Unchangeable

Chapters

Unyielding
Unpredicted
Unacceptable
Untold
Untranslated

Unyielding

Unchangeable

Chrysalis awoke the next morning to the sun streaming through the slightly opened wooden shutters. The light splashed against her face, warming it and making her feel a little stronger. She raised a hoof and brushed it against the thin streak of light.

A hoof - she had a hoof. The transformation had worked. Chrysalis laughed - the transformation had worked! Soon Equestria would tremble before her once more, but for now she had to play along. She was still far too weak to fight, or to lead, and it would take time for her people to regroup.

She pulled herself out of the bed, and immediately collapsed to the floor. Mentally delaying the conquest of Equestria a few more days, she struggled to her hooves, resting against the side of the bed to try and catch her breath. She needed a mirror.

Reaching out with her horn, she realised she... didn't have a horn. Nor wings. Fantastic, she thought, she was trapped in the most useless body she could have been put into. At least hiding away in the body of that damnable pretty pink princess she'd been able to keep both her wings and her magic, but if she used either here she'd just give herself away, and right now that was one thing she couldn't afford to do.

She needed a mirror. She needed to see herself. Without knowing what form she had taken, she couldn't maintain it for long, and the haste with which she'd transformed had left her disoriented.

Yet, there didn't appear to be a single mirror in the room. Chrysalis had been many ponies from loving wives to faithful husbands over the years and had seen just how different ponies could be from each other. Mirrors were the one constant, everypony had a mirror. Not so, here.

Chrysalis decided to explore, and stumbled towards the door. She wasn't used to moving while so weak, but she didn't have much choice - she could gain strength later, but for now she needed that mirror.

The door was problematic. Chrysalis, much to her shame, hadn't really ever bothered with doors. When disguised, she normally chose a unicorn to target, simply for conveniences sake, and as her own form she tended to just knock them down. More fun that way.

"This is absurd," Chrysalis snapped, and banged on the door with all her might, figuring that whatever mechanism that kept it closed couldn't stand up to her power. It held, easily, the strong wood absorbing her blasts as it was designed to do. "Agh! What sort of prison is this!"

"Hey!" Chrysalis heard, calling from below. A few moments later there were some frantic hoofsteps, sounding very much like something was running up the stairs to meet her. "Hey, calm down, miss! Nobody's keeping you prisoner here!" Longest Pine exclaimed, easily pushing the door open with a hoof. It opened inwards, not outwards. Of course.

"I... ah, I was looking for a mirror," Chrysalis explained, tainting her voice with just the right amount of confusion and indecision to give off an air of being lost, with just a hint of weakness and a dash of fear. "I'd very much like to wash."

"Oh," Pine coughed, slightly embarrassed. "I haven't had a mirror in..." he drifted off, losing himself in thought for a moment, "oh, years. Not since... well, you don't care about that. There's one in the bathroom, it's small but it should do."

He lead the way, and Chrysalis followed behind as best she could. Her steps were still shaky and even the small journey left her short of breath. She was in no state to do anything notable, not yet.

As soon as she was inside the smallish bathroom, Longest Pine closed the door behind her, sealing her inside. He didn't mean it like that, no doubt, but the closed door was a more impenetrable barrier than the one around Canterlot. Never mind, Chrysalis knew the door would be opened for her when she needed it - she did, at least, still have some modicum of power over at least one other.

The mirror was tiny, barely a foot across and quite grubby. Still, Chrysalis could see herself - or, "Chris" as her new persona was to be called. She'd never made one from scratch before, always preferring to take something that already existed, but she knew nothing about who used to hold this body.

Her coat was a golden brown, and her mane - though unkempt - was a dull silver-grey. Her body looked ravaged, probably from her difficult transformation, and every part of it looked subpar, even for a near-useless earth pony body. She shifted around to see at least some of her side and rear, and the sight dismayed her further. The copy had been very much incomplete.

Her tail ended halfway. Just ended - it wasn't burned, or frayed, it just stopped. Worse, her golden brown coat continued unblemished over her entire body. No cutie mark. Chrysalis laughed quietly and bitterly - maybe this body's special talent was sticking out like a sore hoof at the one time she needed to be stealthy above anything else.

She reached down and pulled the tap, letting a slow flow of ice cold water trickle out into the sink in front of her. As she did her best to wash, she considered her options.

She knew very little about Equestria as it was, she knew nothing about her own falsified past, and she had no real plan other than "Get Better; Get Revenge." As such, she decided that the only sane thing to do would be to play along and try to feed until she was well enough to make it to the nearest town, where it should be quite easy to replace somebody. Perhaps a small child this time, youthful love might grant her a few of youth's healing properties.

Chrysalis began to construct "Chris" in her mind. She knew what she looked like, now, so assuming she could feed regularly staying in this form would be trivial. Personality-wise, Chrysalis had no idea. She was, by necessity, a good actress, but she had never before needed to create her own character.

Something close to herself, then. A little nicer, because ponies didn't tend to appreciate fun things like cynicism, nastiness, or bitchiness, but close enough to her own personality that she wouldn't have to keep wondering what she should say and could act naturally. An amnesiac seemed fitting given that she legitimately couldn't remember anything that could come in useful fitting in here, and that would give her plenty of excuses for being different and out of place.

Fifteen minutes later, Chris knocked quietly on the door. Her mane was, though still ruffled, at least clean, and her smile could melt the hearts of even the strongest man. So she didn't have most of the tools in her deceptive tool kit - her smile was unstoppable, and the pawns of her changeling army spoke of it with awe.

"Thanks," she said, lacing her voice with gratitude, "I needed that."

"You feel up to breakfast yet? I've got some hay on downstairs." Longest Pine asked, holding the door open for Chris to leave.

She held back a gag - pony food always scratched and scraped, it never felt quite right, and it was always disgusting. "That would be lovely." she thanked, not faking the weakness or hunger in her voice. She was starving, but it wasn't the food she'd be eating.

Longest Pine started down the stairs, and Chris followed. She slipped on the third step, and tumbled the rest of the way, ending up at the bottom in a rough pile, lying on top of Pine. "Ow," she whispered, "Sorry. I'm still weak."

Longest Pine smiled and pushed her off, helping her to her hooves with infinite patience. "Ain't your fault, miss, you're lucky to be alive."

He lead her through to the kitchen, letting her rest against his body as they walked and holding her up until she could sit on one of his hard wooden seats.

Silently, he brought two plates over to the table, setting one down in front of her. He asked for nothing in return. Chrysalis felt her shaking hooves stabilise a little as she fed, enjoying the meagre snack of a minor kindness. There was a time, she thought, when she gobbled stallions like this up in one bite, sucking their energy out in a single bite and leaving them for dead. How she wished she had the power to do that now.

"Are you okay?" he asked a few moments later, noticing the hungry look in her eyes, and the way she seemed to be staring straight into his soul.

She shook her head and replied "Oh, I was just thinking, this all looks so... delicious," before taking a bite. It was awful. It tasted completely foul, and Chrysalis wanted nothing more than to spit it in his face. Chris, however, thanked him for it honestly. Or at least, it sounded honest.

"I'm glad, miss."

"Please, call me Chris."

"Okay, Chris. Why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

Ah, the question she'd been dreading. Chrysalis could probably throw together a half-believable tale out of pieces of other roles she'd played, but under the circumstances, playing dumb seemed best. "I, uh... I don't know. The first thing I remember is seeing you walk in through that barn door. I can't remember anything before that. Anything at all."

Her voice was a mixture of anguish and surprise, carefully constructed to be as disarming as it could be. She needed the farmer to accept her as harmless and in need of care if she was to take him for everything he had.

"Well, ain't that a crying shame," he sighed, shaking his head. "I was looking forward to getting to know you. I guess we'll just have to do that together, eh?

"There ain't much to tell about me. I work the farm here. I do hay most of the year, but my real passion is carpentry - problem is trees take so long to grow that I always have to wait. This here house is my life's work, y'see. Every year I build another piece, and the rest I sell.

"I'm not so bad off, got plenty of food and plenty of space. More than enough for one man. Stay as long as you like, Chris. Once you're better, you could help out if you need a few bits to get you started again. There ain't much to do here right now, but I'm sure I can think of something for you."

"Thank you," Chris smiled, "I owe you everything. I couldn't possibly thank you enough."

And don't worry, Chrysalis thought. She'd stay exactly as long as she wanted.

Unpredicted

Unchangeable

"Hey, I don't suppose there's anything I could help out with, is there?" Chris asked a few days later. She had done just about everything she could to stave off boredom, but several days of nothing but lounging around and reading subpar pony literature had left her bored and lethargic.

Chrysalis shared these feelings, though she had an ulterior motive - Pine was working most of the day, and that meant she was alone. When she was alone, she couldn't feed. When she couldn't feed, she grew bored and lethargic, and didn't recover.

The farm she'd found herself in was both a blessing and a curse. The farmer had a map, and had showed her where she was - the nearest settlement was too long to walk, and a decent flight. She couldn't hope to make the journey until she was fairly well recovered. On the other hand, that did mean that she was unlikely to be discovered while she couldn't fight back - bar the fortnightly mail delivery, Pine said he barely saw another soul.

He was starved of contact and affection - easy prey. Chrysalis would have felt bad for taking advantage of such a defenceless and kind pony, were that not exactly what she lived to do.

"I'm sure I can find you something, Chris, why don't we start tomorrow?" Longest Pine replied, with a smile. It was like he was honestly grateful she wanted to help, and didn't consider it repayment for any of his kindness at all. Tasty.

"I'd like that." Chris replied, before turning back to her book. Pine had many books, all of them on the subject of woodworking. Chrysalis would remember this stallion for a long time as an example of exactly why ponies needed to be enslaved - she didn't understand how they managed to get through the day, never mind run a successful kingdom. Everything they did was so boring. Playing little miss nice was killing her, even if she had to do it to get her strength back up.

The following morning, Chrysalis awoke in the guest bed, as she had for the past few days. After her initial welcome, the farmer had suggested she might be more comfortable in a room less cluttered by his memories - he even found an old mirror to put in there. Chris thanked him honestly for it, Chrysalis was slightly irritated she didn't get to share his bed. Feeding is never easier than when they're sleeping.

Unlike the previous few days, she was woken up far too early by somebody else's hoof. "It's an early start, Chris, you still up for it?" Longest Pine asked, the expression on his face showing he was perfectly fine if she wasn't recovered enough to help.

Chrysalis took this as a challenge, and Chris assured him she was fine. "Of course, I'm happy to help, Pine! Just give me a few minutes to get ready and I'll be straight down."

"Alright then, take your time. There's no rush, there ain't a great deal to do."

He left, and went downstairs to wait while Chrysalis prepared herself. A few moments later she realised she didn't have anything to prepare - she was too used to being nobility, or royalty. A little sheepishly, she managed to prise open the door and went down to join Pine.

"So, how can I help?" Chris chirped, with just the right amount of eagerness to give the impression she wasn't doing it because she felt she should. "Where do I start?"

"Well, today we're gonna pull up some of those carrots, it's time for a good harvest. Shouldn't be too much work, but it'll go faster with 2 pairs of hooves." Pine explained. It sounded quite amazingly dull.

As they walked towards the carrot field, they passed several of the barns. Chrysalis looked up at the one she'd crashed into, and noted that the hole had already been repaired - though it wasn't perfect, and the repairs were fairly obvious, Pine clearly had some skill.

More interesting was the other barn. "Hey, what's in that one?" she asked as they went by.

Longest Pine's face immediately grew into a grin, and he dashed over to the barn doors to pull them open. "This here's my pride and joy, Chris. Ain't she a beauty?"

Chrysalis had absolutely no idea what she was looking at. Some sort of giant cart? "What... is that?" she asked, not having to fake the confusion.

"She's a rail-less train. Wood burning engine, wheels with rough tracks so she can drive over the hills here, enough space for a dozen ponies to fit inside, and she can pull 15 horsepower if you really push 'er." Pine explained, in awe.

"Ooh!" Chrysalis chirped. That sounded a lot more fun than carrots, "Can we try it out?"

Longest Pine's face fell. "'fraid not, Chris. She burns through wood like nothing else, I ain't had reason to take her for a spin in years. One day, though."

Damn, that had sounded interesting. It made sense that even when ponies did things that weren't mind-bogglingly dull, they wouldn't do them often. "Oh, what a shame," Chrysalis sighed, "I suppose we should go and get those carrots, then?"

"Oh, of course. This way!" Pine answered, before leading the way to the back of his farm, behind the grass fields and next to the growing trees where he grew a wide variety of produce. "Just throw 'em in this basket and we can clean them when we get back to the house."

Seemed easy enough, Chrysalis mused.

How could pulling carrots out of the ground be so difficult? Chrysalis found herself resting, exhausted, against a fence, with a new-found appreciation for how creatures not powered by the love of dozens of innocent creatures lived. She hated it. It was sweaty, tiring, and difficult.

"Oh, you'll get used to it." Pine laughed, handing her a cup filled to the brim with water.

"Thanks." Chrysalis replied, hoping very much that she wouldn't have to get used to it. The water helped sooth her body almost as much as the kindness of giving it, and she felt a little better.

"Well, I think that's all of them. You did great, Chris, especially since you couldn't walk not three days ago!" Pine encouraged, "Think you're up to helping me tug these baskets back?"

Chrysalis didn't, but she wasn't about to be outdone by her own prey. "Sure!" Chris answered, pulling herself over to the basket and yanking it onto her back. The journey to his home was taken in silence, the weight of several dozen carrots being surprisingly potent.

By the time they made it into the kitchen, Chrysalis was all but ready to collapse. She hated it, she was used to razing villages with a thought, to taking what she wanted without resistance or worry - not collapsing to the ground after carrying a basket of vegetables a few hundred meters. Lesser species did that kind of thing, not a changeling.

Chrysalis didn't have much say in the matter, however, as her body decided for her, and everything went black.

"Chris! Chris, are you okay?"

Chrysalis couldn't feel her legs. The farmer's voice seemed so far away, and she was resting on something hard and cold. She thought. Chrysalis couldn't feel much of anything - maybe she'd overexerted herself a little.

Suddenly, she noticed a spark off in the distance, catching her attention. Focussing on it, she watched it grow in her mind until she could see it for what it was - the hivemind. The farmer's worry for her was giving her enough strength to sense it, maybe even reconnect.

She dare not try - she was still too weak to make the journey to meet them, and she knew that if she gave her position away they would find her and destroy the farm, and the farmer with it. She still needed him. The knowledge that at least some of her children were still alive was happily received, though - Chrysalis couldn't destroy Equestria single handedly, as much as she might like to.

"Chris, can you hear me?" a voice asked, cutting through the darkness and bringing her back into conciousness. "Are you okay?"

"I... yeah, I'm okay. I think," Chris responded, lifting her head from the cold stone floor. "What happened?"

"You just fell. I tried to catch you, but you were too far ahead. You shouldn't push yourself like that, Chris, and I shouldn't have let you, I'm sorry."

Chrysalis silently laughed - taking advantage of this stallion was almost too easy. "It's not your fault, Pine, I thought I could do it." she apologised. Immediately, she mentally slapped herself - she'd broken character. That had been her response, not Chris' - she wasn't sure what worried her more, that she'd made such a rookie mistake, or that Pine hadn't noticed the difference.

She had to get back to the swarm. There was pillaging and destruction to be done, and without their queen, the swarm leadership would fall back to the next in line - and Chrysalis didn't trust him to stop when he needed to. Being an effective leader wasn't just about force, it was about leadership, deception, and being just ruthless enough to take only what you want without leaving the creatures you were preying on unable to give more later.

Just a few more days, maybe a week or two, and she should be strong enough to make the journey back. Chrysalis just hoped the swarm didn't do anything stupid until then - in their weakened state, the Equestrian Guard would be a legitimate threat. What they needed now was deception, not force, and she was the only one who could lead her armies to victory.

"Well, rest up, Chris, you'll need your strength if you want to try again tomorrow. We'll do something easier, I promise."

Unacceptable

Unchangeable

It was a week later, and Chrysalis was beginning to feel the strength return to her movements. She remained a shadow of her former self, but she was recovering. Soon she could rise up and regain the rest of her strength by taking Equestria back and draining the very life from its inhabitants.

Chrysalis knew she would be strong enough to leave and make the journey back to her children shortly. She still felt the comforting presence of the hivemind, but hadn't attempted to probe further. Even with her people's help, she didn't know how quickly she could recover without Pine.

"Got any threes?" Pine asked, looking at Chrysalis over the cards he held between his hooves. He and Chrysalis had spent the day doing some light farming work; The tree harvest was soon to begin, so all of the other work now was simply for sustenance. With Chrysalis joining him, he needed to farm more than previous years, but she was strong enough to help out now and the work went quickly.

To pass the time more enjoyably now that Chrysalis wasn't confined to her bed, Longest Pine had decided to teach her some simple card games. Chrysalis had never bothered with card games; They were the sort of thing fillies and colts did, and she was always too preoccupied on destroying the hopes and dreams of their family to sit down and play cards.

Chrysalis looked down at her cards. She had a two of clubs, a five of diamonds, a three of hearts, an ace of spades, and a queen of diamonds. She silently cursed fate, pulling the three out of her hooves and passing it to him.

How could such a simple game be so difficult? Chrysalis was losing, badly. That was unacceptable.

"How about a five, Chris?" Pine asked, grinning as if he knew he was only a few cards away from victory. Over the past week he had grown closer to Chris, and their conversations had gone from short practical snippets to longer, more in-depth discussions. Chrysalis had to admit she had no idea there were so many things to know about wood, and while it was still far from the most interesting thing in the world it wasn't completely without merit. Something akin to Pine's rail-less train could be a huge aid to the war effort.

"Nope, sorry!" Chrysalis chirped, lying through her teeth, "I guess you'll have to go fish!"

Longest Pine laughed, and moved to grab a card from the deck at the centre of the table.

Chrysalis awoke the next morning with a minor headache, in a messy bed. The night before had eventually ended in cider. While it normally wouldn't affect her, in her weakened state it was quite potent. The last thing she remembered was collapsing against the wooden table after a single mug. Pine must have carried her up and left her to rest.

Chrysalis pulled herself out of bed, groaning and cursing the whole way as every motion triggered another shooting pain through her head. "Never again," she moaned, staring herself in the mirror. She looked better than she had a week ago, but that wasn't difficult. Her coat was fuller, and bristled with life, but her mane and tail were frazzled and unkempt.

What Chris wouldn't give for a hairbrush right now.

Her tail was of particular interest. Chrysalis' disguises were near-perfect, and that meant replicating everything, down to a naturally growing tail. The sharp cut was beginning to soften as the hairs grew, leaving Chris looking less out of place. There was still the matter of her complete lack of cutie mark. Longest Pine had yet to mention that, though he couldn't possibly have missed it. Chrysalis supposed that she could wear some kind of clothing if she needed to travel among other ponies in this form, and shelved the problem away for later.

Even in her current state, where the simple act of walking across the wooden floor turned her normally quiet hooffalls into bangs and crashes, Chrysalis could easily best her arch-enemy: the bedroom door. It no longer posed a threat to her, and she pulled the handle down expertly before swinging the whole thing around on its hinges. Chrysalis laughed; An old Changeling certainly can learn new tricks.

She made her way down to the kitchen, ignoring everything that wasn't the path towards the sink as if she was wearing blinkers. She needed a drink of water. The tap proved no obstacle, and a quick nuzzle had a wet stream of water flowing down into the sink in no time. Chrysalis knelt down and began to lap up some of the water, not resting until she felt a little better.

Eventually, she yanked the plug from the sink, and watched as the remaining liquid flowed away. She felt a little better, and went to grab an apple from Pine's fruit basket. It was a quiet life, but Chris had found herself getting used to it. Chrysalis continually reminded her that she hated every minute of it.

As she sat next to the small dining table, munching on the apple, Chris noticed the note. Reflexively she moved to open it, before remembering that with an apple in her mouth her options were quite limited. Chrysalis cursed the limitations of the equine body and quickly finished off the apple.

The note was short and to the point. It was written in a hasty and unpractised scrawl, but was quite legible. If she squinted.

Chris,

Sorry about last night, I keep forgetting how weak you still are.

If you feel up to it when you wake, I'll be out in the shed working on the train. I know you like her, I'd be happy to show you how she works if you like.

Longest Pine

Chris smiled; It was true, she had expressed great interest in the rail-less train. The tactical advantages it could give in siege situations would be unmatched, at least assuming that there weren't other ponies around who could conjure a city-wide shield. That hadn't done wonders for Chrysalis' invasion plot.

More than that, though, Chris liked the way Pine smiled when he mentioned it. He clearly cared about it, and Chrysalis could feel the energy that produced. It had been a while since she'd had to forge a relationship as opposed to simply stealing it, but she remembered that a strong shared interest could work wonders, and let her siphon off some of that energy. Delicious.

Chris stopped to grab another apple before leaving and heading over to the barn. Longest Pine often complained she wasn't eating enough. It was completely false, of course, his compassion was all the food Chrysalis could need, but if a small meaningless gesture brought a smile to his face then what was the harm?

"Pine?" Chris called, walking into the barn. The doors had been open, so Pine couldn't be far away, but she couldn't see him. It was fairly dark inside, which didn't help matters. Chrysalis cursed the poor equine night vision and pressed on, searching through the open barn.

Chrysalis hadn't spent much time around the train, and was looking forward to an explanation of how it all worked, but something felt off about it. It was normally held a foot or so off of the ground by various wooden supports, but it seemed almost lopsided at the moment.

Chrysalis stopped. An almost imperceptible—at least to pony ears—noise alerted her to the fact that she wasn't alone. It was coming from the far side of the room, behind the train. An insistent scraping, like from some small creature, or from a larger creature that could move very little.

Another sound joined it a few moments later, sending chills through Chris' body. It was a pained grunt, in Longest Pine's voice. She dropped the apple as she ran, darting around the side of the train to see what was happening.

It was even darker on this side, but Chrysalis estimated the noise was coming from further down. She continued running, trying to catch the noise between hooffalls to ensure she hadn't run past it.

Suddenly, the ground beneath her became slick, and Chris fell. Her face hit the hard dirt ground, and she slid the next few feet on a foul smelling liquid. The shock threw her, but she recovered quickly.

"Pine?" she called, pulling her head away from the ground. She couldn't stand on her smooth pony hooves, and she could barely see with her weak pony eyes, but her ears worked just fine.

"C... Chris!" Pine quietly called back, his voice weak and pained as if every word was an effort. "Here!"

"What happened?!" Chrysalis asked, crawling over to the voice and feeling outwards with her hooves until she connected with Longest Pine's body. His coat was damp and slick with the same stuff that covered the floor. A little more feeling around suggested that he was pinned beneath the hard dirt and the harder train. Perhaps one of the supports had broken, or given way?

"Train fell... on me." Pine coughed as the effort overcame him for a moment. He continued, "Was working on the oil, accidentally broke the pipe. Got everywhere, support slipped and I couldn't get out fast enough. Sorry, Chris."

Sorry? What did he have to apologise for? It sounded like an accident and nothing more.

"What can I do?" Chris insistently asked, still almost blind due to the lack of light, and unable to stand due to the oil.

"Nothing, Chris. I'm sorry. I ain't got nothing that can lift this train, and by the time you could get help I'd be long gone. I'm bleeding pretty bad down here. I'm so sorry, Chris." he whispered, accepting his fate.

The train was a several dozen meter long construction of wood and metal. Perhaps a talented unicorn could lift it, or a team of trained pegasi. Chris looked around the barn, but it was too dark to see anything, never mind try and fashion something that could lift the train. She knew it was hopeless anyway, Pine was a far superior craftsman to herself. Chrysalis cursed a life of taking what she wanted, and never knowing how to build anything she needed.

"Pine? Is there anything I can do to...?" Chris whispered, resting a hoof against his cheek. There was no answer, he had fallen unconscious. He was still breathing, but barely. His last words had been thinking of her, and now he was dying in her arms.

His last words had been thinking of her. Chrysalis could taste the energy radiating out of him, and started to feast; It wasn't the first time somebody had died for her, and it probably wouldn't be the last. His energy was strong, and Chrysalis eagerly accepted it. It empowered her, and brought her strength back. She still couldn't compare to what she had once been, but with all that power she could vastly outstrip a single pony.

With Longest Pine unconscious, and probably already dead, there was no need to stick to her disguise so stringently. Her eyeballs twisted as she improved her night vision, allowing her to finally see. Claws grew from her hooves, giving her the grip she needed to stand once more.

Now she could see the situation properly. The support at the far side had been rotting, not that Pine could have hoped to notice it, and the oil had caused the base to move enough to break the whole structure, and send the whole thing crashing down.

The oil had already gotten everywhere by that point, and Pine had been unable to find grip to escape. He had, probably by luck, dived in the right direction, and the train had only pinned down his leg. Unfortunately, the metal was sharp and the cut was deep. It wasn't necessarily a fatal injury, so long as he got help soon. Chrysalis knew a lot about fatal injuries, she'd caused many.

Chrysalis turned to leave. She could easily make the journey back now, either walking or by regenerating her wings and taking flight. Longest Pine had served his purpose, she had no further use for him.

"I hate ponies," Chrysalis told herself, striding out of the barn. The claws on her hooves were covered in a mixture of blood and oil. Mostly oil, Pine had lost blood but not enough to be fatal yet. Not that that mattered, because Chrysalis was leaving him to die.

Leaving him to die, even though he'd saved her life, and then almost given his for her. Chris would never do that. Chrysalis would, in an instant, and she'd relish in it.

"Come on, you can save him. It won't hurt you at all," Chris insisted. She was an act, a personality construct designed for deception. Chrysalis could be rid of her in an instant, and yet she still remained.

"It gains me nothing either!" Chrysalis snapped, driving her foreclaws several inches into the ground with a petulant stomp.

"That tasted better than it should have, didn't it? You know why, don't you. He could be useful. Save him, please." Chris asked, almost begging. Chrysalis knew what she was talking about—the fact they were the same person helped with that—and knew that she was right. When a Changeling fed, most of the nutrients—for lack of a better word to describe the good stuff in care and affection—were stripped away by being aimed at something other than the changeling. Chris and Chrysalis were close enough to each other that that didn't happen. The energy of a dying creature was potent, but it had no right to restore her to this much power. Not unless Chrysalis had taken it unfiltered.

Chrysalis grunted, turning back and returning to the train. The sharp metal that had sliced through Pine's leg wasn't still embedded in him, and while the train pinning him down and cutting off his circulation was probably the only reason he was still breathing, lightly as that was, with medical attention he could still be saved.

Chrysalis screamed, putting every scrap of energy she could find into strengthening her muscles and pushing the train free. With a gasp, she gave it one last shove, sending it crashing to the ground as it tumbled from its other supports and lay sideways on the floor.

Chrysalis' claws retracted as she scooped Pine up and put him on her back. It wouldn't do to impale the stallion she was trying to save.

Two days later, Chrysalis awoke to a minor headache and a messy bed. Her limbs felt weak, and her mane was once more a tangled mess. Her form was once again fully equine, but the knowledge that she could regain the rest of her functionality if and when she needed it made that more bearable.

Giving energy was as easy as taking it for a Changeling. Chrysalis, unfortunately, simply had no practice in it. The burning feeling in the back of her mind and the shaking in her limbs reminded her of how it had felt to learn how to feed as a youngling fresh from her pod. Those pains had gone away, and she hoped these would too.

Longest Pine was recovering, slowly. His natural energies were getting stronger all the time and Chrysalis felt sure he would awaken soon enough. As it was, she was keeping herself busy tending to him and ensuring he got enough food and water to subsist on, as well as changing his bandages to ensure against infection.

In her free time, she harvested the crops to ensure that they wouldn't run out of food, and contemplated going back inside of the train barn. She hadn't done that yet. She had closed the door and left it all in there. She might not go back in at all.

The hivemind too was growing in strength, as if more of her children were joining. Soon it would be time for her to leave, but not yet. She still had time yet.

Longest Pine coughed. Chrysalis was at his side within seconds. He seemed to be waking up. He tried to speak, but simply ended up coughing again. Chrysalis pressed her hoof against his forehead.

"You're burning up," she whispered, "I'll go get you some water."

As she went to pour a glass, she felt her grip on her own energies begin to weaken once more. Sometimes it was hard to keep hold of it, especially when performing an act of kindness. Chrysalis ignored that; This was a selfish act, trying to keep him alive so she could feed more. Nothing else.

Still, she let that energy go free, hoping that he could put it to better use aiding his recovery. She returned with the water a few moments later, and pressed it to his lips, tipping it so that a little dribbled between them so he could drink.

"You okay?" she asked once he had finished, and seemed like he would be strong enough to talk.

"I can hardly move, Chris, but that's a damn sight better than I thought I was gonna be. Thank you, I don't know how you managed it but without you I'd be dead."

"Just repaying the favour." Chrysalis smiled.

"Nah, I just found you. I couldn't leave you like that. You could've, I told you there was no hope. Thank you, really. I owe you my life."

Chris felt a single tear form in the corner of her eye. Chrysalis quickly ripped her tear ducts out to ensure that wouldn't happen again. "I'm just glad you're okay, Pine," she said, resting a hoof against his cheek.

Pine grunted with exertion as he raised one of his forelegs to hers. He weakly pushed it towards his mouth, and gave it a light kiss. Chrysalis felt his life energy pulse, as if he were overwhelmingly nervous—not that that would be surprising, given the situation.

"This last week has been happier than my last year, Chris. I never realised how lonely I'd become until I met you, and you started to remind me of everything I loved about... well, let's not mention her. I know this is a lot to ask, Chris, but I have a big house and a big farm, and it's plenty big enough for two, if you'd like."

"I'd like that," Chris replied. She bent down, pressing her nose against Pine's neck, and nuzzled him with all the enthusiasm she could bring to bear. As she raised her head, her nose ticked against his coat. It was still dirty and matted from the oil, and the blood, because she hadn't had a chance to wash it yet, but she didn't care. An overwhelming desire came over her, and she acted without a thought.

Her lips brushed over his as she moved forward to return his earlier kiss. Their energies spiked together, and began to mix. She quickly lost hold of much of her own energy, but so did he. The two merged and became one, washing between the both of them like waves through a pool. Their lips played against each other, and Chris found her tongue slowly running against his teeth as if begging for him to open them and let her inside. To let her share even more of herself, and let their energies mix completely.

The sensation, to both of them, was indescribable. Like being hit by a lightning bolt, except it kept flowing between them, back and forth with every instant of connection. It was the most beautiful, and delicious, thing Chrysalis had ever encountered.

What the hay was she doing? Chrysalis pulled back and staggered away. "I can't do this. This isn't me. I'm sorry."

Chrysalis ran, kicking through Pine's front door and taking off towards the hivemind's centre. Whatever just happened had left her weaker, much of her energy still lay within Pine, but she still had enough to sprout wings and take flight.

"Hold on, my children. I'm coming."

Untold

Unchangeable

Chrysalis soared through the open sky on two gossamer wings. Her previous disguise fell away, compartmentalised and remembered in the back of her mind should she ever need it again. Her eyes grew sharper as her body adjusted, reshaping itself to her needs. Her torso grew thinner and more aerodynamic, her legs strained against the winds, and her ears began to hear the tiny changes in airflow that could turn her flight from an ugly glide to an agile dance. Chrysalis was the definitive Changeling, and everything about her reflected that.

As she flew, Chrysalis turned her mind towards her children, and the Changeling hivemind. They were close—no more than a few miles away by her best estimation—and getting closer all the time. Soon she would be reunited with her people and their assault on Equestria could begin again. They had been beaten back, not beaten.

Behind her lay Longest Pine's farm, quickly vanishing off into the distance. She didn't expect to ever need to return, but she took one last look anyway just to cement it in her mind. No sentiment involved, she told herself, she just wanted to know for the tactical advantages. So she told herself.

With that done, Chrysalis turned and put all of her effort into flight. The ground beneath her blurred as she sped over it, and her eyes began to water as the wind whipped across them. She closed her eyes. Her eyelids grew transparent, and then the wind was no longer a problem.

Chrysalis had hated being stuck with the limitations of a weak pony body, and relished her newly regained abilities. Ruffled mane met ruffled mind as the wind and anticipation spun each into a web, respectively. Her nose, sensitive to the point she could pick up a scent on the breeze a kilometre off, began to smell the acrid, stinging smell of smoke, wood fires, and burning hopes and dreams.

Beating her wings and flying a little faster, Chrysalis spotted a settlement just over the crest of a nearby hill. In typical earth pony style, the buildings were simple and wooden. The main town hall rose only a few stories above the smallest houses, and the entire village was surrounded by farmlands and empty fields, likely used for hedonistic frolicking and carefree grazing. In typical Changeling style, every square foot of the settlement burned.

The bakery was ablaze, fires fed with tasty treats and sugar-filled snacks. The side of the town hall had caved in under the pressure, exposing itself as hollow and mostly for show, just like the lives of the Changeling swarm's prey. In the middle of the fire-storm stood the single spared structure—the town library. Ponies were prey, buildings were worthless, but knowledge was something to savour. Every fresh book in that building could shed light on new information or create new possibilities. The library of each town was always the last thing to burn.

Chrysalis began her descent. Her wings hardened to aid her gliding and her legs began to extend to help her hit the ground running. Her eyes darted from place to place under her glassy eyelids, taking in the scene before her and mentally marking the dozens of changelings and ponies scurrying through the wreckage like rats fighting for the shell of a sinking ship.

As she fell, she opened her mind. The familiar warmth of the hivemind rose from a blurry sensation in the back of her head to the all-consuming monolith she remembered. It would have been so easy for her to surrender herself and sink into the groupthink, letting the shared conciousness dictate her actions for the good of the swarm. It would have been so easy to let go of her individual concerns and concentrate on the needs of the many. However, every group needs a leader if it hopes for more than wanton destruction and mindless continuation. Chrysalis was that leader, and for that reason alone she elected to retain her mind as her own.

Her hooves hit the ground on the tattered remains of a market road. Wooden stands and stalls lay shattered around her, leaving fruits, vegetables, and detritus strewn over the dirt like a blood splatter splashing against razor-sharp teeth. It was wasteful and showy, the actions of a dying race desperately trying to prove their relevance through decadence and power. It worked here, on the weak and helpless, but it wouldn't work anywhere that could defend itself.

Chrysalis opened her eyes, and then she opened them again. She gazed out from every changeling in the area as naturally as she would from herself, and looked upon the smouldering wreck with a fresh pair of eyes—or a hundred pairs. One of the scouts high above was looking straight at her, and she could see why: one of the remaining villagers still left free was attempting to sneak up behind her with a block of wood in his mouth.

He swung, aiming for the base of her neck with enough force to kill most creatures. Had Chrysalis not been prepared, the attack may even have dazed her, but with foreknowledge came preparation, and the block glanced uselessly from the newly thickened exo-skeleton covering her body.

"Chrysalis, my queen," a familiar voice spoke directly into her mind, "I feared you were lost."

A figure appeared in Chrysalis's mind. Her mental landscape was reminiscent of the forests they had all grown up in, filled with creeping ivy, air thick with insects, and the crushing air of danger. The imagined sun beat down upon them, tinging the conversation with simulated sweat and a sense of urgancy, though the entire talk would take place in the blink of an eye.

"I?" Chrysalis asked, turning to face the creature before her. She recognised him as one of the stronger members of her army and wasn't surprised to see he'd survived the battle of Canterlot. Interesting that he contacted her directly, and that he spoke with a singular pronoun, however. It wasn't often that flies crawling over a rotting corpse took much care of their personal identity.

"Yes. In your absence I took command of our people. You can see the results all around you—this pathetic collection is ours now," he snarled, lacing his voice with bitter anger. Chrysalis could indeed see the result of his actions. There were ponies running free, providing counter-attacks that were getting worryingly close to being effective. The library was home to a small band of equines that had realised its significance and were defending it. Almost every scrap of usable material in the town was damaged or destroyed, and yet the army required supplies—Canterlot had not been kind to them.

"No matter," he replied to Chrysalis' unspoken concerns. She hadn't meant to broadcast them through the hive, but clearly she was out of practise. "I shall soon take care of them personally. I realise you may want to take back command—Sorry, do want to take back command, judging by your thoughts—but that will be impossible. We are currently embroiled in combat, changing leaders now would be inadvisable."

Chrysalis took great care to ensure her irritation was kept purely internal. He was lying to her face—she knew everything he knew, and near or near enough vice versa. Switching leaders in a hivemind was trivial and painless, and both of them knew it. He was challenging her to disagree. Usually she would, by ripping his mind from his body in an instant, but Chrysalis was still weak and he was anything but, empowered by hasty conquests and blood-stained love.

"Of course," she replied, nodding her head. "We can exchange once this conflict is resolved."

With that, the figure faded.

The attacking earth pony looked on in horror as Chrysalis turned. His impromptu weapon lay broken at his side, the thick wood splintered against her near-impenetrable hide. She stared into his deep brown, quivering eyes and batted him to the side with a single swipe of her leg. Even relatively weak, Chrysalis was more than a match for any resistance the broken town might be able to muster.

Yet, the assailant's chocolate brown coat—now stained red with undeserved blood—made her uncomfortable. Something about seeing the helpless and struggling form before her evoked memories of both her own incapacitation, and the one who had healed her. Chrysalis shook her head to clear the thoughts, and quickly spat a thick layer of goo onto the now-entombed attacker, ensuring he wouldn't be able to escape and could be of use later.

The main thing left to do now was deal with the library. So far, only small and lower-ranked changelings had been appointed to the task, but Chrysalis wanted to make her arrival very very known. She stepped through the burning rubble of a former home, kicking down walls and doors alike as she made her way towards the town centre and the public library.

Inside the library, the hivemind informed her, were four ponies. Two of them were unicorns, and the others pegasi. The unicorns were doing a good job defending their position, especially as one of them seemed to know a lot of fire magic, making it a far more formidable threat than most of the rest of the local population.

The first fireball bounced harmlessly from Chrysalis' shell as she slowly, almost disinterestedly, walked towards the treehouse deflecting attacks both directly magical and from physical items thrown around. Were it any easier she may have wondered whether it was a trap.

The instant she was close enough, Chrysalis kicked out with a leg and sent the fire-wielding pony flying to land in a crumpled heap against a bookshelf. The flames surrounding his hooves petered out, extinguished just as completely and effectively as his hopes and dreams. One of the pegasi made a run for it, but a quick burst of magic lead to it crashing down onto the hard floor with a sickening crack.

With such an embarrassing threat dealt with, Chrysalis felt sure the hive would call for her immediate re-appointment as leader, and she could begin to more properly lead her army instead of watching it march to destruction at the hooves of an unskilled, overconfident fool.

Chrysalis turned to face the two remaining combatants, raising one hoof and sharpening it into a blade, ready to make an example of the two remaining. Fighting back lead to death, or worse, and compliance may at least let you keep your life.

The unicorn cowered before her, shielding the other pegasus—as if it would make a difference. Its eyes told a different story, though; there was no fear in those eyes, just determination. The pegasus was terrified, and by all rights the unicorn should be, so why wasn't it?

Love hung in the air—literally. Chrysalis could smell it, radiating from the couple before her like a bad smell from a rotting fruit. The bond they shared made her salivate with its potency and energy, and her hoof slowly lowered to the ground.

"Yeah! Yeah, leave her alone!" the unicorn shouted, flaring his horn as if there was anything he could do against her.

"Her? Not yourself?" Chrysalis asked, almost too seriously. She should have struck him down where he stood, so why hadn't she?

"Y- yeah! There are too many of you things for us both to get out, but if I can give her a chance then I don't mind going out fighting."

"Stupid pony, you cannot harm me. I am beyond your comprehension."

"Shut up! I know that, I know I can't beat you—but maybe I can buy her a few seconds!"

Chrysalis stood silently. The bond between the two was so strong the entire hivemind could smell it, even as far away as the scouts watching the battle miles above. Love—true love—was powerful and plentiful. Why were the changelings subsisting on stolen affection and false energy when they could have so much more? More power than they could dream of.

Chrysalis walked away, leaving the two terrified ponies unharmed. Love could find a way, and they could be the perfect example of changelingkind's future.

The love vanished in an instant as the changeling from Chrysalis' earlier vision drove a stake through their hearts, the brutal killing providing a suitable metaphor for itself. Chrysalis saw red.

"What are you doing, you fool?!" she shouted.

"What you should have," he replied, returning to the imagined forest. "We are not here to spare them."

"I spared them for a reason. You would do well to remember who your queen is, subject. There is a reason only I have taken a name."

"Well," Pupa replied, letting the knowledge of his new name flow into Chrysalis's head through the hivemind, "I think we should change that. You're weak, Chrysalis. I don't know what happened to you and you don't seem inclined to share it with us, but whatever happened has left you unsuitable for rule. Your idealistic plans of finding true love are sickening, you would bastardise everything it means to be a changeling."

"That is a lie. Think very carefully before challenging me, your current path will lead to our destruction."

"I have thought," Pupa replied, with one razor-sharp leg driven through Chrysalis's body. "And while I kept you distracted, dear queen, I moved into position to strike, thus proving my point."

Chrysalis fell to the ground, gasping for a breath that wasn't coming, while Pupa pulled his leg out of her body, pushing her to the side in disgust. "You're weak," he spat, "and you rule no longer. I don't know what happened to you, and I don't care, but we don't need you any more. Your plan of infiltration failed, and now it's time for Equestria to crumble under my hoof. Goodbye, queen." He turned around and began to walk away. The rest of the swarm mirrored his actions, silently moving on and leaving Chrysalis helplessly gasping through punctured lungs and shattered bones.

Within a few minutes, Chrysalis was alone, lying in the shadow of a smouldering hut surrounded by bodies. Pupa didn't care about extracting the strength from his prey, he was just mindlessly killing without rhyme or reason. In some ways, he was right—Chrysalis was weak. Still, he had underestimated her: she was not so weak that a simple impalement would kill her. She had already grown new lungs and reknit most of her bones, though it had drained most of her remaining energy and left her almost powerless.

Chrysalis struggled to her hooves and stumbled over to the nearest building, falling against it in an attempt to find her balance. Much as it pained her to admit, she may actually be dying and needed food badly. There wasn't a pony left alive in town, and as far as she knew there wasn't another village for miles. Not that she was in any condition to steal love now anyway. There was only one destination left for her now, and she just hoped he could forgive her.

Untranslated

Unchangeable

Everything was dark. Chrysalis tried to raise a hoof, but the struggle overcame her, and she slipped back into unconsciousness.

Shining Armour's trademark shield spell had done its job, and done everything Chrysalis had tried to stop. Those of her people lucky enough to be in the sky, or on a road leading out of Canterlot, were scattered across Equestria. Those who weren't so lucky would be scraped off of Canterlot's stone walls over the next few days.

Chrysalis would have wept for her children, were she awake, but she had not been as lucky as some. So close to the spell, cast powered by the love and hatred of the one she'd been feeding from, she had been crippled, with barely enough energy to survive the unwanted trip.

The last thing she remembered before everything went dark was desperately holding out her wings, trying to glide into a soft looking field, rather than smash into one of the nearby mountains. Her resolve had faltered, one wing going with it, and the last thing she saw was a barn roof. Then everything had gone dark.

She awoke, again. This time, she tried with all her might to open her eyes, and though the effort almost overcame her she managed it. She was a wreck - her body flickered, spasming between her true form and that of the pretty pink princess, Mi Amore Cadenza, that she had been imitating mere hours earlier. Everything had seemed so much surer then.

The light she could see by came from a small hole in the barn roof, presumably from her crash. A few battered looking bits of wood and cloth lay around her, and a bale of hay had broken her fall, probably saving her life.

Chrysalis, queen of the changelings, lay broken and defeated. She felt what little vision she had begin to fade, and she knew that this was it. Her advisers had told her that a direct attack on Canterlot was insanity, and she guessed that they were right. She laughed, spluttering as the sensation almost overwhelmed her, and began to cough. This was it, she thought. She just hoped that her children had fared better, and this wasn't the end of her people.

"Hello?" a voice called as the barn door creaked open. A figure stepped inside - much shorter than Chrysalis, about the right shape and size for an earth pony. Great, Chrysalis bitterly thought, she had been hoping for an honourable death at least, not one at the hands of some commoner. "Hello, is there anybody in here?"

The figure continued into the barn, looking up at the hole in the roof and muttering to himself something that Chrysalis was too weak to hear. He followed the angle of the hole down, until he saw the dark, broken figure that lay on one of his hay bales.

Chrysalis thanked, well, Celestia herself that the barn was too dark for either of them to make out any details on each other as the figure leaped over to her. "Are you okay? What happened?!" he asked, his voice dripping with concern.

Love is a special thing. There are some who say that love is what makes the world go round, and others that deny its very existence. Chrysalis knew from experience that love was one of the most powerful forms of magic that existed, and even the smallest love was a feast that could easily have brought her back to a powerful state.

Compassion, though, is something else. It isn't love, but it's not trying to be. It wasn't a feast to the broken changeling, but it wasn't a last meal, either. It was enough. Chrysalis felt her vision slowly begin to brighten, and the edges of her eyes began to work again, removing the tunnel from her sight.

She tried to talk, but that was still beyond her. The resulting groan of agony, however, did perform its task, and the figure pressed his hoof against her head. "You're burning up," he said, "I'll go get you some water."

Kindness is another thing. Kindness is inherently a gift - it cannot be taken, only given. At her full power, Chrysalis could feed for days off of some of the gifts she'd been given - a city here, a kingdom there. Vast gestures of well-meaning kindness weren't new to her. They meant nothing.

Nobody had ever given her a glass of water. The knowledge it was coming kept her awake during all the time it took the figure to retrieve it, and when she finally felt the sweet liquid slip between her lips, it was like being given a castle, in some remote but beautiful area of the world. Something with incalculable value to anybody but herself.

Her throat now less sore, Chrysalis managed to choke out a "Thank you." She didn't mean it, but she needed the affection, and that meant doing what she did best - trickery and deception.

"Can you walk? Are you hurt?" the figure asked, running his hoof over her foreleg and feeling the holes.

"Of course I'm hurt, you-" Chrysalis began to snap, roughly hissing with an injured voice. "I mean, no, I can't walk. I can hardly move."

"Well, then, let's get you onto my back." he flatly stated, pushing himself under the hay bale and lifting Chrysalis up.

That was bad. The moment they were out in the open, Chrysalis would be revealed for what she was. The figure seemed to think she was equine for the moment, but that would be blown as soon as she was out of the door.

Chrysalis knew she wasn't strong enough, but she had to try. Reaching out, she tried to probe into the figure's mind. He wouldn't resist, he wouldn't be prepared, nor trained, but it would still be difficult, maybe impossible.

Once she was inside, Chrysalis made a random swing for one of the most prominent images in his head, grabbing on to the strongly-held vision of a pony and bringing it inside of her. Her flesh began to bubble, and her skin began to boil, and within a few moments, Chrysalis' form had changed completely. Exhausted, she fell unconscious yet again, having expended every last drop of her power on a desperate transformation.

Some unknown time later, she awoke. She felt warm, but trapped. Like she was in a pod, but without the comforting link to the hivemind telling her it was okay. Chrysalis realised that she was alone - for the first time in longer than she could remember, she couldn't sense her children. That could mean one of two things - she had, at some point, become so weak she couldn't even maintain a connection to the group conciousness. Or, worse, there was no group conciousness to connect to.

Chrysalis felt alone.

A few minutes later, she gathered the strength to open her eyes, and look around wherever she was being held. Her transformation must have failed, and she must now be in the dungeons. Perhaps they had interrogated her and used that knowledge to wipe out her species, and were only allowing her to live as some esoteric pet. That seemed likely.

Instead, she found herself in a bedroom. It was small, and overwhelmingly wooden. The wooden walls were lined with wooden picture frames, containing pictures of wooden structures. The wooden cupboard and dresser stood at the opposite end of the wooden floor, and the wooden bedframe supported the sheets and materials that Chrysalis was currently embroiled within.

Chrysalis looked to her side. There was a wooden clock on the wall - it read midday. She had been defeated just after midday, so at very least she had been unconscious for twenty four hours.

Looking around further, she noticed that the bedside table was covered in photo frames, each detailing a different pony. None of them had names. There appeared to be one missing, though - they were all tightly compacted, and yet there was clear space for another, and a gap in the dust implied that one had laid there not too long ago.

"Oh, you're awake," a voice called, as it entered the room. The voice belonged to the figure, or so Chrysalis assumed. He was a golden yellow earth pony, with a brown mane, and his cutie mark - though Chrysalis detested the term - was a wooden staircase. Chrysalis assumed this was his bedroom. "Are you feeling better now?"

Chrysalis coughed, trying to speak, but failing. The earth pony walked over and raised a glass of water to her mouth, letting her drink for a few seconds until she felt more able to speak. "Yes, a little." she croaked. It wasn't a lie, she felt a little better. The pony's attentions were an easy source of food, and she needed nothing more than an easy source of food right now.

It would be a good idea to play along, and try to milk this pony for everything he was worth, if Chrysalis was to try and get back to her people, and prepare a counterattack. Equestria would pay for what it had done to her.

"Good. Well, I'm Longest Pine. I own this farm, and work it alone. What's your name?" he asked, with a glimmer of hope in his voice, as if there was an answer he was both dreading and desperate for.

Name? 'Chrysalis' didn't sound very equine, and was far more likely to attract attention. Chrysalis had never needed another name, she always stole another - but she'd been too weak to take anything but this form's shape from "Longest Pine"'s mind. So she needed a name. Chrysalis needed a name.

"Uh," she stammered, "Chris Alice?"

Pine's chest fell, in only the way somebody trying to hide a crushing disappointment could fall. "Well," he said after an almost imperceptibly too long gap, "Chris, feel free to stay as long as you need. I have plenty of food, and honestly I could do with the company." he smiled. Smiles were good, smiles were tasty. Chrysalis smiled back as she felt herself becoming a little bit stronger, and took the first step on the long road back to power.