Transcend

Chapters

Ungrateful
Growing Bonds
Deceiving Impressions
Ponyville
Karma
Unexpected Savior
Duality
Past And Future
First Kiss
Love
Indecision
Revelations
Betrayal
Epilogue
Beginnings
Finale

Ungrateful

Chrysalis’ eyes opened slowly, staring into the dancing, flickering flames in front of her. Coherency was slow to return, but return it did.

Evergreen was dozing next to her in front of the fire, and during the brief nap, she had been absorbing energy from him. It was hardly sufficient for anything long-term... But it would do. She wasn’t in immediate danger of burning out, but neither was she in the clear. If she left now, she would only survive a few hours before succumbing to the darkness again.

It made Chrysalis shudder to think how far she had fallen in a few short days. She had been about to get married, as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza no less! And now? Stuck in a cottage with a dumb-as-a-brick country bumpkin who actually enjoyed seeing her suffer.

Sensing the pony besides her stirring, Chrysalis feigned sleep. At least this way, she wouldn’t have to converse with the fool and she would have no need to violate her dignity just for him.

The earth pony stretched and shuddered, rising to his hooves and arching for a moment. He ran a hoof through his mane, making a face at the amount of mud, twigs and leaves that were tangled in it. All of that just from dragging the ungrateful unicorn into his home.

In his mind, Evergreen berated himself. The unicorn wasn’t ungrateful. Just those folks that lived on the hill were different from himself. They weren’t raised right; they didn’t feel the need to express their thanks to others. Didn’t mean they didn’t appreciate a little help, right? Some people just couldn’t accept help, no matter how bad they needed it.

Evergreen peered at the unicorn as she slept, frowning to himself slightly. Shivering slightly in the cool morning air, he moved over to her, and adjusted the blanket around her form. He cinched it down around her shoulders and flank, so that no creeping tendrils of cold air would be able to sneak in against her fur. He was careful to not touch her body with his hooves, out of respect. He inspected his work to ensure that she would be warm, while he left and braved the cold air of the forest outside to get more firewood.

The front door opened and Chrysalis splayed her ears, instinctively drawing the blankets closer about her form as a cold draft permeated the little cottage’s interior. The tension in her form began to relax as she realised that Evergreen had left for the moment.

Chrysalis had been but an inch of using the last of her magical reserves to cause him great pain. If he had but touched her once, she would have stripped the flesh from his flank and gleefully made him eat it. But thankfully for them both, he had done no such thing. She could relax and just enjoy the flickering warmth of the fire and the blanket.

It was bad enough that she had rested with her form touching his own, for hours! If he were to touch her without permission... Well. She just wasn’t sure what kind of punishment she would mete out upon him. The cottage was a long way from Ponyville and his screams would not carry far.

The sun was shining outside, every surface a bright, twinkling reflection of the sun’s weak rays. The golden glow of the rising sun mocked the violence of the previous night's storm, the sun itself doing little to warm the ground or the air. Evergreen could see the condensation rising in front of his face with every puff of air from his lips.

Evergreen slipped over to the wood pile, and began to tug down blocks of wood until he found the dryer stuff underneath. The stack itself was as high as he himself, and three times as wide; he had spent a week straight gathering it all at the beginning of the year, as he did every year, and it would see him through the colder months quite adequately.

Humming a jaunty tune, Evergreen shook himself, stamping his hooves against the cold as he began loading up a small sled with bits of firewood. He then dragged it around the front of the cottage and back through the front door. The sled scraped across the floorboards rather loudly as the wind slammed the front door closed with surprising violence. Yet the unicorn still did not wake. Evergreen snorted as he moved past her, pushing open the back door to his laundry and beginning to build a stack of wood under the metal cauldron in the corner.

Evergreen moved over to the crank pump, and led a long hose into the cauldron, pumping water into it with firm presses of his hooves until it was roughly three quarters full.

Deeming his work there done, Evergreen moved back into the warmer main room of the cottage, taking a box of matches from the shelf above his bed. He cursed as he felt the soggy exterior of the casing, sliding the package open and shaking his head. All of them were wet. The howling gale the previous night must have dislodged some of the thatching on his roof, and allowed a trickle of water to penetrate his cottage.

Scowling, Evergreen moved over to the fireplace and placed the box of matches nearby so it could dry before he turned to the unicorn. Welp, it was time for her to earn her keep.

“I’m gonna need yer help there,” he said rather bluntly to the sleeping unicorn.

There was a long stretch of silence and he blinked slowly for a moment.

“Oi, fancypants. I’ll need yer help,” he said, a little bit louder.

And still the unicorn didn’t stir.

Frowning deeply for a moment, Evergreen shifted closer and began to reach a hoof out to touch the unicorn’s neck to make sure she was still alive.

“And what, pray tell, do you think you’re doing?” the unicorn asked, her eyes opening suddenly, staring daggers at him.

Evergreen’s hoof hovered a mere inch from her neck before he withdrew it with a faint smirk. “So yer are still alive.”

“Do the dead regularly address you, Sir Evergreen?” Chrysalis asked, her tone showing unbridled venom.

A low laugh left the earth pony and he shook his head.

“Yer fancy words will only get yer so far out here,” Evergreen stated rather calmly. He pointed towards the back room with a hoof “Now, I need yer help. It’s time for yer ter earn yer keep.”

“Very well.” the unicorn replied, her tone ungrateful, rising to her hooves and pulling the blanket tighter about herself, giving him a dirty look as she moved towards the door, pushing it open with her nose.

Evergreen watched the unicorn for a moment, his eyes narrowing. He knew a filly like her once; his sister, in fact. She was a strawberry farmer now, and his family had weaned her off of her haughty streak pretty quick. Them high ponies needed a strict hoof to teach them how to treat others.

Evergreen moved after her, stepping back out into the colder air of the second room.

“What is it you need?” the unicorn asked, rounding on him and scowling.

“All my matches got wet from the water roundabouts. Need yer to light that fire,” Evergreen said, pointing with a hoof towards the large cauldron.

The unicorn turned towards the cauldron and her eyes went as wide as saucers.

A cauldron. A giant pile of wood underneath. Bubbling, boiling water. Alone here in the cottage with this strange pony who seemed rather eager to see her suffer.

Chrysalis peered around properly for the first time. There were a series of shelves in this room, with various herbs and flowers arrayed along them: cooking ingredients, perhaps.

A giant cauldron... Cooking ingredients...

“I will do no such thing!” Chrysalis protested suddely, taking a step backwards away from the cauldron, and away from him.

She was still weak. Her magic hadn’t regenerated enough for her to fight right now, and in this mare’s form, she had no chance of being able to fight back against the much larger earth pony.

“Yer will do as yer told!” the pony said, pointing at the cauldron emphatically, “I’m doing this fer you. The least yer can do is light the thing.”

“And next you’ll tell me that you wish me to climb inside!” Chrysalis squeaked, trying in vain to keep her voice even, shaking her head vigorously and stepping backwards.

“Of course I want yer to climb inside, besotted unicorn!” Evergreen cried, exasperated.

“You will not boil me so easily!” Chrysalis declared, the blanket thrown from her form as she reared up on her back legs. Her horn glowed green, pulsing with magical energies, her eyes beginning to glow.

Evergreen’s eyes widened and he began to shake.

Triumph flooded her. Yes. Let him fear her!

But then his shaking resolved into long, hearty guffaws. Chrysalis’ magic faded as quickly as she had summoned it, the changeling wrong-footed by his laughter as he began to roll about, pointing at her and chortling.

“W-what?!” Chrysalis asked self-consciously.

The pony took a moment in his laughter to pause and wipe an eye with a hoof, shaking his head at her slowly.

“Yer thought ah was gonna boil yer alive!” he choked out, before dissolving into laughter again.

Scowling, Chrysalis stomped her hoof hard against the dirt floor, “You admitted your intentions!”

“Wot?” Evergreen asked, rolling to his hooves and advancing on her. “Yer think that just because I want yer to climb in ter there yonder cauldron, that I’m gonna boil yer up and eat yer like an old kids scare-tale?”

Chrysalis backed away, trying her best not to cower in front of the larger earth pony. She couldn’t afford a confrontation, but this pony was just begging for someone to put him in his place. “You want me to make a fire under the cauldron so that you can boil the water while I’m in it!”

Evergreen lifted a hoof and prodded her right on the nose with it, rather sharply. Sparks began to build at the end of Chrysalis’ horn as she felt that thing touch her.

How dare he!

“Yer gonna be in the water, princess, because before it boils, it gets a nice temperature up fer a bath, yer idiot!” he growled and then jabbed his hoof towards the cauldron. He spoke the word ‘princess’ with as much annoyance and vehemence as he could. “Now light the sodding thing. Or do yer like being cold and muddy?”

Chrysalis bit back the words she was longing to say. She wanted to correct him. She needed to force this creature to bow to her wishes. She needed to break him under hoof. But it was rash, thoughtless actions like that that had led to her being here in the first place. She needed to swallow her pride.

“Touch me again, and I shall remove your hoof,” Chrysalis stated through clenched teeth, sidestepping the stallion before giving him her dirtiest look. Leaning forwards, she directed her horn at the built-up wood, a crackle of magical energies crossing the distance and causing a fire to catch in the tinder.

“Well whaddya know. Yer good fer something after all,” Evergreen said with an appraising nod.

Chrysalis swayed slightly in place, her eyes wide. There was a roaring in her ears again, and the darkness was gathering at the edges of her vision. She stared listlessly at the dancing fire. Such a simple magical spell had robbed her of the strength she had earned from that thing’s feelings.

“Woah princess,” Evergreen said, catching her before she could fall face-first into the dirt. “Are yer alright?”

Evergreen’s voice was echoing from far away again, and Chrysalis struggled to retain her coherency. Her mind was screaming at her, trying to force the words from her throat, Get your filthy hooves off me! But her mouth wasn’t working. Her body just wasn’t obeying her commands any more.

Chrysalis was weakening rapidly. She could feel it. Cold was rushing in to consume her very essence as the last of her energy reserves tried to battle the growing weariness. The great queen undone by a simple fire spell?

Her eyes flickered, and her head drooped.

Chrysalis was vaguely aware of Evergreen shifting to help ease her down onto her side. His voice was low and slow, echoing as though from down a long hallway. “Oi! Oi! Princess!”

Chrysalis tried to lift a hoof to push him away. One last act of defiance before the end, but all she managed was a weak scrabbling at the stallion’s chest. A poignant footnote to end the reign of the Dark Queen of the Changelings.

But then, Chrysalis felt it—tendrils of power beginning to suffuse her form. Beads of energy trickled along those tendrils, energising her.

Focus returned to her, and she took a deep, shuddering breath. Her entire form shook. She had been so close to the precipice of total failure.

“Cripes, Princess. If I had of known yer were so weak, I wouldn’t have asked,” Evergreen was saying, sounding worried.

Chrysalis tried to rebuke him, to prey on his insecurities, but her body still wasn’t under her complete control.

Chrysalis had never been this weak before. She didn’t understand her limits. Then and there, she decided that she would not be using her magic at all. She couldn’t afford another episode like like this. She couldn’t count on Evergreen providing her enough energy when she was so close to death.

“Princess? Yer okay?” the pony asked, nudging her once with his nose.

“G-get your f-filthy h-hooves off me,” Chrysalis rasped weakly.

Evergreen gave a hearty laugh, and Chrysalis felt the bond between them strengthen and increase the flow of energy to her side of their link. “Yer back, alright,”

he said, as he gently laid her down and stepped away, picking up the blanket and laying it over her form gently. As he moved away from her, heading towards the cauldron, he said, “I’ll get yer bath ready, ma’am. I’ll not ask yer to use yer magic again. Thank yer.”

In the back of her mind, Chrysalis was amazed at this pony. She had never met a personality quite like his. He seemingly enjoyed her suffering—liked her more as she suffered. And he was thanking her, even though she had given him no acts of kindness? His pride must be non-existent.

Chrysalis watched him with narrowed eyes for a long moment, and it was several seconds before she realised that she was envious. Her pride governed her actions, and this creature had no such limitations. He could accept help from anypony, beg kindness from others.

With a scowl, Chrysalis resolved to study the study oaf. She would learn to act as he did: without pride. It seemed as if it were the only way she could survive long enough to find a more substantial energy source. And that’s all that mattered right now..

Survival.

Growing Bonds

“Oh... Ohhhh myyyy...” Chrysalis breathed as she was submerged in the warm water, sinking in it up to her shoulders. With a heavy groan, she rested her chin on the edge of the cauldron, giving the faintest whimper of delight. The steaming water enveloped her form and chased away the resounding soreness in them.

“There. Not so bad, is it?” Evergreen asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“This... This is acceptable,” Chrysalis managed to murmur, feeling herself drifting off. Unlike the cold darkness that had been threatening to sweep her away on black wings, this was a pleasant, lulling, soothing sensation. It was paradise. Ah, the joys of warm water.

“Tell you what,” Evergreen said, slipping over to the shelves on the walls. “You aint gonna like this, but it’ll stop you from gettin’ sick.”

Evergreen reached up for a bright blue flower, holding it by the stem and moving over towards her. “I’d ask yer not to struggle, but yer gonna anyhow.”

Chrysalis stared up at Evergreen for a moment in a stupor. She was completely unprepared for it as he snapped the stem and then wrapped a hoof around the back of her head. He was touching her again!

Evergreen’s grasp was surprisingly strong and Chrysalis was helpless to resist it. By the time it even occurred to her to struggle, the stem was pressed against her nose. The strongest, most acrid scent she’d ever known invaded her senses. It was overpowering, and it burned. It broke her out of her lull instantly as it seared its way down into her lungs and a sharp sensation of pain flared in her temples. Her sinuses cleared, seared clean in an instant, and she was aware of an ease in breathing. She hadn’t even realised how congested she had been, the beginnings of a sickness from being out in the pounding rain and the elements followed by the cold wetness from the night.

Chrysalis tried to shape a rebuke to the pony, but her limbs were so heavy, and she just couldn’t summon up the energy. With a low groan, she rested her chin on the edge of the cauldron.

“Eugh,” Evergreen murmured as he snapped the stem off up higher and wrinkled his nose deeply, before leaning in and inhaling hard. He took the horrible, overpowering scent deep into his lungs and held it for several seconds, letting it out in a heavy cough, taking several long, deep breaths to filter out the overpowering scent. Evergreen then moved back over to the cauldron and began to peel the flower petals off into the warm water, leaving them floating there at the surface.

“You’re cooking me...” Chrysalis accused, her voice distant and eyes unfocused.

“Is just the petals, ma’am. They’ll not harm yer, and they taste as bad as they smell, trust me. But you’ll not get sick,” he pointed out as he tossed the broken stem away. “Yer stay there and soak long as yer need. I gotta go earn me bits.”

Chrysalis didn’t acknowledge his words in any way. Instead she sighed faintly, resting with her head on the edge of the cauldron.

The front door opened, and then closed. And she was finally alone.

True coherency took a long time to return to Chrysalis, her sensed muddled by the spicy aroma of the flower rising up from the warmed water. She belatedly noticed that a towel had been laid out for her to dry herself when she was ready.

A bubble of panic began to permeate the calm that the bath was giving Chrysalis. He had left. She felt the tendrils of energy between them fray and dissolve. She shuddered, realising that she was cut off once more from any source of energy. She took stock of her situation. She had energy still. The brief flare in his fondness for her had given her a mild boost, but the magic before that... She had no experience with being drained like this, she had always had energy to spare.

But ever since that spell had hit her, her energy reserves had been...different somehow. It was harder to retain energy, and her magic definitely used more than before. It was as though her reserves were tainted—poisoned. She had be careful not to over-extend herself.

Chrysalis was mildly afraid. If Evergreen was gone too long, she would most definitely be back to a state of no energy. At this rate, she’d be stuck here quite some time.

A faint sigh left the Queen and she rested her chin back on the edge of the cauldron. There was no point to worrying. The oaf would return when he returned, and if she frayed her energy reserves worrying about it, that would benefit nopony, least of all herself.

Closing her eyes, Chrysalis dozed.

Rustling movement broke Chrysalis out of her trance-like state. She just lay there for several long moments, resting and unwilling to move.

Chrysalis felt the bond re-establish. And then, strangely, it began to strengthen, slowly but surely transferring more energy by the moment. It was still tiny amounts, but the flow was growing wider, just faintly.

Chrysalis’ eyes slowly opened and she found Evergreen standing in the doorway, watching her doze in the tub, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Her voice was thick as she asked, “What are you leering at?”

“Jus’ tryin’ mah best to be as creepy as can be, watchin’ yer sleep and whatnot,” he said with a playful grin at her.

“You have succeeded admirably,” Chrysalis murmured, closing her eyes again. The bath was cooler than it had been, but it was still a pleasant warmth that suffused her form and lulled her into a state of unthinking bliss.

“Yer gonna have to get out of there soon,” Evergreen stated calmly. He picked up the rope for the sled and began to drag it back through the house.

A noncommittal sound left the changeling and she rested her chin back on the edge of the cauldron.

The front door opened, closed, opened again, and she heard the sounds of firewood being stacked beside the fireplace, and then the front door opening again. When Evergreen returned, he dragged the sled back in the room and began stacking blocks under the cauldron once more.

“Time for you to git out, ma’am,” he said, poking at the embers at the base of the cauldron with a stick, to get the fire burning again.

“Must I, Sir Evergreen?” Chrysalis simpered faintly.

“Yes, yer must.” Evergreen rolled his eyes for a moment. “C’mon, git out and go sit in front of the fireplace, or yer’ll shrivel up like a dried prune.”

“I do not believe warm water to be capable of such an act,” Chrysalis stated by way of rebuke.

“Oh come on,” Evergreen growled. “Yer can git back in the bath when I’m done. But ah’m cold, shivery, covered in mud, and I wanna be clean, and yer are stopping me.”

Chrysalis’ eyes blinked open, and she huffed a moment.

“...Very well.” Chrysalis scowled, rising to her hooves. She shuddered as the cool air hit her form, and swayed slightly as she slowly pulled herself out of the cauldron.

Evergreen moved forwards to help her, supporting her weight out of the cauldron and down onto the dirt floor. A towel had been placed so she wouldn’t muddy her hooves and trek it back through the cottage.

“I can do it myself,” Chrysalis huffed down at him as he helped her, but she didn’t make any move to stop him.

Chrysalis felt a rage building in her at his brazenness in touching her. The uncouth pony was so physical. She would beat that out of him before she left his cottage.

Staggering slightly, Chrysalis took a few moments to regain her balance. Chrysalis stopped, picking up the towel and neatly throwing it over her shoulders to help dry out her coat as she pranced towards the fireplace haughtily.

Chrysalis felt an increase in their bond as she did so, and paused to look over her shoulder, head canting to the side. Evergreen was watching her, smiling faintly.

Harrumphing, Chrysalis flicked her mane and then moved to sit besides the fire, resting in front of it to allow its warming effects to permeate her body. She exulted in the increase in energy from their growing bond. It felt different. There was something... strange about this bond.

Perhaps it was because she was experiencing the bond from its infancy, instead of just jumping in on somepony else's bond and sucking up all that lovely energy. Or perhaps it was the poisoning of her energy from the blast that almost killed her that made new bonds feel so strange. But it was definitely different, yet... Not unpleasant.

It was only a trickle, but it was... fulfilling. Contenting. Before the spell, the energy she consumed was like a drug; it was intoxicating and powerful. It begged her to take more and more, to consume as much as she could and to gorge herself on the addicting sensations. But this... this was like that bath in the cauldron. It was warm and mellow—accepting. It didn’t make demands of her senses. It just... was. It was a unique, novel sensation for the Changeling Queen, and it made having to suffer that oaf of a pony a little more bearable.

If all bonds felt like this from now on... Well, she would be a content queen indeed.

Chrysalis’ thoughts were broken by the sound of the door opening and the pony stepping into the room. He towelled distractedly at his mane, looking clean and much less like a crazed woodspony.

Chrysalis stared at him for a long moment, her eyes narrowing.

Evergreen paused as he felt her gaze on him, and he shifted uncomfortably. “...Wot?”

“You were barely in the bath for ten minutes,” Chrysalis stated.

“Ah’m clean now,” Evergreen responded calmly, shaking his head once.

Chrysalis rose to her hooves, scowling. “No. You are not.

“Wot do yer mean I’m not?” he asked defensively.

“I mean, get. Back. In. The. Bath,” Chrysalis said flatly, advancing on Evergreen and taking a deep breath as she pushed at him with her shoulder.

“What the Discord has gotten into yer?” Evergreen asked as she pushed him back into the room. He stumbled, leaning against the cauldron for balance.

“You are filthy,” Chrysalis spat, huffing at him, her eyes narrowing.

In truth, the pony was clean. Just as clean as she was; but if he had forced her from the bath then he was surely going to spend more than ten minutes in the thing!

“Ah’m not!” Evergreen protested, pushing at her with a hoof.

“You are. Now get back in there,” Chrysalis said, pointing resolutely at the cauldron.

“Ah’m not going to,” Evergreen replied flatly, sitting back on his rump, crossing his hooves and turning his head away.

Chrysalis’ eyes flashed and narrowed further, and she growled, “You will get back in that bath, Evergreen.”

Something in her tone or stance must have alerted Evergreen to a growing threat. His ears splayed backwards as he gazed up at her meekly for a moment. “Geeze woman. I’m going, I’m going!”

Evergreen splayed the towel out on a rack to dry as he heaved himself back into the cauldron with a splash. He sank himself down into it, glowering at her. “Yer happy now?”

“No, But it is a start,” Chrysalis stated, as she turned to the shelves, eyes sparkling with a sudden idea. She moved over to the shelf he had taken the flower from, scanning the various herbs and other plants arrayed out before spying the same flower he had used. She picked it up and moved back towards him, an evil grin on her face.

“Wot’re you doing?” Evergreen asked uncertainly, ears pinning back.

“Make sure you don’t get sick, Sir Evergreen,” Chrsalis simpered, as she grabbed the back of his head in a hoof. She neatly snapped the stem of the flower with a twist of her hoof, and then shoved the broken stem against his nose, forcing him to inhale the scent from point-blank.

The pony began to cough and sneeze, and Chrysalis gloried in her power over him, enjoying the way he squirmed and struggled in her grasp, obviously in quite some discomfort.

Chrysalis pulled the stem back, smirking at him, beginning to peel the petals of the flower off and dropping them into the water. “You will remain in the bath until you are clean.”

The mare drew back, and then said in her sweetest, honeyed tone, “and if that is less than an hour from now, I will pick you up and throw you back in.”

The stallion pinned his ears back once more, and nodded meekly. “Yes ma’am.”

Chrysalis turned towards the door and strode through it, beginning to close it behind herself, when she heard a ‘Thank yer, ma’am.’ from the other side, making her pause and blink.

Chrysalis shook her head, breaking herself from her thoughts, and responded in a simpering tone, “You are quite welcome.”

She closed the door and strode back over to the fireplace, grinning as she stared into the dancing yellow flames, feeling the bond between them growing even stronger. She had Evergreen right where she wanted him. Soon, it would be time to destroy him.

Deceiving Impressions

Alone once more. Finally.

Evergreen was just in the next room, so the tendrils connecting them remained strong—strong enough for Chrysalis to leech energy from him while she rested in front of the fire.

For the first time, Chrysalis had a look around. A proper look around.

The cottage was sparsely decorated, with a single photo frame of what looked like Evergreen standing with his parents, the photo itself yellowed with age. The shelves were covered in various bric-a-brac, from old flowers to tomes on alchemical ingredients and how and where to find them, as well as glass phials, beakers, and even a bunsen burner.

A single bed rested against one wall, with a book sitting atop it. The blanket blanket that would have been atop it was now wrapped around Chrysalis’ shoulders to help ward off the ever-present cold.

But Chrysalis’ eyes kept coming back to the glass beakers and vials.

The strange thing was, Evergreen didn’t strike Chrysalis as an alchemist. Sure, he had a cauldron and various alchemical ingredients, but his mannerisms and his godawful way of speaking didn’t exactly lend him the air of an intellectual.

Pondering this, Chrysalis was about to levitate a log into the fire, when she thought better of it, and carefully nudged it in with a hoof instead. Until her magic stabilised and she was stronger, she couldn’t risk using any magic.

Chrysalis rose to her hooves and moved to the window, peering outside. It was past sunrise now and the morning dew was starting to dissipate. It was still early though. Not warm enough for a trek outside just yet, but it was on its way there. There was no trace of last night's violent storm, except for the muddy ground and the drag marks from where she was so unceremoniously rescued by that lumbering oaf of a pony--the pony on whom she now depended.

Chrysalis cast her attention again towards the things that very pony owned.

Slipping over to the bed, Chrysalis picked up the heavy book resting on it. It was bound in faux leather, and was untitled. As Chrysalis eased the cover open, a strange silver object tumbled out onto the bed.

Chrysalis picked the object up, investigating it. She knew what it was; it was a spring-loaded hoof pen.

The idea was that the metal brace fitted over a hoof. As it was pressed downwards, the spring holding the tube over the charcoal stick would be pushed down until the charcoal tip was against the paper, and then all you had to do was write. They were built specifically for earth ponies and pegasi, seeing as unicorns and alicorns used their magic to write.

Chrysalis frowned for a moment as she slotted the hoofpen back into its place at the front of the book. She hadn’t pegged Evergreen as the kind of pony who could even read, let alone write.

But it seemed as though Evergreen did write. As Chrysalis flicked through the pages of the book, she found several neat, concise sentences on each page, as well as dried, pressed leaves and petals, flowers, weeds, herbs and the like; all with their own notations on their effects, preparation needs, and properties. The writing changed partway through and the plants seemingly changed location as well, as a large page had written on it ‘Everfree Forest’. Everything after that passage was written presumably by Evergreen, and everything before that, a different pony.

Chrysalis tried to piece together the information she was gleaning. He was helping to write an alchemical journal?

And Evergreen wasn’t just writing it all down, he was discovering the effects of the plants. Apparently, a sharp mind hid behind that dumb-as-brick exterior.

Giving a thoughtful hum, Chrysalis closed the book. She moved over to sit in front of the fire again, resting her head on her hooves to rest and garner as much energy as she could from Evergreen, trying to decide his fate.

chrysalis had options. Her magic was unreliable, but she could still just slip away in the night while he was sleeping. Just disappear into the darkness never to be heard from again. She could wipe his memories, but that required magic. Or she could just kill him. She toyed with the idea of torturing him until he died. She had done it before to those who had greatly displeased her. She was a little squeamish when it came to that kind of thing. But locking somepony somewhere with no food or water and letting them die of starvation and exhaustion wouldn’t make her lose too much sleep.

But then... Something in Chrysalis didn’t want to overtly harm the dumb oaf of a pony. After all, he had done nothing against her except being an insufferable hillbilly oaf, that is.

Chrysalis cast her mind back to a time when that would have been enough to earn her wrath, and then turned her thoughts inwards, probing her own feelings. She giggled faintly at the thought that she might be developing a conscience, or morals in her old age.

Instead, Chrysalis again imagined hurting the pony. Making him suffer and scream in pain. There was a time when such thoughts would have touched something deep inside her; it had made her feel alive and powerful to hold someone’s life in her hoof while she fed from their partner’s love. But she felt none of that familiar thrill as she imagined making Evergreen suffer.

Maybe she was getting soft?

Chrysalis shook herself out of her reverie, and snorted a moment.

At the very least, she would make him pay for touching her. She would burn down his cottage, perhaps, while he was out doing whatever it was he did when he left. So long as he wasn’t there at the time, she wouldn’t need to feel guilty over destroying his life. He would live. He just wouldn’t be very happy for a very long time. A fitting punishment.

Chrysalis heard the splashing of water as Evergreen crawled out of the cauldron, and she snorted a moment. “If there is but an inch of you that is not clean, Sir Evergreen, you are going back in.”

“I’m clean, you sodding unicorn!” came the muffled reply. Chrysalis gave a wry grin.

“And under your hooves?” Chrysalis called through the door.

“Yes under my sodding hooves!” came the rebuke, and Chrysalis giggled. She was treating him like a child. She would instill in him a submissive nature that would make her manipulatory magic all the easier. And with her current power levels, any spell she cast would have to be as easy as possible so she didn’t end up dead at the end of it.

The door opened, and Chrysalis’ narrowed her eyes at him, scowling slightly.

Evergreen rolled his eyes and turned in a slow circle, careful to flick his wet tail in her direction and spray her with water droplets as he rotated, before posing sarcastically. “Am ah presentable, Ma’am?”

A long silence stretched out as Chrysalis stared at him, before she sniffed slightly and turned back to the fire. “You are passable.”

“I am pleased that I am an affront to neither your eyes nor your nose, ma’am,” Evergreen said in such a perfectly cultured voice that Chrysalis twisted her head to stare at him, expecting a third pony to be in the room.

“Wot? Yer never heard them fancy ponies talk like that ‘afore?” Evergreen asked with a sly grin.

Chrysalis stared at Evergreen in wonder for several long moments, before blinking and shaking her head. “I... Just... Wow. And here I thought you had no more surprises.”

“I’m full’er surprises,” Evergreen said with a smile, moving over to the bench and picking up a metal kettle. he carried the kettle over to the fireplace and set it on a hook above the fire to boil. “But yer know. I never did quite catch yer name.”

“That is because I never gave it,” Chrysalis said coldly.

“Kinda figured that,” Evergreen said with a slight nod. “So I’m gonna have ta’ be knowin’ yer name now.”

“Why would you need to know my name? It serves no purpose,” chrysalis stalled, trying to think up what name would work best.

“It’s only polite, yer know?” Evergreen asked, raising a brow, before pointing out, “After all, yer know my name.”

“I only know it because you wish me to call you ‘sir’,” Chrysalis stated bluntly in rebuke.

“Yeah. I rather like hearin’ you high folk call me sir. Makes me feel important, see?” Evergreen said with a sly grin, before lifting a hoof to halt her words. “Yer gonna tell me yer name, or I’m gonna drink all this lovely tea by myself and not even offer yer any.”

“Very well,” Chrysalis huffed. “I am... C.”

“...C?” Evergreen asked, perking an ear upwards. “Wot kinda name is that? How do yer spell it?”

“...C?” Chrysalis offered after a moment, feeling her cheeks beginning to flush under Evergreen’s scrutiny. She berated herself for her lapse in confidence. She was a dark queen, not some blushing, unsure unicorn filly!

“That’s it?” Evergreen asked, blinking slowly at her, sounding skeptical. “Just plain ol’ letter C?”

“Double E,” Chrysalis added with a firm nod.

“So... Just C Double-E?” Evergreen pondered, and then shook his head teasingly. “Yer parents musta been illiterate. Were yer born third or something?”

“It is a lovely name!” Chrysalis huffed, drawing herself up into a sitting position and placing a hoof on her chest. “It is tradition in my bloodline to name the most regal of our children Cee.”

“Well Cee. I guess yer earned some tea. Yer musta had all the fillies making fun rhyming yer name in school,” he said with a snide grin.

Chrysalis blinked at that, her ears splaying backwards. She hadn’t had a childhood as such. In general, a changeling’s turbulent early years were mainly spent learning how to pry love from others before the love from their parents tapered off and their supply of energy ran dry.

“Uhm...sure,” Chrysalis said with a slight nod. “They did.”

“Or were yer one of those home-schooled fillies?” Evergreen asked, raising a brow. “Too good for the normal school, eh?”

“You say that like I had a choice in the matter,” Chrysalis snorted in response, seizing on the new lie to make it her own.

“I guess I never looked at it that way ‘afore,” Evergreen said thoughtfully, seeming to mull over the idea as he took the kettle from the hook on the stove and carried it over to the bench.

“Obviously.” Chrysalis scowled at Evergreen as he moved away, then tossed her mane contemptuously and turning back to the fire.

“Well sor-ree yer highness,” Evergreen said with a roll of his eyes, his tone sarcastic. The stallion slipped back into the back room to collect some ingredients together, returning a few moments later, hoof filled with flower petals and herbs. He placed them all in a mortar and pestle, and began to grind them up with firm presses and twists.

“Just call me ‘Cee’,” Chrysalis said with a growl.

“Yer don’t like being called ‘yer highness’?” Evergreen asked, casting a sly grin over his shoulder.

“I don’t like being addressed as royalty in that hillbilly tone of yours!” Chrysalis hissed vehemently.

“Ohhhh, so yer too good for being addressed as yer highness because ah don’t speak like yer do?” Evergreen asked, seemingly genuinely curious, and not at all bitter.

“I didn’t say that.” Chrysalis scowled.

“Oh, but yer did,” Evergreen said with a nod and a triumphant grin. “Caught yer in a lie there, Princess.”

Chrysalis growled at Evergreen once more. He was the most infuriating pony she had ever met. Ever!

“And how come yer a princess anyhows?” Evergreen asked, raising his other brow at her curiously. “Ah mean, s’far as ah knew, the princesses were all alicorns.”

Chrysalis shot Evergreen a glare with enough venom behind it to wilt a flower.. “You cannot fathom that my parents married into the royal line and I am the result of that?”

“Ah guess ah never did, thanks fer clearing that up,” Evergreen said, turning back to grinding up the leaves and herbs without another word.

Chrysalis blinked slowly at Evergreen, disarmed by his lack of rebuke to that. He wasn’t fighting her. He was robbing her of more chances to insult him and to cause him psychological trauma with barbed entendres. She felt misled.

Huffing, Chrysalis turned back to the fire to keep her hooves warm. She just closed her eyes and rested her head on her forelegs, her tail giving an irritated flick back and forth.

Evergreen finished with the kettle, tipping the contents of the mortar and pestle into it. He then placing the lid on it, swilling the contents around and then moving back over to the fireplace to place the kettle back on the hook to allow it to boil once more. He rubbed his hooves together in front of the fire for the moment, peeking at Chrysalis sideways.

“So what is it that yer doing all the way out here, alone?” Evergreen asked.

And there it was. The unavoidable question. Thankfully, Chrysalis had figured out the perfect cover. Keeping her voice carefully neutral, she explained, “Well... My parents arranged for me to marry a prince,”

“Sounds like yer got it made,” Evergreen commented.

“Hardly,” Chrysalis retorted, building on the lie. “I was with him for nary a week when he started... Beating me.”

Evergreen’s eyes flashed with anger and he lifted a hoof to halt her. His tone was dark as he asked, “So... Lemme get this straight. Yer husband-ter-be beat you?”

Chrysalis grinned inwardly at the palpable anger rolling off the woodspony. “Indeed he did... Once.”

“Please tell me yer killed him. Marebeaters are the lowest kinds a’ scum in Equestria,” Evergreen spat.

Oh this was delicious! He was wishing harm on another pony just for the sake of her well being! The swelling in her heart was like what she used to feel when crushing somepony’s love underfoot.

“I did,” Chrysalis replied carefully, keeping her tone neutral.

Evergreen blinked once. “...Oh.”

“As you can guess, the royal guard was none too pleased that I killed a prince... And they hushed the whole incident up. Said he broke his neck out hunting. Of course, by then, I was long gone... Fleeing towards the forest...” Chrysalis trailed off to let Evergreen’s imagination fill in the blanks.

“So the royal guard are chasing yer?” Evergreen asked, staring at her in wonderment.

“Wanted for questions regarding the ultimate fate of my late fiancee,” Chrysalis said in a calm tone.

Evergreen scowled slightly, staring into the fire.

“Well... Yer welcome to stay here long as yer need, Ma’am, I’ll not turn away those who need help. Even if they are a high-class pony who got no sense of gratefulness,” Evergreen said as he took the kettle down from the hook and proceeded to pour a pair of mugs full of the hot liquid.

Chrysalis let the jab at her go by without rebuke. After all, he was telling the truth. She took the offered mug, and paused as Evergreen raised his.

“To yer husband,” Evergreen toasted, raising his mug.

“To my husband,” Chrysalis said with a sly smile, clinking her mug against Evergreen’s own and then taking a sip of her drink.

Honeyed, silk-smooth liquid, both spicy and sweet assaulted Chrysalis’ taste buds, and her eyes widened. She stared for a long moment at the contents of the mug. The liquid within was gold, flecked with slight hints of brown where some kind of herb had made it past the filter, but it was heaven in a cup!

“This... This is...” Chrysalis spluttered.

“Secret family recipe,” Evergreen said with a wry grin.

“But... This is amazing!” Chrysalis said, taking another sip of the drink and giving a low moan as she felt the liquid slipping down her throat. Strictly speaking, she didn’t need sustenance the same way the ponies did... But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t derive pleasure from the act of eating or drinking, as she had all the necessary equipment to process food. She never really hungered, as it were, for ‘real’ food. But she definitely enjoyed eating and drinking, and this liquid was divine.

Evergreen grinned at that and shook his head for a moment, smiling, “Yer know what, Princess? If yer a good girl for the rest of the day, Ah’ll teach yer to brew yer own.”

Chrysalis peered at Evergreen over her mug for a moment, and for some reason, a smile found its way to her mouth. “I’d like that.”

Ponyville

Chrysalis whined just softly in the back of her throat as she tilted her mug up and held it for several long seconds. She allowed the very last dribble of the now-cold liquid to seep onto her tongue and fill her mouth with the odd, utterly heavenly taste. And then it was all gone. She sighed faintly and laid the cup aside.

She couldn’t harm Evergreen now. Oh no; he would have a special place at her table—or rather, a special place by her side—as her personal chef. It would be so fun to break him down to the point where he was a simpering fool for her, a slave to her every whim, begging up at her with that drawling accent of his: ‘Ah’ll do anythin’ fer yer, Princess’.

A dreamy sigh left the Changeling Queen as she stared into the embers of the fire. It was morning proper now. The cold had seeped from the air, replaced by a gentle warmth. At least, inside the cottage it was warm. A hoof against the window pane said that it was still cold outside. It would be cold all day, if she were any judge. The wet ground was sapping the warmth from the air, and the scattered cloud cover still muted the sun’s warming rays.

Evergreen obviously concurred with Chrysalis’ appraisal. He was pulling on his jacket as he collected a sack, stuffing several jars and vials inside as he moved towards the door.

“Ah’ll be back,” Evergreen shot over his shoulder.

“How long will you be gone?” Chrysalis asked lazily.

“Ah should be back ‘afore sundown,” Evergreen said with a wave of a hoof. And with that, he opened the door and stepped out into the cooler morning air..

The cottage door slammed as Chrysalis bounded out it and shoved it closed behind her, running after him.

“I’m coming!” Chrysalis stated, her eyes wide. without pause, she snatched the sack from his back and then threw it over her shoulder.

“I’ll carry all your stuff and I won’t slow you down. I promise,” Chrysalis simpered, batting her eyelashes. “I’m really interested in what you—”

“Ahkay,” Evergreen said with a single blink at the unicorn, continuing down the path, unconcerned. Chrysalis was careful not to jostle the contents of the sack, lest she break any of it, while still doing her best to explain her motivations to him.

“—do for a living, and I’ve gotta pay you back for being so nice to me someh—...Wait, what?” she asked, blinking at him as her mind caught up to her mouth.

“Ah said ahkay,” Evergreen said with a slight shrug. “Just try not ta lag behind. Ah gotta go to Ponyville during the trek and buy some stuff.

“Is Ponyville far?” Chrysalis asked curiously. With all of the staggering around during the storm, she didn’t even know the general direction of Ponyville, let alone the distance.

“It’s ah few hours walk,” Evergreen stated, pointing his hoof off into the distance,towards a smoke plume rising above the trees. “That’s Ponyville there. But we gotta walk the long way round. All the best herbs ah found on the game trails.”

“I’ll try not to slow you down,” Chrysalis said with a determined nod. She couldn’t let him get too far away from her. She didn’t want to fade away into the darkness while he was off picking flowers. Ugh. And he was going to Ponyville! She could give him the slip, find a nice couple she could leech from for a few days, and then get out of Equestria before the Royal Guard tracked her down.

She would pay a visit to the oaf’s cottage before she left though, once she had her energies back. She knew a few spells to make him pliant, and she had to learn how he made that wondrous brew. Maybe she would even take him with her to turn him into her faithful slave.

Chrysalis fantasized about it for a few more moments as they walked, letting her mind fill with images of Evergreen bowing to her, catering to her every whim, teaching her how to make his divine beverage and lying besides a roaring fire with him so she could have her every problem soothed.

Chrysalis was brought back to earth by bumping into Evergreen’s flank as he paused in front of a tree to lean down and inspect a patch of moss. She scowled as the contents of the sack jostled, “Warn me before you just stop!”

“Ah told yer three times that Ah wanted to look at the tree. But yer were off in yer fantasyland dreamin’ bout hoof polishes and horn filing,” Evergreen said flatly.

“Then you should have spoken louder.” Chrysalis growled.

“Ah need a vial,” Evergreen said flatly, holding out a hoof.

Chrysalis blinked, and then realised that he wanted something from out of the sack. She was about to reach back and open it with her magic, before she remembered her vulnerability and turned her head towards the sack instead. She reached in and tugged out a vial with her mouth, holding it out for him.

Evergreen took the vial from her, scooped some of the moss into it. he inspected it inside the vial, and then stoppered it back up, handing it to her.

“So... What is that moss for?” Chrysalis queried.

“Ah dunno,” Evergreen responded in a completely transparent way.

Chrysalis gave an exasperated sound, “Then... Why did you collect it?”

“Because Ah dunno what it does. Haven’t yer ever been curious as ta how things work?” Evergreen asked, skirting around the tree and continuing down the path.

“Of course I have,” Chrysalis answered, her head canting to the side as she followed after him. The path was muddy, but the sun was beginning to dry it out and they skirted the worst of the puddles. “But... I generally just pulled it all apart to see how it worked.”

“And that’s what Ah’m doing,” Evergreen said with a faint smile back at Chrysalis. “Ah’m collecting the stuff, and seeing what it does.”

“But... it’s just... moss,” Chrysalis said, bewildered, frowning. His actions were intriguing, but his explanations and his godawful accent did little to explain what he was actually doing.

“Yer’ve been sick before, right?” Evergreen asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I have,” Chrysalis admitted defensively, not knowing where the woodspony was going with this line of questioning.

“And yer were told ter take pills fer it, yeah?” Evergreen continued.

Chrysalis cast her mind back to the few times she had been forced to take medication, “Uhm... Yeah. They tasted horrible.”

“Well them there pills were fungus,” Evergreen stated with a wise nod.

“Ugh. No wonder they tasted horrible!” Chrysalis shuddered.

“Yeah, but yer gotta wonder... How did the ponies way back when figure out ter eat that fungus when yer are sick?” Evergreen asked, pointedly pricking an ear back at chrysalis.

He was going to make her say it, wasn’t he?

A silence stretched out between them and Chrysalis sighed faintly, shaking her head. “Experimenting.”

The stallion grinned “See? Yer already knew the answer all along. and that’s why I experiment. Never know if some fungus or flower I find will be a cure to some malady that plagues ponies.”

“But... What’s the point?” Chrysalis asked after a few moments. “I very much doubt that the ponies who invented those horrid tablets benefited very much from their efforts.”

“Benefited?” Evergreen asked, sounding confused. “Whatcher talking ‘bout?”

“Well... Those ponies. They created this medicine, or discovered it... But then what? What did they gain from sharing that secret with every pony they know?” Chrysalis queried, as Evergreen paused besides a flower. Wordlessly, she dug out a jar for him to take the entire flower and place inside.

“That’s not the point, innit?” Evergreen said with a shake of his head. his tone turned accusing as he continued, “Wot kind er selfish thing to say is that? If yer knew about a secret medicine, you’d share it with everypony, wouldn’t yer?”

Chrysalis blinked. Honestly... she would have to say ‘no.’ It just wouldn’t cross her mind to share such a valuable secret unless there was something in it for her. But then she took to heart that he was a pony, talking about other ponies. If she knew of a medicine to ease the pain of her changeling army, would she share it with them? Definitely. In an instant.

Frowning slightly, Chrysalis shook her head, rubbing a hoof against her forehead.

“That was a stupid question,” Chrysalis covered, taking the jar back and placing it in the sack. “I beg your forgiveness. I am merely tired.”

“Well that’s no reason fer yer to be saying such selfish things,” Evergreen said with a frown. “Yer mother done raised you wrong if you really think that.”

“I... didn’t spend a whole lot of time with my mother,” Chrysalis replied—truthfully, in fact. Her first years had been spent in the lair of the former Queen of the Changelings. Her mother’s love had sustained Chrysalis, but eventually that love had withered away to nothingness, and she had been forced to fend for herself.

“That’d explain some things, alright,” the earth pony said with a short nod at her, frowning a moment. “Come this way. Ah got a special stash over here that likes the rain.”

Chrysalis plodded after Evergreen as he lead her off the path, stepping carelessly through the mud. Chrysalis quite enjoyed the feel of the mud on her hooves. The squishy sensation was rather soothing, and it would give her a reason to have a nice warm bath when they returned to the cottage.

Evergreen paused at a tree, and cast his gaze about. He slinked around the tree and and then pushed aside a palm frond covering a grouping of violently purple flowers.

“Yer don’t want ter touch these at all. And yer don’t want ter let any of the pollen git in yer eyes,” Evergreen said grimly, motioning for her to hand him a jar.

Blinking slightly at the plant, Chrysalis pulled out a jar for him, placing it into his hoof.

Chrysalis watched as, with infinite care, he pressed the bottle over the flower and then began to ease the lid onto it, very, very carefully. With a deft twist of his hoof, he snapped the stem of the plant and then screwed the lid on. When the delicate procedure was done, he wiped the mouth and lid of the jar off with a broad leaf.

Evergreen held the glass jar up in front of her, shaking it slightly. A golden powder floated from the centre of the purple flower, filling the enclosed space.

“Niteshade. Very nasty stuff,” Evergreen stated grimly, “One sniff of this plant’ll put yer in a coma for a week.”

Chrysalis blinked. “Why would you collect such a dangerous flower?”

“It’s worth twenty bits a petal,” Evergreen stated with a smile

Chrysalis blinked once more, and then leaned past him, to look at the crop of flowers, her tone bewildered as she asked, “...Why don’t you take more? That’s quite a lot of bits value in that little bunch.”

“It’s a matter of enterprise, see?” Evergreen raised an eyebrow at her.

“Enterprise?” Chrysalis asked doubtfully, rolling her eyes at him. “I doubt you’d understand how to haggle, let alone work enterprise.”

“Well lookit it this way: Ah can pick all the flowers right now, an Ah’ll get a pretty sum of bits, yeah?” he asked, raising a brow at her.

Chrysalis nodded eagerly at his words.

“And ah would kill the plant doing so. Or, ah could sell one flower every time it rains and not kill the plant itself by doing so, and earn a much larger amount of bits over a period of time,” Evergreen pointed out.

“That... Makes far too much sense,” Chrysalis admitted, a little bit chagrined.

“Told yer so,” Evergreen said with a sly grin, passing Chrysalis the jar so she could place it in the sack. “But yer gotta be careful with that there plant. Yer smash the glass, and yer’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

Chrysalis gingerly took the ja, peering at its contents for a long moment, her eyes narrowing. It really was a pretty flower—beautiful, but deadly. It reminded her of herself.

Carefully placing the jar back in the sack, chrysalis plodded after Evergreen as he moved back towards the path, moving onwards towards Ponyville.

The two ponies made their way onto the main street of Ponyville, heading directly towards the alchemical stores, laden with goods. Evergreen had made quite a few nice finds along the path, traveling a route he obviously knew well. The storms also had helped, bringing out a series of rare flowers that needed fresh rain to flourish. Such flowers were rare at best, given that the required events for their growth were so intermittent. Evergreen was confident he would make a good deal of money from the gathered herbs and plants.

Chrysalis passed off the sack of goods to Evergreen as they reached the front door of the alchemists store. She looked about with a curious gaze. It was a different kind of store to the ones she was used to in Canterlot. There was no lace or streamers, no silverware or shiny surfaces. It was dusty and gloomy, and a unicorn in a dapper suit and a pair of glasses was standing over a cauldron boiling green liquids that he was stirring slowly with a large wooden spoon.

“Ah, Evergreen. I have been expecting you,” the shopkeeper said with a warm smile, moving from the cauldron over to the counter.

“Yea. Was a good rain storm,” Evergreen said with a nod.

“And you have an apprentice?” the unicorn asked, an ear perking at Chrysalis.

For the first time in a very, very long while, Chrysalis felt self-conscious. Her hooves were muddied, and her mane was tussled from not having a brush anywhere near it for a full day now. She shifted nervously under the appraising stare.

“In a manner o’ speaking,” Evergreen said with an incline of his head, pulling out the jars and phials of valuable herbs and flowers he had collected.

“Ah. The niteshade,” the unicorn said, giving a slow grin. “I’m afraid I am overstocked. I cannot buy it.”

Evergreen winced slightly, shaking his head a moment. “Ain’t even the season fer em, either, sure yer can’t take it?”

“Well... I can’t give you full price for it, sir. Perhaps... Eight bits?” the shopkeeper offered. “I do not wish to see such a specimen wilt on your shelves.”

The stallion winced again, and then asked hopefully, “Yer can’t go ter ten?”

The storekeeper took a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh.

“I...suppose I can,” the shopkeeper said begrudgingly, shaking his head and taking the jar, offering ten bits in return for it. “I’m sure you can garner your other goods for sale at the other stores.”

Evergreen nodded and took the bits. His expression was unhappy as he turned and headed for the door, to try his luck with the other stores.

Chrysalis lagged behind, letting Evergreen leave the store before she moved over towards the counter.

“You know... I think I might like to try this negotiating stuff,” Chrysalis said with a sly wink at the shopkeeper.

The unicorn raised a brow, smiling at her slightly. “Indeed?”

“I have a proposal for you,” Chrysalis said in her sweetest tone, reaching over to the jar containing the niteshade and holding it up, shaking it slightly to let the pollen inside it swirl visibly.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Chrysalis asked suddenly.

The shopkeeper paused for a moment, unsure what to make of what she was doing, and an ear perked. “Indeed. But it is not the beauty that an alchemist seeks.”

“Oh, but the beauty has bearing on this situation,” Chrysalis sing-songed, a cheery smile on her face, “Because it is often the most beautiful of all things in the world that are most dangerous. Celestia and Luna for example. They are both very attractive and comely. But to anger them is to know fear.”

“Indeed,” the shopkeeper said, taking the jar from her hooves and placing it on the counter where it was safe. “But I still fail to see your point from a business standpoint.”

“Ohhh, but I’m getting to that!” she said with a silly little wiggle of her hoof at him. She began to slowly pace back and forth in front of the counter, before turning to him and batting her eyelashes, tossing her mane in a way she knew stallions liked. “I am quite beautiful, don’t you think?”

A thoughtful sound left the shopkeeper. He nodded. “I believe so.”

“Very good,” Chrysalis replied with a smile, placing her hooves up on the counter and scooping up the jar of Niteshade again.

“Now... I know two things,” Chrysalis husked, her tone growing quiet and low...

The shopkeeper leaned a little bit closer to her as she lowered her voice.

A hoof came up to gently play with the shopkeepers tie for a moment, tugging gently at it in a playful fashion. Chrysalis giggled and leaned in closer, brushing her nose past his own so she could lean past, eyes closed, to whisper into his ear: “I know you don’t have jars of Niteshade under the counter, that you lied to Evergreen when you said you were overstocked. As a rather accomplished liar myself, I’ve grown competent in spotting it in others, and you, sir, are lying through your teeth.”

Chrysalis’s tone was as sweet as fresh honey, but there was something dangerous in her cheery smile and tone, and the shopkeeper noticed it. His eyes widened, and he tried to scrabble away from her, but her grip on his tie tightened, holding him in place. Her eyes slowly opened, narrowing on the shopkeeper’s own, locking him in her powerful gaze.

“And the other thing I know,” Chrysalis whispered oh-so-softly, “Is that if you don’t pay Evergreen the extra ten bits you owe him, then you will be searching every single meal you ever eat again for traces of niteshade.”

Chrysalis’ tone turned vehement, lightning flashing in her eyes. She lifted the jar of Niteshade in her hoof and shook it in front of the shopkeepers eyes threateningly. “I will destroy you,”

The shopkeeper swallowed hard, squirming and trying to get away from the suddenly-vicious unicorn. His eyes widening and faint gasps left him as Chrysalis’ grip on his tie tightened further, beginning to constrict his airways.

“I will take everything you ever loved... and crush it,” Chrysalis crooned, in her lowest, most serious tone. “I will make you suffer in ways you cannot even fathom, until you’re praying to Celestia that I put niteshade in your next meal just to end my torture over you.”

The pressure on the shopkeepers throat lessened as Chrysalis released the tie. Calmly, she began to gently pat down his lapels, making them nice and neat.

“Am I a good negotiator?” Chrysalis asked, her tone back to normal, grinning at him sweetly.

The shopkeeper wordlessly reached over to the till, pulled out ten bits, and placed them in her hoof. His own hoof was shaking violently, and he immediately began to back away from the counter slowly, away from her.

“I knew you’d see it my way!” Chrysalis said with a smile, saluting him with a hoof playfully. She scooped up the extra bits, and then turned to the door, pushin out of it and onto the street.

Evergreen had just noticed her absence and was looking for her, spying her coming out of the store. “C’mon, Cee. Can’t dawdle here. Gotta sell my stuff, and ah can’t afford to be looking around for yer if yer loitering in some dinky old store.”

There was a flicker of movement from behind her as the storekeeper flipped the sign over to ‘closed’. The lock clicked as it was engaged, and then there was the thud of hurried hoofbeats receding from the doorway as the shopkeeper retreated to one of his back rooms. The changeling hid a smile.

With a sly grin, Chrysalis presented the pouch of bits to Evergreen. “I’m earning my keep.”

The stallion blinked and peered down at the pouch, before asking suspiciously, “How’d yer get hold of these? Yer didn’t steal them, did yer?”

“I’m a good negotiator,” Chrysalis said cryptically, giving Evergreen a wan smile.

Evergreen stared down at the pouch of coins for a moment, and shook his head slowly. “Yer full’er surprises, too.”

Chrysalis felt the bond between them grow in strength and smiled. Even if she didn’t find a couple to latch on to today, she was now getting more than enough energy from Evergreen to sustain her. Maybe even enough to get her magic working again.

The Queen of the Changelings grinned as she fell into step beside the stallion, following him as he went about his daily business.

Karma

Evergreen visited many different stores—from the alchemists’ row, to the florist, then to the decorator and even the hospital—selling them all different herbs or flowers. It seemed as though the different things he collected were needed by a wide range of ponies, and none of those shopkeepers tried to stiff him in the way that the first alchemist had done.

“So why did you accept ten bits for the niteshade when it’s worth twenty?” Chrysalis queried Evergreen as they headed for the hospital.

“Well, yer realise that niteshade is dangerous, yeah?” Evergreen asked, raising a brow at Chrysalis. “That shopkeeper is the only pony for miles around who knows how ter properly prepare niteshade for alchemy purposes. He buys it off everypony hereabouts and then prepares it, and sells it ter the other alchemists at a profit.”

“That... Seems very dodgy,” Chrysalis stated flatly.

“Ahhh... Well, he’s the only one can prepare it. Most other ponies end up poisoning themselves when they attempt it. So he at least has the right,” Evergreen said with a slight shake of his head. “Yer quite the negotiator if yer convinced him to give yer the extra for the niteshade that he stiffed me out of.”

Chrysalis frowned, her eyes narrowing on the stallion for a moment. “You mean to tell me that you knew all along that he wasn’t giving you the correct price.”

“Ah knew,” Evergreen admitted.

“Then why didn’t you stop him?!” Chrysalis demanded, scowling. “Besotted colt.”

“There’s nah need for insults,” Evergreen rebuked, his tone turning exasperated. “Th’ shopkeeper’s the only one who buys niteshade off me. So he kinda can set the price, and ah don’t have time to argue, or we’ll be trekking back to th’ cottage in the dark.”

“And the shopkeeper knew that you were in a hurry, and was using it to his advantage?” Chrysalis asked, raising a brow.

“Ah think so,” Evergreen said with a sad smile. “There’s not a whole lot ah could do about it though, ten bits fer the niteshade is better than no bits at all.”

“I...suppose that’s correct. But if he does that again, let me know. I’ll convince him otherwise,” Chrysalis said, her tone completely innocent. There was nothing to suggest that she was speaking of anything in any way...evil, but Evergreen still gave her a long look.

“Ah get th’ feelin’ that yer a lot less innocent than yer act,” Evergreen stated.

“And Ah get th’ feelin’ that yer a lot smarter than yer act, too,” Chrysalis teased, grinning at him a moment. “Of course, if you were as dumb as you acted, you would have trouble walking and talking at the same time.”

“And if yer were as innocent as yer seemed then... I... Completely can’t think of something ter come back with,” Evergreen admitted with a shake of his head.

“I retract my previous statement about you seeming smarter than you act,” Chrysalis said blankly.

Evergreen snorted at Chrysalis, giving a soft chortle. “Ah don’t pretend ter be a smart pony. Ah’m happy being a dumb woodspony.”

Evergreen pushed open the door to the hospital and held it open for Chrysalis to step through.

“And you’re so good at it, too,” Chrysalis teased, giving Evergreen a sarcastic curtsey as she stepped through the door, blinking and wrinkling her nose. She had always hated hospitals with their shiny, whitewashed walls, and the sharp tang of antiseptic constantly so strong in the air.

The stallion pushed past Chrysalis and up to the counter. He dug around in his sack for a moment, coming up with several jars filled with herbs and plants. Chrysalis recognized them as plants they had travelled quite a ways off the path for. Evergreen set the jars down, lifted a hoof in a wave at the nurse behind the counter, and then turned around to leave. Blinking uncertainly, chrysalis turned and followed the stallion back out onto the road.

“You’re just... Giving them to the hospital?” Chrysalis asked, her tone bewildered.

“Yup,” Evergreen replied with a nod.

“But... We went so far to get those,” Chrysalis complained, her ears pinning back. “Why didn’t you sell them?”

“Cause yer never know when yer’ll need the help,” Evergreen said with another nod, before saying thoughtfully, “Some call it karma, yer know?”

“Karma?” Chrysalis echoed, blinking slowly.

“Yeah. Karma. Means that yer do good things and good things’ll happen to yer...and if yer do bad things, yer’ll get yer comeuppance pretty hard,” Evergreen explained.

“That’s a...rather simplistic superstition that is ultimately grounded in the notion that there’s a universal scale and balance to it all,” Chrysalis said with a shake of her head. “I hope you don’t believe that nonsense.”

“Ah believe it, fer sure,” Evergreen said with a nod, his tone confident. “Ah know that karma will help me down the road somewhere.”

“But...it’s such a stupid thing to believe!” Chrysalis whined, shaking her head at him in exasperation. “It makes no sense!”

“Oh, but it makes perfect sense,” Eergreen said with a smile at her, his expression rather smug.

“...You really are as stupid as you act.” Chrysalis groaned.

“Yer not lookin’ at it from a philosophical point er view,” Evergreen countered.

“How does philosophy make a stupid idea any more applicable?” Chrysalis asked, scowling slightly.

“Well, look at this way, yeah, say that ah tripped over that there rock over yonder.” Evergreen pointed with a hoof towards a rock on the side of the street.

“That would be exceptional stupid and clumsy of you,” Chrysalis interjected, looking thoughtful a moment before she stated, “I can see it happening. Continue.”

Evergreen ignored the insult, rolling his eyes. “Well, what if Ah broke my hoof? I’d end up in the hospital, yeah?”

“Most likely...” Chrysalis answered, trailing off uncertaintly.

“And when ah got fixed up, the nurses gave me pain medicine and didn’t charge me a bit for it because ah gave them all that stuff for free every time I’m in town,” Evergreen finished with a sly smile. “Ah would call that karma.”

“But it’s not karma,” Chrysalis snorte. “That’s exploiting the building of an emotional bond for personal gain.”

“How do yer get that idea?” Evergreen asked, staring at Chrysalis in bewilderment.

“You give those things to that nurse as gifts, yes?”

“Ah guess you could call it that.”

“And these gifts cost you nothing except a walk off the regular path?”

“Yer were there to help me gather ‘em.”

“And you would receive proper, actual medicine in return for these free gifts, were you to injure yourself?” Chrysalis pressured.

Evergreen shifted uncomfortably. “...Ah guess that would be true in this example.”

“Then you are preying on the nurses’ emotional bond with you to further your own personal well-being for no charge, using gifts that you gather at no cost. It’s simple enterprise. You’re a shrewd businessman, Sir Evergreen.” Chrysalis teased with a grin.

The stallion paused at that, thinking about what she said, his brow furrowing. “But that... I...”

Chrysalis grinned at Evergreen for a moment, triumphant. “You know I’m right.”

Evergreen stared at Chrysalis over his shoulder for a moment longer before reversing direction suddenly, heading back towards the hospital.

“Stay here.” Evergreen stated, breaking out into a gallop.

Chrysalis blinked after Evergreen for a moment, before sitting on her haunches. Mystified, she watched him galloping towards the hospital as though he’d forgotten something. She amused herself as she waited, by searching for a new couple to target. There were several worthy targets; first of which was a businesspony in a suit who was in love with a young pegasus mare.

But Chrysalis didn’t particularly like the look of the earth pony businessman. Just because she fed on love didn’t mean she had to lower her standards. Plus, his lover was a pegasus. Chrysalis didn’t want to be a pegasus or an earth pony. Life without magic was dull and slow; having to use hooves for everything.

A couple passed, two females, a greenish-blue one, and a yellow pony with two-tone pink and blue mane. One of them was a unicorn, she appeared to be a musician. Chrysalis didn’t want anything to with that. It was an intriguing prospect, though. It had been a long time since she’d swam in the love of a same-sex couple. They were always quite delicious. true love, hidden, but just as strong as that of a normal couple. Usually even stronger, seeing as they had to make it work while hiding it from the world.

But the music part was a deal breaker. Chrysalis couldn’t play any instrument, let alone a harp.

Various other couples passed, and Chrysalis found herself rejecting each for various reasons. That male was too big. That female was just too slim for her to shapechange into comfortably. That female’s mane was horrible. Green of all things, Green!

And then Evergreen was back, panting faintly.

“What was all that about?” Chrysalis asked, staring at him.

“Ah was giving the nurse ten bits,” Evergreen panted, slowing his pace, beginning to walk towards the store again.

Chrysalis blinked slowly as she fell into step beside him, “But...why?”

“Because ah what you said,” Evergreen admitted, huffing as he turned to face her. “Ah am not ruining my karma by taking stuff from others for my own personal gain.”

“But you just finished explaining to me that karma is merely a construct that ponies use to explain the intrinsic bond that comes about from emotional attachments causing unexpected gains from those vectors,” Chrysalis stated calmly.

Evergreen stared at her. “...Ah do not believe ah used that many words.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, rubbing a hoof against his mane for a moment in a soothing fashion, cooing; “Just think it all through, Sir Evergreen. You’ll figure it out.”

Chrysalis couldn’t be certain, but she thought she detected a faint blush on the stallion’s cheeks.

“Ah feel kinda stupid,” Evergreen admitted after a few moments.

“It suits you,” Chrysalis said in her most tender tone, grinning at Evergreen. “So where are we going?”

“Ah need ter stop at the general store and get some food, and another blanket; unless yer wanna share with me again?” Evergreen asked with an arched brow, more of a threat than a question.

“I think a second blanket is a wondrous idea,” Chrysalis stated flatly.

Evergreen grinned at her and then reached into his sack for a moment, tugging out his pouch of coins. Opening it up, he tipped a few bits into his hoof, holding them out for her.

She blinked at him. “What?”

Evergreen shook his hoof. “Yer helped me with the work today. So it’s only right that ah give yer some of the proceeds.”

Chrysalis stared at Evergreen a moment before taking the bits with a nod, smiling. “Your reasoning is sound.”

Evergreen grinned and tousled Chrysalis’ mane slightly. “Just don’t spend it all in one place. Ah’ll meet you back here in a half hour.”

Chrysalis nodded in response, peeking down at the bits in her hoof. It wasn’t a whole lot at all, but enough to get one or two things. Instead of heading for the main store, she headed further down the road to a store they had passed previously. Slipping inside she chose one or two items that she thought she would like, paying for them, and then stepping back outside.

It was a few moments later that a shadow fell across Chrysalis, and she squinted up into the sunlight, her eyes slowly widening.

A familiar shape was gliding in a circle around Ponyville with a long, streaming mane and tail, flanked by precision-flying forms in shining armour.

Princess Celestia.

Unexpected Savior

Chrysalis felt her heart in her throat, beating and throbbing in a frenzy of adrenaline. Celestia. Right here in Ponyville! Of all the worst possible occurrences, this was it!

Chrysalis had expected Canterlot to be carefully guarded after the incidents at the wedding; but it had never occurred to her that Ponyville would come under the scrutiny of the Princess herself.

Even after feeding on Shining Armour’s love for so long, Chrysalis still had found it difficult to strike down the Alicorn. And now, reduced to leeching energy from mere affection? Celestia would toss her aside like a toy broken in a child’s tantrum.

Casting her gaze about, Chrysalis considered hiding, cowering under the nearby apple cart until the danger passed.

Adrenaline flushed her system. Everything in her being told her to flee! To run! To hide! She fought it down as hard as she could. She was a Queen. She was calm, collected, and powerful. Nothing could fluster her.

But still, her heart thudded in her chest like a tiny drum being beat to an ever increasing tempo, and her limbs began to almost dance in place. She felt like a juvenile changeling again, caught in her first lie with a partner.

Only this time; if she was caught in a lie, she didn’t have any magic to call upon to save the day.

Breathing growing heavy, Chrysalis looped the carry bag holding her purchases around her neck, and began to walk as calmly as she could towards the spot where she was to meet Evergreen.

There were several heavy thuds behind her, as the royal guards landed in anticipation of Celestia herself touching down.

Chrysalis felt a powerful jolt of fear, and her body demanded that she flee; that she sprint away into hiding. But she crushed her fear once more under the iron hoof of her willpower, ears splaying backwards as the inner conflict resulted in a little dancing mis-step.

The muscles in Chrysalis’ neck quivered as she strove against the urge to look behind herself. She could feel eyes scrutinising her; but she willed herself not to look back, trying to control her breathing as she walked stiff-legged towards a building up ahead.

Chrysalis rounded the corner and almost collapsed, her legs turning to jelly. Her own breath rasped in her ears as she staggered against the wall, her eyes wide. She was scared. She hadn’t felt fear like this in a long time. Of course Celestia was here! Her changelings had been scattered to the four winds by the spell; most certainly utterly destroyed; but Celestia had to be sure. Of course she was going to be checking the major population centres!

There was no way Chrysalis could leave Evergreen now. He was the biggest stroke of luck she’d ever had. A gullible pony who lived in the Everfree Forest, alone, and actually liked her enough to give her energy? He was a gift from the heavens!

Forcing her recalcitrant limbs into action, Chrysalis picked up her pace, cantering towards the next intersection. A feminine, commanding voice call out; “Halt there!”

Chrysalis shot a nervous glance over her shoulder,and shuddered as she saw Princess Celestia herself raising a hoof in her direction, directing the guards to pursue her.

Chrysalis’ heart found her mouth again, and she dove headlong through the streets as fast as she could. She dodged left and right, not even bothering to look behind her. She slipped around a cart being pulled by a large red pony and bolted behind a building several streets away before she risked stopping to take a few deep breaths, looking around wildly. There were no sounds of pursuit behind her, and she began to relax.

The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up, and she shivered slightly, slowly looking upwards. A Royal Guard with a spear was hovering right above her, a spear pointed resolutely in her direction, its tip rock-steady in front of her nose.

Chrysalis’ eyes widened, and she cast her eyes left and right. She feinted left, and then leaped to the right as the Guard dropped down onto the ground and bounded after her. He was confused by her feint and ending up missing her with a lunge of his hooves.

Chrysalis felt the fear pumping into her veins, giving her speed and strength. Royal Guards began to drop out of the sky all around her, hitting the ground with heavy thuds, their limbs splayed for balance. Their spears came down to form a preventative wall to stop her from advancing.

Crysalis reared up on her hooves as she came to a halt, and then swiveled, turning to head back the other direction. She planted her forehooves and sprinted hard down the length of the road as Royal Guards seemed to appear from everywhere. Every turn she tried to take was blocked off by a spear-wielding royal guard. She would have to flee into the forest and hide.

Already, she was trying to ascertain how much energy she had left. How long she could survive alone without anyone to leech off.

But then-

Bam!

Chrysalis went wheeling off to the side as she impacted something rather heavy, pliable, but ultimately unyielding, losing her balance and tumbling to the ground. She rolled once or twice and slid several feet before coming to a halt, dazed.

A shadow fell across Chrysalis, and she looked up, and up, and up to the scowling face of Princess Celestia.

Chrysalis began to hyperventilate, her head pounding, and her limbs shaking. She was terrified now. There was no other words she could think of to express just what kinds of emotions she was dealing with at that moment.

Celestia herself had found her, when she was weakened, vulnerable and friendless. Horrifying images of what could happen went through her mind; being turned to stone. Being banished to the moon to suffer a slow, black death of starvation, or even just killed there on the spot.

A helpless squeak left Chrysalis, and she scurried towards a nearby cart as the owners fled the scene. She dove behind a basket of strawberries and covering her head in her hooves, feeling tears starting to break ou. Her limbs shook as she shuddered in abject terror and in a detached part of her mind, she realised she was crying. Surely, she was the master of fake tears; but these were real, unwanted tears streaming down her cheeks. She heard hoof-falls advancing on her flimsy cover as the princess stalked closer.

And all Chrysalis could think was: I don’t want to die.

The Queen of the Changelings, reduced to a bawling infant by circumstance.

“Oi! What yer doing!” called a voice. Chrysalis lifted her head in time to see Evergreen muscling his way between the guards to rush towards both Celestia and herself.

“I am investigating this suspicious new unicorn.” Celestia stated, lifting her head to its full, regal height.

“Yer scaring her half ter death!” Evergreen protested, moving to stand between them, shielding Chrysalis from the Princess.

“Stand aside,” Celestia said, her eyes narrowing. Magic sparked dangerously at the top of her horn.

“I will do no such thing!” Evergreen said, his eyes narrowing, standing up to his full height, which was much diminished over Celestia’sown.

“That there is Cee, adopted daughter of mah brother, and yer scaring the wits outta her!” Evergreen protested, striding forwards and actually poking the princess in the chest with his hoof.

Chrysalis could only stare, eyes wide and scared, awed by Evergreen’s actions. The dumb oaf was staring down Princess Celestia, just for her!

“Yer didn’t know that her elder brothers told her tales of Princesses tracking down and eatin’ unicorns, didja?!” Evergreen demanded of Celestia, poking her again.

Celestia recoiled a moment, staring down at the woodspony with a gauging glare.

“Yer just making her think th’ worst of ya!” Evergreen said, pointing a hoof towards Canterlot on the mountain in the distance. “Now get outta here and stop scarin’ mah family; Princess or no princess, Ah’ll fight to see her not scared!”

The Princess seemed taken aback by the fire in the pony’s eyes, and she looked past him at the cowering unicorn for a moment, her expression softening.

“I’ll not harm her, I promise.” Celestia said with a bow, closing her eyes a moment in deference to Evergreen, before pushing past him gently to crouch in front of Chrysalis.

“Hey there, you,” Celestia said tenderly.

Chrysalis could only whimper in response, convulsing in abject terror as the princess, and her deadly horn, came closer. A single blast from that horn could end her existence or bring a literal lifetime of misery. Celestia had only need suspect that she was who she was.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Celestia soothed, leaning forwards to nuzzle gently against Chrysalis’ muzzle in a comforting fashion.

Chrysalis felt herself begin to break down as the Princess rubbed her muzzle against her own, tears streaming down her face, sobs starting in her throat as she tried weakly to get away. She didn’t care that everyone could see her. She didn’t care that her pride in that moment was non-existent. She was just scared, scared and alone. In any second, Celestia’s expression would change to one of anger, and her horn would burn her existence from this world. Chrysalis knew it.

She knew it.

But then, Celestia drew back and turned away, bowing to Evergreen.

“I bid you a good day.” Celestia said, walking away.

The royals guards around Chrysalis and Evergreen slowly peeled off to follow, returning to their patrol.

Chrysalis barely noticed, lost in her own world. A gentle nudge from Evergreen brought her out of her reverie and she whimpered, pressing her terrified form close to his own.

A pair of eyes watched from a nearby alleyway, narrowing slowly on Chrysalis. The shopkeeper from the alchemy store gave a wicked smile.

“C’mon. Ah’ll keep yer safe,” he soothed, strokinga hoof through Chrysalis’ mane.

Chrysalis nodded dumbly and followed after Evergreen as he lead the way towards the outskirts of town. She barely made it to the second treeline before she collapsed into a sobbing ball, rocking back and forth and hugging herself with her hooves. She had never tasted fear before; not like that. Feeling Celestia’s flesh against her own had scarred her mind. She would never forget it. A mere inch from obliteration.

Thoughts of what could have happened had Evergreen not been there and not been so quick to think, thundered through her mind. Their vibrantly morbid possibilities chased away conscious thought, leaving her watching a mental slideshow of her own obliteration.

A pair of warm hooves wrapped around her, and Chrysalis gasped as her unwilling imaginations were broken. She clung to Evergreen then, as though he were driftwood in a raging river. She pressed close to him to feel the warmth of his body against hers to reassure herself that she was still whole as she sobbed into his mane.

She was the Queen of the Changelings. But right now she just felt like a lost child in a large world with no one to turn to, alone and vulnerable. Evergreen was her one salvation, her one anchor in the world to keep her from drifting away, lost to the annals of time as a mere footnote. She clung to him with an iron grip as she buried her head in his mane and cried until she could regain her senses.

Chrysalis felt stupid. Reduced to a weeping, sobbing infant in front of her adversary. She was weak, and she disgusted herself.

She drew back slightly from Evergreen’s comforting embrace and stared at him for a long moment, lifting a hoof to rub at a stained tear trail on her cheek.

“You will never speak of this. To myself, or anyone else. Ever.” Chrysalis breathed, amazed at how unsteady her voice was.

“Ah don’t know what yer talking about, ma’am,” Evergreen said with a slight bow.

Chrysalis blinked once, before realisting that he was acquiescing to her terms.

“You are either the bravest pony I ever met, or the stupidest,” Chrysalis stated, staring at Evergreen and shaking her head slowly.

“Ah always thought the main difference between bravery and stupidity was forethought,” Evergreen said with a nod and a grin.

Chrysalis stared at Evergreen for another long moment. “Stop that. Deep phrases don’t gel well with that mane.”

“Yes ma’am. I will stick with talkin’ bout flowers and herbs,” he promised.

Chrysalis stared at Evergreen again, biting her bottom lip, looking left and right, her ears splaying backwards. “...I... Uhm...”

Evergreen raised a brow curiously.

“I... Just...” Chrysalis looked down at her forehooves nervously, and then threw her hooves around his neck, giving his cheek a fleeting kiss.

“Thank you,” Chrysalis breathed against his ear, before pulling back quickly and turning away, standing awkwardly in place, refusing to meet his gaze.

“We’re gonna have ter git moving or we won’t get back before night.” Evergreen said, still composed completely, covering for her nervous embarrassment by not acknowledging her show of gratitude. He, quite correctly, surmised that it would be best not to dwell on it.

“Well...Let’s go,” Chrysalis breathed, shuddering and peering back at the town. The Royal Guards were all peeling off from the town now, circling about the area, having finished their sweep of the town. But she was still shaking slightly, scared of how close she had come to being exposed.

By the time Chrysalis and Evergreen reached the cottage again, it was almost night. Chrysalis had calmed. She felt stupid. Stupid, vulnerable, and embarrassed. She, a queen, had fallen apart completely in front of everyone. She still remembered the touch of that fear. It was pervasive. She had never felt fear like that before; to be so close to destruction.

Just the thought of Celestia touching her made her shudder. She had been so close. Literally nose-to-nose.

Chrysalis shuddered and shook her head as she closed the door of the cottage behind her. She paused, blinking down at the empty fireplace.

“I’ll get the wood.” Chrysalis stated, tossing her mane once. “You, go fill the bath.”

Evergreen raised a brow at that, and then nodded slowly.

“Ah’ll get on it right away.” Evergreen said, placing down his sack on the bed, and moving out the back door to the little room holding the cauldron.

Chrysalis reversed direction and instead made her way outside to the wood stack, peering up at the high stacks of wood. She began to tug down one after another, placing them haphazardly on the sled until she deemed it full. She then dragged it around to the front of the cottage, pushing open the door and dragging the load of wood inside.

Chrysalis hummed to herself as she set down a series of blocks in the fireplace. Once there was enough wood there, she dragged the rest into the back room, moving around Evergreen to place them under the cauldron. It felt nice to be self-sufficient. Soon enough, she would have no one to help her. She had to leave Equestria, that much was certain.

Once she had enough energy from Evergreen, she would trek across the country until she could seduce her way off the continent. Her run-in with Celestia had her scared.

“Why yer so eager for a bath?” he asked, peeking at her for a moment as he pumped the water up into the cauldron.

“I’m not.” Chrysalis stated, turning to face him. “I’m eager for you to have a bath, you filthy beast. Look at you. I’ve seen cleaner things dredged up from the swamps.”

Evergreen rolled his eyes at that, slipping into the cottage proper to retrieve a box of matches. He lit up the fire with a deft flick of a match.

Chrysalis watched the fire grow under the cauldron, giving it a few minutes before turning her gaze towards Evergreen. “Alright, in you get.”

The stallion nodded, and then pulled himself up over the rim of the cauldron and then inside. He slipped into the warm water, coming up with a wet mane, giving his head a little bit of a shake.

“And now...” Chrysalis said, undoing the pouch at her neck and reaching inside, pulling out a comb and a pair of scissors. “Now...You get a manecut,”

Several years previously, Chrysalis had taken the place of a hairdresser for a month. Her first cuts had been horrible; she blamed them on being sick. But she had gotten into it after a while and, by the end of the month, she was quite the cutter. Not the best, certainly, but she had stopped receiving complaints.

Evergreen stared at the scissors in her hooves, his ears splaying back. “...Do yer have ter?”

“Yes, I must. You look like a small animal died on your head and stayed there,” Chrysalis said, advancing on him with the comb. She dug it into his mane, starting to drag it back to the end of the long locks, tugging at it to get the knots out.

A soft yelp left the woodspony. Chrysalis scowled at him, lifting her hooves to hold his head still.

“Grow up, foal.” Chrysalis growled, as she continued to work the comb through his mane. “Your mane looks like a birds nest!”

“Ah don’t have ter make it look all fancy!” Evergreen complained, but brought up no further argument, only wincing as Chrysalis dragged the comb through his mane.

Once Chrysalis was done straightening Evergreen’s mane with the comb, out came the scissors. She gently ran the comb through his mane and then snipped off the end with the scissors. She took her time, being careful and delicate. The cuttings landed on the floor, to be cleaned up later.

After several long minutes of intense concentration, Chrysalis gave a faint sound of satisfaction and stepped back, stretching her hooves to get the cricks out. “There. Done.”

Evergreen relaxed slowly, giving a sigh of relief. He reached a hoof up to check his mane, making sure Chrysalis hadn’t cut it right back. He was rather happy with how long his mane was. He didn’t want to look like some prancy unicorn. That just wasn’t him.

“Okay, now get out,” Chrysalis said, pointing a hoof. “I want in.”

The colt gave a faint laugh and shook his head, pulling himself out of the cauldron and stretching for a long moment, before pulling a towel around his body and vigorously drying himself.

Chrysalis hummed faintly as she set aside the pouch holding, comb, and scissors. Pulling herself into the cauldron she gave sound of delight.

Evergreen watched Chrysalis for a long moment, his head canting to the side, smiling at her. She didn’t open her eyes as she happily stretched out as much as she could in the cauldron of heated water, resting her chin on the edge of it. He moved off to check his reflection in a mirror, to make sure she hadn’t butchered his mane.

Resting in the water, Chrysalis felt the bond gather more strength. She smiled.

Duality

“Yer sure do like yer baths,” Evergreen stated as he stood at the door, watching Chrysalis with a canted head.

“There is something peaceful about this,” Chrysalis said with a happy sigh. “The water is so lulling, and calm.”

“Ah know how yer feel,” Evergreen responded with a smile. He slipped into the room and movied over to the shelf, picking through the flowers he had drying.

“I am in no danger of falling sick,” Chrysalis said quickly, watching warily as Evergreen rummaged through his herbs, fearing that he had another plant to stuff against her nose.

“Ah’m not digging fer that,” Evergreen said, shooting her a look over his shoulder. “Ah’m looking for this.”

Evergreen held up a rather strange looking herb, leaning in to sniff at it for a moment. “This is what ah’m looking fer. Hospitals use it fer putting in drinks.”

“Why would a hospital put things in drinks?” Chrysalis asked with a wrinkled nose.

“It’s a relaxant,” Evergreen explained with a smile, waving the plant at her. “If yer strain it right, it doesn’t have any taste at all. It just makes yer very, very relaxed.”

“I am already quite relaxed,” Chrysalis stated calmly.

“Yer think that now,” Evergreen said with a grin, tossing the herb into the flames beneath the cauldron. As the herb shrivelled up and began to smoke, he stepped out of the room and closed the door.

Chrysalis felt a momentary touch of alarm as Evergreen left so abruptly, but.. she trusted him. As the acrid scent of the burning herb filled her nostrils, she blinked. Her shoulders drooped, and then her eyelids followed, almost closing. Every single muscle in her body relaxed and she gave a low groan of utter bliss.

Evergreen returned with some blocks of wood. As he nudged them under the cauldron to light it up again and keep it warm, he grinned at her. “Nice, isn’t it?”

Chrysalis tried to frame a response, but it was unintelligible, fading out into a soft groan.

The stallion grinned slightly, shaking his head, and then moving back over to the shelf. He return with a spiky fern, snapping it in half and slathering the sap of it across his hooves. “Now, just relax.”

A soft, indecisive sound left Chrysalis. She wanted to relax, but every single muscle was already so soft and pliable.

Evergreen’s hooves pressed against her shoulders, and one of her eyes opened to peer back at him. She remembered that morning, when she would have imagined horrible things upon him for merely touching her, and now? She... didn’t care. Not even a little bit.

And oh wow. His hooves felt good. Each press of his hooves seemed to just wash away in her muscles. Even after the relaxation caused by the herb being burned, there was a second layer of tension that was just so deeply ingrained that she didn’t even know it was there until it was washed away.

A soft moan left Chrysalis’ lips as the hooves pressed more firmly into her form, and she just sank into a blissful darkness unde Evergreen’s touch. It was just so relaxing. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. It was like sleeping on a cloud. She had actually done just that many a time when masquerading as a pegasus, but this was so much more relaxing.

Even the hard edge of the cauldron under her chin felt soft and gentle.

At some point, Chrysalis drifted off, because her eyes blinked open lazily as she felt herself being pulled out of the water. She staggered slightly, leaning heavily against the stallion with a faint sound, her eyes half-closed and her thoughts foggy. She couldn’t bring herself to support her full weight.

A towel was draped over her shoulders and a vigorous scrubbing motion rapidly removed lingering water from her fur.

And then she was being ushered towards the bed; and Evergreen was saying something to her in that cute accent of his. ‘Yer gotta lay down’ or something. And then she was on the bed. And it was divine. She was just so relaxed. She just wanted to sleep.

Chrysalis felt the stallion beginning to move away; and even though she couldn’t lift her head, she managed to murmur a command. “Lay with me.”

The stallion returned after a moment, his weight touching the edge of the bed. “Ah didn’t quite catch that, ma’am.”

“Lay with me,” Chrysalis flatly stated again, not even opening her eyes.

Evergreen shifted and moved away for a moment before returning. She felt the heavy weight of a blanket fall across her form and then the stallion worming in underneath them, carefully lying so that their forms weren’t touching.

“Stupid oaf. Put a hoof over me,” Chrysalis breathed, her tone short and demanding.

A soft chuckle sounded as though from far away and Chrysalis felt Evergreen squirm up against her back. “I’ll have yer know, this was yer idea, so if yer have any complaints in the mornin’ Ah’m gonna ignore em.”

“Tomorrow is tomorrow,” Chrysalis murmured faintly. “Now throw a hoof over me before I have to come over there and make you regret being so reluctant.”

Another soft chuckle left the colt and he shifted against her. A hoof lifted, and then laid over her chest gently as he rested his nose against her mane.

Chrysalis shifted almost imperceptibly so that she could feel the warmth and friction of his form against her own, just so she knew he was there.

So relaxed, soothed, laying in bed with a colt up against her.

Was this how couples felt when they lay in bed? Of all the stallions she’d lain in the same bed with, she had never felt anything for them at all. It wasn’t as though she was in love with Evergreen. She was fond of the big dumb oaf, she decided. He was... different. But lying with someone that she could see as well... as a pony rather than a mobile source of energy... well, it was certainly intriguing.

Maybe the blast from Cadance and Shining Armour had addled her senses. Maybe she was getting weak, or soft in her old age. But... all she knew was that this was nice. She had never been one for really relaxing like this. The need for energy was always present in her, a yawning hunger needing sating. But lying here with the warmth of a stallion against her back, a strong foreleg over her chest, and the added effects of the herb and whatever he had put on his hooves before massaging her, it was nice.

If Chrysalis weren’t so relaxed, she would have been alarmed with the realisation that she was actually content. She was laying in a bed with a woodspony whom she wouldn’t even have dreamed of allowing to touch her such a short time ago. And now she was content to lay in bed with him.

A part of her mind screamed for her to deny the relaxation, to shift and become uncomfortable and be the strong ruler that she was always intended to be.

But the relaxed part of her mind squashed it with an iron hoof. She was Cee, the Unicorn.

She was, for once, content.

A ray of sunlight woke Chrysalis and she stretched slowly, languidly. her forehooves pressed forwards slowly, shoulders tensing, and then relaxing in a glorious sensation of luxuriousness. She felt great. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so content.

After stretching, Chrysalis paused, her eyes blinking open. She stared at the wall of the cottage for a moment. Something was slightly amiss.

She was alone.

The warm weight of a hoof was no longer resting across her back, and Chrysalis actually felt mildly misled.

That big, stupid oaf. What right did he have to abandon her like that? How was she supposed to know what it felt like to wake up in some colt’s arms that she actually had a mild affection for, if he wasn’t there?

A faint sound of suppressed anger left Chrysalis and she willed her recalcitrant body to roll over, peering around the cottage. She blinked a little as she saw that Evergreen wasn’t there. The cottage was empty.

Taken by the strangest urge, Chrysalis rolled out of bed, and pulled the blanket tight about her shoulders, leaning down to peer under the bed for a moment. Well, he wasn’t there, either.

Huffing, Chrysalis moved over to the back door and pressed it open, looking about. Evergreen wasn’t in that room, or the bathing cauldron, either!

With a scowl, Chrysalis turned around, looking about, unsure on where Evergreen was. She moved over to the fireplace. It was already stoked and crackling nicely. But there was no indication on how long he had been gone.

Chrysalis splayed her ears as she cast her gaze about again. She felt... alone. It was bothersome. As she lay down in front of the fire, she decided that Evergreen needed a proper lesson about making her to wake up alone.

The front door opened and Chrysalis’ head shot up, eyes dilating as they blinked open. and she turned to stare at Evergreen pointedly, eyes narrowing. “And where were you?”

“Ah was gathering flowers.” Evergreen said, jingling his sack in response, letting her hear the clinking of glass. “There are some flowers that only bloom in the morning; and some that only bloom at midnight. Ah gotta rise early ter get the morning ones.”

“But...That...Just...No excuse!” Chrysalis growled in response, pointing at Evergreen.

“Didja miss me?” Evergreen teased, placing down his sack full of jars and perking an ear upwards.

“I did not,” Chrysalis hissed vehemently. But a tiny voice in the back of her mind asked: had she? He she really missed that dumb oaf when she woke up and couldn’t find him?

“Ah think yer lying, Princess,” Evergreen said with a grin as he moved to lie besides her, stretching his forehooves towards the fire to warm them.

Chrysalis glared at Evergreen for a long moment. She growled and shuffled closer. so she could flick the other end of the blanket over his form. After resting her head on her forehooves, she said coldly, “You will wake me before you leave next time.”

“Ahh... Yer looked so cute when yer were sleeping. Couldn’t bring myself ter wake yer,” Evergreen admitted, shaking his head a moment.

“I am not cute,” Chryselis scowled, “I am beautiful. A filly is cute.”

Evergreen rolled his eyes a moment, bopping Chrysalis on the nose with a hoof, watching her flail her own hoof at him in retaliation with a grin. “Cute.”

Chrysalis gave an angry huff at him. “Dumb oaf!”

“So. Cute,” Evergreen teased, grinning at her and bopping her nose again.

“I am going to remove your hoof if you do that again,” Chrysalis stated flatly.

Evergreen waggled his hoof in front of her nose. “But then Ah wouldn’t be able to give yer another massage.”

“I would sew it back on with twine,” Chrysalis said sweetly, batting her eyelids at him.

Evergreen rolled his eyes again, and then said confidently, “Yer wouldn’t harm me. Yer too fond of me.”

“You are such a big, stupid oaf,” Chrysalis said with a shake of her head, tempering it with a smile. “...But you’re alright.”

Evergreen grinned at that. “And yer a stuffy unicorn. but yer alright, too, Princess. Ah’ll have ter get going again soon. Ah need more things from Ponyville. Couldn’t get them all when we were there yesterday.”

“But it’s so early,” Chrysalis said, a faint whine working its way into her tone.

“Ah’m gonna be doing the mountain trail today. There’s herbs at the summit that the alchemists wanna get their hooves on. And ah gotta leave soon or ah’ll not get to Ponyville in time.

Chrysalis snorted dismissively, shifting closer to the woodspony. “Put your hoof over me.”

Evergreen raised a brow, not acquiescing, and saying unhappily, “Ah have to go.”

“Shut up, oaf,” Chrysalis said flatly, scowling and worming her way in under his foreleg, placing it just so against her side. “I will go to Ponyville for you.”

“Ah... don’t know if that’ll be such a good idea,” Evergreen said uncertainly.

“I won’t get lost.” Chrysalis scowled, shaking her head for a moment. “There’s a path. And I’ll leave a trail when I’m walking.”

“Ah’m not so afraid that yer’ll get lost. Ah’m more worried for anypony who yer come across while yer walking.” Evergreen teased with a grin. “And that yer will ‘negotiate’ with half ah Ponyville.”

“I will contain my entrepreneurial nature while I am in Ponyville,” Chrysalis stated, squirming in against him more closely and then resting her head on her forehooves, closing her eyes. “Now shush, oaf.”

A soft chuckle left the woodspony and her squeezed her gently with his foreleg, laying his head down besides her as well.

A few hours later found Chrysalis in Ponyville, carrying a small sack over her shoulder. Within was a jar of niteshade and several other plants she was to sell at the local alchemists.

Thankfully, all of Celestia’s Royal guards seemed to have return to Canterlot; they were nowhere to be found. If Chrysalis was right, the guards would only sweep Ponyville once every day, maybe twice, looking for ponies who were out of place.

First, Chrysalis sold the flowers and herbs to the alchemy stores. Finishing there, carry pouch jingling happily with bits, she went to the unicorn’s store to sell the niteshade. She would relish the shopkeeper’s fear of her. It was nice to be feared and respected.

The bell atop the door jingled as Chrysalis pushed it open, and she smiled as she trotted up to the counter.

The shopkeeper looked up over the top of a newspaper, raising a brow at her. “Good morning.”

Immediately Chrysalis saw that something was amiss. He wasn’t afraid of her.

“You remember me?” Chrysalis asked sweetly, trying to jog his memory of her previous threats.

“Indeed,” he stated. “Evergreen’s apprentice?”

Blinking once, Chrysalis gave an uncertain nod. Somehow, she felt as though she had just walked into a dragon’s den. Swallowing down the feeling of foreboding, she pulled out the jar of niteshade, placing it on the counter. “I wish to sell this.”

“I’ll give you a good price for that.” The shopkeeper said with a pleasant smile, reaching into the till and dropping two bits into her hoof.

Chrysalis stared at him for a moment, still holding out her hoof as he went back to reading his newspaper.

Chrysalis cleared her throat after a moment, quite loudly. The newspaper lowered, and the shopkeeper raised a brow. “Is there a problem?”

“This is insufficient,” Chrysalis said, motioning towards the two bits with her nose.

“Actually, that is quite a good price,” the shopkeeper countered.

Chrysalis growled, dropping the bits onto the counter and then jumping up to put both hooves on the counter. She scowled at him over it, her eyes narrowing. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

“In fact, I have a better idea than you think,” he replied calmly. He dropped the newspaper down onto the counter with a sly grin, his eyes narrowing.

Chrysalis’ ears splayed backwards at the change in the shopkeeper’s demeanor. “...What?”

“Well, first, you were Cee, Evergreen’s apprentice; and then suddenly, his uncle’s adopted child?” he asked, arching a brow with a shrewd smile.

“You didn’t think I could be both?!” Chrysalis asked, scowling at him, her eyes narrowing slowly.

The shopkeeper gave a faint laugh and then shook his head, saying in a silky tone, “You are actually Evergreen’s brother’s adopted child, or so the story goes. Your cover needs a little work.”

Chrysalis’s ears flattened once more, and she recoiled slightly. She bit her bottom lip a moment, realising that she had been caught in a fallacy.

“Ah. It’s a helpless feeling, isn’t it?” the shopkeeper said with a sly grin. “Knowing that your fate is held in the hoof of someone else.”

Chrysalis slipped her hooves from the counter, ears dropping, head held low. “What do you want?”

“I want for you to give me the niteshade for two bits,” the shopkeeper stated calmly, grinning.

“That’s...it?” Chrysalis asked, seemingly surprised, raising a brow at him for a moment. “You are a gentlecolt.”

The shopkeeper looked confused. “How do you mean?”

“Oh...it’s nothing,” Chrysalis said, forlornly taking the two bits and putting them in her pouch.

“No. Tell me,” the shopkeeper ordered, his eyes narrowing.

Chrysalis sat on her haunches, turning slightly so that her mane covered her face from his view. “It’s just that...a lot of colts in your position would take advantage of their position of power a lot more readily. Having a young mare all alone in their shop, at their whims...”

Trailing off, Chrysalis moved towards the door, lifting a hoof to open it as she said, “So...thank you.”

The shopkeeper bounded around the counter, quickly placing a hoof on the door to stop her. He grinned down at her for a long moment, his eyes bright and eager. He carefully slipped the sign over to ‘closed’. “Actually...I am not nearly as gentlemanly as you thought.”

Chrysalis whimpered faintly as the shopkeeper ushered her into one of the back rooms. Affecting the guise of an innocent, helpless mare, bottom lip quivering, she asked, “W-what do you want?”

“...I want you,” the shopkeeper replied with a low, eager growl. “And I will have you. And if you don’t let me, I’ll tell the Royal Guard all about your little cover story. And whatever troubles you have will all come following you here.”

Chrysalis let tears spring up in her eyes as he pressured her into a storeroom. The shelves were all stocked with jars and vials of alchemical ingredients, most of them bright and colourful. She knew from studies of nature that the more brightly coloured a thing was, the more likely it was to be poisonous.

The stallion closed the door behind them, licking his lips. Chrysalis could hear that his breathing had increased in tempo, the shopkeeper growing more eager as his eyes roamed over her form.

“V-very well,” Chrysalis breathed, shuddering as she turned to face him.

With a low growl, he leaned into kiss at her neck and along her mane eagerly. Chrysalis tentatively lifted a hoof to touch at his own.

“I-I don’t know what to do...” Chrysalis whined, her ears pinning back.

“Touch me,” he growled commandingly.

Chrysalis went quiet, lifting her hooves to run through his long mane, her ears splaying backwards. He hadn’t given her a choice, really. She had to do this. But... that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy it, did it? She leaned closer to him, letting their chests touch.

“Lay down.” Chrysalis husked, pressing on his shoulders with her forehooves.

The shopkeeper gave a low growl of delight, and nodded eagerly. He laid himself down on the cold floor of the stock room, grinning up at her naively.

Chrysalis stared down at him for a moment, moving to straddle his form, her stomach resting on his back as she gently kneaded her hooves through his mane. She rested her nose against his forehead, just above his horn, staring down into his eyes. Her own eyes closed and she let out a shuddering breath, gently twining her hooves through his mane. The strands were just long enough for what she intended.

“I-I want to tell y-you what my secret is,” Chrysalis breathed, her tone nervous. Her eyes remaining closed the entire time.

The unicorn stallion grinned up at her for a moment, his head canting slightly. “Go on.”

Chrysalis’ eyes flicke open... but they weren’t their usual pink. They were an unearthly, demonic green. A low laugh bubbled from her throat as the stallion’s eyes widened. Grinning evilly, she leaned in to breathe into his ear in a gentle tone. “I am Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings.”

A look of horror crossed the shopkeeper’s face. He opened his mouth to scream for help, but it was already too late. Chrysalis’ hooves, carefully positioned since the start, crossed quickly and then began to squeeze. Pulled taught, his own mane was now closing his windpipe. Standing over him, Chrysalis was in the perfect position to hold him down with her weight as she began to choke the life from him with his very own mane.

Chrysalis leaned in closer, watching with evident interest and relish as the life slowly drained from his eyes. The wide, scared orbs quivering slightly, misting over as the body beneath her began to go still. A soft, faint gurgle bubbled up from the shopkeepers throat, his tongue splaying from his mouth as it fell open. His eyes rolled upwards, and his faint struggles ceased.

Chrysalis smiled down at him as she released his mane and shifted to rub a gentle hoof along his chin, leaning down to whisper lovingly into an ear, “I told you I would destroy you...”

Rising to her hooves again, Chrysalis calmly moved over to the door, opening it and slipping out to the counter.

Closing her eyes, Chrysalis let her magic wash over her, returning her eyes to normal. She picked up the jar of niteshade she had brought. Humming happily, she picked out eighteen more bits from the till, placed them in her pouch, and then kicked over a broom resting on the wall, to make it appear as though the shopkeeper had tripped.

Chrysalis closed her eyes again and began to breath in and out rapidly, working up to helpless sobs. Tears started to stream down her face as she turned and tossed the glass jar over her shoulder into the storeroom, hearing it shatter with a satisfying sound.

Holding her breath, Chrysalis walked to the front door and flipped the sign over to ‘open’, to make everything appear as it was when she arrived. She then took several steps backwards, squaring her stance. She bounded over to the front door at full speed, crashing right through the glass, landing in a splayed heap in front of the ship. She felt cuts all over her face and neck from the broken glass.

Chrysalis staggered to her hooves as eyes were drawn to the crashing of the glass, and she began to whimper out helpless cries.

“Help! H-help!”

Past And Future

Chrysalis sobbed as she bolted towards the nearest group of stunned bystanders.

“You have to help!” Chrysalis screamed, seemingly in hysterics. “He tripped and fell and it shattered and he’s not moving!”

The stunned assortment of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi all stared at her. Chrysalis whimpered faintly, pointing with a hoof towards the shattered door. “He’s not moving!”

There was a shuffle of movement, as a stallion began to bound towards the shattered door

Chrysalis waited until the stallion grew close to stepping into the store itself before she called out. “W-wait! Don’t go in!”

The stallion paused a moment, staring back at her for a long moment.

“H-he shattered a bottle of Niteshade!” Chrysalis whimpered, shaking her head rapidly. “D-don’t go in or you’ll get poisoned as well!”

A murmur of concern rippled throughout the crowd of ponies. One of the pegasi peeled off from the group and streaked into the sky, heading for Canterlot.

Chrysalis collapsed in the street, curling into a ball and rocking back and forth, letting the tears stream down her cheeks.

“You have to save him! You have to!” Chrysalis wailed as the ponies milled around the entrance of the shop helplessly.

It was several long, tense minutes before Princess Celestia herself arrived, dropping out of the sky like a stone. Her horn glowed brightly, and a pink bubble appeared around her form before she bolted through the front door of the store. She didn’t bother opening it, just crushing the entire thing off its hinges in her haste, pushing through to the store room. There was silence outside the building, as the crowd waited expectantly, watching with bated breath.

The Celestia that emerged was much more subdued than the one that had entered. A large shape covered in a white sheet levitated in front of her, encased also in a pink bubble to keep any lingering spores from being spread throughout the crowd.

The bundle was placed on the ground and Celestia turned. She placed her glowing horn against the front of the building, causing a large pink bubble to erect around it, shielding it from the ponies.

“No one is to enter this store!” Celestia called, as the bubble surrounding herself shimmered out of existence. She pointed a hoof at Chrysalis. “You, come.”

Chrysalis lifted her tear-stained face and let her eyes meet the princess’, her ears splaying backwards.

“I-I’m s-sorry...I-It’s all m-my fault,” Chrysalis murmured, meekly starting to follow the princess, feeling her heart starting to beat faster in her chest.

Celestia led the changeling towards the largest gap in the crowd, motioning for them to open their ranks. The sheet-covered body of the shopkeeper was carried on soft magic several feet off the ground, leading the way. Celestia turned to regard Chrysalis with piercing pink eyes, asking sharply, “Your fault?

Nodding shakily, Chrysalis gave a soft whimper. “I-It’s all my fault, I-I shouldn’t h-have been arguing with him... I-I just wanted a better price for the niteshade so my uncle would be proud of me... b-but I only distracted him a-and he didn’t notice the broom. It knocked a jar off the shelf a-and he shook a little bit and then he just collapsed...”

The princess nodded as she led Chrysalis out of town. Celestia ushering her behind a stand of trees beside the road. Her horn began to glow, glimmering with energy.

Chrysalis inhaled, ears splaying backwards and heart fluttering in fear. Was this the moment? Was she found out? She tried her best not to wince or shudder as yellow magic flowed over her form. It felt like a high wind, brushing over her and sweeping through her mane and tail, picking up force and intensity as time went on. She was forced to squint into the rushing wind, and then close her eyes to protect them.

Turning her head downwards towards the flow of air, Chrysalis tried to form a better profile for the wind to rush over, instead of buffeting against her.

And then it was over. The wind died down as quickly as it started, as the princess looked her up and down appraisingly. “The pouch. Remove it.”

Chrysalis blinked a moment, her ears splaying back. She lifted a hoof tentatively to undo the clasp of her carry pouch and place it carefully aside.

Celestia’s horn began to glow once more and a rain cloud drifted down from the sky to rest above Chrysalis. A quick twist of Celestia’s head caused the cloud to empty all over the unicorn, drenching her instantly in a heavy torrent of water. She was left standing there on splayed legs, eyes wide, dripping wet.

The Princess looked Chrysalis over for a moment, sniffing once. “There. That should be adequate,”

Chrysalis stood there, dripping wet, blinking slowly.

“Are you okay?” Celestia asked, her demeanor changing a little bit, her tone softening.

Chrysalis peered up at the princess for a long moment, her ears pinned back against her skull. She was dripping wet, shivering, and cold.

“I-I don’t t-think so,” Chrysalis murmured, shaking her head.

A soft, helpless sigh left the Princess. “I’m sorry, Cee. But...these things happen, try... try not to dwell on it.”

“I watched him die...” Chrysalis replied in a quiet tone. “I watched him die and I didn’t even help...”

Celestia nodded understandingly, “You couldn’t have done anything. Niteshade is a potent poison... and he probably inhaled a great deal of it when the jar shattered. If you had tried to help, you’d likely be joining him.”.

“It...It doesn’t help me feel any better,” Chrysalis responded in a small voice.

The Princess gave a soft sound and stepped forwards to nudge Chrysalis reassuringly with her nose. “Don’t dwell on it. It will destroy you. No one is going to blame you for what happened.”

“...Promise?” Chrysalis asked hopefully, ears perking upwards.

“Promise,” Celestia confirmed, rubbing her nose against the unicorn’s soothingly. “Now... Go. Get home. Try not to... think on what happened.”

“I’ll try...” Chrysalis responded quietly as the Princess turned and began to walk down the path again, carefully holding the bundle of sheets in front of her with her magic.

“P-princess?” Chrysalis queried, before Celestia had gotten too far down the path.

Celestia paused, peering back over her shoulder.

“Y-you’re alright,” Chrysalis muttered, staring down at her hooves.

Celestia nodded and inclined her head in respect to the unicorn’s words. She smiled sadly a moment and then continued to move down the path.

It was several minutes before Chrysalis managed to get control of her heart and breathing enough to think coherently. Shivering, she leaned down and picked up her carry case. She clipped it back around her neck, and turned to head back into Ponyville.

Chrysalis wore a sad mask as she picked her way between carts and whispering ponies, but inside, she was smiling. She had duped Celestia herself. The Princess didn’t even suspect that the Queen of the Changelings was right there in front of her the entire time. And her little ‘incident’ with the shopkeeper had gone very smoothly.

As Chrysalis dug around in her carry pouch for the shopping list that Evergreen put together, she allowed herself to exult in her triumph. After that, there was no need to doubt that she was still the same queen she used to be... But then, that left the interesting question of Evergreen. He intrigued her. It wasn’t something she could put her hoof on and define, but it was certainly there.

Pondering on her feelings for Evergreen, and trying to make herself seem as traumatized as possible, Chrysalis continued her shopping.

Evergreen was nowhere to be found when Chrysalis pushed open the door to his cottage, letting herself in and dropping her small sack of goods on the bed with a low groan.

Arching her back, Chrysalis stretched her forehooves forwards, giving the lowest of moans. Her neck was tense, and hurt whenever she tried to straighten it; the constant twisting of her head from carrying the sack in her mouth all the way from Ponyville had seen to that. On top of this her legs ached, not accustomed to walking such long distances.

For a second, Chrysalis considered soothing her aches with magic before crushing the idea. She hadn’t blacked out or anything stupid like that all day, but she was still finding it impossible to gauge how much energy she had. The blast at Canterlot must have addled her magical senses; she wasn’t sure if she was brimming with the energy she fed upon or if she’d end up back at square one by so much as lighting another fire.

Just existing didn’t use much energy, especially when Chrysalis supplemented it with food. But magic, be it transforming, or lifting objects used up her energy reserves much, much faster.

It bothered her that she hadn’t felt a dip in her energies when she changed her eyes to scare the shopkeeper. She drifted off for a moment, giving herself a few seconds of guilty pleasure, remembering the fear in his eyes as she choked the life out of him. It still excited her to know that she held that kind of power in her hoof. The power to choose how someone died. it was certainly satisfying.

Humming a jaunty tune to herself, Chrysalis slipped back outside to gather another load of split logs. She dragged them back inside, setting the fireplace up for a nice little blaze. She stacked several more logs around the old cauldron, ready to be set alight to heat the water for a long bath.

After that, Chrysalis had nothing to do but wait. With a faint sigh, she moved over to the fireplace again, taking down the box of matches from above it. She started to strike one, attempting to light it so she could get the fire going. She had never had to use matches before, seeing as she could just use her magic.

It took a few tries, and a few snapped matches before Chrysalis figured out how to flick her hoof just so to light the match, and then slipped the burning tip underneath the kindling. After a little while, the log caught, and began to burn merrily.

With a contented sound Chrysalis settled down in front of the fireplace, resting her head on her forehooves. Now this she could get used to. It was so simple and tranquil. It was a complete change of pace from what she was accustomed to. Her targets had always been the kinds of ponies who gravitated towards social events. The kind who were always at parties or fancy get-togethers and the like. She had never even considered trying a simpler pony, and the simpler life.

There was always pressure with her old masquerades. She always had to think how her targets would handle a certain situation, how they would react. And then there were old friendships to continue with ponies she had no interest in. She was constantly on her guard and always using magic to make sure that nothing went too awry.

But here? With Evergreen? It was so simple. She didn’t have any pressure. Sure, there was the shopkeeper, but he had been a pleasure to deal with. To feel that power in her hooves. She had destroyed him without even needing to use her magic. That made her feel powerful. That made her feel like the omnipotent Queen that she was.

But then there was just lazing here, in front of the fire. It was... something else. There was no sense of empowerment, none of the fulfilling sense of strength that she got when she was manipulating others. But... it was enjoyable. She couldn’t fathom it, couldn’t understand it. She had never really enjoyed anything for the sake of enjoying it before; everything she did had had a purpose. It was all focused on her next target, or, for that matter, her current target. Maintaining her cover, siphoning energy, and then moving on to an unrelated couple before anyone realised what was happening.

And then... there was those little wistful urges she kept getting. Just lying there, in front of the fire with Evergreen, with his hoof over her, with the warmth of his body against her own. That was pleasing. It was just as pleasing as ending the shopkeeper’s life, somehow. It made her feel content.

Chrysalis pondered on the bond itself, the bond she shared with Evergreen. She had never had this kind of link before; a natural liking for her herself. She wasn’t substituting herself for another pony and stealing the energy. She was the destination of Evergreen’s affection. And somehow, this energy was...purer than the energy that she got from others. It felt right. All of the energy she stole from others was tainted somehow in a way she couldn’t fathom or begin to understand. It was like being someone who had eaten stale bread her entire life suddenly finding a full loaf of fresh-baked bread, steaming hot and soft. They were the same, but utterly alien to each other in ways that couldn’t be readily defined. Same ingredients, same makeup, but different.

She knew that some of her kind had defected from the Changeling way of life and attempted to love each other; those forays were always short lived. It was like those perpetual motion experiments she had seen a crazy scientist performing seemingly centuries ago. A chain of motion happening with a net gain instead of loss; but there was always a loss. No matter how much two changelings loved each other, neither ever fed enough energy to the other to recoup the loss of their own. Even at a perfect balance, each spell, each movement, each breath they took ate away at the shared energy they possessed until there wasn’t enough left to sustain them and they faded away to nothing.

A soft sigh left the Changeling Queen and she found herself wishing, for just a moment, that she wasn’t what she was. She felt wistful thoughts towards just lazing with the big dumb oaf Evergreen all day, drinking his magical tea and resting with him in a large cauldron of warm water. It would be nice. Nay, it would be perfect.

But the other part of Chrysalis’ mind, the part of her that was practical, knew that it would never work. She was a changeling. Eventually, Evergreen would begin to weaken. First would come the headaches and the twitches, the fatigue and the sicknesses. And then he would waste away to nothing or, as was more often the case, take his own life in a fit of depression.

That was all Chrysalis’ future held: a constant string of partners, each of them as insignificant as the last. All she could do was glean as much enjoyment from them as possible before she moved on. Whether that be the joy of manipulating them and watching them being slowly destroyed from the inside out, or, like Evergreen, where, for the first time ever, she would be sad to leave her target.

Either she left, or she watched him die a horrible death.

It was a long way off yet, but the knowledge consumed her.

Chrysalis contented herself with lazing, staring into the flames. But her thoughts ate at her mind and her contentedness.

Suddenly, the fire didn’t seem so warm.

First Kiss

The sound of the door opening jogged Chrysalis out of a pleasant nap and her eyes blinked open slowly to stare into the embers of the fire. Night had fallen and it was growing cold. Without even turning around to peek over her shoulder, she leaned forwards and nudged a log onto the fire to help warm her, casting her gaze around for her blanket.

“You’re late,” Chrysalis stated flatly, still not turning around.

“Ah had a little trouble,” Evergreen said, his tone strained.

Chrysalis blinked once and turned her head, raising a brow at evergreen.

Evergreen was filthy. His mane was matted with mud, his entire right side was coated in it. Broken twigs and leaves clung to him in various places. His sack also rustled as though with broken glass.

“What happened to you?” Chrysalis asked, staring.

“Ah had a disagreement with a tree about who had right of way,” Evergreen said, deadpan. “Ah think the tree was correct, ter be honest.”

“Once more I bring to your attention that you are not smarter than you look,” Chrysalis stated. She turned back to the fire, and in her periphery, saw Evergreen limp over towards the bed.

chrysalis’ ears splayed backwards a moment, and she rounded on him again. She rose to her hooves and stepped over closer, peering down at his foreleg. “You’re hurt.”

“Ah...it’s nothing,” Evergreen responded hesitantly, shaking his head. “Jus’ rolled me hoof when the tree took exception to mah argument.”

“You’re limping,” Chrysalis narrowed her eyes.

“Well Ah don’t want to put my full weight on it, do ah?” Evergreen retorted, raising a brow.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and lifted a hoof to push evergreen over suddenly, splaying him across the bed and removing the sack from his reach before he could respond.

“Ah’m all messy!” Evergreen protested.

“Shut up, you big oaf,” chrysalis said flatly, leaning down and lifting her hooves to touch at his foreleg, kneading them slowly down the length of the limb.

Evergreen twitched and winced when Chrysalis reached the last joint before his hoof, his ears splaying backwards. “It’s nuthin,” he reiterated.

“It’s not nuthin,” Chrysalis responded with a huff. “You’ve sprained it. You’re not to walk on it for at least a day.”

“But Ah got stuff to do,” Evergreen complained, trying to push himself to his hooves.

Chrysalis pushed him back down firmly with a hoof, her eyes narrowing. “If you get on your hooves, I will cut your mane back until you’re bald, and then I’ll start on your tail, too.”

Evergreen flattened his ears, whining up at her faintly before sighing and then laying back on the bed, huffing a moment. “But who’ll do all the work?”

Rolling her eyes, Chrysalis turned around to peer around the room, looking for a bandage or similar item. Her tone was sarcastic as she said, “Oh, I don’t know, I mean, it’s not like there’s a pony who’s staying with you or anything,”

“Ah couldn’t ask yer to do that. It’s only a sprain,” Evergreen stated, starting to roll over to get up.

Chrysalis didn’t even turn around. “If you stand up, I’m going to find a rope and tie you down.”

Evergreen blinked once at that, harrumphing and then relaxing once more. “Ah might be into that, yer know.”

“I shall bear that in mind if I ever become desperate enough to want to seduce you,” chrysalis said with a shake of her head. “Do you have any bandages here?”

“There’s some under the bed,” Evergreen said, pointing with a hoof, and then moving to reach down and get them himself.

“Stop that, the more you move your hoof, the longer it’ll stay hurt for,” Chrysalis explained, as she ducked under the bed and rummaged around. She dragged out a small black case, and popped it open. Inside were several dried herbs and flowers, bandages, and even a needle and thread for more serious injuries.

Looking up at Evergreen for a moment, Chrysalis pulled out the bandage and gingerly lifted his hoof, trying her best not to hurt him. She carefully wrapped the bandage around his hoof, making sure it was firm but not tight. In a previous masquerade, she had been a nurse. In that time she had learned more about healing and the like than she had ever cared to. Wrapping injuries, stitching up deep cuts, tending to sick ponies whose entire goal in life seemed to be to throw up on everything they possibly could, and obnoxious children who just screamed. It was one of the very few masquerades that she’d abandoned early purely on account of the job she was forced to take.

“Where did yer learn to treat injuries?” Evergreen asked, raising a brow.

“My brothers got hurt a lot,” Chrysalis lied smoothly. “Especially as one of them was a pegasus.”

Evergreen gave a slight nod at that, wincing as Chrysalis pulled the bandage tight over his hoof and then stuck it down with the little clip to hold it in place.

Chrysalis inspected her work carefully, before deeming it complete.

“But there’s a problem,” Evergreen stated.

“And what would that be?”

Evergreen held up his hooves, showing the mud on them, “Ah’m still all messy.”

“Filthy beast,” Chrysalis said with a shake of her head. “I’ll help you into the other room, and I’ll clean you. But you are forbidden from placing your weight on that hoof.”

“Yes, Mother,” Evergreen quipped, gingerly rolling over onto his stomach and beginning to rise onto three hooves, carefully holding the injured hoof in the air. He limped off the bed and towards the back door while Chrysalis scowled at him.

Chrysalis trailed after Evergreen, making sure he wasn’t having too much trouble, and then ushered him towards the cauldron. She lit it up the log pile with a deft flick of a match, and stood beside him while she waited for it to get warm.

“So how’m I gonna get clean without getting the bandage wet?” Evergreen queried.

“I’m going to help you, dumb oaf,” Chrysalis stated, supporting his weight to help him into the cauldron.

“Well... Thank yer,” Evergreen said with a hesitant nod. “Ah’m...not so good at accepting help.”

“I’ve noticed, I’m the same way. Now, put your hoof on the edge,” Chrysalis said, tapping the part of the cauldron she was referring to.

Evergreen did as commanded, carefully placing his hoof on the edge of the cauldron, eyebrows raising.

Humming faintly, Chrysalis dipped her hooves into the water. She began to scrub them across Evergreen’s back and the bottom of his mane where she could reach. “Use your good hoof, fool. I’m not doing this all by myself.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Evergreen responded, his ears pinning back a little bit as he used his good hoof to begin rubbing at the mud covering his chest.

“So what exactly happened?” Chrysalis asked, shifting slightly and picking up the comb she had purchased, beginning to drag it through his mane.

“Ah had an altercation with a tree,” Evergreen repeated.

“I got that,” Chrysalis said, rolling her eyes. “But how did that end up with you looking like you mud-wrestled a hydra?”

“Ah was tryin’ ter get at a Niteshade crop and slipped. Thankfully, ah didn’t nudge the flowers, or ah wouldn’t have made it home at all. Took a good tumble down a slope, though,” Evergreen said, relaxing back a little bit of a faint, contented sigh as she kneaded across his neck with her hooves.

Chrysalis’ eyes widened and her ears splayed backwards. She realised that she hadn’t told him about the shopkeeper’s little ‘accident’.

“I...Uhm. About the niteshade,” she murmured uncertainly.

Evergreen scowled. “Did that shopkeeper try ter stiff you?”

Chrysalis shook her head slowly. “He gave me full price... but... uhm... he’s dead.”

The stallion paused, blinking once and turning his head. “...What?”

“He’s dead. He managed to shatter the jar of niteshade...he slipped,” Chrysalis explained, her ears splayed backwards. “I tried to save him! I really did!”

Evergreen gave a faint sigh, shaking his head a moment, his brow furrowing. “Ahhh...these things happen. Yer didn’t inhale any of it, did yer?”

Chrysalis shook her head, fighting to keep a very strange smile off her face. Evergreen was more worried about her safety than the fact that the shopkeeper had been killed. It filled her with a strange warmth—like the energy she got from love, only different. Warmer.

“I kinda cut myself when I jumped out the front door though,” Chrsalis ysaid, letting the smile stretch her muzzle, but morphing it into a more sheepish smile than triumphant.

Evergreen turned around at that, looking her over carefully.

“Ah shouldn’t have sent yer to sell it,” Evergreen stated flatly, lifting his good hoof to stroke along her mane gently, rubbing at her neck to check for cuts. “Ah don’t see much damage...but yer coulda been killed..”

“It was his fault,” Chrysalis said, sniffing once. “If he was paying more attention to where he was going, and not to leering at me, he wouldn’t have tripped.”

“Leerin’ at yer?” he asked, his eyes narrowing slowly as his expression darkened.

“Yeah...why do you think I got those extra bits?” Chrysalis asked with a sly grin. “I just batted my eyes at him and he passed them over.”

Evergreen scowled even more at that, accusing, “Yer been throwing yerself at the males in town?”

Chrysalis blinked, her ears pinning back. She shook her head. “No. No. You have it wrong, I was just batting my eyes at him to get the bits he owed you. Surely you’ve had a pretty girl bat her eyes at you to get you to do things for her, right?”

The stallion frowned slightly, turning back to face the front, his expression and tone grumpy. “Ah suppose,”

Giggling faintly, Chrysalis continued to wash him, leaning in to rest her chin on the top of his shoulder, her tone turning teasing, “Sir Evergreen... are you... jealous?”

Evergreen’s ears splayed and he scowled again. “Ah’m not jealous.”

“You souuuund jealous,” Chrysalis affirmed, a sly grin on her muzzle.

“Ah’m not jealous,” Evergreen reiterated, shaking his head and crossing his forehooves.

Chrysalis tutted, gripping his forehoof by the elbow joint and placing it back on the edge of the cauldron. “You’re jealous, admit it.”

“Ah’ll not lie ter yer,” Evergreen stated flatly.

“Admiiiit it~” Chrysalis sing-songed with a grin.

Evergreen grit his teeth for a moment, his eyes narrowing, and rounded on Chrysalis. “Yer impossible!”

Chrysalis grinned innocently, leaning in to rub her nose against his own, her eyes peering into his, a purr in her tone as she repeated, “Admit it.”

The stallion scowled more. “Fine. Ah was a little jealous.”

“And why were you jealous?” Chrysalis pressed, grinning and keeping her position, staring into his eyes.

Evergreen’s cheeks flushed faintly, and his ears pinned back. The lie was obvious in his tone as he said, “Ah... Ah don’t know.”

“Oh, you know, Sir Evergreen. And you’re not getting out that tub until you tell me,” Chrysalis promised, grinning.

“Fine,” Evergreen hissed, eyes narrowing at her, “Ah think Ah’m starting ter like yer.”

“There...” Chrysalis soothed, lifting a hoof to gently rub under his chin, grinning. “Was that so hard?”

The stallion shook his head for a moment, looking down at the cauldron so he didn’t have to meet her gaze any more. “Maybe not fer you.”

Chrysalis grinned at that, nudging Evergreen once and then drawing back. “You’ve been a good boy, so you can get out now.”

Evergreen clambered out of the cauldron, making sure not to put his weight on his bad hoof, and the changeling helped him, supporting his weight until he was stable. She draped a towel over his back, scrubbing it across his form to dry him, seeing as he was only allowed to use one hoof at the moment.

Standing there, getting dried by Chrysalis, Evergreen’s expression softened and he gave a faint little sigh.

“Ah’m being ungrateful,” Evergreen said, shaking his head slightly and turning towards her. “Thank yer, Cee. Yer a very nice pony... At least when yer not insulting me.”

“You love it,” Chrysalis said with a grin, leaning in and scrubbing her hoof through his mane. “I think I’m starting to like you too, Evergreen.”

“Well Ah’m glad,” Evergreen responded, his ears tilting back a little bit. “Ah’m glad yer collapsed out in front of my cottage. Or ah would have never found yer.”

“And I’m rather glad you found me. Or I’d be, you know, dead,” Chrysalis stated blandly. She moved the towel from his neck and mane to along the underside of his neck and then up his chin. Smiling, she began rubbing her nose against his own affectionately.

“Thank yer for the bath, Cee,” he said with a slight nod. His tone was completely innocent and sincere as he offered, “Ah’ll have ter return the favour later on sometime.”

“Anything to get your filthy hooves on me, huh?” Chrysalis accused playfully, smiling at him.

“That’s not it all,” Evergreen blinked, looking chagrined. “Ah just don’t wanna get such an act of kindness and not repay it to yer somehow.”

Chrysalis smiled at him, nuzzling her nose against his own gently, watching him. He looked so cute like that, flustered and embarrassed. It was endearing. He was so close now, staring into her eyes as he spoke, and she was certain that he was going to kiss her. No pony of any worth would ignore such an opportunity.

“You don’t have to repay me,” Chrysalis chided with a smile.

“But Ah feel like a have ter...” Evergreen admitted, shaking his head again and then gently nuzzling his nose against hers, tentatively.

“Then don’t, oaf. It’s more of a gift than a service,” Chrysalis explained.

“Ah... don’t know,” Evergreen admitted, shaking his head once more and nudging her gently. He turned away to move to the other room.

Chrysalis stared at him for a long moment, her eyes slowly narrowing, asking indignantly, “And just where are you going?”

Evergreen’s ears splayed backwards, and he turned back towards her, “Ter the other room?”

“No. You’re not,” Chrysalis stated flatly, her eyes narrowing. “You are going to get back here and kiss me as is proper.”

The stallion blinked at that, his expression uncertain. “But..Ah...—”

“—shut up,” Chrysalis growled, stamping her hoof. “Get down here, and kiss me.”

Evergreen lowered his head slightly and slipped down towards her again with unsure steps, his cheeks faintly flushed. “But Ah don’t know—”

Chrysalis’ hoof cut his words off. “No talking. Just kiss me.”

Evergreen opened his mouth to speak again, but Chrysalis made an impatient sound, cutting him off before he could vocalise any complaint.

After a few seconds of waiting, she began to tap her hoof against the ground impatiently. “I’m waiting.”

Even though she was ordering him to kiss her, she wasn’t prepared for him to actually do it. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know it was coming, or like she expected him to refuse. But the feel of his lips against her own quite suddenly in a firm, forceful kiss, somehow surprised her.

At first, Chrysalis tensed, and then relaxed into it, lifting a hoof to rest on the back of Evergreen’s head to keep him from pulling away prematurely. She twined her hoof into his mane happily as she closed her eyes, just enjoying the simple sensation of his warm lips against her own.

And then, it was over.

Chrysalis tried to reach for Evergreen, to make him kiss her again. But the stallion had already pulled back, terminating their contact. His cheeks were flushed faintly and he was panting a little bit.

She wasn’t quite certain how long the kiss had lasted but as she became aware of her surroundings again, she realised that she too was panting softly, and her heart was beating somewhere in her throat.

“W-wow...” Chrysalis whispered, staring at him for a moment, blinking.

“Wow indeed...Y-yeah,” Evergreen repeated, watching her for a moment, cheeks just faintly flushed. “Ah... don’t know what ter say.”

Chrysalis smiled and took a nimble step forward to capture Evergreen with her forehooves encircling his neck. She leaned in to rub her nose against his own for a moment. She stared into his eyes, her tone warm as she demanded; “Then shut up and kiss me again.”

Love

Chrysalis hummed to herself as she trotted back to the cottage dragging a sled piled high with wood.

As she began to stack the wood in the fire, she cast a warm glance towards the prone form of Evergreen, who was soundly asleep on the bed. She reflected on the past few days as she set the wood inside the fireplace to restart the fire.

Had it really been two weeks? Two entire weeks? But the days totalled up, and there was no denying that it had been quite some time since she had turned up almost dead on Evergreen’s doorstep.

Evergreen’s hoof had long since healed and he had grown closer to her as she tended to him. She had done everything for him: cooking, cleaning, and feeding him. She had coddled him like a small child and, despite his constant complaints and whining, she knew that he begrudgingly loved it. No doubt he had never had anyone look after him before.

Chrysalis had managed finally to get to the point where she could visit Ponyville without affecting the guise of a grief-stricken pony. It had grown wearying very quickly to act the part of a traumatized mare. And Evergreen liked her more than ever.

Her senses were slowly growing more in-tune and she was confident that she was garnering a large amount of energy from Evergreen. She could sense her limits now. She deemed small magics to be a viable option for her if she needed to use them.

And for the first time in many, many decades, Chrysalis was content. There was no masquerade to maintain, no one needing to be pleased, no duties to be done, and not even an army of changelings for her to look after. She just existed now.

And as Evergreen grew to like her more, she found her affection for him growing in turn. It was odd. She had never really liked the partners she stole energy from. And Evergreen was the furthest from what she would have thought she would go for. He was just a woodspony. He didn’t try to be anything more, or anything less. He was content with his flowers and his herbs and his existence, here in the cottage. And so was she.

But the ever-present worry nagged at Chrysalis’ mind; eventually, he would get sick. He would waste away in front of her and inevitably die. She had seen it happen once or twice; it usually took a month, and was preceded by headaches and odd twitches. The effect could be slowed by magic, like a leech injecting anaesthetic to keep the pain of a bite from registering, just so that it could steal more blood before being noticed. In the case of changelings, it was to keep their partner alive long enough to steal as much energy as possible.

As the fire got going, Chrysalis turned her attention back to Evergreen, creeping over to the bed and then worming her way up against his form. She pushed herself into the embrace of his hooves and gave a happy sigh, resting her cheek on his foreleg.

She would be truly sorry when she had to leave him. There was no longer any kind of animosity in her heart for him. She didn’t want to see him suffer, didn’t want to punish him when he did something wrong. Nothing. Of course, she still called him ‘oaf’, and ‘dolt’, but it was a playful insult. The same as him calling her ‘Princess’ whenever she complained about doing some act of physical labour.

After their first little make out session, Evergreen had been quite willing and eager to continue, and for the most part, she was happy to go along with it. A week ago, though, he had tried to initiate a more... intimate contact, and she had rebuked him. Hard.

Chrysalis liked him, liked him more than she had liked anyone else, but no one had ever, and likely no one ever would, touch her in that way. She would never be comfortable enough with her assumed forms ever to become intimate; the only time that kind of thing would happen was with another changeling, a purely physical act that had no enjoyment in it and was strictly for reproduction.

But even after she rebuked him, he held her no ill will. He merely accepted that it wouldn’t be happening and moved on. And he hadn’t whined about it, attempted to broker the proposition again, or made any mention of it. The perfect gentlecolt.

Chrysalis wormed in closer against the stallion, peering up at his sleeping face, smiling warmly for a moment and leaning up to kiss his nose gently. She sighed contentedly and rested her head down again, closing her eyes.

Who knew how long she had left with Evergreen; for now, she was content. And she was going to make as much of their time together as she could.

“Ah want ter take yer out tonight,” Evergreen said.

Chrysalis lifted her head after a moment, blinking slightly and peering back at him. She gave a sleepy, noncommittal sound. “Out?”

The stallion nodded in response, smiling. “Ah want ter show yer something, but it’s near the top of the mountain trail. We’ll have ter pack snacks.”

A soft sigh left the changeling and she lifted her head to peek at the window. Her ears splayed backwards as she complained, “But it’s almost dark.”

“That’s kinda the point,” Evergreen said with a slight grin.

“Why would you want to go traipsing through the Everfree at night?” Chrysalis queried, staring at him.

Evergreen shift his weight from side to side, as though thinking of the proper way to word his next sentence. “It’s a secret.”

“Secrets, now?” Chrysalis asked, arching a brow at him. “Very well. But this had better be worth it.”

The stallion gave an earnest nod, grinning at her for a moment. “It’ll be worth it, Ah promise.”

With a faint sigh, the changeling rose to her hooves and began to stretch slightly. “Will we need clothes?”

Evergreen pondered on her question a moment, and shook his head. “Ah don’t think so. It’s warm this evening, and we’ll be fine once we start walking.”

“And you’re not going to tell me where we’re going?” Chrysalis asked suspiciously.

“It’s kinda hard ter explain,” Evergreen admitted, lifting himself to his hooves and moving over to the bed. The woodspony rummaged around underneath it for a few moments before coming up with a small wrapped package and furtively slipping it into a carry sack.

Chrysalis noticed his moving of the package, but said nothing. She instead focused on smoothing down her mane with one hoof.

Evergreen turned, selecting snacks from a fruit bowl on the shelf, and moved towards the front door. “Yer ready?”

“Ready,” Chrysalis replied, falling into step behind him. “I trust we’re not going too far?”

“Not far at all,” he said, smiling over his shoulder.

Chrysalis pondered for a moment, watching the stallion, “...You’re trying to be romantic, aren’t you, Sir Evergreen?”

“W-what? No!” Evergreen protested, his eyes wide, refusing to meet her gaze. Instead, he focused on the ground in front of him as he opened the door and led her outside, heading left, down a path that led away from the direction Ponyville was in.

Chrysalis could tell from Evergreen’s reactions that he was being untruthful. He really was a horrible liar.

It was a good half hour of walking before they reached their destination.

The trees of the Everfree Forest opened up into a wide meadow rife with bell-shaped blue flowers, closed for the evening, it seemed. They all stood, turned downwards, bobbing faintly in the warm breeze winding throughout the clearing. They looked strikingly similar to the flower that was Evergreen’s cutie mark.

The stallion led Chrysalis up to the crest of the hill, and dug in his pack for a moment. Coming up with a blanket, he threw it out over the grass so they had something to lay on. He plopped down on one side of it, smiling faintly at her.

Chrysalis stepped up to him, and then settled herself down beside him as he laid out the pack and dug around in it once more, tugging out the package he had tried to sneak into it. Unfolding it revealed a pair of candles in metal holders, which he began to set up.

Raising a brow, Chrysalis watched as he placed down the candles but didn’t say anything. He was trying to be romantic, and she was going to play along. She found it cute, and it was nice to have someone trying to win her favour with their actions.

Once the candles were set up, Evergreen lit them with the box of matches he produced from the sack. He raised a brow at her in expectation.

“They’re nice,” Chrysalis said with a faint smile. “But so much for you not trying to be romantic.”

“Ah’m not,” Evergreen protested. “They’re just there for extra light.”

The mare sniffed at the air a moment, and leaned in closer to one of the candles, inhaling the scent coming off it. It was a mildly acrid scent, strong and pervasive, and yet soothing. “You put herbs in the candle wax, didn’t you?”

A sly smile stretched the stallions lips. “Indeed Ah did. Same stuff I put in the fire the other night.”

“So why are you trying to get me all relaxed?” Chrysalis asked, a faint note of accusation in her tone.

“Ah just want yer to be relaxed,” he said with a shake of his head, looking up over the trees at the edge of the clearing. In the distance, the sun was creeping below a mountain range. “Not long now.”

“Not long until what?” Chrysalis inquired, shifting slightly to lean against him, peering over the horizon at the setting sun as well. She was genuinely curious as to what he was planning.

“Yer’ll see,” the stallion said with a secretive smile.

Rolling her eyes, Chrysalis resumed lounging against him, resting her cheek along the male’s shoulder and peering over the trees with him.

After a time the stallion leaned forward and blew out the candles, plunging the two ponies into almost complete darkness. The moon was in a full darkness phase, and Chrysalis could barely see her own hoof in front of her face. Chrysalis opened her mouth to speak, but was hushed by the stallion’s hoof. “Quiet. Just watch.”

Chrysalis stayed silent, rolling her eyes and just laying against him again, watching the horizon. It was a few moments before she realised that there was a growing light rising from the clearing.

The flowers around them, drooping and heavy, were beginning to bloom. As the petals spread, a soft blue glow began to emanate from the petals and the stalks at the centre of the flowers, growing in brightness the further the plants blossomed. All around the pair, glowing blue flowers bloomed into life, washing them in the soft blue radiance. And then, one after another, the flowers began to seemingly sneeze. Each flower jerked and swayed reflexively as a puff of blue powder shot from the centre, some kind of pollen, that had the same glowing properties as the flowers themselves.

The pollen hung in the air in swirling tendrils, curling into fantastic shapes as the gentle wind disturbed and agitated the weightless pollen.

Chrysalis could only stare, gasping in wonder. It was beautiful in a completely alien way. She had never heard of, let alone seen something like this before.

“Ah’m not so good at the romance thing,” Evergreen said, and Chrysalis blinked once in surprise, having completely forgotten he was there in her raptured staring. “But ah hope I’m doing well.”

His tone was nervous and hopeful, and Chrysalis found it utterly endearing how uncertain he was in the art of seduction. Suddenly, his lips were pressed against her own in a warm kiss.

Giving a happy sound, Chrysalis threw her hooves around his neck and returned the kiss full-force. She closed her eyes for a moment, to enjoy the kiss, before opening them again.

Chrysalis’ eyes met Evergreen’s, his neutral green gaze showing reflected dancing blue motes of muted glowing brilliance, and she let herself get lost in his eyes for a time.

This was perfect. There was nothing better than this. If it came down to a choice between feeding from the energy of Shining Armour, living in a giant castle with all her needs catered to, or spending her time with this simple woodspony... She would choose Evergreen every time.

After several long moments, Evergreen pulled back, breaking the kiss. He smiled at her smugly. “Ah told yer that yer would like it.”

Chrysalis nodded earnestly, nuzzling her nose into his neck affectionately. She stared up at him as the blue glow of the flowers washed over them both.

Evergreen turned his gaze down to meet her own, smiling.

And it was in that moment, that Chrysalis came to a shocking realisation.

“I... I love you, Evergreen,” Chrysalis said softly, blinking once, expressionless.

“Yer what?” Evergreen queried, raising a brow and smiling faintly, as though she was joking.

“I love you,” Chrysalis repeated faintly, staring at him. Her expression turned thoughtful, as though she was just coming to terms with the fact herself. “It’s... the only explanation. I’ve never felt like this about anyone before...and there have been many others. But I never really liked any of them... not like this. Not like I like you, and-”

Evergreen smiled and leaned into kiss her again to stop her from babbling. The changeling fell silent, her cheeks flushing with warmth. Smiling at her, he gently rubbed his nose against her own.“Yer very cute when yer flustered,”

“I’m being serious, you oaf!” Chrysalis protested, smacking his shoulder with a hoof in rebuke.

“Ah’m being serious too,” Evergreen replied with a grin, kissing her nose once. “Ah love yer too.”

Chrysalis stared at Evergreen for a long moment, surprised. Of course she knew that; the bond between them was too strong for it to be anything else. But just hearing him say it out loud like that. It sent shivers down her spine. If she had wings with this form, she knew they’d be standing on end in excitement. Her heart fluttered like a butterfly as she stared up at him, feeling her breathing increase in speed.

“I love you,” Chrysalis repeated, seemingly awed at her own ability to say it.

“Ah know, Cee,” Evergreen said, lifting a hoof to wrap around her shoulders.

Chrysalis peered up at Evergreen for a long moment, watching the dancing blue motes reflected in his eyes. A faint whisper left her, “I’m ready.”

“Yer ready?” Evergreen asked blankly, not quite cottoning on to what she meant.

“I’m ready,” chrysalis confirmed with a shaky nod, feeling her heart flutter again as she said the words.

“What do yer- Ohhh...” Evergreen trailed off into a soft sound of realisation as Chrysalis pulled him close and pressed a fiery, passionate kiss against his lips, dragging him down with her onto the soft blanket.

...

Chrysalis’ gait was a little bit ‘funny’ as she walked beside Evergreen towards the cottage. He had proved to be both a gentle and a rough lover, in turn. He had been far too skilled at making her legs tremble for it to have been his first time. But she didn’t hold that against him; how could she?

She was pleasantly sore in a way that defied explanation. And she was content. It felt as though her heart had bloomed to twice its size and was radiating warmth throughout her form.

The two ponies were tired from their ‘exertions’ and so it wasn’t until they were fully inside the cottage that either of them noticed the pegasus sitting in the corner.

Chrysalis was in the midst of another kiss with Evergreen, a low, happy hum reverberating in her throat, when she noticed him. Stiffening, her eyes widened as she turned to stare at the pegasus. The pegasus calmly stared back.

Evergreen followed her gaze and his expression turned from confusion and surprise to anger as he demanded, “What yer doing in my home?!”

The Changeling Queen lifted a hoof to soothe him, but kept her gaze locked on the pegasus.

She sensed what Evergreen could not.

The pegasus was a changeling.

Indecision

Chrysalis stared, a stunned expression written on her face. She hadn’t even considered the fact that some of her changelings might have survived. It had just never occurred to her. And now one was herein Evergreen’s cottage, watching them.

“What yer doing here?!” Evergreen demanded again, his eyes narrowing.

The pegasus rose to all fours and began to step towards his queen only for the stallion to step between them, blocking his path, lifting a hoof.

“Ah asked, what yer doing here!?” Evergreen growled, his tone growing more forceful.

Chrysalis laid a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder, trying her best to soothe him. She managed to squeeze out the words; “Evergreen... let me talk to him.”

The stallion paused slightly at that, looking back at her, before slowly relaxing from his defensive stance. After a moment, he took a step backwards to stand besides her protectively, looking no less alert.

A name. She needed a name.

“Swiftwing,” Chrysalis said, using the first name that came to mind. “Why are you here?”

“I am here to deliver a message,” the pegasus said calmly, staring into Chrysalis’ eyes. “...We are waiting.”

Having delivered his message, the pegasus turned, walked to the door, and left without a single word. Chrysalis stared after him, her ears splaying backwards. She was barely aware of Evergreen pressing against her side and nudging her cheek with his nose, asking her a question that she didn’t even comprehend.

Her changelings were still alive. More than one. Of all the possible outcomes, she hadn’t considered this. Her entire life was dedicated to her changelings; finding them a way to survive without needing to use subterfuge. Finding a way for her entire species to survive with a better quality of life. It was why she had come to Equestria in the first place.

And it had just been so much simpler when she thought they were all gone.

And now...?

Chrysalis was vaguely aware of Evergreen asking her something, and she turned towards him with a listless expression, her eyes wide.

“He... I... Used to know him,” Chrysalis murmured, dazed.

Evergreen gave a concerned sound at that. “And they’re waiting?”

Chrysalis gave a nod, trying to come to grip with the new development. “I...don’t know what to say.”

“It’s going to be fine, Cee,” the stallion said, nuzzling his cheek against her own gently for a moment. “Ah’ll not let them take yer back there.”

Chrysalis nodded dumbly for a moment, and then murmured, “I... don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”

“Ah’ll not let them,” he repeated fiercely, wrapping his hooves around her and holding her against his chest possessively. “Ah’ll not let them take yer from me so soon after I found yer.”

Chrysalis nodded slightly at that. She leaned against him and stared at the floor, lost in her own thoughts. “They’re my family, though...”

“Ah don’t care,” Evergreen said forcefully. “Yer mine. And Ah’ll fight for yer.”

“It’s not going to be that simple...” Chrysalis murmured with a shake of her head. “I can’t just turn my back... I can’t.”

The stallion’s eyes narrowed, and he lifted a hoof to pull her chin up, forcing her to look into his eyes. His tone was flat as he said, “Yer can’t just go and say that. Not now.”

“I...know. I don’t want to go,” Chrysalis whispered, her eyes starting to mist over. “But this changes everything!”

“It changes nothing,” Evergreen stated, shaking his head defiantly and holding her close. “Changes nothing at all.”

“You don’t understand!” Chrysalis protested, feeling tears starting to well up in her eyes and form trails down her cheeks. “It isn’t that simple!”

“Yer making too much fuss about this, Cee,” the stallion said gently, nuzzling against her. “Don’t cry, Cee. It’ll be okay. We’ll work something out. Promise.”

“Y-you promise?” Chrysalis asked, gazing up at him imploringly, lost. She wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t know how to handle this. She was hopelessly in love with this big oaf of a pony, but her changelings needed her guidance. She couldn’t do both... and choosing between them? She was going to end up having to give up the reason for her existence, her very species, or the only love she’d ever known.

“Ah promise,” Evergreen said.

Chrysalis didn’t believe him. Nothing was going to make this okay, nothing at all. But... just for a little while, she leaned into his embrace to enjoy the comfort of his warmth, and tried not to think about how horribly her paradise was going to be destroyed.

Evergreen was asleep, snoring faintly as Chrysalis gently disentangled herself from his form and slipped over to the door. The nights had warmed considerably in the last few days and the fire gently crackling in the fireplace was there more for comfort than warmth.

Chrysalis eased the door open gently and slipped out, closing it quietly behind her and looking into the darkness surrounding the cottaget. The pegasus was nowhere to be found, but she knew he would be close by, watching.

Chrysalis closed her eyes for a moment, and when they opened again, they were a demonic green, glowing faintly. With the night forest lit by ghostly hues of blue and green in her ‘true’ eyes, she picked her way quietly away from the cottage.

She had only ventured a little way into the forest when there was a rustle above her. The pegasus changeling dropped from the branches overhead to land in front of her, bowing low. “My Queen.”

The queen moved towards her changeling, staring for a moment and lifting his chin up with her hoof to make him meet her gaze.

“My beautiful child,” Chrysalis breathed, gazing down at him. “Tell me... how many of my children survive?”

The changeling peered up at her subserviently. “Seventeen of us yet survive, my Queen.”

Chrysalis blinked, feeling her heart flutter again. Seventeen. That was enough for them to flee into the dark lands beyond Equestria’s borders and continue the species. Enough to slowly build up their numbers into a glorious empire once more.

Looking over her shoulder, her night eyes picked up the outline of Evergreen’s cottage, hidden amongst the trees. She felt her heart breaking. It hurt. It hurt more than the magical blast that had halted her plan. It hurt more than those few days after the blast, spent wandering alone, knowing that her entire species had been wiped out.

Chrysalis had found a new life... Only for the past to rise up and ruin the new tranquility she had found.

Chrysalis nodded to her changeling, keeping her voice even as she commanded; “Show me the others. I wish to see them.”

The changelings, it turned out, had fled into the Everfree Forest as well, taking refuge near the outskirts, in a giant hollowed-out tree.

Chrysalis quickly discovered that the changelings had been hunted by the royal guard, with their guard sweeps getting ever-closer. But finally, the searches had lessened in intensity. With the pressure off, they had been able to go forth forth and find their Queen.

“I’m proud of all of you,” Chrysalis said, as she stood in front of a crowd of her beloved changelings, smiling down at them. “I am proud of you for staying together and finding me amid the chaos of our defeat.”

And as she felt her heart breaking in her chest, she added, “We will rise above this. We will be united as a glorious empire with me as your Queen.”

A rattling hiss of support rose from the crowd of Changelings. Chrysalis moved to the edge of the throng, to the Changeling she had dubbed ‘Messenger.’

“Apprise me should anything change..but do not come to the cottage again,” she ordered flatly. “My connection with the stallion remains only because he does not know of our nature and believes me to be alone.”

Messenger nodded at her words, and lifted his gaze to her. “What do we do until then, my Queen?”

Chrysalis gave a faint sigh and lifted a hoof. “For now... I grant you some of my energy.”

The changelings crowded around their queen, drinking in the energy of her love eagerly. Two weeks without love had sapped them down to nothingness, and she felt the drain on her powers as she gave to them.

“How did you all survive this long?” Chrysalis inquired. She allowed them all take some of her energy, like an attentive mother feeding her children.

“We were not as close to the blast, my Queen,” Messenger said. He seemed to have elected himself as the ‘voice’ of the changelings. “It did not affect us so drastically. We survived the damage done to us and regrouped here to await our Queen’s return.”

Chrysalis nodded at that, looking around at them all as they fed from her energy. To think; she almost hadn’t survived. And her changelings would have died here, alone, waiting for her.

Chrysalis cast her thoughts back to Evergreen, the simple woodspony that she undoubtedly loved. And then the giant wedge of her changelings that was being driven between them. She couldn’t stay with him; not when her army needed her. The needed her support, and her love, just to survive.

Withdrawing from the crowd, she raised a hoof. “I must leave. But I will return. Relay all of your needs through Messenger, and I will see to them as I am able.”

And then she turned, and was gone, slipping out of the giant hollow tree and heading back towards the cottage, her steps slow and steady.

She was sad. The first time she had managed to find a love that she reciprocated, and now, her changelings were back to get in the way. And for the first time ever, Chrysalis found herself wishing that she wasn’t a changeling.

Chrysalis didn’t stir when Evergreen awoke. The stallion chose to allow her to sleep, leaning over to kiss her forehead gently, brushing a lock of mane out of her face and smiling slightly. He rose from the bed and moved over to the fireplace, nudging a log onto it and then setting the kettle to boil.

Chrysalis woke to the shrill cry of the kettle boiling. Eyes opening slowly, she lifted her head. Feeding her changelings had let her feeling drained. She wouldn’t be able to do that again for another week at least. Evergreen’s love for her was strong, but it was not strong enough to sustain both her and her Changelings indefinitely and every time she gave energy to her army, she would, in turn, draw more energy from Evergreen.

She stared at him as he went about his morning business. Watching him setting the kettle and beginning to grind up the correct amount of ingredients to make his wonderful brew, and she felt her heart breaking further.

There was no happily ever after for them. No happy ending. She was a changeling, and changelings didn’t make good housewives. The longer he was around her, the worse it would get. It was already visible, in the faint bags under his eyes, and the strained expression he sometimes wore.

Chrysalis was doomed to be alone in the world for all her life, fleeting relationships offering brief respites from her eternal loneliness. Her mother's advice echoed in her mind; Don’t love what you eat. Well, it was too late for that. And now, she was going to pay the price.

She willed herself not to love Evergreen, to hate him. She dwelled on his shortcomings. He was an oaf, a dumb-as-a-brick woodspony who would never amount to anything more than a glorified flower seller, whose idea of a good time was sitting in front of a fire in a dinky little cottage hidden in the woods, away from everything.

Evergreen turned and blinked at her, moving over closer to brush away her tears with a hoof. “What’s wrong, Cee? Why are yer crying?”

And that stupid accent. She loathed everything about him.

Chrysalis’ bottom lip quivered and she stared up into Evergreen’s eyes for a long moment, feeling fresh tears starting to cascade down her cheeks, her tone breaking as she whispered, “I-It’s not fair.”

The stallion nodded, wrapping his hooves around her in a gentle hug, rocking her soothingly back and forth.

“Not f-fair...” Chrysalis protested against his neck, burying her face in his mane and weeping.

She tried her best to hate him, to hate everything about him. From his nose, to his hooves.

But it was impossible.

She loved him.

Revelations

A week passed, and soon Evergreen began to show signs of sickness. He became distracted and listless, and was given over to the occasional odd twitch.

Chrysalis knew it was her fault; knew it was the fact that she’d fed her changelings three times since the first feeding. They were ravenous from their ordeals, and as they had no partners to draw upon, she took the entire burden of their needs upon herself. Unfortunately, that burden was also Evergreen’s to share.

She tried to hate him. She tried so hard. But she just couldn’t. Her heart was a traitor to her duty as a queen. She wanted to feel nothing. She needed to feel nothing for him. She needed to be able to watch him waste away and be the imperturbable queen she had always been.

But it broke her heart more and more as she watched his decline.

Every night she pretended to sleep until she knew Evergreen was dozing next to her, and then wept until the blissful darkness of unconsciousness took her. She couldn’t leave him; but she couldn’t stay, either. The world contrived to put barriers between her and the one place thing she had been truly happy.

And still, the changeling army was insatiable in its demands. Every evening, Messenger would turn up at the cottage and wait patiently for her to come outside and speak to him so he could relay messages and the needs of her much-reduced army to their Queen.

Chrysalis could deny her changelings as readily as she could deny her own heart. She was torn between them.

Each step towards her Evergreen was a step away from her army, and each step towards her army was a step away from her love.

But it was worse than that. There was no way to maintain both. Evergreen was already sick; he was only going to get worse. And if she denied her army, they would wither and die with the lack of leadership, or, even worse, rebel. Her army would be decimated, wiped out, if they were found.

It was an impossible choice. Between the stallion she loved, or her very race.

And looking between them, Chrysalis couldn’t choose.

And so Chrysalis found herself alone one night, lying by a lake. She convinced herself that she needed to think, but she really needed a break from thinking. From worrying. Part of the true draw of this place was the break from worrying, from the stress; but now, the stress had followed her, and it was so much worse than before.

She had to leave Evergreen. Had to. But she didn’t think she could bring herself to leave him; and if he came after her, she wouldn’t have the strength to turn him back.

It was an impossible situation, and the indecision ate at her.

All of her choices as queen thus far had been easy, simple, compared to this. No matter what she did, she had to hurt someone she loved, and hurt herself at the same time.

The changeling stared down into the lake, watching her reflection in the light of the moon for a moment, staring into her own soft pink eyes. A ripple crossed the water, and suddenly, she saw a glimpse of what lay underneath the false veneer of her outward appearance as a unicorn.

Demonic green eyes, black skin, pointed teeth, a twisted parody of a unicorns horn, hooves with holes eaten right through them. A hoof quickly swept the water, disrupting the reflection as Chrysalis’ thoughts turned inwards.

What was she? She was, for want of a better term; a parasite. She fed on the love of others. And while that seemed a noble thing, her kind did not garner love through their actions, but rather through subterfuge; tricking a pony into loving them and feeding from the bond.

Chrysalis turned her thoughts to the shopkeeper, to the sensation of his life ebbing from his struggling form as she choked the air from his body. And she had enjoyed it. Enjoyed it.

Chrysalis stared down into the water of the lake, and watched her reflection, letting her changed form drop, revealing the Dark Queen in all her splendor. Her dark form shone in the moonlight, the membranes of her delicate wings sparkling as she stared down at her reflection, gazing into it as though hoping for answer.

Ripples spread outwards from her teardrops as her head drooped, and a single, broken whisper left her as she came to an inescapable conclusion.

“...I’m a monster...”

Chrysalis wasn’t sure how long she lay there for, but a voice finally interrupted her depressed musings.

“Ah knew yer were keeping secrets,” a familiar voice said in an accusing tone.

Chrysalis’ head shot up, and her pupils dilated as she saw Evergreen standing a stones throw away, his head lowered, as he watched her with narrowed eyes. The queen’s ears splayed backwards, and she shuddered, quickly drawing her unicorn form about herself like a protective blanket, rapidly changing into what she had come to view as a completely different pony to her usual self.

Chrysalis berated herself for her stupidity. Why had she let her guard drop? He had seen her true form. She had to leave now. There was no way to stay. He wouldn’t love her anymore, and she wouldn’t have enough energy to sustain herself.

Her mind seemed to hang there as she stared at Evergreen.

He wouldn’t love her any more.

Chrysalis felt her eyes blurring with growing tears, and her bottom lip trembled. She bit down until she drew blood to try and stave off the tears, before just laying her head on her hooves and sobbing faintly.

Her entire world was falling apart in front of her eyes. Her army was decimated, the handful of survivors dependant on her for energy. And the one source of energy she had found, she had fallen in love with. And now, she had alienated him in a fit of stupidity the likes of which she hadn’t come close to since she was but a child.

A detached part of her mind decided that it was perhaps a good thing, as she heard the stallion rise and then thunder off down the forest trail in a gallop, heading towards Ponyville. He didn’t love her any more. And since he now knew her dirty little secret, there was no way she could stay. His hate was a fortifier for her.

It was over. It was all over. Her existence in Equestria was done. A mere side-chapter in the story of the changelings.

And it was a bitter lesson that Chrysalis would take to heart; never love your food.

Chrysalis rose to her hooves, her mind more ordered now. She was free of Evergreen. Free to pursue a new target. Her changelings needed her, and she needed to be a strong queen for them. It was her duty to lead them out of the horror that was their little foray into Equestria.

She hardened her heart against Evergreen. She would forget him, in time. All pain faded eventually. But these were scars she would have to bear.

The queen turned to begin down the path away from Ponyville to start her new life, but found a broad-chested form blocking her path.

Chrysalis’ heart raced as she turned to look upwards, expecting a royal guard. She found only the narrowed green eyes of Evergreen staring down at her, and her heart seemed to stop in her chest.

“What?” Chrysalis asked, her tone hard, as she tried to keep her heart closed to him.

“Yer a Changeling,” he stated.

“You caught on, finally. Stupid oaf,” Chrysalis breathed, tossing her mane and turning away to hide the tears brmming in her eyes.

“Why...?” Evergreen asked, lifting a hoof placatingly, his expression confused and hurt. “Why would yer make me love yer? Is that all I am to yer? A quick meal?”

Evergreen’s accusations sruck at a vulnerable place deep in Chrysalis’ heart. It took several steady breaths to keep the pain out of her voice as she responded, “I... at first. Yes.”

“What? Yer gonna tell me that yer fell in love with me?” he asked, his tone hard, eyes still narrowed on her.

“I... don’t want to lie to you,” Chrysalis said, fighting back fresh tears, staring at the ground in front of her hooves so she didn’t have to meet Evergreen’s accusing gaze.

“But yer a changeling!” Evergreen said, waving a hoof. “A blooming changeling!”

“I know,” she murmured, turning away from him. “I don’t deserve your love.”

The stallion snorted slightly at that, beginning to pace back and forth in front of her, growling, “Yer lied to me.”

“Of course I lied to you,” Chrysalis said, seeing no reason to be untruthful. Her happy life with him was over; what little of it she could have enjoyed. The least she could do was give him closure before she disappeared. A final unselfish act before she returned to her children.

“All of what yer did, was just ter seduce me?” Evergreen snorted, pawing at the ground with a hoof, braying at her in anger.

“I... No,” Chrysalis said, shaking her head once. “I... never lied about my feelings for you.”

“Ah suppose back there in that field was a lie, too?” Evergreen accused, pointing a hoof in the general direction of where she had giving herself fully to someone for the first time.

Chrysalis shook her head, but didn’t have the heart to respond.

The stallion snarled, resuming his angry pacing back and forth in front of her. “Ah should turn yer in ter the guard, Ah should.”

“I thought that’s what you were doing?” Chrysalis queried. She had expected to see guards watching them from the sky; but a quick glance proved that they were alone.

“Ah was going to,” Evergreen said with a growl, still pacing, before turning and staring at her. He strode forwards to stand in front of her. “Ah changed my mind though. Ah want yer ter tell me the truth before ah turn yer in.”

Chrysalis splayed her ears back at that, looking up at him, whispering, “...Whatever you want.”

“Ah want yer to change,” Evergreen stated flatly. “Change in ter the demon. Ah want ter look yer in the eyes when yer say it.”

The queen gave a sad nod and closed her eyes, letting the changes in her form drop. Her silken wings unfolded from her back, delighting in their freedom as her form resolved itself from white unicorn, to Dark Queen in a few short seconds, leaving her standing before the stallion in all of her glory.

“Now look at me, and tell me that yer don’t love me,” Evergreen demanded, eyes narrowing at her.

Chrysalis lifted her eyes to peer into the angry green eyes of the only creature she ever loved, and tried to say what he demanded of her. She fumbled over the words, unable to choke them out through the lump in her throat.

“Say it!” the stallion hissed, lifting a hoof as though to strike her.

Chrysalis recoiled at the raised hoof, and in between broken sobs, managed to choke out; “I-I never l-loved y-you...”

Her duty done, Chrysalis laid her head on the ground and covered her face with a foreleg to try and block out the world.

It was several long, long moments before she felt something. A spark.

The forming of a bond.

Tentatively, she moved her hoof from her face to peer up at Evergreen, who was now sitting on the lakeside nearby, staring into the water thoughtfully.

And the bond was growing. It was impossible; but she felt it.

“Ah...” Evergreen started, opening his mouth, and then closing it again. He turned accusing eyes on her, “Ah don’t believe you.”

Chrysalis’ eyes widened, and she spluttered for a second, before she choked out, “N-no. I-I don’t love you!”

“Ah don’t believe you,” the stallion said flatly, turning towards her properly and rising to step closer, staring down at her.

“I-I was just u-using you!” Chrysalis protested brokenly. He had to hate her. He had to! This was already breaking her heart to leave him when he hated her. If he still felt something for her... how could she ever leave? He was going to make her choose between his love or his life.

“Ah don’t believe you,” Evergreen repeated stubbornly, staring down into her demonic eyes, his own eyes resolute. “Yer a terrible liar, Cee. Or whatever yer name is.”

Chrysalis felt the bond strengthening, and every passing second was breaking her heart more and more.

“No!” she cried, trying to hit him with a hoof, her voice shaky and shrill, “You have to hate me! Y-you have to go!”

“Ah will not leave,” Evergreen said, suddenly lying himself down in front of her. He rested his nose on his hooves, staring resolutely into her eyes. “Ah won’t go until yer can say that yer don’t love me, and yer are being truthful.”

“I don’t love you!” Chrysalis shrilled, almost in hysterics. “I hate you! You have to go! D-don’t make me choose Evergreen! Just go!”

Evergreen watched her with sad eyes as she spoke, and shook his head slowly. “If yer ask me to go again, I will, and yer’ll never see me again.”

Chrysalis opened her mouth to tell him to leave, but the words failed somewhere in between her throat and her mouth, coming out as a choked sob.

“Ah listened to yer crying yerself ter sleep every night,” he stated, watching her reactions. “Ah thought yer were jus’ feeling guilty... but there’s more ter it than that, isn’t there?”

The changeling stared up at Evergreen helplessly, her ears pinning back further as she tried to stem the tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I-I don’t want to hurt you...” Chrysalis breathed, shaking her head. “But every moment I’m with you just hurts you more.”

“Yer were... crying fer me?” Evergreen asked, ears perking up at her for a moment.

“A-and b-because I have to choose between you and m-my entire species... a-and I think you were going to w-win,” Chyrsalis stuttered, closing her eyes and burying her nose between her forehooves.

The stallion nodded gently at that. “Ah see... And why is it so hard ter choose between me and yer entire species?”

“B-because I hate you, you stupid oaf,” Chrysalis said, trying to inject determination into her tone, lifting her gaze to him again.

Evergreen pulled himself closer to her across the ground. At first, she tried to shy away, but he doggedly pursued her until he could wrap his hooves around her neck. She stiffened at the sensation of someone touching her true form. She never let anyone touch her true form, ever. But the warmth of his body against her own was impossible to resist and eventually, she just slumped against him, burying her face in his mane.

“I hate you,” Chrysalis repeated, beating at his chest with her hoof impotently as she sobbed brokenly into his mane. “I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.”

The stallion waited out her hysterics patiently, holding her close with his hooves around her, gently rubbing back and forth in a soothing fashion.

Eventually, Chrysalis’ tirade and her sobs stilled, and she resigned into quiet weeping against his neck.

“W-why are you making me choose, you stupid o-oaf?” she asked brokenly, staring up at him.

“Because yer love me,” Evergreen stated.

“I hate you,” Chrysalis whispered hopefully, pushing at him with her hooves. “You have to hate me.”

“I can see it in yer eyes. Aint no demon gonna go crying over the feelings of a stallion they don’t care nothing for. Yer a demon. A changeling. Yer feed on love all the time. But ah bet yer never felt real love before, have yer?” Evergreen accused, nudging her once with his nose.

Chrysalis’ ears splayed backwards and she gave the faintest of whimpers at the cutting truth of his words.

“Ah’m not good at this sappy emotional stuff. But yer love me. Ah came up here wanting ter hate yer...Ah was hurt cause I thought yer were using me. But yer just like a lost little filly in love fer the first time,” Evergreen said, his eyes staring down into her own.

“I-I am not...” Chrysalis whispered in defiance.

“Yer are. And we need ter talk about me and yer.” he said seriously, staring down at her. “Yer a demon. And there aint no getting past that.”

His words stung, but she knew the truth behind them. She was a monster.

“And Ah figure that pegasus from earlier was a changeling too. And Ah can’t permit in good conscience having them running around free... but demon or no, Ah can’t watch yer cry without feeling it in my heart,” Evergreen explained, staring down at her. His hooves soothingly rubbed up and down her form. “My momma always said that love was a fleetin’ thing. And that when it comes, yer gotta grab it with both hooves and hold on no matter how hard it bucks, ‘cause yer might never get that chance again.”

Chrysalis stared up at him, shaking her head in rebuttal. She opened her mouth to speak, but Evergreen cut her off.

“And ah know one thing. Ah never wanted this. Ah was happy in my cottage all alone. But ah look forwards, and know that if ah was to look back, I’d regret it one day fer not giving yer the chance. And if yer can say that yer can look back on this and never regret it a bit, then ah’ll let yer walk away right now,” Evergreen said fiercely, staring down into her eyes.

Chrysalis’ ears splayed backwards, and she couldn’t answer him. Staring down at her hooves for a moment, she lifted her gaze back up to him, sniffling once and trying to stem her tears, shaking her head helplessly.

“I-I hate you, you big oaf,” Chrysalis whispered as she wrapped her hooves around Evergreen and held him close.

Betrayal

“So...just what are yer?” Evergreen asked. He was staring at Chrysalis, looking her up and down and taking in the strange contours of her form.

They were inside now, the light from the fireplace casting a warm yellow glow over their forms. It was the first time that Evergreen had gotten a look at the changeling in proper light. She was a completely different creature to the unicorn he had come to love.

Chrysalis' body was smooth and black as the night, though slightly reflective. It looked as if her entire form had been lacquered and polished with the greatest of care. The wings sprouting from her back could only be described by the woodspony as ‘insectoid’. Composed of layers of thin, translucent membrane, they looked more at home on an insect, and never on anything as large as she was. Her mane and tail were the same blue as Cee’s familiar mane, but was far less styled. Instead, her mane cascaded down her neck and shoulders.

The eyes were the most unnerving thing about the creature.The soft pink of Cee’s eyes were gone, replaced by a set of vivid green irises with a demonic slit-pupiled layout, devoid of warmth or emotion.

“I am a changeling,” Chrysalis explained tentatively, looking up at Evergreen a moment. It was almost a shock to hear herself say the words. It was her darkest secret, the one thing she had been certain she would never tell anypony. It was difficult to just come out and talk about it without feeling as though something was wrong.

“Ah know yer a changeling,” Evergreen stated, shaking his head once. “But ah don’t know what that means. Celestia didn’t come down and explain it ter the regular ponies on what exactly yer are.”

The changeling paused at that, trying to phrase the words right in her mind, to better explain exactly what she was.

“I’m... a changeling. I don’t know how to explain it any better than that,” Chrysalis admitted, giving an exasperated sigh. “That’s like asking a pegasus to explain to someone what a pegasus is.”

“But...yer not nothing like we are,” Evergreen pointed out, raising a brow at her. “Yer a demon. And yer can change yer form.”

“That is how we feed,” Chrysalis explained, lifting a hoof and waving it vaguely. “We take the form of somepony and feed from the love that others give to them.”

“Yer kill them?” Evergreen asked uncomfortable.

Chrysalis winced, shaking her head firmly. “No. We don’t kill those we impersonate. Not usually. We merely take their place and immobilize the original until we’re done feeding.”

“And what do yer do once yer done feeding?” the woodspony asked suspiciously.

“We wipe their memories, usually. And then we just... leave,” Chrysalis said, looking down at her hooves, shifting them uncomfortably.

“And that’s all yer do? Over and over again?” Evergreen asked, staring at Chrysalis.

The queen pondered on that for a long moment and she nodded hesitantly. “I... suppose that’s correct.”

“But yer didn’t do that with me,” Evergreen pointed out.

“I was dying. I used the last of my energy to change into a unicorn so that my body wouldn’t get strung up as a trophy. And then you came wandering through the storm to help me,” Chrysalis responded, lifting her gaze to his own. “I’ve never... felt this kind of connection before.”

Evergreen canted his head at her words, an expression of curiosity coming over his features. “Yer never been in love before?”

Chrysalis shook her head sadly for a moment. “Never before... I never let myself get close. My mother taught me ‘Never love your food’, and I can kinda see why now...”

“Why?”

“Well... I love you, Evergreen. And you love me. But that’s the problem. The longer I stay with you... the weaker you’ll get. You’re already sick; I’ve seen it. And it’s only going to get worse. You’ll either slip into a depression, or dementia, or just give up and commit suicide. I’ve seen it happen... I don’t want to watch you destroyed,” Chrysalis murmured, feeling fresh tears trail down her cheeks as she spoke.

A shadow fell over Chrysalis’ face and she looked up in time to see Evergreen leaning in to hug her.

The changeling tensed up at first, still very hesitant to let anyone touch her true form. She quivered, rigid, as the woodspony wrapped his hooves around in a firm hug. After several long moment, she managed to relax, leaning into the hug and resting her cheek against Evergreen’s neck.

“We’ll find some way to make it work. Promise,” Evergreen soothed, gently stroking down her back with a hoof and letting it trail along the edge of one of her wings.

“But... You’ll die. And I’m a monster...” Chrysalis whispered, pulling back at stare at the woodspony.

Evergreen nodded at her words. “We all die, Cee. But it’s not what we die for that matters, when yer think about it. It’s more like what we live for before we die. Any I wanna live fer you. I don’t care if yer a monster. Yer my monster.”

Chrysalis stared at him, feeling tears brimming in her eyes.She wrapped her hooves around Evergreen and clung to him fiercely, holding him close. Soft, distraught whimpers left her. “It’s not fair... I only just found you and you’re going to be taken away from me, one way or the other...”

The woodspony nuzzled against her comfortingly, before drawing back and sitting down, staring at her, before delicately saying; “Speaking o’ losing me...”

The changeling stared at him for a long moment, her ears splaying backwards. “No. Y-you can’t be leaving.”

“Ah might have ter.” Evergreen stated flatly, looking her up and down. “Ah need yer ter turn in the other changelings.”

“What? No!” Chrysalis said, instantly on her hooves. “I won’t!”

Evergreen stared at her solemnly, and then shook his head slowly. “Yer gotta choose, Cee. Ah can’t allow yer to let the other changelings run free and ruin relationships.”

“But... I... they won’t!” the changeling protested, fresh tears starting to fall down her cheeks. “They won’t! I promise!”

“Yer can’t promise me that, Cee.” Evergreen stated, shaking his head once at her, sadly. “If yer choose me... then yer would abandon the rest of the changelings, and then yer’d have no say in what they do.”

“I... but...” Chrysalis trailed off. He was right, of course. If she abandoned the changelings, they would choose another changeling to lead them. And without her energy to leech from, they would quickly grow desperate. And desperate changelings were sloppy and violent.

“Ah assume yer their leader,” Evergreen stated, watching her closely. “Yer wouldn’t be so cut up about having ter leave them if yer were just another changeling. They’re all relying on yer, aren’t they?”

Chrysalis nodded, remaining quiet.

“If yer leave em... what’ll they do?”

“They’ll... They’ll eventually find another Queen to lead them. They’ll probably infiltrate Ponyville; but there’s too many of them. They’ll likely start killing off the female population. Unicorns first, and then the pegasi,” Chrysalis explained emotionlessly. There was no point mincing words.

Evergreen nodded and nudged her with his nose. “Yer gotta turn em in, Cee. Yer have to. Yer can’t be my queen unless ah can be assured that the changelings won’t hurt the other ponies. Either yer turn them in, or leave with them. Celestia’ll find a way to keep them contained.”

“I know,” Chrysalis whispered, staring down at her hooves. “But... I can’t choose.”

Fresh tears spilled onto her hooves, and she felt her vision blurring slightly. She tried to remain coherent; tried not to dissolve into tears at the hopelessness of it all, but she was fighting a losing battle.

“Ah’m not telling you to choose now, Cee. But... yer have to choose. Before it’s too late.” Evergreen’s hoof gently slipped under her chin, pulling her gaze up to meet his own. “Ah love yer Cee, but we can’t be together if yer changelings are gonna destroy Ponyville. And yer gotta choose before the choice is made for yer.”

Chrysalis nodded, and turned her head away, before laying her chin on her hooves and closing her eyes. She let her tears run down her cheeks as she tried to make the biggest decision of her long life.

The changeling heard Evergreen climb up into bed, settling down to sleep, but she wouldn’t be joining him tonight. Not this time.

The Changeling Queen picked her way through the underbrush with careful, deliberate strides. Her eyes glowed green in the darkness, her demonic gaze allowing her to see clearly. Delicate wings folded close to her sides to avoid getting them caught on branches, horn leading the way, she delicately pushed aside hanging vines or branches as she strode towards her changelings’ hideout. A sack was slung over her shoulder, containing the few things she needed.

Chrysalis had left Evergreen’s cottage as he slept, slipping away into the night. It was easier this way. There was no way for the changeling to face the woodspony now; she couldn’t bear the thought of having to explain to him what she was doing. To inform him of her betrayal. She had made her choice, and she would stick with it through to the bitter end. But avoiding Evergreen was the only way to compartmentalise.

The queen’s tears had long since dried. She had steeled herself for her decision. She had faced loss before; faced hard times. This was no different. She would just have to try and forget... And hope the memories didn’t drag her down.

Chrysalis had thought long and hard about what she was to do. There was only one logical path she could follow, especially with the facts. She was madly in love with Evergreen and Evergreen was madly in love with her. But she was a monster, a demon. His love was literally his end. A few weeks would be all the time they would have together before he was gone. Her army, however, would find a new leader were she to leave. Worse. It might splinter without leadership and the individual changelings would likely resort to desperate violence to attain a new source of sustenance. The most desperate would commit the cardinal sin: killing a pony, hiding the body, and taking their place.

Such destructive practises had been stamped out a generation ago by Chrysalis’ mother, the former queen. It was a destructive way of acquiring a partner, and ultimately it thinned the numbers of the very ponies whom the changelings fed upon. A ‘no kill’ mandate had been set, and any changelings found in violation of the rule were executed. But desperate changelings had been known to violate the rule. And no doubt, without a queen to enforce the rules, they would not hesitate to kill to survive.

Even turning the changelings over to the guard was dooming them to a slow, grim death of starvation. There was no feasible way to feed a single changeling, let alone seventeen. And if the changelings were turned in, then Chrysalis herself would be exposed as well.

Chrysalis only had one choice. One option to retain her sanity. But the thoughts of what she was doing almost broke her. She wanted to run back to Evergreen and to cry into his shoulder until the world faded away and only the two of them remained.

All at once, the Queen was struck by just how dependent on the woodspony’s presence she had become. She could no longer think about the future without him there. Everything was just... bleak and meaningless to her without him. Chrysalis’ thoughts, instead, turned to the future, to what she had to do to make sure that Ponyville was safe.

The hollowed-out tree came into view, and Chrysalis almost turned around then and there. The sheer knowledge of what she was about to do cut at her heart in ways that she couldn’t have comprehended a mere month ago.

Chrysalis’ heart told her that there was still time to turn around, to flee back to Evergreen’s cottage and into his hooves where everything would be okay. But her mind, the ever-practical mind of a Queen, knew the truth of the matter. This had to be done.

A rustle from the treetops jogged Chrysalis from her thoughts, and she looked up to where Messenger was sitting, watching her.

“Your Queen has returned!” she called up to the changeling as she strode over the entrance of her kingdom. It was harder to get inside in this form, as the unicorn was so much smaller than her regular self. Inside, her beautiful children were waiting for her, looking up at her expectantly.

“I must apologize, my children. I cannot feed you this night. But I have a plan to enact that will ensure that none of you will hunger ever again,” Chrysalis assured with a painted smile.

Inside, her heart was breaking with each word.

Taking a deep breath, Chrysalis stepped past her disappointed subjects and began to climb the inside of the tree to the topmost branches where Messenger sat, waiting for her.

“My Queen. You come,” he said, bowing respectfully.

“Yes, I come indeed,” Chrysalis responded, moving to sit besides her changeling and looking out over the canopy for a long moment. She entertained the idea that she could see the glow of Evergreen’s cottage in the distance, but she knew that she was just imagining things. Her heart was breaking as she tried to keep her composure.

What was a few weeks, anyhow? It was nothing. It was nothing more than a collection of days. A collection of days marking how long she would have with Evergreen if she went back to him...

“What are your plans, my Queen?” Messenger inquired, his tone respectful.

Chrysalis turned to regard him for a long moment. “I... I’m afraid I had to leave my current target.”

“Do you have a new partner to feed upon, my Queen?” came the immediate query.

The Changeling Queen looked Messenger up and down. He had a one-track-mind. His entire focus was his next source of energy. It was still too dangerous for them to venture forth and find sources of energy themselves, and they were reliant on her. Her burden as Queen.

“Messenger...” Chrysalis started, and watched as her beautiful changeling lifted his head attentively to better catch her words. She leaned down to rub her nose against his own.

“How could I ever choose someone over you?” Chrysalis murmured quietly, as though to herself.

Messenger pricked his ears upwards at that. “My Queen?”

Chrysalis shook her head, to clear it. She closed her heart to outside influences, becoming an emotionless automaton. A hoof lifted to gently stroke along Messenger’s cheek as she whispered; “My beautiful child... I will always love you.”

A low chittering croon rolled from Messenger’s throat as he leaned into his Queen’s caresses Chrysalis let the shifting of his weight push his form closer to her own.

One of Chrysalis’ perforated hooves lifted to wrap around Messenger, holding him against her side as she stroked gently at his delicate, membranous wings. He was beautiful. Her child in all but blood. “Come, little one. I have something to show you.”

The tree burned in the distance, a beacon in the night, a pyre for the changelings who had perished there.

Chrysalis was slumped in the grass, weeping, sobbing helplessly into her hooves. She had collapsed there a few minutes previously as the full realisation of what she had done hit home. She had killed them. She had killed them all.

A slideshow of horror flickered across her mind’s eye as she remembered what she had done. First came the candles, those same, herb-infused candles Evergreen had used in the flower field. Once her army was under the effect of the candles, she had stalked among their sleeping forms, and held a jar filled with nightshade against their noses until their breathing ceased.

Last of all had been messenger, his beautiful green eyes looking up at her as she opened the jar with a shaking hoof to move near his nose. Even as the deadly niteshade invaded his system, he had watched her, his confusion and alarm suppressed by the soothing nature of the herbs in the candle. And she had killed him. She had held the niteshade to his nose and killed him, all while whispering a broken rendition of ‘hush now, quiet now’ to her beautiful child in between broken sobs. His green eyes, slowly glazing over in death as his heart stopped beating, would haunt her forever.

A rustle in the grass nearby alerted her to the presence of Evergreen. Chrysalis drew herself up into a sitting position to stare at him, her face streaked with tears. He had followed her. Of course he had followed her. She realised now that it was stupid to believe that he didn’t know when she left the cottage.

The woodspony moved to hug her, and she pushed at him with her hooves in resistance as she screeched, “No! No! I hate you!”

Evergreen drew back for a moment, staring at her wordlessly, and she snarled at him vehemently.

“I killed them! I killed them all for you, you stupid oaf!” Chrysalis roared, her horn beginning to glow with angry green magic.

Demonstrating bravery that Chrysalis knew she could never match, Evergreen ducked in underneath chin and pulled her into a firm, rough hug.

Chrysalis tried to bite him, to hit him, to make him hurt like she did, but he held on doggedly throughout her violent anger until she wore herself out against him. Chunks of his mane fell as she tore at him with her teeth, and blood streaked his hide where she had gotten a lucky flash of teeth against his neck, but still, he just held her close, weathering her anger.

And then she was done, dissolving into pained sobs against him, limp in his grasp.

“I-I killed them! I killed them all!” Chrysalis wailed, beating against his shoulder weakly with a hoof. “I killed them a-all and it’s your fault!”

The woodspony stared down at her for a long moment, and then off towards the burning tree in the distance. His tone was soft as he murmured, “It had to be done, Cee.”

Evergreen didn’t say anything else. He didn’t say that he hadn’t wanted this. He had wanted them turned into the guard, not just... wholesale killed and destroyed. But it was over now, and there was nothing to do but comfort the one he loved.

Chrysalis didn’t reply, weakly beating at Evergreen’s side with her hoof until she went still. The Changeling Queen collapsed limply against him and wept for all that she had done.

Epilogue

Cee walked through the cottage, stopping every now and again to peer at the photos on the mantle over the fireplace or on the shelves.

Evergreen lay on the bed, unmoving. Not even the steady rise and fall of his breath was there, his chest still and heart no longer beating. He had passed away sometime in the night, succumbing to the greatest enemy of all: time itself.

Sunlight streamed through the windows, lighting up the interior of the cottage. It was autumn, and the sunlight was still weak, barely granting warmth to the old mare’s body.

The years hadn’t been unkind, but they showed. Weathered lines of age crossed her face. Her mane and tail had long-since become silvery grey, and her mane was tucked up in a bun, foregoing aesthetics for the practicality of keeping her mane out of her eyes.

Cee was old now, and the photos showed it. They showed a progression of age; from a young pony couple smiling, growing older through the years, always together. She found it nice to place the photos in an orderly procession like this so she could remember where she came from, remember the years they’d spent together.

Cee had learned the alchemist’s trade and together with Evergreen the two had become a one-stop shop for rare ailments. They made enough coin to get by offering medicine for rare maladies, the kinds that Zecora was too busy to treat or had no knowledge of. But they were never wealthy. They had preferred it that way.

Gaze shifting over to the fireplace, Cee moved to observe the next set of photos. Soft tears fell down her cheeks as she looked over the memory-inducing scenes.

The first was from the Ponyville hospital, showing a much younger Cee an d Evergreen. The unicorn was lying in the hospital bed, the stallion beside her. Each of them cradled a cloth-wrapped bundle in their hooves. Two earth ponies; twins. A boy, and a girl.

The next photo showed four grinning faces sitting at the dinner table: Cee, Evergreen, and their two beautiful children.

Further down the line and the two parents were closer to their current age; their children were all grown up. The latest photos showed a family reunion with nine ponies all around a food-laden table, laughing and having a good time. Cee’s daughter had had a wonderful set of twin boys, and her son had a little filly.

Looking at the picture of her children, Cee felt her heart swelling with joy and warmth. Evergreen had lived up to his promise; he had made her final days the happiest of her life.

Sighing contentedly, the old unicorn moved over to the still form of her love. She gently brushed a lock of mane from his face to lean in and kiss his cheek. A faint smile lingered on his muzzle. She had no regrets. She was happier than she had ever been. And soon, she would join her beloved Evergreen in whatever place awaited them after this life.

But first, there was a small matter to attend to.

“Ah know yer there.” Cee said, as she lifted her head, not bothering to look towards the door.

The pony cleared her throat and pushed the door open, stepping into the cottage and regarding the unicorn.

“Chrysalis,” Celestia said by way of greeting.

“Yer daft. Yer know ah don’t go by that name anymore,” Cee said with a dismissive wave of a hoof.

“Very well then, Cee,” the princess corrected with a slight nod.

“Yer come to check up on me, huh? Always knew yer were keeping yer eyes out for me,” the unicorn stated, turning to face the princess, raising a brow. “Well? Don’t be shy now. Ah’m not gonna be here much longer.”

The alicorn perked a single ear. “Planning on going somewhere?”

A soft laugh rolled from Cee’s throat as she shook her head, and stamped a hoof firmly. “Ah plan on staying right here.”

Celestia took several moments to process what Cee meant. “You’re dying?”

“About time, too. Thought Ah’d be the first ter go, given how old Ah am. But life's funny like that, isn’t it?” Cee said conversationally.

“...Why? I saw you kill your changelings. I saw Evergreen with you. I saw him comforting you. And then you came to the castle like that... And after you just stood there, waiting for the girls to use the Elements of Harmony on you. I can guess that they changed you. But...why? Why did you give up your life for... this?” Celestia lifted a hoof to point around at the cottage and the desk stacked with alchemical tools, her expression one of confusion.

Cee gave a soft little chuckle and made her way over to the princess, lifting a hoof to gently touch at her cheek. Celestia flinched as though she were expecting a blow.

The former changeling stared up into the princess’ eyes. Cee gave her her most serious look, holding her gaze. “Celestia. When yer fall in love. Yer’ll know why.”

With nothing else to say, Cee turned around and hobbled her way over to the bed, pulling herself up then into her love’s hooves. She gently stroked a hoof against his cheek before leaning up and kissing his lifeless lips. She curled into his form and closed her eyes for the final time.

A conversation she had had with him a week previously filled her mind;

“Cee... Do yer regret anything?” Evergreen had asked, holding her in his hooves.

“Ah regret nothing,” she whispered, resting her nose against his chest and smiling.

“Ah regret nothing, too. Ah would do it all again, were ah given the chance. Ah’m not good at the sappy stuff, as yer know... but thanks, Cee. Thanks fer all the years together and thanks fer making me so happy,” Evergreen whispered, gently nuzzling against her.

She had stared up at him for the longest time, gazing into his eyes, feeling tears brimming in her own. She wanted to tell him how much he meant to her, how he had changed her life completely. But the words failed her.

Evergreen just nodded knowingly and kissed her gently, whispering soothingly, “Ah know, Love. Ah know.”

Cee’s face split into a grin and she kissed him back, smiling warmly. He knew her so well. And the only thing she could respond with was, “Stupid oaf. I love you.”

A thoughtful Celestia left the cottage, leaving the couple to lie on the bed in their final resting place.

Turning, her horn started to glow brightly, and the cottage began to turn to black marble. Every edifice of the home changed, hardening into impenetrable stone; a monument for the simple ponies inside.

Before she left, Celestia scratched an epitaph into the front door of the petrified cottage:

Here lie Evergreen and Cee

Whose unshaking love was destined to transcend all barriers

R.I.P

Beginnings

Thunder crashed overhead, rending the heavens with jagged flashes of lightning as pounding rain beat down all around the Everfree Forest.

Nestled among the gnarled trunks of the ancient forest, a little cottage shook with each rolling peal of thunder. Rainwater crashed down over the edge of the eaves, sheltering the cabin’s single occupant. But even inside there was no true escape from the vicious storm. Flashes of blinding brilliance lit the interior while the rolling crescendo of thunderclaps vibrated the very walls themselves with their vehemence.

The blue-pelted earth pony inside the cottage glanced up at a particularly loud rumble of thunder. Running one hoof through his scraggly brown mane, he sipped steaming cider from his mug and placed it carefully back on his coffee table. He turned back to his reading, flipping another page and tilting the book slightly to better catch the flickering light of his fireplace.

The stallion was named Evergreen, and he was, for want of better terms, a forager. He made his living combing through the Everfree Forest for various herbs and such that were almost impossible to cultivate outside of the forest itself. Many of the alchemical concoctions made by the ponies in Canterlot and Ponyville were only possible because of ponies like Evergreen.

Shielded by the howling storm outside by the sturdy little cottage, Evergreen continued to read. He turned another page, blissfully unaware of what was happening outside in the storm as a lone pony struggled through the pounding rain and sweeping winds that whipped the raindrops against her form with stinging force.

Chrysalis was hurt, probably dying. She had never died before... But a heart-wrenching emptiness was growing inside her. She was weak, hurting, and alone. Her army was defeated, scattered and gone into hiding, and she, the Queen of the Changelings, was struggling through a vicious thunderstorm with the last reserves of her power dwindling.

Somewhere in the back of the fallen monarch’s mind—the part of her mind that wasn’t focused on the growing drain on her energies—she was berating herself. She had grown cocky.

It had started so innocently. Chrysalis had seen Shining Armor and Cadance together. Needing a new source of energy, she had simply waited for Cadence to be alone, trapped the unsuspecting alicorn in the crystal chambers beneath the palace, and then feasted on the love Shining Armor had for his bride-to-be.

What a rush!

Never before had the changeling felt such an influx of energies. It had been intoxicating. Invigorating. And, ultimately, corrupting.

Chrysalis’ modus operandi up until that point had been to take the energies of a target for a few days, perhaps a few weeks if it were particularly delicious. It was never good to linger overly long on a single meal. She would then wipe the memories of both parties before moving on. Her tactics were unexciting, but they worked; it was how she survived so long. But this...this had been different. The energies that infused her were so raw. So powerful. She couldn’t resist them.

There was so much love in Equestria. It was just the next logical step for the queen to bring in her army of changelings and share with them the abundant love of Celestia’s unsuspecting ponies. In short order Chrysalis’ brood could have grown unimaginably strong.

The battered monarch could follow her own rationale from the very start, right through to the disastrous decisions that led to her new predicament. Likely her last predicament.

When Chrysalis had been found out, she hadn’t cared. The persistent purple unicorn’s accusations and the ponies’ efforts to fight her and her army had simply been an engaging diversion, a bit of entertainment before the banquet about to be served up thanks to the Changeling Queen’s master plan—or so she had thought.

Now it was obvious that such thoughts had been premature. The power coursing through Chrysalis had corrupted her focus. Had made her cocky. She realised now that they were all decisions made in an intoxicated haze, the poorly-planned-out whims of a queen who was drunk on the finest sustenance she had sampled in ages. High on the simple raw intoxicating power of such a strong love. The Queen of the Changelings had been able to defeat Celestia herself in one-on-one combat!

But then, the weak little princess that Chrysalis had thought was dealt with had returned and shattered the changeling’s hold over Shining Armour. The Queen’s usually oh-so-fine senses, deafened by the roar of the delicious power coursing through her, had failed to notice until far too late that the thundering river of Shining Armour’s love had been dammed and diverted at the source—changed back to its true channel. To Cadance. And then, the magical blast.

What had that terrible force been? Chrysalis had never seen anything like it in all her long years. It had been so intense. It had almost destroyed her. Most certainly had destroyed most of her army. The Queen shuddered at the raw, bloody memory of her fellow changelings’ screams of pain as the terrible blast of force smashed into them like the wrath of gods, crushing some to dust and throwing others tumbling into the atmosphere. It was hard to imagine more than a smattering of her children had survived.

But still the Queen of the Changelings persisted, though every movement was agonizing. It was all she had left. She couldn’t just lie down and die in the rain... But her limbs were getting heavy. It was getting harder to put one hoof in front of the others. Her wings were broken, their delicate membranes mangled beyond recognition. And her magical spark was so faint it couldn’t even keep her warm anymore.

Chrysalis was dying.

The Changeling queen stumbled and fell. She lay, weakening body splayed in the mud for a moment. With a groan that was almost a death rattle she rose shakily to her feet once more and trudged on. She had to keep going. She could not stop now. She—

Sheets of rain drenched the changeling’s shattered body as she tumbled to the ground. Chrysalis landed heavily, the mud squelching wetly and splattering what few places on her pelt had remained clean until now. She did not rise.

There was a cottage ahead, hidden behind swaying trees, but Chrysalis could sense only one occupant. There was no one for her to take the place of. No love to feed upon. This was the end of her story; the end, perhaps, of the changelings. Defeated by the power of love, the very thing they fed upon.

It was perhaps a fitting end, the exhausted queen mused. But the thought of being discovered likethis—a mud-caked corpse on display for curious pony eyes—sickened Chrysalis. She would not be found like this. She would die with dignity.

Gathering the last of her magic about herself to change her form, the defeated queen concentrated. Power flared, and the changeling’s form wavered and shifted. As her shape resolved itself into a white Unicorn with a long, flowing blue mane, Chrysalis laid her head down on her forehooves and closed her eyes, letting out a long breath.

There. Any pony who found the body now would believe her to be an unknown unicorn lost to the storm, rather than the dark queen of the changelings. Closing her eyes, Chrysalis let the darkness take her.

Instead of the blissful consummation of the darkness that Chrysalis had been expecting, she was awoken rather rudely by a tug at her mane. The female’s eyes slid open blearily to stare blankly at the pony tugging at her form. He was shouting something, but it was lost to the howling of the wind and the peculiar rushing in her ears.

Everything was so distant to Chrysalis, from the touch of the stallion’s hooves against her mane to the rain pelting her form. The omnipresent numbness even dulled the piercingly cold shards of pain slicing into the changeling as icy rain splattered into her open eyes. Her power had left her, and now it was time to dwindle away. In a detached sort of way, she admired how the pony tried to help her in her last moments, dragging her limp form across the ground towards the front door of his cottage, gripping her mane determinedly in his mouth, aided and abetted by the slick grass and mud underfoot, while also hindered by the same.

With a rough kick, Chrysalis’ would-be rescuer slammed open his door and bundled her limp form across the threshold and onto the warm wooden floorboards.

Chrysalis felt herself splay out in a wet heap—so undignified for a queen—and tried to lift her head to berate the pony for his foolishness... but the darkness gathering at the corners of her vision called to her, begging her to close her eyes and dive down into its inky depths. And so she did.

Everything hurt.

From the tip of Chrysalis’ nose to the bottom of her hooves, everything hurt. There were even phantom pains in her wings, even though they technically no longer existed.

Blue eyes fluttered open and a faint, helpless groan left Chrysalis as she tried to shift, her muscles all aching as though she had sprained each one individually. Her head was pounding, and her throat was dry, and she was cold.

The warm weight of a blanket was wrapped around the changeling and she was close enough to the fireplace that steam was slowly wafting from her moist fur..

“Don’t move,” a concerned voice said. A mug was pressed against Chrysalis’ lips, with some kind of hot, spicy liquid. Automatically, she drank even when the beverage burned her tongue and throat. The pony tried to draw the cup away when she winced, but she lifted a hoof doggedly to hold it against her lips. She took several long gulps of the burning liquid, letting it burn and singe within her chest as though a raging inferno. It hurt. Her entire body hurt. But the pain was good. The pain let her know she was still alive.

Chrysalis opened her mouth to try and frame words, but all that emerged was a weak rasp and then a ragged cough. The world tilted crazily, and she laid her head on her forehooves for a moment to try and gather whatever energy she still had remaining. Her eyelids were heavy, and the numbing, seeping coldness about her form was trying to drag her back down into blissful unconsciousness. Her shivering had stopped; not a good sign. She moved closer to the fire, and felt a small flame leap onto the blanket.

The pony gasped and beat the flame out with a hoof, pulling Chrysalis away from the fire a few inches and scolding her. She wasn’t able to make out the words he was saying over the renewed rushing in her ears and she shook her head, trying to scowl up at him. How dare he use that tone with her!

As the incensed changeling looked up, her vision flickered, and the rushing in her ears rose to an all-consuming roar. Chrysalis’ chin hit the floorboards, and the darkness took her once more.

Consciousness was fleeting for Chrysalis; it was so hard to stay awake, and she was so weak. It was just so easy to give into the darkness and allow it to sweep her away on gentle wings into a state of blissful ignorance of her worldly form. But her consciousness kept intruding, forcing her to wake to a world of cold discomfort and stinging pains. Yet each time, she could stay awake a little bit longer. Feel her body growing dryer and warmer. The cold of her limbs was fading, but the permeating cold inside was still there. An empty, yawning pit of need that could only be filled by a love far from her flimsy reach at present.

As coherency returned to Chrysalis’ thoughts, she began to feel afraid. She was weak, powerless, and inside a strange pony’s home. She felt exposed and vulnerable, like a newborn foal just taking its first steps in the world. Depending on others was not something that the Queen of Changelings was used to, or would tolerate.

The pony who had rescued Chrysalis was sitting in front of the fire as well. He was shivering, his clothes spread out in front of him to dry while he huddled up as close to the fire as he dared. The blue stallion’s head was bowed and his eye closed. He might have almost looked relaxed if not for the way his entire form shook, wracked with shivering as his muscles spasmed in an attempt to get warm. The only blanket he had was currently wrapped around her form, she realised.

Scowling to herself, Chrysalis summoned the effort to stand, swaying unsteadily and stumbling a moment, moving clumsily over to the pony and dropping in an untidy heap next to him. She had just enough energy to manage to push the blanket over his shoulders before she felt that all-encompassing darkness trying to muscle in and drag her back down into unconsciousness once more. She had to pause for several moments, to let the darkness pass.

Chrysalis scowled at the pony as he shivered and pressed closer to her gratefully, trying to share the warmth of their bodies together.

Chrysalis felt nothing for him, but if she could leech enough energy from him, she might survive. She would have to convince him to like her. It wouldn’t be enough to keep her going for long... But it was enough to survive. And if he died of hypothermia, then she would die along with him.

Chrysalis pressed closer to the pony and laid her head on her forelegs, closing her eyes to rest. She tried to formulate a plan for a few moments before giving up and just letting the darkness take her away again.

She would roll with the punches. It was all she could do now.

Sunlight awoke Chrysalis and she groaned faintly, stirring and trying to move. Energy suffused her body more readily, and the dangerous darkness receded back from the strength of her consciousness. Full thought returned to her and she shuddered at how close she was to just losing it all.

Chrysalis had almost died. Even now she was still hovering on the precipice of a total energy failure. She had to be careful. No magic, no shapechanging. Not until she had more energy.

Chrysalis’s new blue eyes regarded her savior for a long moment and she tried her best to judge him. What did he like? What would make this pony like her? Was he a submissive or a dominant personality? Did he prize feminine attributes or more masculine attributes in his partners?

An array of questions assaulted Chrysalis’ mind, so difficult to answer since she didn’t have a present lover to leech the information from, a pony to take cues from.. This would be difficult. But she only needed a little energy; just enough to see her through until she could take the place of someone else.

The male stirred and lifted his head, blinking the tiredness from his eyes and rubbing a hoof against his face for a moment, curling his neck to peer at her closely.

“Good mornin’ there, you,” he said. He had a rather broad accent: a country pony. “You feelin’ okay?”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes up at him for a moment at his condescending tone. Her tone was cold as she stated, “I am quite fine, or I would not be conscious.”

The stallion recoiled slightly at the tone of her voice, edging away from her until he could worm out from under the blankets. He grabbed a block of wood from besides the fireplace and tossed it in the pit, vigorously stirring the embers with a fire poker before sitting down in front of the fire.

“Gotta thank yer, miss,” The stallion said with an incline of his head towards her. He patted the place next to him. “Come up here where it’s warmer.”

Chrysalis stared at the dumb woodspony for a moment, mildly confused and irritated with his words and his horrible accent. She scowled as she said, “Thank me? I have done nothing of note in between my bouts of brief consciousness.”

“Well, yer kept me warm last night and didn’t have ter do that,” the stallion pointed out. “My momma always said I should thank kindness wherever I find it.”

Chrysalis shuddered as she tried to lift herself to her hooves, feeling just how heavy her limbs were now. How painful it was to move. It was a struggle to rise, but the pony was there to help her up, placing his nose under her chest to support her

An incensed growl left the changeling and she pushed at him with a hoof.

“II can do it myself!” Chrysalis hissed, outraged that the pony would dare touch her. Physical contact while in her changed forms made her feel uneasy, and the last thing to touch her true form—a rabbit—had met a grisly end at the point of her horn. Even when the changeling was rewarded with the power of love from physical contact, she still abhorred it. It was a means to an end.

The pony drew back at the mares rebuke, and nodded slightly, settling her down in front of the fireplace. Chrysalis harrumphed, trying to lower herself gently and ending up just thudding down onto her chest with a wince. She really was still weak and this oafish male wasn’t helping at all! There was only a tenuous thread of energy connecting them. She had gotten stronger hits from passing stallions admiring her when she had in her guise as Cadance.

Chrysalis rested her head on her forehooves, finding it too heavy to lift any more, closing her eyes and trying to steady her breaths. She felt as though she had run a marathon.

“Yer must be one of those royalty bunch, eh?” the pony inquired, resuming his position beside her, next to the fire.

Chrysalis inched away so that his forehooves wouldn’t brush her.

“I...Yes, how did you know?” Chrysalis asked, doing her best to seem admiring of his skills in deduction. If she wanted to make him like her, now was the time.

“Yer have some real trouble accepting help. Yer all high-strung and haughty, like we’s all supposed to bow to your every whim, and when yer don’t get yer way, yer all turn towards sweet talkin’ to get it,” he said. There was a faint dip in the energy she was receiving from him as he spoke, and she winced inwardly. He didn’t like the simpering kind, then.

“Yes. I am royalty, and... And...” Chrysalis snarled in her mind as she tried to swallow her pride and thank this... This... Country bumpkin for his kindness. But it was so hard. She almost choked on the words getting them out.

“And thank you for helping me,” Chrysalis managed to get out before giving a low sigh of relief in her mind.

The connection between them swelled and she felt her form stiffen slightly as minor jolts of power suffused her. It was still tiny. But it was a start. Like a stream devoid of water, her body absorbed the affection, hungrily demanding more than the tiny trickle she was receiving.

“Well I’ll be. Never thought I’d see the day a high pony such as yerself would be thanking someone like me,” the stallion said, a mild hint of smugness to his tone. “I’ll not apologize fer draggin’ you ‘cross the grass, neither.”

Chrysalis stared at him a moment, unable to fathom his motivations. He had helped her out of the goodness of his heart, where she herself would have watched with a rather morbid glee as the life faded from his stupid, country-bumpkin body. He’d then given her his only blanket and shivered in cold just so she could be warm, and then garnered apparent amusement that he had messed up her coat. He didn’t add up in her mind. Farm ponies were crazy.

“You need not apologize, but I intend to make you help me clean it.” Chrysalis scowled darkly. This pony would learn his place, one way or another. When she got her power back, she would use her magic to make him suffer terribly for every indignity he placed upon her.

“Yer expecting me to put my hooves on you?” the stallion asked with a snort of contempt, rolling his eyes. “I could jus’ kick yer out of here and let yer wander back to Canterlot on yer own.”

Chrysalis stiffened, her eyes widening slightly. If she ended up back outside—ended up alone—then she would die from lack of energy before the day was out. As much as she hated it, this... Thing was her only option. Her last resort.

“Please kind sir, I must ask your forgiveness for my rudeness and beg of you at least some more of your company...?” Chrysalis asked, as modestly as she could manage. Her pride roared at her in defiance, but she smothered it with calm practicality. She would make the pony pay for each and every insult when she no longer required his affection to survive.

The bond between them strengthened slightly, and Chrysalis felt a shift in the energies that were slowly trickling into the immense darkness that was her body.

“Ohoho, Yer gonna ask me all nice like?” the pony asked, a laugh in his tone, “I like that. I could get used ter having one of you high ponies askin’ me fer stuff all nice like. I’ll keep yer around, sure.”

The stallion rubbed his hooves together and smiled at her. “I’m Evergreen. But I want yer to call me ‘Sir’ Evergreen.”

Chrysalis stared at the stallion once more, her eyes narrowing. She longed to blast him with her magic. She felt a burning, consuming need to harm him. But she was still weak. She needed to bide her time.

“Very well... Sir Evergreen.” Chrysalis bit the word off harshly as though she could make it sting him with its vehemence.

The pony grinned at that, stoking the fire again, smirking. “Oh, I think I’m gonna like this.”

Chrysalis scowled inwardly. For now, she would bide her time. But soon, she would be back.

She laid her head on her hooves once more and closed her eyes, letting the darkness take her down into its eager, welcoming depths.

Finale

-The changelings stand as the ultimate warning to the avarice of the spirit.

As a species, their entire well-being depends on the love of others. Their methods though, are insidious. Instead of garnering love through regular means, a changeling seeks to use subterfuge and trickery to attain its love.

But many do not know the history of the changelings, do not know of a time when the changelings were not just accepted, but adored in the same fashion as the Alicorns themselves.

Once upon a time, the changelings stood as rulers of Equestria alongside the alicornPrincesses Celestia and Luna. They were beautiful and radiant, a splendorous sight in any setting. They were an offshoot of the alicorn race, with a very special trait; they were shapeshifters.

While they gained sustenance through normal food like any other pony, their magical prowess was gathered from the adoration of their subjects.

The changelings, however, were not perfect. No one is sure why the first changeling turned on the princesses. Some say it was the influence of Discord, while others say it was a stallion. But either way, the beautiful changeling and the princesses fought bitterly.

Defeated by the the combined power of the two princesses, the changeling faded from history. It is said that she used her shapeshifting powers to survive, and that the bitter evil in her spirit warped her. Rumours spread throughout the ages of that changeling’s twisted children: evil creatures who used their magic to steal love from unsuspecting ponies.-

“My ancestors beat yours, hooves down,” Chrysalis stated, as she looked up from the old tome. The book had been pilfered from the Canterlot library, after a very scary infiltration requiring Chrysalis and Evergreen to masquerade as guards.

“Nothing in there about fixing yerself?” Evergreen asked, voicing a low sigh, rubbing his hooves against his temples quite firmly.

It was getting harder and harder for Evergreen to concentrate, Chrysalis had seen it getting worse over the previous days. He could barely even concentrate on reading his own book.

Open books littered the floor of the cottage, discarded when one of the pair deemed them to not contain any relevant information.

Chrysalis sighed and shook her head. “Just some rubbish about how my ancestors were adored once upon a time, and apparently helped rule the land beside Celestia and Luna. And then Discord came and corrupted us or something.”

“Fascinating,” Evergreen stated, giving a low sigh and then just laying his chin on the open book. “Ah need ter rest.”

Chrysalis gave a faint whimper, climbing to her hooves and ignoring the tome, picking her way through the maze of discarded books to pull her stallion into a soothing hug. “I’m sorry Evergreen... I’ll just... I’ll go away. You can come visit when you’re better. It’ll be like... Like a holiday.”

Evergreen shook his head, scowling. “That won’t work, and yer know it. It’s either all or nothing, Cee.”

Nodding gently, she rubbed her cheek against his own, a teardrop spilling down her cheek. “I just... I don’t want to watch you die, Evergreen. I can’t watch that. Don’t make me watch that.”

“We still got some time left,” Evergreen stated fiercely, lifting a hoof to hug her in return. “Ah’m not dead yet.”

“But you’re getting worse...” Chrysalis pointed out helplessly, nuzzling against her stallion firmly, her ears flattening.

“Then hurry up and find a blooming cure!” Evergreen snapped, pushing at her shoulder hard enough to send her dancing a few steps away, unbalanced.

The stallion glowered at her for several long moments, before his expression softened, and his own ears splayed back. “Ah’m sorry Cee... Ah don’t know what came ov-”

Chrysalis shook her head, easing back over close to him again, and wrapping her hooves around him tightly. “No, no... It’s fine. It’s me. I’m the problem.”

Evergreen shook his head determinedly, wrapping his hooves around her once more, squeezing firmly. “Yer not a problem Cee. Yer are my life... Ah love yer. No matter what ah say. No matter what happens when this gets worse, ah love yer. And don’t yer ever let yerself be convinced otherwise.”

Nodding, Chrysalis nuzzled against her love slowly, tears forming silent trails down her cheeks. “I won’t forget, I promise.”

“No matter what happens, Cee,” Evergreen reiterated, pausing to grind a hoof against his temple, wincing, his expression pained.

“Lie down, Evergreen. Rest.” Chrysalis’ tone was strained. She didn’t like to see Evergreen in pain. She just couldn’t bear to know that she was putting him in so much pain.

“Ah will,” Evergreen said distractedly, grinding his hoof against his temples again. “Mah head hurts.”

“I know, I know,” Chrysalis soothed, pulling Evergreen down to lay flat on the bed, trying to force him to rest. She gently kissed his forehead, her tears wetting the pillows.

A silence stretched out between them, and Evergreen slowly looking up at her, his expression turning sad. Quietly, he said, “...Yer gonna leave, aren’t yer?”

Chrysalis bit her bottom lip, fighting back fresh tears, and she nodded mutely.

A low sigh left the stallion. “Ah can’t afford to lose yer Cee. Not now. Yer can’t come and take my heart and run.”

“I wouldn’t be running,” Chrysalis whispered brokenly, pushing, and then pulling at his chest with her hooves uncertainly. “I need you Evergreen. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me... But I can’t watch you die. I can’t watch you die and know that I’m the one doing it. I can’t lose you like that.”

Evergreen looked up at her for a long moment, and then pulled her into a deep kiss. “Ah can’t change yer mind... But ah told yer. Ah’m fine with dying. Ah don’t care when I die, ah just care what I live for, and yer’re worth living for, Cee.”

Chrysalis felt tears streaming from her eyes again, and she fought down the sobs trying to bubble up out of her throat. “T-this is the only way, Evergreen. W-we can’t be together.”

The stallion lowered his eyes, closing them and then nodding sadly. “Ah... Ah’m glad I met yer, Chrysalis. yer the best thing that ever happened to me... Ah wish it were different.”

“I’m a monster,” Chrysalis whispered softly, lifting a shaking hoof to stroke through Evergreen’s mane. “I don’t deserve happiness.”

“Yer not a monster,” Evergreen said tenderly, lifting a hoof to gently lay on Chrysalis’ cheek. “Yer my Cee.”

“Cee is a unicorn. Unicorn’s do not slowly kill their lovers,” Chrysalis stated, sadly shaking her head.

Evergreen gave a wan smile at that, and then pulled Chrysalis close again, leaning down to kiss her muzzle. “Yer trust me, right?”

“Stupid oaf... Of course I tust you,” Chrysalis whispered in response.

“Change for me, Chrysalis. Let me show you my love for you one last time...”

...

Chrysalis fought back her tears as she strode up pathway towards the palace. It was perhaps fortuitous that their was a party going on. All of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony would be there, ready to go.

She had left the cottage that morning, leaving a note for Evergreen not to follow her. She was certain that he ignored it though, and would be, even now, chasing her trail across the Everfree Forest, all the way to Canterlot.

But Chrysalis had a plan. A desperate plan. A stupid, foolish plan.

She wanted the Elements of Harmony used on her. They were the ultimate tools of ‘good’. They were not tools of destruction. If there was anything that could heal her, it was the Elements of Harmony.

Of course, it was a foolish plan with a slim chance of success. But Chrysalis had to try. She couldn’t stand to watch Evergreen slowly die, and she couldn’t stand to be apart from him. Even if the Elements destroyed her, then that would be preferable to the current options. At least then Evergreen would be free. A final unselfish act she could perform in her demise. Giving her love a chance at life.

Celestia was unconcerned as the young earth pony stalked towards the table she was seated at. There was nothing to fear, really. Chrysalis had already subdued a serving pony outside, and assumed her form. So as far as Celestia was concerned, it was her serving pony walking towards her, not the Queen of the Changelings.

But as Chrysalis allowed her changes to drop, Celestia’s eyes widened, and she abruptly pushed back from the table.

Chrysalis grinned, and hit the table with a blast of magic, sending food splattering across the room like so much soggy shrapnel. Her second blast hit the large stained-glass windows, shattering them. With a few quick bounds, Chrysalis was through them, and outside, even as the first screams of stunned, confused, and scared ponies rose in a chorus throughout the palace.

Behind her, Chrysalis heard Celestia call ‘Get her, girls!’. She grinned, and began to run at full speed towards the edge of the Canterlot Cliffs.

A single large leap sent her out over open air, and her membranous wings extended, catching her weight as she glided towards the edge of the Everfree Forest before the guard even know what had happened.

The Changeling Queen’s chest was heaving, and the unconscious forms of Royal guards littered the ground around her. Blood trickled down her chest, and one of her wings lay crumpled at her side, unwilling to fold back into place. The burnt remains of the tree where she had destroyed her children stood nearby, blackened and smouldering.

It was a fitting place to bring to a close the glory of the changeling empire.

In front of Chrysalis, two ranks of Royal Guards stood, guarding the ponies behind them.

A colourful assortment of ponies stood there, led first and foremost by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, standing side by side, ready to enter battle together in a way that they hadn’t needed to since the days of Discord.

Six mares stood in front of the Princesses, five of them wearing special necklaces, while the sixth wore a tiara. The six ponies who carried the Elements of Harmony.

But Chrysalis had eyes only for one pony there.

Evergreen.

He stood uncertainly off to the side, behind the guards, but away from the Princess’ and the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, watching with wide, scared eyes.

“It’s over, Chrysalis.” Celestia called from behind her guards. “You’re defeated, and alone. Give in, and we promise mercy.”

A low laugh rumbled from the Changeling Queen’s throat, before she called back to the princess; “You think I am scared of your precious Elements of Harmony?! I will never surrender!”

A Royal Guard twisted on the ground at her feet and attempted to roll over and attack the changeling, but Chrysalis just smacked him quite sharply in the face with a hoof, returning him to unconsciousness.

“Twilight. Do it.” Celestia stated, eyes narrowed on the Changeling Queen.

Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed as the six mares began to levitate, magical energies rolling off them in sweeping coronas of power, their eyes glowing an unearthly white.

As the Elements of Harmony that the six ponies bore began glow, Chrysalis squared her stance, readying herself for the coming blast.
Words from the tome echoed in her mind. The history of her people. The history that she had turned her back on.

Chrysalis’ scowled as the Elements of Harmony glowed even brighter, before a cascading wave of rainbow-like energy shot towards her.

This was it. This was the end.

The Changeling Queen lowered her head, her horn glowing intensely bright, right up until the point when the magical energies impacted her.

There was a flash of light, and a powerful magical explosion. Unconscious Royal Guards were sent spinning and tumbling away from the epicentre of the maelstrom. The ponies lined up to confront the changeling were all blasted off their hooves by the energetic expulsion of magical energies.

The magical energies faded slowly, and in the centre, nothing remained.

The changeling known as Chrysalis had ceased to exist.

She was gone.

Cee. Chrysalis. Was gone.

And he had watched it happen.

Evergreen barely remembered anything from after the confrontation. He just remembered Chrysalis, standing there as magical energies assaulted her form, rending her existence from the world, taking her away from him.

The guards had tried to ask him questions, but he was numb, unfeeling and unresponsive. He didn’t even answer a single question.

They had released him, and his hooves had carried him home. But it wasn’t his home. It was empty without Cee. It amazed him and stunned him how large of an effect she had in such a short time.

Evergreen listlessly laid down in front of his cold, empty fireplace. Cold and empty like his life now was. He felt tears brimming in his eyes, and tried to swallow them down. He was a stallion, strong, and not given to brazen shows of emotion.

But there was only so long he could hold back the floor of tears. He tried not to think about it. Tried not to feel. But every time he remembered the sound of Cee’s voice, or one of her jobing remarks, or just remember her face, the stabbing realisation that he would never have any of that again just hit him like a runaway train. It hurt.

She was gone.

Evergreen stared into the cold empty fireplace, a trail of tears falling down his cheeks. he slowly curled up on the floor and covered his face with his hooves, blocking out the world. And for the first time since he was a foal, Evergreen wept.

Two days after the confrontation, Evergreen was lying in bed, in mourning. She was gone. She had come in, stolen his heart, and now she had been destroyed. He didn’t cry any more. He didn’t sob. It wasn’t his way. He just lay there, eyes closed, as though sleeping.

Even when the door to Evergreen’s cottage creaked open, he didn’t move. It was probably a guard come to check on him, perhaps even a shopkeeper concerned by the stallion’s long absence from the town. The woodspony didn’t stir.

But then a familiar voice made him sit bolt-upright and spin around.

“Stupid oaf. Don’t even get a hello,” Cee grumbled as she limped through the door.

The woodspony stared for a long moment. He blinked slowly, stupedifed, and then launched himself at her.

Cee and Evergreen went down in a tumble of manes and tails. The woodspony proceeded to smother her face in rapid, exuberant kisses.

“Ah thought Ah had lost yer!” he exclaimed, with the most profound sense of relief in his tone.

Cee pushed at him with her hooves a moment, twisted to get out of his grip. She stared up at him for a long moment, before leaning up to kiss him gently. “You did... but only for a little while.”

Evergreen wrapped his hooves around Cee, holding her close against him. She was dirty and bedraggled with twigs and clumps of dried mud hanging from her mane and tail. She looked like she’d been through hell.

“What happened?!” Evergreen demanded, drawing back to stare into her eyes. “Ah saw you get hit... And....”

“I... don’t know. I think it blasted me away like the spell in Canterlot did,” Chrysalis admitted, burying her face against him. “I woke up in the forest. I was lost. Took me an entire day just to find my way back to Ponyville.”

Evergreen winced, his ears splaying backwards as he whispered, “Ah’m sorry, Cee.”

The unicorn peered up at him for a long moment, brow raising. “Sorry for what?”

“...Fer giving up on yer so quickly,” he responded, hanging his head. “Ah didn’t think yer go looking fer yer... Ah just thought yer were gone.”

“Wistful thinking, I’m afraid,” she said, tenderly touching his cheek with a hoof. “It’ll take a lot more than the Elements of Harmony to keep me from you. And there was no way for you to know it wouldn’t destroy me... No way for me to know, either.”

“What were yer thinking, taking on the Elements like that?” Evergreen asked, confused, clinging to her tightly to make sure she was real.

“I... I just got it in my head that the Elements of Harmony are a force of good. They’re not a weapon... They’re an equalising force. I was hoping, maybe... Maybe they could make me normal,” Chrysalis admitted, looking down at her forehooves.

Evergreen nodded, wrapping his hooves around her and holding her close. “How do yer feel?”

“...I feel weak,” Chrysalis murmured, looking up at him for a long moment, before she admitted with a soft sigh, “I can’t feel our bond any more. And I have a strange sensation in my centre that I cannot describe. I think something went wrong.”

The woodspony stared at her for a long moment, swallowing around the lump in his throat. “H-how long?”

“I... Can’t tell. I think it just... Took away my ability to feed on love. Not the worst outcome... But not the best, either,” Chrysalis said with a strained smile. “Well... At least I won’t kill you.”

“Ah guess so... but ah don’t want to lose yer...” Evergreen said, a pained note creeping into his voice. “Yer can’t just come steal my heart and then run off with it.”

Cee shook her head slowly. “I’m not going anywhere, Sir Evergreen. Not until the end. And that could be, hopefully, at least another week from now.”

A faint sigh left the stallion and he pulled her back into the hug, resting his head on her chest. “Ah love yer, Cee. Or Chrysalis, if that’s what yer want me to call yer.”

“Chrysalis is dead. I’m Cee now. Cee the unicorn. I can’t ever risk changing back into my ‘true’ form, and if I tried, I’d just lose energy and time. Chrysalis doesn’t exist any more,” Cee said, nuzzling the top of his head gently.

“So it all worked out then?” Evergreen queried, turning his head to look up at her.

“My impending death through lack of energy notwithstanding,” Cee corrected. “Which... I think is a better way.”

“Better than what?” Evergreen asked, blinking once.

“Better than watching you waste away, stupid oaf,” Cee responded. Her tone softened. “I just... I wouldn’t be able to watch that... I’d rather it be me.”

The stallion stared up at her mournfully for a moment, and hugged her a little bit tighter, closing his eyes. “And now ah have to be the one to watch yer waste away.”

“I’ve lived a very long time, Evergreen. No one lives forever. I’m just... sad that it had to be so soon after I found you.” Her voice broke and she swallowed hard, trying to fight back the tears as she stroked gently through his mane. “But I’m glad I met you, Evergreen... You showed me what love is. And that’s worth more alone than all the days I’ve lived so far.”

“It’s not fair,” Evergreen stated.

“Life isn’t fair,” Cee replied with a shake of her head. “But we’ll make the most of our time together, yes?”

The woodspony looked up at her for a long moment and he nodded slowly. “Ah promise. These’ll be the happiest days of yer life.”

Wrapping her hooves around the stallion and gently stroking down his neck with a hoof, Cee didn’t respond.

Several long minutes later Evergreen lifted his head and blinked at her. An expression of surprise appeared on his face as he stated, “Yer stomach grumbled.”

Cee stared at him for a long moment, bewildered.

“Yer stomach, it grumbled!” Evergreen repeated, rising to his hooves excitedly.

The unicorn just stared up at Evergreen for a long moment. “I fail to see the significance.”

Evergreen bounced in place for a moment, before bolting off into the other room with a quick, “Wait here!”

Cee shook her head slowly. She rolled over to lay her head on her hooves.

The stallion returned a few minutes later, holding aloft a steaming bowl, which he placed down in front of her. “Try that!”

The unicorn stared up at him for a long moment, wrinkling her nose, “I don’t think your herbs are going to help me with this.”

Evergreen stamped his hoof once, and narrowed his eyes at her with such a pointed glower that she went silent and pulled the bowl towards her. A wooden spoon was stuck in one side of the bowl, and she tentatively pulled it out, watching the thick stew drip back into the bowl. She sighed faintly, and then popped it in her mouth, drawing the pulpy mass of stewed vegetables off of it.

The taste was strong and potent, with a hint of spice in the aftertaste. But it wasn’t until Cee swallowed that she felt her stomach seeming to flip-flop inside her. She shuddered faintly at the odd sensation and in an instant, she fell ravenously on the bowl of food. Spoonful after spoonful of food was shoveled into her maw, the unicorn disregarding the burning of the hot meal sliding down her throat.

It was like feeding from love; the same kind of warmth filled her, soothing her hunger. But it was strange; whenever she had eaten food previously, she garnered no enjoyment from it. The taste had been the only redeeming factor but now, a heavy weight settled in her stomach, pleasantly warm and soothing.

A happy sigh left the unicorn, and she pushed the bowl aside before splaying out on her stomach with a low grown.

Evergreen’s grinning face appeared above her, upside-down, as he said joyously, “Ah knew it!”

“Knew what?” Cee asked, staring up at him.

“Yer a changeling,” Evergreen stated.

“...I thought we got past that revelation a few days ago,” Cee said bluntly.

“No, Ah mean, yer an old changeling! Like before yer all got twisted and evil and monster-ish,” Evergreen corrected with a grin.

“How very eloquent,” the unicorn responded with a roll of her eyes. “So... you think I’ll be sustained with regular food now?”

“It looks like it, don’t it!” Evergreen responded with a smile, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “Try ter change!”

Cee looked up at him uncertainly for a moment, her ears splaying backwards. After a few seconds she peered up at him, her expression uncertain, “Did it work?”

Evergreen peeked down at her, raising a brow. “What did yer change?”

“I tried to change my eyes...They’re still normal?” she asked, starting to sound worried.

“They’re still unicorn eyes, if that’s what yer mean.”

The unicorn lifted herself to her hooves suddenly, pulling out from underneath the woodspony and galloping over to the mirror. She stared at herself in it, eyes wide. Her face contorted as she tried to change her form, getting more and more desperate with each failed attempt.

Evergreen ambled up besides her, gently placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Cee, stop it. It’s not gonna work.”

Cee stared at him in the mirror for a moment before deflating, “I... suppose so.”

The woodspony wrapped his hooves around her in a firm hug, holding her close. He murmured soothingly, “It’s better than the alternatives.”

“I know... It’s just...”

“Would yer be wanting ter change at all again?” Evergreen asked bluntly.

Cee leaned against him slightly with a soft sigh. “I... guess not. No. but... it was the only thing I had left. It was the only thing left that made me, me.”

Evergreen shook his head slowly a moment, and kissed her cheek gently. “Yer not Chrysalis any more. Yer Cee. My Cee.”

The unicorn nodded, leaning up to kiss him in return, wrapping her hooves around him.

Everything that made her a changeling was gone. She couldn’t change. She couldn’t feed on love. She didn’t even have her changeling army more, thanks to her own actions.

Cee looked back on everything she had done for this simple woodspony, everything she had sacrificed just to be with him. She had given up who she was, as a changeling, for him.

“No regrets.” Cee whispered, as she wrapped her hooves around him in a warm hug, resting her cheek against his own with a smile. “I love you, Evergreen.”

The woodspony smiled and nosed against her. “Ah love yer too, Cee.”

Cee looked about the cottage, and the simple life that was now her future. And she smiled. She was content. She would have no regrets. All that mattered now was her future with Evergreen; everything in the past was in the past.

And looking up into Evergreen’s eyes, Cee realised something.

After all was said and done; it wasn’t perfect.There were things she had done. Horrible, terrible things, to arrive at this point. And all her days would be tainted by that. But this imperfect situation was the end of her story. The end of her reign as Queen.

But most of all,

This was her happily ever after.