chrysalis’ case. Out of nowhere, a knocking sound comes from the back door. Claude pulls away from Chrysalis and looks to the door, and then back at Chrysalis. “I wonder who that is.” Claude questioned. He walks up to the back door and puts his ear to it and says, “You know there is a front door…”

The other side was silent. “I’m not opening this door unless I hear someone reply,” Claude says a bit irritated, he hates it when people do that. Just then, the door starts to bang again, making him jump out of his skin. Chrysalis comes up behind him, giving him a nod and readies herself to use her magic if needed.

Claude opens the door and whoever was on the other side really wanted in. The door was shoved open, knocking Claude to his back. Pain hits him, but it’s only minor. He sits up and looks at the entering figure. He expects it to be some sort of giant, but it turns out to be a bug like creature with fangs and a black shell, kind of like Chrysalis' but smaller.

"Queen!" The unknown creature yells out and runs over to Chrysalis, almost tackling her with a hug. This must be one of those Changeling creatures she was talking about.

"You are alive!? I thought all of you would be dead after what happened," The queen says, giving the little changeling a hug.

"Well, most of us are, but a handful of us made it!" The changeling nuzzles her. It is an adorable sight to see, even if the two creatures are bug like and supposedly creepy. Claude didn't find them creepy at all.

Claude would say something, but he didn't want to ruin the moment. "They are here with me too! The rest of them are in the woods, c'mon!" The younger changeling lets go of her and runs past Claude and out the door to the woods. It's good that there are woods all around this place.

Claude stands up and walks over to Chrysalis, who is just standing there like she just saw a ghost. "Chrysalis?" Claude asks, worried about her.

"They are alive, Claude..."

"So that was one of your subjects?" He asks. Chrysalis nods.

"Let’s go see them..." Chrysalis says walking out. Claude follows.

——————

Chrysalis

Chrysalis is standing in a room with Claude, but he is facing away from her with his arms crossed. He begins to walk away, and she says something. “No, Claude… don’t leave me… I have no one else…” Tears are streaming down her face. “Don’t go…”After a moment, Claude turns around and walks up to her and wrap his arms around her. “Don’t worry, I’m right here… I won’t go anywhere.”

She smiles and hugs him back. A clap of thunder sounds and Claude fades. The Queen of the changelings begins to see clouds around her. She is flying back to the hive for the night, and a storm is brewing. Lightning is flashing around her, and then a bolt strikes her. The next thing she knows, she is falling…

Time seems to slow and everything fades as she feels something come across her lips.

Chrysalis opens her eyes and sees Claude laying there next to her. She feels his lips on hers. She is glad that it was all a dream. Claude is all she has now.

"Good morning, my queen," Claude says as he pulls away.

"Good morning," Chrysalis says, smiling at him. She sees Claude stir a bit when she does that. He must love that smile. She will definitely use it in the future. She looks out the window. "I see that it's raining. Wait... is it thundering?" Chrysalis asks. A flash of light brightens the room, and a loud crack of thunder sounds really loudly. Chrysalis cowers a little bit under the covers as memories begin flooding back to her.

"You’re scared of thunderstorms?" Claude asks.

"Well, I am glad they caught you. Otherwise I would have never met you..." He gives her a quick peck on the cheek, making her cheeks warm. Lightning strikes again, and she cowers a little more. "Don't worry, Chrysalis, the storm cannot get you here." He pulls her closer. "I will not allow it to." They hold each other for a moment. Chrysalis loves being held. It makes her feel safe.

"We should probably get up, even though we both do not want to," Chrysalis says. She didn’t want to move from her spot or let go of Claude. She wanted to be in that position for eternity, but Claude couldn’t last that long…

Claude sighs, "Yeah, we should. Besides, I need to take a shower... I probably smell like hell." He throws the covers off of him, stands up, and stretches. Chrysalis has noticed a strange odor emanating from him. She scrunches her nose a bit at the smell.

Chrysalis watches as her lover gathers clothes from his dresser. He flashes a smile to her and disappears into the bathroom. That smile… boy, did she love that smile…

Even though she really does not want to, she has to get up. She throws the covers off of her and sits on the side of the bed and stretches. She then plants her four hooves on the ground and walks to the bedroom door. The shower turns on as she walks past the bathroom door, heading to the living room.

In the living room, she looks over to the window to see if the curtains are closed. They are. Thank goodness. She doesn’t want another human creature to spot her. She only wants Claude to know her true form. Chrysalis notices it’s rather quiet. She goes over to the window and peeks out. The rain has stopped, but the sound of distant thunder still sounds in the sky. She sighs of relief. The storm is leaving.

The changeling turns and looks around the room. She sees pictures hanging on the wall. Her nosiness kicks in as she begins to walk around, looking at them. Each picture had different human creatures in it. Some had Claude in them but with different ages and different looks. Some pictures had other humans; probably Claude’s family. She continued to look around and comes across that picture of him and his parents.

Sadness comes over her. It must really suck to lose your parents at this age. Chrysalis wouldn’t know about parents since she is a changeling, and it was such a long time ago. Changelings don’t age like normal ponies do.

She doesn’t notice the shower turning off. She was too busy looking at the pictures. She then feels arms go around her side and hug her. She flinches but relaxes and puts her hoof around Claude.

"You know I've always wondered about those holes. What are they for?" Claude asks. Chrysalis had a feeling he would ask sooner or later. It was bound to happen. She doesn’t mind though. The fact he is more interested in her than scared of her makes her happy.

"They help me fly, since my body is heavier than pegasi bodies. These holes reduce the weight just enough so I can fly." She flaps her wing. "Most ponies think I look like a bug..." She sighs. It’s no biggie though. Apparently, Claude loves her no matter how odd she looks. She is so glad that she met him.

"I like your holes. They are pretty awesome," Claude says and kisses her hoof. Nopony has ever kissed her hoof before. She giggles, making Claude laugh as well. Chrysalis leans closer to him and says in a soft tone, "I love you, Claude."

"I love you too, my queen." Claude says. They hug each other for a moment and hear a low grumble sound. "Heh, I guess I should make something to eat." He pulls away and heads to the kitchen.

Chrysalis follows him into the room and sees him pull a bowl down from the cabinet. She uses her magic and a green flash appears in the room. On the table lies a plate of eggs, bacon, two biscuits, and a glass of orange juice. She used a spell that looked into Claude to see what he really wanted for breakfast.

Claude looks over just as the flash happened and his mouth drops. "I thought you might have wanted something more than just a simple breakfast," Chrysalis says. It beats having that cardboard tasting stuff.

Chrysalis watches him walk over to the table. "Th-thank you Chrysalis..." Claude says as tears started forming in his eyes. Chrysalis starts to worry.

"You okay Claude?" the changeling queen asks, stepping closer to him.

"Yeah, I am great right now. Actually, I feel amazing knowing that I have the greatest girl ever. No one has ever been so nice to me like you have been... and I thank you for that. You are truly amazing, Chrysalis," Claude says. She starts to tear up also. No one has ever called her amazing before. Most of everypony in Equestria were either terrified of her or just shunned her.

Claude steps closer to her and gives her a peck on the cheek. She wanted more though. She pulled him closer and kissed him full on the lips. That feeling of wanting more was still there inside her.

She tries to get her tongue inside his mouth. At first he is hesitant. She then realizes that he has never done this before. Finally, she is able to get it inside his mouth. It tastes normal, but it does have a hint of some mint flavor. Chrysalis then feels him wrap his arms around her. She then feels his tongue find entry into her mouth and lets him explore.

Minutes go by, and they finally pull apart. Chrysalis sighs happily and looks at his mouth. Bits of green are on his lips. Licking them, he removes the mysterious liquid.. She notices him looking at her mouth and realizes the same stuff is on her lips too. "Uh... what is that?" Claude asks in a worried tone.

"Don't worry. It is not harmful at all. That's normal for changelings. It's our saliva."

"It's kind of sticky." Chrysalis sees his tongue move around in his cheek.

"Yeah, that's because we use it for cocoons also," Chrysalis says with a grin. Claude stares at her. "Don't worry. I won't cocoon you. I would never do that to you." It takes more than just her to cocoon anyone anyway.

Claude smiles at her, but still has that look of worry on his face.

His face then brightens and he says, “It's funny. That stuff tastes like raspberries to me," Claude chuckles.

"Raspberries? Really? That's actually quite funny, because no one has ever said it had a taste to begin with," Chrysalis says. That's new to her. Most of everyone has said it tasted horrible to them.

"Well maybe they couldn't taste it like I can. Don't worry. I actually like the taste of raspberries. In fact, they are my favorite berry," Claude says and giving her a smile. She smiles in return. She's glad he likes the taste. It means she may get more kisses in the future, and she loves those kisses.

“Well, more will have to wait. You should eat,” Chrysalis says. Even though she wants to make out with Claude more, eating is something he needs to do.

Claude nods and sits at the table and begins to eat. Chrysalis stays in the kitchen and looks around while he eats. The kitchen looks rather plain, but that's okay.

The sound of a fork clanking on the plate signifies that Claude is done. He gets up from his seat and hugs Chrysalis again. “Thank you for breakfast. It was amazing.”

She puts her front hooves around him and hugs back. “So what do you want to do today?” Claude asks her. She does not have any clue of what to do. She doesn’t really care what they do either. A thought starts to creep inside Chrysalis’ head, but she immediately pushes it out. It is definitely too early for that stuff.

“I’ll do anything as long as you are around,” Chrysalis says, nuzzling him. He is so warm to the touch.

“Well, it’s up to you, your highness.” He steps back and bows. Chrysalis giggles, then she sighs as she remembers she’s not a queen anymore.

“Oh, you don’t need to bow. I’m not really a queen anymore since I no longer have any subjects to rule over,” she says, looking down at her hooves. The need to cry starts to come up inside her, but she fights it with all her might.

Claude stays silent for a moment. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Think about it. If you were still there ruling, you wouldn’t have met me.” He gives her a silly smile.

She looks up at him and chuckles “You’re right. You have actually made my life livable. If I had never met you, I’d probably still be lurking in the woods somewhere.” Well, not really. She probably would have met another human, but that human probably wouldn’t have liked her as much as Claude does now.

“I’m glad I met you too. You’ve changed my life completely. I was in such a sad state I never thought I would recover from after my parent’s death, but then you came. My life went for the better. Ever since that moment at the party, everything has changed, and… I’m happy. That is something I haven’t been in a long time: Happy. Thank you, Chrysalis.” He steps forward and wraps his arm around her neck and he hugs her. Chrysalis lets tears of happiness come from her eyes. She wraps her hooves around him also.

They stay in the embrace for a few moments. Out of nowhere, a knocking sound comes from the back door. Claude pulls away from Chrysalis and looks to the door, and then back at Chrysalis. “I wonder who that is.” Claude questioned. Chrysalis gets this odd feeling that she knows what’s on the other side, but she isn’t one hundred percent positive.

He walks up to the back door and puts his ear to it and says, “You know there is a front door…” Chrysalis starts to walk back there also.

No sounds come from the other side. “I’m not opening this door unless I hear someone reply,” Claude says. The door bangs once more, making Chrysalis jump along with Claude. She comes up behind him, and he looks at her. She nods at him and readies herself.

Claude opens the door and whoever was on the other side really wanted in. The door was shoved open knocking Claude on his back. Chrysalis stares at the creature standing there, mouth agape. It can’t be…

"Queen!" It yells and runs over to Chrysalis and latches onto her with a hug.

"You are alive!? I thought all of you would be dead after what happened," The queen says, giving the little changeling a hug. She cannot believe it… how are they here?

"Well, most of us are, but a handful of us made it!" The changeling says, nuzzling her. A handful?

They are in the woods, c'mon!" The younger changeling lets go of her and runs past Claude toward the forest behind the house.

Claude stands up and walks over to Chrysalis, who is just standing there like she just saw a ghost. "Chrysalis?" He asks worried about her.

"They are alive, Claude..." Tears start to form in her eyes. Happiness starts to rise in her.

"So that was one of your subjects?" Claude asks. She nods in reply.

"Let’s go see them..." She walks out and heads to the forest where the youngling bounded off to. She looks behind her to see if Claude is following. He is.

Chapter 5: The Others

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Chapter Five

The Others

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Claude

'So that's what her subjects look like...' Claude thinks as he follows Chrysalis through the forest, following a younger changeling. Worry starts to overcome him. What if the other changelings attack him thinking he is some kind of threat?

He then sees Chrysalis turn her head around and smiles at him. A small tingly sensation comes over him. Her smile always does that to him, and he thinks she knows it.

It shouldn't be too far now. His ears catch the sound of voices coming through the forest, and the next thing he sees is a group of about ten changelings come into view, possibly more. Immediately, all of them look to Chrysalis, and their eyes widen.

Chrysalis is then almost tackled to the ground by hugs. He can hear them all saying things like "We missed you Queen." "We were worried you were gone forever." Some of the changelings are even crying. This is truly a touching moment.

One of the changelings turns its head to Claude, and the others follow suit. Terror comes over Claude. He knew that this was a bad idea to follow her. "Um, your highness, who is that?" one of them asks.

Chrysalis moves out of the pack and over to Claude. He feels a bit uneasy about all of this. 'What if they all see me as a threat? They would destroy me in an instant.'

"Everyone, this is Claude. He is no threat to us. Do not worry." She puts her holey hooves around him, pulling him into a hug.

"Why is he here?" another asks.

"Well, he is... my lover."

Claude smiles at the word "lover". He looks out at the crowd and nods his head.

"But... your highness, isn't he a different species?"

Next thing they know, Chrysalis changes into her human form; same clothes and everything. "Remember, we are changelings. We can be anything." She smiles and changes back into her normal form.

"What about the mission we were on? You know, to take-"

"No. That plan is dead. I don't ever want to be reminded of that."

The changelings just look at each other and then back at her. "So... what do we do now?"

"Well, one thing's for sure. We won't be taking over places. I don't wish to harm anyone anymore."

The changelings look at her like lobsters are crawling out of her ears. They look at each other once more in silence and turn back to Chrysalis. "So, how will we feed on love?"

"Um..." This worried look came over her. Claude remembers her telling him that love is changelings’ food. He decides to speak up since he knows more about this world than they do.

“Love is everywhere. Finding it should be pretty easy,” he says.

“Where exactly?”

“Well, there are other humans like me out there but you have to watch out for them also. If the other humans spot you in your changeling form, they will flip out, and they will, more than likely, call the government or something.”

“What would this ‘government’ do?”

“They would do many things that I don’t even want to discuss...” Claude looks down. The thoughts that come in his mind of what the scientists and others would do to the changelings...

“So what do we do then? We are starving.”

“Just hide away from the humans. Make sure they can’t see you. Feed from a distance.”

The changelings look at each other once again and speak in some type of low chittering sounds. He can barely hear it. He looks over at Chrysalis as she is trying to move her ears so she can hear them, but she looks at him and shrugs.

After a minute or so, they turn back around and smile. Claude is a bit scared at the moment. He has no idea what they were talking about. It could be about anything.

He really wants to go home right now. This is becoming too much for him

"Where do we go now?" one of the changelings asks.

"We should be where our queen is," another one says.

Claude immediately holds his hands up. "Oh no, you don't! There is not enough room in my house for all of you. Besides, you will get caught by the humans. You don't want them to see your normal form. They will freak out!"

"But we need to be with our queen! That's how hives work."

"My house is not becoming a hive..."

He then looks over to Chrysalis and sighs. He doesn't want to make her sad, but he also doesn't want them to get caught. He looks over the group once more. Ten changelings shouldn't be too bad, should it?

"Fine, you can stay at my place, but do not, I warn you, do not get caught by the humans! You don't want to know what they would do if they saw some strange creatures going in and out of a home."

"Oh, don't worry, we won't cause too much trouble," it says.

Claude has a bad feeling about all of this. "Let's go back then," he sighs.

He feels a nuzzle on his side, and his worry fades a little. Chrysalis being there will help him immensely. He knows with her there, the changelings won't do anything too stupid.

The group then trudges through the forest back to Claude's house. He hears the changelings chittering behind him again, causing him to worry. He has this bad feeling that even though Chrysalis has changed her alignment, her subjects didn't. He is going to keep a close eye on them.

He looks over to Chrysalis who is smiling happily. He wonders if she suspects them like he does. He puts his arm around her neck softly and hugs her.

They finally reach the exit of the forest and the smell of barbecue fills his nose. He peeks out and looks at his neighbors. "I thought that party was tomorrow..." Claude sighs.

"What's going on?" one of the changelings asks.

"All of you are going to have to go invisible or something. There is a whole group of humans over there."

Next thing he knows the whole group of changelings vanish including Chrysalis. "Alrighty then... follow me."

They walk out of the forest and up to his house. All of a sudden, he hears his name called out. "Hey, Claude!" His neighbor waves at him. He waves back. "Why don't you come on over and grab some grub? You've been cooped up in that house for too long. You need to socialize."

"Um... sure... just uh... give me a second I need to take care of something inside first." Claude says. He didn't want to be rude and say no. Besides, all that walking made him hungry.

He opens the back door and walks in. He waits a moment, and then asks, “Is everyone in?”

“Yes,” he hears them all say in unison. Claude shuts the door, and all the changelings drop their invisibility.

“Well I have to go over there... I’ll be back in a while. Don’t destroy the place while I’m gone, please,” he says looking at Chrysalis. She nods her head, and he walks back out over to the neighbors. Claude never really came out of the house much ever since his parents died, except to go shopping or go to school. His neighbors were always friendly to him. They even gave him some stuff to help him when his parents died.

He walks over to the neighbors and hears a familiar voice. “Hey, Claude, I didn’t know my cousins lived next to you!”

Claude turns around and sees Tim standing there. “Oh hey, Tim. I didn’t know that either.” He chuckles a bit. For a jock kind of guy, Tim is rather cool.

“So what were you doing in the forest?” Tim asks.

“Oh, nothing really. I was just taking a walk.” Claude was never good at lying. He didn’t like to lie either, but Tim seemed to buy it though.

“Ah, alright. Cool. So how has life been for you since the party?”

Claude shrugs. “It’s been okay, I guess...” He looks over at the house and wonders what the changelings are doing in there. ‘That place better not be a mess when I walk in.’

“Claude, you sure you’re okay? You seem kind of out there.”

“Oh, what? Um... I don’t know... I’m just meh.”

“Hey, maybe some food would make you feel better.” he says as Claude’s stomach begins to growl.

“Yeah,” Claude smiles. The smell of the barbeque is driving him nuts.

About an hour or so goes by of talking, eating, and hanging out. Claude hasn’t had this much fun in a long time. Then he remembers. The changelings are still in his home, probably causing havoc. “Hey, Tim, I have had a lot of fun, but I should probably get going. I got stuff to do at the house, cleaning and stuff.” Claude says.

“Oh, okay then. You and I need to hang out more. you are pretty cool to be around.” Tim says putting his fist up for Claude to fist bump it.

“Thanks.” Claude fist bumps. He tells the others at the party goodbye and gave thanks for the food and walks back home. The sun is starting to set.

Claude walks back to the house and opens the door and walks in. He closes the door behind him and locks it. As he is going to the living room, he notices that it's quiet. Too quiet. He puts his guard up just in case.

He walks into the room to find it empty. The sounds of chittering came from down the hall. Walking past his parents’ door, the sounds get louder. He stops. "They better not be..."

He steps back and throws open the door to his parents’ door and sees the changelings in there, but no sign of Chrysalis. The room isn't messy at all, thankfully, but the fact they are in there is slowly enraging Claude.

One of them points to him and they all turn their heads to him. "Hello, Claude," one of them says.

"Who told you that you could be in this room?”

“Well,” one of the changelings started to speak. “We were-“

“I don't want anyone or anything, pony, changeling, whatever in this room. No one comes in here! Now get out," he seethes. This is his parents’ room, and his parents meant a lot to him.

"Why?" The changelings look at him blank faced.

"Because this is my parents’ room, and well, they are dead. I would like to keep this room in good shape in remembrance of them. Now I will not ask again. Get out of this room!" he stares at them.

"Fine, we'll go." They all get up and walk out and go into the living room. They make a circle on the floor and continue their chittering.

"Where is Chrysalis?" Claude asks to no one in particular.

"Behind you," a voice says from behind.

Claude turns around and smiles at Chrysalis, she doesn't look too happy though. "Chrys? You okay?"

"I don't want to talk about it..." She looks away from him.

"Are you sure?"

She nods and stays silent. Claude walks over to her and puts his arms around her pulling her into a hug. Hugs always help, right? Chrysalis nuzzles him. “I love you, Chrysalis,” he says.

“I- I love you too, Claude,” she says. He feels her hoof go around him, hugging him tighter. He smiles. Chrysalis is the best thing that has ever happened to him. He leans his head up and looks at the changeling queen’s face. Her green eyes stare back at him and she smiles. Claude cannot get over her unique beauty.

Slowly their faces come closer to each other and their lips meet. The sweet taste of raspberry comes into Claude’s mouth once again. The taste is almost intoxicating. They break apart and Chrysalis gives him the look. He immediately knows what that means.

Chrysalis puts her hoof in his hand and he holds it. She then pulls him into his bedroom. Claude has wanted this for a long time. She would be his first ever. He is ready.

——————

Chrysalis

She cannot believe they are here. Some of her subjects actually survived the explosion. The small changeling walking in front of her is proof enough they are alive. She takes a quick glance behind her and sees Claude following her.

Claude looks a bit worried. He is probably thinking her subjects will attack or something. She smiles at him as he looks up at her. He smiles back. She knows her smiles drive him crazy.

Chrysalis can hear voices through the forest. They must be near. Coming to a clearing, about ten changelings sit around talking. They all look over to her and their eyes widen. Next thing Chrysalis knows, she is almost tackled to the ground by hugs.

“We were worried that you were gone!” “We missed you Queen!” Those were just a few things they said to her as they hugged her. Chrysalis smiles and wraps her hooves around them. She is so glad to see they are still alive and well.

“Um, your highness, who is that?” she hears one of them ask. She almost forgot Claude was with her. She gets up from the pack and walks over to him. He looks a bit uneasy.

Putting her hooves around him, she says happily, “Everyone this is Claude. He is no threat to us. Do not worry.”

“Why is he here?” another subject asks.

"Well, he is... my lover," she says. This warm fuzziness comes over her when she says that. She really does love him.

"But... Queen, isn't he a different species?"

She pulls away from Claude and changes into her human form. "Remember, we are changelings. We can be anything." She smiles and changes back into her normal form.

"What about the mission we were on? You know, to take-"

"No. That plan is dead. I don't ever want to be reminded of that." She is no longer evil. She just wants to be happy, and she is happy with Claude.

The changelings just look at each other and then back at her. "So... what do we do now?"

"Well one thing is for sure, we won't be taking over places anymore. I don't wish to harm anyone anymore."

The changelings look at her like lobsters are crawling out of her ears. They look at each other once more in silence, and turn back to Chrysalis. "So wait, how will we feed on love?"

"Um..." Chrysalis has no idea. She gets hers from Claude. She realizes that the other changelings could feed off of him also. She casts a small spell, her horn only glowing slightly, but not very noticeable. The spell will block the other changelings’ ability to feed from Claude.

“Love is everywhere, finding it should be pretty easy,” he says.

“Where exactly?”

“Well, there are other humans like me out there, but you have to watch out for them also. If the other humans spot you in your changeling form, they will flip out, and they will more than likely call the government or something.”

“What would this ‘government’ do?” Hopefully her subjects don’t want to try and fight this government of Claude’s. She remembers the last time they all tried to take over something.

“They would do many things that I don’t even want to discuss...” Worry rises in Chrysalis. The group needs a place to stay out of sight of any other humans.

“So what do we do then? We are starving.”

“Just hide away from the humans. Make sure they can’t see you. Feed from a distance.”

Her subjects look at each other and start speaking the changeling language.
She can understand every bit of it. They don’t know that though.

“I do not trust this human.”

“Me neither. I think he is trying to change our Queen into something she’s not.”

“She is being corrupted by this human. We need to do something.”

She notices Claude looking over at her as she is leaning a bit closer to the others as they talk. She looks over to him and shrugs as if to say she doesn’t understand. What a lie that was. She hates lying to him, but if he heard what they were saying, he would send her away forever. She loves him too much to leave.

“What do you suggest we do?”

“We find a time where Claude isn’t there and we transform our queen back to the way she was.”

“What do we do then?”

“More on that later. Now, we must follow this ‘human’ and find his weakness.”

Chrysalis starts to get a little angry. ‘If they do a single thing to Claude......’

“Where do we go now?” A changeling asks.

“We should be where our queen is.” Another says.

"Oh no, you don't! There is not enough room in my house for all of you. Besides, you will get caught by the humans. You don't want them to see your normal form. They will freak out!"

“But we need to be with our queen! That’s how hives work.”

“My house is not becoming a hive...”

Claude looks at Chrysalis and sighs.

“Fine, you can stay at my place, but do not, I warn you, do not get caught by the humans! You don’t want to know what they would do if they saw some strange creatures going in and out of a home,” he says. Chrysalis feels really unsure about this. She wants to say something but she doesn’t want to cause a scene.

“Oh, don’t worry. We won’t cause too much trouble.”

Chrysalis knows good and well that they will be lots of trouble. They never acted like this back in Equestria. Why are they acting like this now?

As they walk through the forest back to Claude’s house, she notices how Claude seems a bit on edge. She nuzzles his side to show that she still loves him. She knows the changelings are planning on tearing apart their relationship, and she is not going to let them.

She listens closely to her subjects behind her as they speak the changeling language.

“How do we find his weakness?”

“We have to find something important to him. If we get rid of it, he will freak out and become weak. At that moment we take our Queen and make our way back. We need to convince the Queen that we don’t belong here.”

“For now, we must keep on his good side.”

As they walk back, Chrysalis tries her hardest to keep a smile going so Claude doesn’t worry. He puts his arm around her neck and hugs her. She is not going to let anything happen to him. He is the greatest thing that she has ever met.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, this odd smell fills Chrysalis’ nose, a scent she has never smelled before. She wants to ask what that smell is, but Claude has this look of worry on his face. “I thought that party was tomorrow,” Claude says as he looks out at some other humans.

“What’s going on?” one of the changelings ask.

“All of you are going to have to go invisible or something. There is a whole group of humans over there.”

Chrysalis lights her horn, and the others follow suit. Claude turns around; looking shocked at first, but relaxes. “Alrighty then... follow me.”

As they walk to the house, this voice sounds from the party, “Hey, Claude!” the other human waves. Claude waves back. "Why don't you come on over and grab some grub? You've been cooped up in that house for too long. You need to socialize."

Chrysalis chuckles at that, "Um... sure... just uh... give me a second I need to take care of something inside first," Claude says. Chrysalis kind of hoped he had said no. She didn’t really want to deal with the group alone, but it looks like she is going to have to.

He opens the back door and walks in. Chrysalis follows inside after him. After a moment, he asks, “Is everyone in?”

“Yes,” They all say at once. Claude shuts the door and they drop the invisibility.

“Well I have to go over there... I’ll be back in a while. Don’t destroy the place while I’m gone, please,” he says as he looks at Chrysalis. She nods her head at him.

They watch him walk out and as soon as the door closes, the others dart off. Chrysalis sighs. “Here we go...”

She follows her subjects. “I know your plan. And I will not allow it. You are not taking my love from me. He is the first legitimate love I have ever had in my life.”

“He is pulling you down. What about the plan of taking over Equestria?” one of her subjects say.

“That plan failed. Don’t you remember? It got us sent here. I just want a nice, happy rest of my life. I am sick of the evil we do.”

“That human has changed you Queen, and we are going to fi-”

“No, you stay out of it!”

“How come he isn’t frightened by your appearance?”

Chrysalis halts for a moment. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well most of the ponies would run in fear when they saw us. What spell did you cast on him?”

“I didn’t...” She sighs. She did cast a small spell on him. Right before she showed her true form, it was a spell that made him love her no matter what. It was a small dose, but just enough to make him not scared of her appearance.

“You used the spell didn’t you?”

“Yes. I didn’t want him to run in fear. I love him. I have never loved anyone, but there is something about him that makes my heart go crazy.”

“You need to tell him the truth.”

Chrysalis’ heart stops. She can’t do that. She doesn’t want him to hate her. She has finally found someone that loves her as much as she loves him. “I... I can’t.”

“Either you tell him, or we will.”

“But, I am your queen!” she yells. She cannot believe her own subjects are doing this to her. “Why are you doing this?”

“We want you to be yourself again. We don’t like this new you. What happened to the queen that wanted to take over Equestria and feed off of the love of other ponies?”

“I... I can’t do that anymore. After meeting Claude, everything that was evil inside me just disappeared.” A smile appears on her face as she thinks of her love.

“What about us, your subjects? What are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, okay?! I am sorry that you got brought here due to my inability to plan things right,” she sighs. “I wish I knew what to do...”

The changelings look at one another and speak in the changeling language. They still don’t know that she knows it.

“We need to get her away from Claude. He is messing with her mind and changing her. We want our Queen back, don’t we?”

“Yes! We must remove this human, so we can have our Queen back to her old self.”

Chrysalis stares at them as they discuss their plan. She can’t believe they really want to change her. There is nothing that will stop her from loving Claude, and she will make sure of that. She walks out of the room and into Claude’s bedroom, keeping the door ajar so she can keep an eye on her subjects.

She watches them as they go into another room in the hall, a room she has never seen open. She shrugs it off and lies back on the bed. How long is this party supposed to take? She wishes he was home now so she can show her subjects that she is not giving him up for anything.

She pats the covers of the comfortable bed. It’s very comfortable. Next thing Chrysalis knows, she hears a loud yelling from the other room. “-keep this room in good shape in remembrance of them. Now I will not ask again. Get out of this room!”

“Fine, we’ll go.” The changelings leave and make a circle in the living room and continue their chittering.

Chrysalis gets up from the bed and walks up to Claude as she hears him ask where she is at.

“Behind you,” she says and he turns around and smiles. She doesn’t return a smile though.

“Chrys? Are you okay?”

"I don't want to talk about it..." She looks away from him.

"Are you sure?”

She nods her head silently. Claude then walks up to her and wraps his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. “I love you, Chrysalis,” he says as she nuzzles him.

She puts a hoof around him. “I love you too, Claude,” she says as their faces come closer together and lips meet. She can taste this odd flavor on his lips; kinda sweet, but tangy at the same time. Probably something he ate while he was over there. She liked the taste.

A certain feeling comes over Chrysalis, a feeling of want, a need for Claude. She pulls away from the kiss and gives him a certain look. She has heard the ponies call them “bedroom eyes”, for obvious reasons.

She puts her hoof in his hand and pulls him into his bedroom. She looks over his shoulder to see her subjects staring at her. She gives them a little wink before closing the door.

[End of chapter 5]

Chapter 6: On Their Own

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Thanks to Selkowitz for editing!

Chapter 6
On Their Own

[/hr]

Changelings

“How could our queen do this to us? She’s supposed to help us! Take care of us!”

The group of changelings sits in the middle of the human’s living room, angry as ever at their ruler. “Why is she off mating with that human? Doesn’t she care about us?”

“I say we just leave, it doesn’t look like she is going to help us anymore,” a changeling standing away from the group chitters.

“But how will we survive?” another one asks.

“Don’t you remember what the human said, Xena? He said there is love everywhere in this world. Just like Equestria.”

“But Doppel, don’t you also remember how he said we could possibly get caught by the other humans?”

Doppel walks over to the female changeling and flaps his wings slightly. “You do remember that we can cast magic and fly… right? I don’t think any human is going to catch us.” He stares at her as she shies away slightly.

“Where will we go?” one questioned as it jumps off the couch, its wings flittering as he lands.

“I don’t know, Asura, and I don’t really care. I don’t trust our queen anymore. I think we would do fine on our own. If you guys wish to stay here and starve, go right ahead. I am leaving.” Doppel turns to the door and opens it with his magic, peeks out the door to see if any humans are out, and takes off out the door.

“We should go with him. We are stronger together,” Xena says as she takes off after him.

The remaining ones look at each other for a moment then take off also.

Claude & Chrysalis

Claude is the first to hear the pounding on the door. They had both fallen asleep after all the fun they just had. He grabs his clothes and puts them on as he runs from his room to the door, almost tripping multiple times. He buttons his jeans and opens the door.

“Uh, Claude… I saw some weird ass creatures come from your house… What the hell is going on?” Tim asks.

Claude then immediately noticed how quiet and empty the living room was. “Oh… Crap…” he says as he runs back off to his room. “You can come in!” he calls to Tim as he goes into his room.

Chrysalis wears the biggest smile she has ever had in her life. Everything is just perfect. Nothing can go wro- “Chrysalis! We have a problem!” she hears her lover's voice call her name in a loud whisper, enough to wake her up.

“What’s wrong, my love?” she asks in a soft voice, still hazed by the last half hour.

“Your subjects… they’re gone… and… someone saw them.”

“What?!” The haze immediately dissipates and her voice changes to a more angered one. “Who saw them?”

“Well you remember that guy at the party? Yeah… him.”

She sighs and throws the covers off of her and starts to make her way to the main room.

“Wait! What about your disguise?”

“He already saw my subjects, so I don’t think he will be fazed much by my appearance.”

Do they not understand? They are in a world they have never been and they are just going to run off…

Claude leaves to the living room, followed by Chrysalis, still in her changeling state.

“What the hell?!” Tim yells as the queen walks in. He jumps up to his feet.

“Do not worry. I won’t harm you. That’s not me anymore.” She smiles at him, showing her fangs. This, however, did not ease his fear as it only creeped him out even more.

“Just don’t eat me!” he cowers.

Claude looks over at Chrysalis and sighs. “Tim… I dunno if this will make you feel any better, but this is Chrysalis. She is a changeling. Also, she is… uh…”

“His lover,” Chrysalis finishes for him.

“Wh-what? Claude... you’re in love with this… whatever it is?!”

“Changeling,” Chrysalis states as she looks at him with her eyes squinted a bit. She does not like this human at all so far.

“Yeah… That’s just… weird. Anyway, I saw a group of small, four-legged creatures leave your house a couple minutes ago.”

Chrysalis then runs to the window and looks toward the sky. She can see the ten smaller changelings take off. “We need to catch them! There is no telling what will happen to them or what they will do to other humans.” She flashes her horn and changes shape into her human form.

“Wait, so you were Chrissy at the party?!”

Chrysalis nods. “Come on!” She starts to go out the door.

“We can use my car,” Tim says as he starts to run out the front door.

“Wait. Why are you all of a sudden being so helpful?” Claude asks.

“Cause I am curious about all of this. Even though it is strange as hell, I find it quite interesting.”

Claude stands there for a second trying to get his mind straight. So much was going on at one time. Chrysalis grabs his hand and gives him a quick kiss, which snaps him out of his daze. “Hey, at least we had some fun today, right?” She smiles and kisses him again.

“Yo, quit smooching and let’s go!” Tim yells, honking his horn. “Or did you forget we are chasing after something?”

“Oh, right.” Claude and Chrysalis both chuckle, then rush to Tim’s car.

“Doppel, wait up!” Xena calls to him.

The changeling stops and turns around to see the rest of the group fly up to him.

“So you decided to come?” he says.

They all nod.

“So…um… where are we going?” Althyna asks.

“Anywhere we can find love to feed on, and away from the queen,” Doppel states. A couple of the changelings look back and sigh softly.

“What, you miss her already? Forget her! She has completely changed and is no longer one of us. We don’t need her!”

The changelings look back at Doppel and nod. “Let’s go. I see a large city over there. Where there is a large population, there is a large amount of love,” he says as he zooms toward the tall buildings in the distance.

“So, where do you think they are going?” Tim asks.

“Anywhere there is a lot of love. Basically, any large populated place,” Chrysalis explains.

“They are heading toward the city… they will be seen in no time…” Claude says. I wish this wasn’t happening… This is beginning to be too much for me… He looks over to Chrysalis and all her beauty. It’s worth it.

When I find those changelings…I will show them that I am their queen! Chrysalis sighs and looks over at Claude who is looking at her also. She puts her hand in his and he squeezes it. She is still trying to get used to this human body. She squeezes his hand back and smiles as she feels her chest warm.

“There they are!” Tim exclaims making both Claude and Chrysalis jump. They both lean forward to see where Tim’s finger is pointing. Small black dots are moving toward the city, getting closer to the buildings.

“Step on it!”

“There,” Doppel pointed to one of the taller buildings.

They made their way to the top of the structure and gathered together.

“So what’s the plan? Where will we get our food?” Asura asked.

“Calm down… I sense a strong source nearby,” he said and looked over the edge, spotting two humans sitting on a bench holding each other’s hand. “There they are,” he points again to the unsuspecting couple. He nodded to the others. “Let’s go.” They turn invisible and zoom to the alley behind the bench.

Each of them drops their invisibility; very sure they won’t be caught. Their horns light up one by one and they begin to siphon the love from the couple. Unknown to them, the two humans slowly start to become weak. As soon as they start to feed, they could no longer siphon anymore. They were sustained enough for a good amount of time…

“Uh oh…” Doppel said as he looked at the bench. “We need to get out of here.”

“Whoa what happened here?” Claude says as the car pulls into a parking spot in front a shop. They don’t get out but just watch from the windows at the scene.

“They’ve been here. I can sense it. They fed too much off of them. They will be fine, but it will take them a while to recover.” Chrysalis looks at the couple, who are on stretchers and being loaded onto the ambulance.

“What’s wrong with them?” Tim asks.

Chrysalis sighs and explains, “Changelings feed off of love. It can be any kind, one po- person loving another person or the person loving the changeling. Any type of love for anything, we changelings feed off it. Though, these ignorant ones apparently forgot that if too many feed off of one love at the same time, it will weaken the subject, making them unconscious. Don't worry, they will be fine, but they will be out for a good while."

"Will their love be completely gone?" Tim asks in horror.

"No. Love is kind of like blood. Kinda strange, I know. Feed too much at one time, the being will die or become unconscious, like here. Unlike blood, love is infinite, because love is an emotion, not a thing. The only time that it really can run out is if the emotion ceases, which would mean the subject is dead or unconscious. Death is really, really rare though. I've only witnessed it once, and it wasn't my doing."

"Yeah...that makes me feel so much better..." Tim rolls his eyes. He looks over at Claude. "And how are you so calm about this? You haven't said a single damn word about her explanation.”

Claude shrugs. "It makes sense, so I’m not really bothered. And since this is the last of her kind apparently." He looks over at Chrissy, who sighs. He puts his hand in hers, “Besides, she says she would never do that to anyone, so I don't think we need to worry too much."

“You may trust her Claude, but I don’t.” He gives Chrysalis one more look and turns back around and pulls out of the parking space.

Claude turns his head to Chrysalis, smiles, and squeezes her hand as if to say, “Don’t worry, he’ll come around.”

“What were you thinking Doppel?! We could have killed them!” Xena yells as they fly to the top of a building. The sun was starting to set and night was approaching. Clouds started to roll in, and the smell of rain was strong.

“I apparently wasn’t. It’s never happened to me before, so I didn’t know it would do that,” he sighs.

She shakes her head. “We should have just stayed. She would have helped us somehow. I know she would have.”

“Why would she want to? We are against her wishes. She wants to be more kind and such while we still want to take over.”

“I never really wanted to…” Althyna says quietly. “I just want to make the queen ha-”

“She isn’t our queen anymore! If she was the same queen we knew and loved, we wouldn’t be in this situation. She’s changed, don’t you get it? Look, let’s just find a place to rest before this rain starts. We will figure this out tomorrow. Don’t worry guys… we will find a way to take this place. I promise.”

Xena scoffs and looks over the edge of the building. “There’s a tree down there we could use to stay for the night. I don’t think anyone will notice us in there.”

Doppel nods and flaps his wings and zooms down there, the others follow. The rain begins to pour rapidly, and lightning strikes across the sky.

They each lie down on a branch, wrapping their holey hooves around them to keep themselves from falling.

Doppel looks around to his teammates. I will figure something out. Don’t worry everyone. He sighs and rests his head on the branch. His gaze moves over to Xena. I will. He closes his eyes. Maybe then you will understand...and maybe I’ll have a chance…

Xena opens her eyes and looks at Doppel who is already asleep. I really hope he knows what he is doing. I don’t want to end up dead or captured.

Light flashes across the sky, making it seem like daylight for just a split second. “I can’t see a damn thing through this rain,” Tim says.

“Maybe we should just go back home and continue tomorrow. Besides, I doubt they are out and about in this weather,” Claude suggests.

Chrysalis sighs. “Alright. I just hope they don’t get into too much trouble.”

“We’ll look for them tomorrow, bright and early. I promise,” Claude says.

Chrysalis smiles. “I sure hope we find them.”

Claude wraps an arm around her and she leans into him. “Me too.”

------

The rain beats down heavily on Claude and Chrysalis as they exit the car. “Thanks, Tim!” Claude yells over the rain.

“Hey, no problem, and don’t worry, I’ll come by and help you find them,” Tim says. “All of this is damned interesting. Also I am your friend. No way am I turning away from this now and leaving you to handle this on your own.”

Chrysalis smiles and nods at Tim, who smiles back. “Thank you, Tim. You’re a great friend.” She’s never really had friends before, except Claude, but it’s more than that now. She looks over at her now soaking wet lover. Her heart warms at the sight of him.

Tim nods his head and says farewell before backing out of the driveway and going back home.

“We should probably get inside before we get any wetter than we already are, and so you can drop your disguise. It must be uncomfortable to do that for a long period of time.”

“It just makes me really tired because of the long usage of magic,” she says as they start to walk to the front door. She can already feel her eyelids start to droop a bit.

The house is quiet as ever, except the background sound of rain outside. Claude closed the door behind them and Chrysalis dropped her disguise. Dropping her disguise doesn’t drop the fact that she is still soaked and smells musty.

“Maybe you should take a shower first,” Claude suggests with a laugh.

“Only if you join me,” she winks.

Claude chuckles and they both leave to the bathroom to be cleansed. That is... if they don’t get dirtier in the shower.

[End of Chapter Six]

Chapter 7: Discovered

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Chapter 7

Discovered

A week has passed and no luck. They still haven’t found them. Chrysalis sighs and hides her face in her hooves. All the while, Claude is holding her, hoping to make her feel better. Tim is sitting in a chair from the kitchen across from them.

“It’s my fault. I should have helped them,” Chrysalis wept.

“No, it’s not your fault. They decided to leave on their own. They weren’t accepting to your change of heart,” Claude said, trying to be more reassuring.

“B-But it was m-my fault from the start. If I-I never attacked C-Canterlot, my whole race could still be al-live.” A tear falls from her cheek. She sobs louder. “I-It’s all my fault.”

“If you never had that plan, we never would have met. You changed my life Chrysalis. I don’t care what it takes, I want to be with you.” Claude smiles and holds her tighter. “I love you. Don’t worry I will help you no matter what it takes.”

She moves her hooves away and turns her head to him and clears her throat. “I-I love you too. Thank you.” she snuggles into him.

All the while this is happening, Tim sits there pondering life. He coughs and turns the chair around to the television, which has been turned on as background noise.

Claude and Chrysalis turn their heads in his direction and chuckle softly. “I think we were too mushy for his liking.” Chrysalis whispers. Claude laughs.

“You do know I can hear you.” Tim says, not looking at them, he flips through the channels. “Wow you have crap TV...”

“I don’t really watch it too much. I usually would just lay in my room and think about life. Until recently that is.”

“So you two hungry?” Tim asks, turning off the TV.

“Not really, but I could eat.” Claude shrugs.

Chrysalis looks at Tim, and chuckles softly.

Tim looks at her and remembers. “Oh, that’s right, you don’t eat normal food.”

“Well I can, but it won’t do anything for me. It’s usually for appearances, so I don’t look odd being the only one not eating anything all the time. So others don’t suspect that I am not normal.”

“Not normal is right,” Tim says quietly. Chrysalis glares at him, and he chuckles. “Jokes, jokes.”

“How about burgers, guys?” Claude suggests.

“Sure sounds good.” Tim nods.

“Um… I don’t really like meat too much…” she tells them. But they don’t hear her.

------

The whole way there, Chrysalis stares out the window hoping to spot her subjects flying by, she sighs and looks away from the window and leans into Claude. “Don’t worry, Chrissy, we are bound to see them again soon.” he says as he wraps his arm around her and hugs her close. She smiles and closes her eyes.

The car comes to a stop, Chrysalis opens her eyes and leans up. “Whoa we arrived here pretty quickly. Did I fall asleep?”

Claude smiles, “Yeah, it’s funny, I didn’t know you fell asleep til I started hearing you snore softly.”

“I don’t snore.” Chrysalis scoffed.

Tim laughs, “At first I thought it was something with the car, but apparently, it was your snoring.”

She glares at him and repeats with more emphasis, “I. Don’t. Snore.”

Claude laughs, “Don’t worry about it Chrys, I snore too. My parents used to tell me I did, but I never believed it at the time…” he pauses for a second. “A-anyway, let’s get some food.”

They get out of the car and head into the restaurant. The place is packed full of people, and the aroma coming from the kitchen fills their nostrils. Chrysalis crinkles her nose a bit at it. Claude looks over and sees her expression, “Something the matter?” he asks.

“Meat,” is all she says.

“Oh that’s right, you don’t like meat. They do have salads and other vegetarian friendly foods.” Claude says.

Tim whips around, “You don’t eat meat?!” he says a little too loudly, causing the restaurant to quiet down as the patrons direct their attention to the outburst. He stands there for a moment in the same position he was in, he stands up straight and clears his throat. “Uh. Yeah.”

Not a second later, people go back to their meals and conversations. “What do you mean you don’t eat meat? I saw those fangs you had,” he whispers.

“The fangs are for if we ever get into a battle. It’s a pretty decent weapon, though I haven’t had any need of using them, yet.” She glares daggers at Tim. “In Equestria-”

“Equestria?” he asks interrupting her.

“Dude, come on, let her finish…” Claude says, getting annoyed with Tim’s random outbursts.

“Sorry.”

Chrysalis starts to continue, but a waitress comes up to them, “Hi, welcome to Celestial Diner. How many in your party?” she asks sounding cheery, but you can hear how bored she is. At first Chrysalis thought the girl said “Celestia” for a second, but she realized what she said and shook off the feeling.

“Three.” Tim says turning around to the girl.

“Alright, follow me.”

Chrysalis looks around the restaurant noticing lots of pictures of the night sky, certain stars brighter than others. Closer inspection shows a brass bar with the name of the constellation written in. She notices how these constellations have a lot in common with the ones in Equestria.

“Come on Chrissy,” Claude says. Chrysalis turns away from the picture and quickly walks up to her love. The waitress takes them to a table close to the bar where people sit on stools, with a drunken haze about them. As they sit down, Chrysalis looks up at a television hanging from the wall. On it shows other humans running back and forth on a green field in weird uniforms. Then out of nowhere the people start screaming at the television, scaring her half to death.

“Chrys?” Claude waves a hand in front of her, snapping her attention away from the people.

“Hmm? What?” she says.

The waitress looks at her, kind of annoyed but still having a slight smile on her face. “What would you like to drink?”

“Uh…” She has no idea what humans drink. “What do you have?”

“We have Coca-Cola products.”

That helps… She sighs. “Just water, please.”

The waitress shrugs, writes it down, and gets everyone elses’ drink order and walks off. Tim and Claude hold up their menu.

Chrysalis looks back over at the bar and at the people watching the television intently. She smiles and glances at the people on the screen and picks up her menu.

It’s quiet for a second, then the bar patrons start to get mad. “Hey, what’s with the jokes, barkeep! We just missed a great play!” She looks back over and sees that the channel has changed and her face drops.

The bartender, who is holding the remote says, “You gotta see this though. Some dude just found some strange bug looking things in the park. I saw it on the news this morning.”

“But that play! We won’t know if he made it or not!” an older looking man wearing a cap and beard yells, slamming his fist onto the bar.

“Guys, check this out!” another patron closer to the TV says. The screen shows a dozen black figures frantically trying to get out of the tree and away from the camera, blue eyes shining in the early morning sunlight. One of them chitters, and the ones that were still asleep wake up. They each start to buzz their wings and fly away from the man filming them, heading toward the rising sun.

“Claude,” Chrysalis says quietly, in a panicky voice.

“Hm?” he says not looking away from the menu.

Tim looks up, and his face freezes. In a level voice, he says, “At least we know where the changelings are now.”

Claude looks around in confusion.“What? How?”

“The TV!” Chrysalis points out, nearly yelling.

He and Tim put down their menus and look at the TV in question. They see the video of the changelings hastily running away from the camera again. Claude quickly gets up and rushes to the TV to hear what they are saying. Chrysalis and Tim get up and follow.

“The creatures in the park appeared to be bug like,” the woman on the screen said with a small picture to her right showing a still image of the changelings running away. Chrysalis frowns at the mention of her kind looking like bugs.

The small picture on the right fades and another woman appears with a man holding a camera. It zooms in on them and the woman speaks up. “Here, with me, is the man responsible for the video you just saw.” She turns to the man. “So these creatures, what do you think they are?”

“I have no clue. All I know is when I took my daily walk in the park, I looked up in this tree behind me and saw these strange black things moving in it. My first thought was a bird, but then I realized it was too big to be a bird. I grabbed my camera, hoping to catch a snapshot or two, but the rustling in my bag must have awoken them and they started to open their eyes. I knew right away they would run off, so I decided to get the camera quickly and video it. You might not have noticed in the video but they seemed to look a bit like a bug-like horse.”

Out of nowhere, this man in black with sunglasses walks into the shot and says, “Alright, turn off the cameras. This is now official government business. Sir, I need you to follow me.” The man looks at the camera once more, speaking sternly, “Turn off the camera! I will not ask again.” The tape then cuts off and everyone is left speechless.

The light of early morning illuminates the park, and the sound of footsteps can be heard clacking on the stone walk. The changelings stir a bit in their sleep, a soft snore escapes from Asura. He fidgets slightly, making his wings buzz.

The footsteps get louder and closer to the tree they sleep in. The steps decreases a bit and stops.

“What the…” the unknown passerby mumbles. The man set his bag down on the ground, making a soft thump sound. He unzips the bag and starts to rummage around for something.

Xena’s eyes open suddenly at the sound. She quickly looks over and sees the human fumbling in his bag. She clicks out to everyone in the changeling language. The human looks up quickly from his bag at the sound and pulls out a strange device. Xena chitters loudly to the others.

“Wake up! Wake up! We have been spotted!” Xena jumps from her branch, taking flight.

Doppel fidgets a bit as the others jolt up from their slumber.

“Five more minutes…” Doppel mumbles into his branch, still asleep.

Xena groans and rushes over to Doppel. “Do you want to get captured by these humans?! GET YOUR CHANGELING BUTT UP RIGHT NOW!”

He shakes his head swiftly just as the human walks closer, pointing the device in their direction.

In a panic, he yells to the group, “We need to get out of here… NOW!” His wings buzz as he takes off toward one of the buildings, and the rest of the group follows after him.

Xena looks back at the human as she flies off. The human stands there, holding the device pointing it at them.

They reach the roof, and Asura peeks over the wall, looking toward the park. “He’s leaving, so we need not worry about him anymore,” he says without using the changeling chitter.

Doppel looks over the side as well. “I wonder what that thing was he had.”

“I don’t know, but I think we need to get away from here,” Xena pipes up. I have a funny feeling about this area. She looks around the area, something on the floor catches her eye. Interesting. Why is the letter H up here.

“Away from what? I think we are pretty safe here,” Arcelia says as he stands close to his sister, Malwyn.

“Uh… do any of you know what this is?” Xena says pointing at the letter on the ground.

“The letter H, duh,” Trance says, sticking his tongue out.

Before Xena can retort, a whirring sound stops her.

They all look to the sound as it progressively gets louder and see a helicopter getting closer to their location. “What is that!?”

“I have no idea, but I think that human had backup!” Malwyn yells

“Oh, I highly doubt th-” The helicopter hovers right above them and starts to descend. “SCATTER!” Doppel yells.

Xena watches as the others buzz off toward another rooftop. Something is making her want to stick around and watch. “Come on, Xena!” Doppel yells.

“You go on ahead! I’m gonna stick around and watch what happens,” she yells over the whirring of the blades.

“Then I will stay with you!” Doppel lands next to her. “Behind here! No one will see us.” They dive behind an air conditioning unit and watch as the helicopter lands on the roof. The doors open and two humans walk out wearing black suits, a pair of sunglasses, and a cord leading from their ear to a small device on their suit. “Who are these humans? They look very important,” Doppel says to Xena.

Another human runs out after them. “I’m telling you guys, I saw them! The changelings are real! Why do I have to come here?!” he whines. Xena almost yelps at the mention of their race.

“How does he know about us?!” Doppel almost shouts.

“Yes, yes, Mr. Johnson, we’ve seen your photos on the internet. The reason you are with us is you seem be the only person who knows the most about these creatures and have clear photographs that aren’t blurry. People have been seeing these creatures everywhere.”

“I just want to go home and forget this ever happened. All I did was take some pictures.”

The darker haired man in the suit sighs. “These ‘changelings’, as you call them, may be a danger to the city. You did say you saw them downtown when that couple collapsed.”

The chopper blades die to a stop and everything is quiet again for a moment. “I saw the changelings do it! I saw them in the alleyway behind those poor people. They looked like they were trying to suck the life force out of them.

Doppel’s brow furrows at that. “We do not suck the life force from others…” Xena pokes him, telling him to be quiet.

“Why should we even believe you… this sounds like something a madman would say.” The other suited man says.

“How else would you explain those people just all of a sudden passing out. There has been other times it’s happened too.”

Doppel and Xena look at each other. “Other times? But we’ve only done it once… unless some of the others went off while we were asleep last night.”

“Uh.. Doppel. I think I’m going to sneeze.”

“No, Xena! We’ll get caught.”

“I’ll try to hold it in.”

“Let’s go, Mr. Johnson. We may need more info on this from you.”

Mr. Johnson sighs. “Alright. Hopefully whatever inf-” A small sneeze cuts him off. “What was that?”

Doppel covers her mouth with his hoof. “Stop!”

She sneezes again.

“It’s coming from over there sir.” The three men start to walk to the air conditioning unit.

Xena stops sneezing and she nods to Doppel and both of their horns light up and slowly they become invisible.

“Did you see that green glow!?” Mr. Johnson yells. “It’s them!” They quicken their pace to the other side of the unit. Just to see the green glow disappear.

“Where’d they go? Nothing can just disappear like that.” The dark haired man says.

“Mr. Johnson, didn’t you say they could turn invisible?”

“Yeah! I saw them do it when the people collapsed!”

Oh no… Don’t walk closer… Don’t walk closer… Xena and Doppel start to panic, which is starting to break their concentration on the spell.

The dark haired one holds out one of his hands and starts to move closer to them. Just as he is about to touch Doppel, Xena shoots forward and bites the man’s hand. “Ow! Son of a bitch bit me!” he screams.

“Whoa, are you bleeding?”

“What does that show ya” he holds his hand up. Two holes, blood pouring out from both. He reaches for his side and pulls out a pistol. “I know you’re there! Just show yourself, and I will consider not shooting you here now!”

“I’ll show you something alright!” Xena yells and jumps at the guy, uncloaking herself. She punches the guy, breaking his glasses and knocking him out.

“Stop! I will shoot!” The other man yells. He presses a button on the device on his suit. “I’m gonna need some backup; those creatures that people have seen are real… and they just bit Tom.”

Xena gets off of Tom. “You don’t know anything about us. Stop making assumptions.”

“Xena, Lets go! We don’t have time for this! We need to get back to the others!” Doppel yells.

“So your name is Xena, and you can speak English? Oh, this is grand,” The unnamed man says.

“Just go Doppel! I’ll deal with this guy!” She starts to charge at the human.

“That’s right. Come closer…” The man pulls his pistol up.

Just as Xena starts to charge more humans storm from a small building on the roof, all pointing their guns at her. She stops dead in her tracks. “Go, Doppel! Don’t worry about me!”

Doppel looks over at her, still invisible. “But I do worry, I care about you…” He sighs and buzzes off away from the roof, leaving Xena to the mercy of the men.

I care about you too Doppel.

“Zap it!” someone yells, then everything goes black for Xena as she falls to the ground.

Doppel uncloaks himself and flies to the rooftop with the others. Tears fall from his eyes. “We need to find Queen Chrysalis. Right now.”

[End of Chapter 7]

Chapter 8: Exposing the Truth

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Chapter 8

Exposing the Truth

Where am I? It’s so cold…Did Doppel escape in time? Xena opens her eyes and immediately winces at the blinding light glowing across her face. As her vision adjusts to the light, she can make out her captors. The humans start to speak to one another as she flicks her ears to hear more clearly.

“It looks very weak, and it’s getting weaker by the minute,” one of them say as he puts a few patches with wires coming from it on to Xena. Another come with a needle and she tries to squirm away. “Shh, shh, don’t worry, it’ll only hurt for a sec. We just need a blood sample.”

The needle touches her chitin and stops, he puts more pressure on it, but no progress. “I can’t pierce the skin. Is that even skin?” He taps on it. “Hmm, some kind of shell. I don’t want to damage it.

One of the agents walks up to the table and jerks the needle out of the scientist’s hand. He raises it above his head and jams into Xena’s chitin as a small yelp slips out from her. “There, that wasn’t so hard.”

“Where’s Doppel…?” she asks quietly then passes out.

“Who’s Doppel?” One of them ask.

“What?” The scientist glanced up from the monitor.

“Doppel. It just said something about someone named Doppel,” the agent points at the changeling.

“Don’t worry about it right now, it’s asleep. We need to let it rest. The boss told us to take care of it, not kill it or drive it to exhaustion.”

“We need to go. Now!” Claude says as he rushes off to flag down the waitress. He grabs a twenty out of his wallet and places it in her hand. “I’m sorry, but something came up. Here is some money for the drinks and the trouble. Keep whatever change there is.”

“Oh… well, okay then. Hope everything is okay,” she says as she takes the bill.

He nods his head and runs to Chrysalis and Tim again. I hope so too. “Okay guys, let’s go.”

“Do you have any idea where they might be? Can’t you like sense them or something?” Tim asks her on their way to the car.

“If I could sense them, we would have found them already. I can try to sense them, but it will take a lot out of me if I do,” Chrysalis looks at him, rolling her eyes. “My magic is quite limited.”

“I guess we just need to keep a lookout for the changelings, watch the skies and whatnot.” Claude says as he opens the back passenger door and lets Chrysalis in first.

“I just hope they are okay,” she sighs. Claude climbs in after her and wraps an arm around her.

“I promise you, we will find them, and we will fix this. No matter what it takes, I will be there with you every step of the way.”

“Thanks, Claude. For everything.” She nuzzles into him. I hope I haven’t gone too far with this. I couldn’t stand for him to get hurt because of my stupidity.

It takes everything Doppel has to fly back to the others. He fights the urge to go back and kill those humans for taking Xena. He looks for another building and lands. Anger rises in him. Damn humans! Why did you take my Xena! He stomps the ground as tears form in his eyes.

“Doppel!” Arcelia yells as he zooms down to his leader. “Finally we found you. We’ve been searching for a while now. Where’s Xena?” Doppel doesn’t look at them, he just stares at the ground.

“They took her…” he whispers. Before anyone can say anything he screams out “THEY TOOK HER!” The echo of his shout can be heard around them then fade to silence. “We...should find the Queen,” he says.

“But I thought we didn’t want anything to do with her since she betrayed the plan.” Asura speaks up.

“Well, maybe it’s time we finally said something to her about it. I think it’s also time that Claude knew the truth about what’s going on. Come on. I have a good idea of where they are at.” Doppel gets up and buzzes his wings and takes off in the direction of Claude’s house.

The hum of the wheels on the road is heard as Claude and Chrysalis look up toward the red sky in search of a group of black specks. A few times they thought they found them but it was only birds in the high sky. T

“Suns about to set.. We should head back home before it gets too dark, we can’t see them when it’s night. I’m sure they’re fine. They’re tough creatures,” Claude says reassuringly.

“Yeah, you’re right, but I don’t know how tough those guys in the suits are,” Chrys says.

Tim takes a glance through the rearview mirror and notices a black van behind them. “I think we’re being followed.”

“What do you mean?” Chrysalis asks as she starts turning her head to the back window.

“Don’t look back at them. They’re probably just going the same way we are. We don’t need them to stop us.”

Chrysalis turns to Claude and leans into him, a bit scared.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Claude looks to Chrysalis reassuringly.

Tim looks at the dashboard and notices the fuel light is on, then looks at the tank to see it sitting close to empty. “We need to stop at a gas station. I’m almost out of gas.” He pulls into the nearest station, and the van behind them drives on. “See, they weren’t following us.”

Chrysalis turns around and looks at the vehicle driving away. “Somehow, I believe they were.”

“Oh, you’re worrying too much Chrys.” Tim says. “Why would they be following us anyway? We haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Well, I’m kind of on edge you know?!” she yells and slumps in her seat. “Stupid changelings don’t understand anything.”

Claude and Tim stare at her. “What was that?” they say in unison.

“What?” she looks up at them, not realizing she spoke in the changeling language. She never spoke it aloud very much; only in super stressful situations. The thought of strange government agents nabbing her and her minions up for whatever they wished is enough to put her on edge. She just wants to find them and get back to Claude’s, to talk to them without interruptions from anyone, human or otherwise.

“You were making odd hissing and clicking noises.”

“It’s just the changeling language. I barely use it at all anyway since it’s just easier to speak Equestrian, or English, to them.”

“So why use it in the first place?”

“I only really use it when either the changelings don’t understand English, or when I’m really frustrated at something.”

“I would think, that a world where most creatures there spoke Equestrian, all of the changelings would speak it as well.”

Chrysalis’ face scrunches up. “Back in Equestria, there isn’t just one hive, though most like to think that, we have different hives in different regions. and not everywhere speaks Equestrian. Hence the name Equestrian… Doesn’t this world have other languages?”

“Oh, well yeah…” Tim says, feeling really stupid. Claude just stares at him, trying to not laugh at his stupidity. Tim silently leaves the car quietly and goes to pump the gas.

Claude turns and looks out the window for a moment and sees a familiar car pull into the station. The car parks and sits there and no one gets out. He turns back to Chrys and wraps an arm around her.

“I’m sorry that I am acting like this, Claude. I’m just so worried about what they might do to them, if they find them.” She snuggles into him. Claude stays silent and strokes her hair, letting her know it will be alright.

Silence follows for a moment, then a loud thunk is heard, making them both jump, then they hear laughing from Tim. “You guys are so jumpy.”

Chrysalis laughs also and shakes her head. Claude chuckles a bit with them. Tim finishes up at the pump and hops back in the car. “Alright I think it’s time we got you two home, and me as well.”

“Agreed.” Claude says, he looks to Chrysalis who nods. As they leave the station, Claude looks back at the car, which was still sitting there as it was a minute ago. He shrugs it off and nuzzles closer to Chrysalis, squeezing her hand.

The trip back was a quiet one, Chrysalis just leaned against her window, holding on to Claude’s hand, watching the scenery pass by as they went. Claude had his head leaned back and his eyes closed. Tim takes a glance in the mirror and looks closely at the van behind them. The driver notices him looking and they slow down to take the next turn. Tim looks back at the road and shrugs.

“We’re here,” Tim says as he stops the car. Chrysalis jerks Claude awake and they exit the vehicle.

“Thanks for all that you’ve done, Tim.” Chrysalis says giving him a hug through the car window. Claude fist bumps him after Chrysalis comes away. “Yeah, thanks man.”

“Well, we aren’t done yet. I am still here to help when needed.” He smiles at them both. “See you tomorrow. Oh, just wanna say, make sure to keep your doors locked, I’ve been noticing a lot of weird people around since the news broadcast.”

“We will, Tim. Thanks again,” Claude says as they start to the front door. They wave as Tim exits the driveway and go on down the road to his place.

Claude fiddles with his keys and opens the door to what he expected an empty living room. But nothing is ever what he expects. Standing there in the middle of the room, the changelings they spent all day looking for, and they don’t look very happy. Chrysalis closes the door behind them and wisps back to her normal self. Her eyes tear up as she runs to the group reaching out to give them a hug, but they don’t fly up and back away from her.

“Xena’s missing,” Doppel says. “She was captured by those men in black suits. We need your help to find them, Queen.”

“Claude and I will he-”

“I said your help, not this human’s help, the mind boggled servant you have.”

“Wait, what?” Claude questions. “Mind boggled? What do you mean?”

“Doppel, don’t you dare say another word!” Chrysalis glares at the changeling.

“Oh, you mean he doesn’t know. Surely he should know what spell was cast on him.”

“Spell? Chrysalis, what’s he talking about?”

Her eyes start to tear up. “Please, Doppel… don’t.”

“So you mean this is all a lie?” he looks to the Queen.

“Yes and no. The spell was correct. But it was because I was scared! Scared that you would hate me when you saw me!”

“That’s a lie and you know it, Queen.”

“Wh- But it’s true!”

“You used it so he wouldn’t run away at first sight, so then you could use him for food.”

“You told me that I was not just food to you. You said I was more than that!” Claude yells in disbelief.

“Well, apparently, she lied. See, the plan was the whole time, she would feed off your love, and then when she was powerful enough again, we would take over this world and not fail like last time.”

“ENOUGH!” Chrysalis yells, she snarls at Doppel, wisps of green flow from her eyes and horn. “That might have been true when we came here! But not anymore! I have changed. I am tired of our kind seen as an evil race!”

Claude looks away and stays silent and moves over to one of the chairs and sits down. “You… wanted to use me?”

“At first, but not anymore! I don’t want to lose you.”

“Get out…” He gets up and starts to walk to his room.

As Chrysalis watches him walk away, her lips quiver and her voice starts to tremble. “Please Claude, do-” the sound of the bedroom door slamming cuts her off.

She looks to Doppel who stands there emotionless. “We have a changeling to save, Queen.” he says. “Forget about him, he’s nothing.”

She raises her hoof at him, ready to just pummel him to dust. Just as she readies herself to strike the changeling, a loud, rhythmic banging comes from the door. The room fell silent. No one moves from their position. The place was so quiet, Claude could hear Chrysalis’ heart beating rapidly. The bedroom door swings open as the knocking resumes. Claude walks to the door, getting progressively agitated at the disturbance. His face was red and his eyes were puffy. He ignores the changelings as he passes. Chrysalis and the changelings scoot out of the living room into the kitchen where they can’t be seen.

Claude reaches the door as he’s shouting, “Will you wait, you impatient, son of bit-” He opens the door, frowning at the guest. His mood immediately changes when he saw who the guests were. Two men in black suits.

“Are you Claude Holt?” one of the agents asked.

Claude starts shaking a little as he answers, “Y-yeah. Why? What do you want?”

“We need you to come with us. We’ve had reports of strange creatures roaming about and would like to ask you a few questions.” The second agent said with intimidation from his voice.

“W-what do you mean?! I wouldn’t be able to help you because I have no idea what you’re talking about!” He tries slamming the door in front of them, but one of the agents slides his foot between the entryway and Claude, pushing it back with one hand and forcing his way in. Claude backs away, looking for something to defend himself with.

“No, you can’t just come into my home without a warrant! I know my rights!” He looks to his left and grabs a lamp from the end table and raises it to attempt to strike the agent. Before he could swing, the agent pulls out a tranquilizer gun and shoots him in the neck. His knees buckle as he drops the lamp and falls over. As Claude fell to the ground, the other agent picks up his unconscious body and carries him to the car.

“You go inside and see if you can find anything.” The agent says as he struggles to get Claude in the car.

The changelings scatter and turn invisible as Chrysalis changes into her human form, but only to have one of the agents noticing her.

“You, don’t move! Put your hands where I can see them!”

Chrysalis turns around and tries to make a run for the the door, but the agent pulls out his gun and shoots a dart in her neck, incapacitating her. “Claude!” she cries out as she gets closer to passing out. “H-help…” I love you… Darkness covers her vision as she passes out.

The agent picks up Chrysalis’ unconscious body and takes her to the car. As he puts her in there with Claude, he turns to his partner. “I noticed something off about the girl in there.”

“What do you mean?” he asked as they both got in the car.

“I could have sworn I saw a green glow from her or something. It’s like she was changing her form or something.”

“That’s crazy, you’ve been working too much.” he laughs.

The agent growls. “Even if that’s the case, I know what I saw, but we’ll find out soon enough.”

[End of Chapter 8]

The Queen's New World

by Moon_Skritch

Chapter 1: A New Realm

Chapter 2: The Party

Chapter 3: Learning More

Chapter 4: Visitors

Chapter 5: The Others

Chapter 6: On Their Own

Chapter 7: Discovered

Chapter 8: Exposing the Truth