Short Stories and Tales.

        Varch had expected his trip to the Royal Kitchens to be a average one, a few greetings of the servants and guards and maybe some explaining to the Chef about his sudden need of all things sweet and liquid.He had not, in fact, expected a certain group of six mares to notice him, and he had hoped, against all odds, that he could pass them without stopping.

        He had no such luck

        “Where were you?” exclaimed a very angry Twilight Sparkle, he had left his room in the medical wing as soon as he could, and maybe he had forgotten to tell anyone about that. “We were worried about you, you weren’t at the medical wing, nor in your own room.”

        “It’s nice to see ya too, Purple,” he got to his knees and extended his arms as everyone converged on a group hug “and Ah’m sure Ah’ve said that Ah hate staying in those rooms, them doctors, they give me the creeps.”

Better now than never “And Ah was with our guest there, she woke up just now.”

        His statement was first met with confusion, and then a look of shock and disgust spread through the face of most of the ponies, the first one to recover was Rarity, “Darling, I can not believe you were with such a deplorable… thing,” she took a quick look at his eyes, her horn glowing slightly, “but you don’t look like you’ve been affected by her.”

        After the incident, most Unicorn guards were taught a simple spell, one that could notice if one’s mind was affected superficially in any way.Unsurprisingly both Rarity and Twilight had learnd it too.

        “She wouldn’t be able to control him, but I still can’t understand why you were there.” Twilight spoke.He simply chuckled,and started walking again.

        “Ya’ll say like it’s the end of the world or sumthing, Ah went there to check her, see how she was holding.To my surprise she didn’t take long to wake up,”he turned a corridor, the open doors of the Royal Kitchen coming into view, “and Ah need to get sumthing for her to eat,not like i’m gonna let she starve or anything.”

        The rest of the trip and subsequent acquisition of food was spent in small chat, questions such as how everyone was doing after that horrible day and such being the main topics.The ponies seemed to stray away from the fight in the Throne Room, something that Varch wasn’t surprised.Some of them had seen him fight before, small training skirmishes with the guards, mostly to train himself against equine opponents, but nothing was akin to the brutality and efficiency he had displayed on the day prior.

        “Princess Celestia will want to talk with you, and to her too, she asked us to attend to her afternoon tea, and I would like to extend that invitation to you too.” Twilight was the one to break his musings, they had spent some time in the Kitchens, courtesy of Pinkie and a impromptu cupcake baking spree, “I’m not sure if the same would apply to… Chrysalis, but I don’t think bringing her would be good.”

        “Ah don’t like tea, so tell her to get me some coffee and Ah’ll be there, but for now Ah think Ah need to go feed our guest.” Varch said, holding onto a tray with a spread of what he hoped that the Changeling Queen could eat, and a few assorted cupcakes,”and Ah don’t think she would like to go anyway, not even if we were to force her.”

        Twilight nodded, and with a last hug and farewell he and the group departed.The way back to Chrysalis room was silent, and he spent the time thinking on what Celestia would want to hear from him.But the Sun Princess wasn’t his main concern, what he was truly afraid of was a certain Night Alicorn.

        Chrysalis was annoyed.She hadn’t been able to get even a few minutes of rest before the door burst open and a stallion unicorn doctor entered, blabbing about something or other.Either he was dumb or forgot that she could hear, because as soon as he had looked upon the Queen he had the displeasure of seeing a very annoyed scowl.After a hasty introduction, the doctor, named Mercury, started asking her anything ranging from nutrition to body structure, as if she knew everything about her species.

        Not only that but she had noticed something that got her on edge.She couldn’t sense any emotions from the stallion, everytime she tried to scan him, her spell would rebound as if hitting a rubber shield, most likely a preventive measure against her.She was about to not so politely ask him to leave when the door burst open, and that human, Varch, entered the room.

        “Sir, if you would please leave our patie-”

        “Eh.”

        “Sir, please, i was assigned to-”

        “EH.”

        She could only watch as Mercury got more and more aggravated by the antics of the man, his sentences would be cut short by the human every time.It took a few minutes, but finally the doctor left, irate, and muttering something about insufferable humans and dumb assignments.Chrysalis mantained a neutral impression, but she was quite relieved from needing to spend more time with the annoying medic.

        She noticed,as the human began approaching her, that he was carrying a tray not unlike the one he had left with, on top of the silvery surface were various glass cups, each holding different colored liquids, and a ceramic mug with steam coming out from it.She eyed it as he laid down the tray on the nightstand, and afterwards sat on the edge of the bed.

        “Howd’ya doing?”

        The first thing that she noticed was that the room was suddenly more lively, the human wasn’t protected by the same shield the doctor was using, and the difference was perceptible.A Changeling can passively measure, if a bit imprecise, the emotions and feelings of those around themselves, and when they can’t do it, it tends to trip many alarms and flags.

        It’s either the Changeling losing their powers, or the being not having emotions.

        “Ya gonna keep staring at me or what?” he asked, a small grin etched in his face, “ya look like you just saw a ghost or something, staring into the nothing.”

        She shook her head, thoughts like those weren’t the best to have at that moment, and showing any type of weakness may put her on a disadvantage.”It’s nothing, it’s just that I wasn’t expecting you to come back soon.”

        Varch laughed, and pointed at the tray, “Ah brought those to ya, first things first, do ya drink coffee?”

        Chrysalis looked at the tray, the ceramic mug contained the dark liquid that she knew fairly well, she wasn’t a fan of it, but apparently that pink Princess was, and she had to drink it every morning, for the sake of keeping her disguise.”I would rather not, it is too bitter for my tastes,” she said, remembering the disgusting earthy taste of the drink.

        “Well, more to me then,” the human went to his feet, and took the mug in his hands, sipping it, he let out a content sigh of satisfaction.”the rest are juices, not sure wich is wich, or of what they are made of, lost count after Pinkie threw a cupcake at my face.” he shrugged, and moving to the door he took a last glance at Chrysalis, and then to a clock on the wall, “Ah need to get moving,got an appointment with the Princesses, so see ya later Ah guess, and eat up, ya’re too skinny for yer own right.” And with that, the human left her, again, to her own devices.

        It didn’t take long for her to drink everything, and after finishing her lunch, or was it dinner by then? she took a last glance at the curtains, the sun pouring through the curtains was a warm reddish orange, setting the entire room in a comfortable hue of light.She let a heavy sigh, the time spent with him recovered some of her magic, even if she wasn’t actively feeding, she still syphoned the surrounding energy.She was feeling better, somewhat full, and very, very tired.

The Princesses, she thought, he’s going to see them,no doubt to talk about me, to say that I’m awake.It’s a shame, truly, even if he says they won’t kill me I can’t expect anything good coming out of this situation.She turned and turned, until she was fully covered by the heavy covers and comfortable enough in the mattress.I need to escape, somehow, and it needs to be quick, for tomorrow is my deadline.