Author's Note
Originally written for Tainted Love: A Twysalis prompt tag Collab, this was my first attempt at writing for the better part of two years.
I've always loved to write, and to make larger, 40k word or above stories has long been a dream, but intimidation and writers block constantly gets in the way. The least I can do is present these quick, little prompts.
Fun - ChrysLight
Chrysalis was singing.
To uninformed, and indeed, any outsiders to the hive this might not have been a strange occurrence, or any cause for alarm; to the changelings of the hive though, a singing Chrysalis was a dangerous Chrysalis. A singing Chrysalis meant a happy Chrysalis and that usually meant that something was going absolutely, terribly right for the Changeling Queen for it to bring her to a state of ecstasy usually reserved for gloating over the beaten, broken bodies of her enemies.
As such, the changelings of the hive; the drones and the wet-nurses, to the soldiers, and even all the way up to the Matriarchs -The oldest of changelings whom grew into their own unique roles to serve under the Queen as her counsel- knew that to disturb and to question her uplifted mood meant punishment most severe. So it was that Chrysalis found herself quite undisturbed as she waltzed down the halls of the hive, the click-clack of her hooves echoing as she trod the surprisingly smooth, obsidian surface, flanked by two of her best guards.
Chrysalis continued her song, letting the melody guide her actions as she continued her path deeper into the hive through seemingly endless twists and turns that any unfamiliar with her abode could never hope to decipher, and for good reason. Changeling hives truly were a thing of beauty; they practically defended themselves.
“My Queen, we’ve arrived.”
Chrysalis was broken out of her reverie by the sudden declaration, pausing to take note of the seemingly nondescript door set slightly into the wall, its surface absent of knob or handle, or even any feature indicating its ability to be opened at all. Indeed they were, it seemed.
She cleared her throat, giving a curt nod after a moment, head held high and eyes closed, a dangerous smile upon her lips. Her horn alight in its soft green glow, she craned it forward, giving the lightest of taps to the smooth surface, causing it to slowly come to life. The door gave a small shake before sliding smoothly to the side, allowing Chrysalis entry.
She gave no command as she strutted inside, breaking her spell’s connection to the door in the process and letting it fall back into its groove. They were her personal guards, after all. They needed no instruction. The Hive mind would see to that.
Let it never be said that Chrysalis ever doubted the resourcefulness and ability of the changelings of her hive. After all, even she had to admit that a Queen was only as great as the sum of her changelings, but this… she had to stifle a small chuckle as she observed the struggling form of Twilight Sparkle before her. She had to admit, Twilight had done well to dodge capture until now; it was to be expected from her precious Twily, but ultimately, the Queen had prevailed, and here she was. The Princess of Friendship’s obscenity filled rant about just what she would do to her captors upon her escape would surely be enough to make even that accursed Sun Princess blush, surely.
Chrysalis wondered if a horn could even be used that way.
“Now, Now. What would your pony friends say if they heard such foul, foul language hmm? My dear Twily?”
“Chrysalis? Chryssie, what is this!? Get this sack off my head and untie me right now!”
Chrysalis let out her previously stifled chuckle as she observed her helpless prey, hogtied and deprived of her vision as she was. It was amusing really, how unbelievably simple it was to inhibit even the most powerful of magic, if only for a short time. All one needed was the proper grade of inhibitor ring; scrounging up such a ring was nothing for one with her vast resources.
“Ohoho, I’m afraid that’s just not how it works, my dear, sweet Twilight Sparkle. The rules clearly state that I, and I alone am in control of the situation here; Did you forget?”
Chrysalis smiled in smug satisfaction as she waited for Twilight’s response. A tick. Two ticks. Any second now…
“Chryssie?... What are you talking about?”
Her eyes blinked open as she looked upon the captured Princess once again, frowning. She lit her horn, undoing the knot on the cloth sack and flinging it aside so as to talk to Twilight face to face. “What do you mean what am I talking about? It’s obvious, isn’t it? It’s the rule, Twilight Sparkle! The most important rule!”
The look of confusion from Twilight was enough to give her pause. Surely she-… no, she had to know… Chrysalis would look like a total fool if Twilight didn’t know.
Twilight sighed. “No, Chryssie. No, I don’t know. What I DO know is that I was winding down, treating myself to a nice night of stress-free study after a day of dealing with stuffy bureaucrats, snot-nosed Nobles, and entirely too much dry paperwork, even for my tastes.” She fixed Chrysalis a disappointed glare as she continued. “Next thing I know, my magic is suppressed, I’m bound and blindfolded, and then I’m dragged to Celestia only knows where. That’s what I know.” She fixed another glare toward her possibly Ex-workerfriend, clearly awaiting sufficient explanation.
Chrysalis blushed, suddenly feeling much more miniscule than the proud Queen she really was. She scuffed her hoof against the ground, silently willing herself to explain.
“…Spy and Abduct.”
Twilight blinked in surprise, her eyebrows arching. “Excuse me?”
“Spy and Abduct,” She repeated, standing a bit taller now, making eye contact with the Princess. “It’s a game involving heavy stealth and espionage to successfully trick one’s quarry in order to abduct and lead them to the home base of the abductor’s choosing, where the victor is then entitled to whatever they so wish from the loser.” She slumped after her explanation, deflating ever so slightly.
“Changelings normally use it to teach the basic concepts vital to serving the hive, but I have had scouts in the past report that ponies enjoy such a game as well. I had thought it would be a… fun, experience for us to share.
Twilight groaned, letting her head fall to the smooth, stone floor as she fixed Chrysalis with another stare. “Chrysalis… That’s hide and seek. Ponies play Hide and Seek. A bunch of ponies hide, and one pony tries to find the rest. I suppose in a purely academic sense they share similar concepts, but ultimately, those are two very, very different games.”
A blush of embarrassment hinted at Chrysalis’ ebony cheeks as she muttered a quiet “Oh.”
An Awkward silence filled the room for a time as Twilight focused her attention at a suddenly very interesting smudge on the wall. It made sense, really, now that she thought about it. It was likely that no changeling would have made such a basic mistake, but she doubted that until recently, Chrysalis revealed herself outside of her hive only when it had been an absolute necessity.
Still, it wasn’t as if this situation couldn’t be salvaged, with the right words…
“So…” She trailed off as the heat slowly but surely started to gather in her cheeks. She snuck a glance over at Chrysalis, suddenly very aware of her position on the floor; hooves tied tight and tail slack, her body was practically on display.
Chrysalis nodded in response. “So…”
“You can ask for anything, huh?” Twilight craned her neck back around to face Chrysalis, a small, tentatively playful smile tugging at her lips, holding no small amount of embarrassment. It was a simple question, but one that spoke volumes of its intent.
At this, the haze of awkwardness that had pressed down on the atmosphere of the room seemed to suddenly lift, taking with it the uncomfortable weight that had settled down upon the two awkward lovers. Chrysalis’ gaze turned predatory, giving Twilight a playful smirk as she sauntered over to the captured Princess, her hips swaying all the while.
“Indeed I can, dear Twilight. Now, let’s have some… fun, shall we?”
Model Student - ChrysLight with a dash of OctaScratch
The first quick succession of notes flowed and danced their way through to the outer reaches of a modest, top floor, upper class apartment in Canterlot, just shy of the grounds of Canterlot castle itself. The apartment’s sole occupant muttered to herself before taking a pause, bow held out to her side. That wouldn’t do at all… from the beginning, then. The notes played once again, in perfect rhythm this time, much to the mare’s satisfaction, and they gave way to Für Elise, her own personal arrangement, (for cello, of course.)
It was as she really started playing in earnest that Octavia let her mind wander, her hooves already settling into a familiar rhythm that only thousands of hours of practice could impart. She couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty of music, -All music, she begrudgingly admitted to herself. Unfortunately, Vinyl’s ‘Wubs,’ as she affectionately called them, did count- in that music itself was a language. Not just any language, mind you, but an international one.
It mattered not who you were, where you came from, what language you spoke, or any of those other trivialities. Everypony still understood and found enjoyment in music. It was a language of emotions, both beautiful and cruel; it spoke of fear, anger, jealousy, joy and excitement, all the way to… love.
The last notes of her piece died out as the bows ran across the strings, the song ending on one last smooth, drawn out note, and then, silence. She gently lowered her hoof, letting the silence reign as her thoughts continued on, head held low and eyes closed. Love was a big one. Countless pieces of music through the generations had been written for the sake of love, and it would continue that many more would be.
She had written many, admittedly, for the sake of her own love, as much as that particularly pony drove her up the wall on a daily basis. She cracked an eye open, taking a glance at the clock resting against the desk on the far wall of the room. It was almost that time. Soon, after nearly a year of preparation, of tutoring consisting of four or more hour sessions at least three times a week, she would be assisting another in doing the same. Her student wasn’t quite there yet; It would still be another month at the least before Octavia felt that she was well-versed enough in her new art to competently construct a composition of her very own (With some creative assistance, at least.)
Of course, she thought to herself as she set her cello down in its usual stand in the corner of the studio, Chrysalis had surprised her quite thoroughly in the past.
She had been quite surprised, obviously, the day that the Queen of Changelings had come knocking on her door. Vinyl had been out setting up for one of her gigs, so Octavia found herself with a rare moment of peace, and as such, had decided to spend her late afternoon with what Vinyl would have called a ‘Jam session.’ The knock on the door had come with a start, pulling Octavia away from blissful reverie. She hadn’t been expecting visitors, and she certainly hadn’t been expecting to come face to face, or rather… face to chest, with the being that only a year and a half prior had invaded Canterlot in a vicious attempt to usurp the throne.
It was different now. Since then, changelings had started integration into society, led by the combined efforts of the Princesses, -Princess Twilight Sparkle chief among them- and the very changeling queen that stood before her. That did not make the sight before her any less jarring, however.
Chrysalis stood before her, her posture straight, and her head held high. Octavia noted that, whatever her reason, the Changeling Queen seemed to be trying to inflate her own sense of self-importance. It was then, as she finally made an attempt to speak, that she noticed the terrifyingly familiar flyer that Chrysalis held within her magical grasp.
“Octavia Melody? I hear tell that you give… lessons. I’m hiring you, and I want to start right away.”
Thus was the start of perhaps the oddest year of her admittedly short life. She had her doubts at first, of course. What could a changeling, and a Queen at that, have any use for learning the cello? She strongly believed that Music was a language of many different concepts and emotions, but a race whose focus seemed to be on the gathering and making use of love didn’t seem the type to have time for such kinds of recreation.
In the end, bits were bits, and though Chrysalis remained aloof and distant, it came as a great surprise to Octavia that she was picking up on the basics quite quickly. She learned later that as a race that practically lived and breathed espionage, they had to be able to adapt to their surroundings quite fast. It was no less surprising, though.
And so, time went on, and Chrysalis’ visits became just another routine part of the week, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at exactly one PM, just after lunch, and they would go over the previous lesson briefly, followed by a warm-up, and then discussion of what they would be accomplishing that day. Not once did Chrysalis object to what she was being told, nor did she groan or yell in frustration when she hit a snag in their lessons that she just couldn’t overcome. It was only a matter of time before she had begun working through the entire works of several different composers. She was rather stoic, really, and it was another three months into their lessons that a sort of odd friendship had formed, and Octavia had learned Chrysalis’ motivations.
“I daresay that the answer has been in front of you for quite a while now, Octavia,” Chrysalis replied as she tuned her Cello one particularly pleasant afternoon, which they had decided to spend out in the park for their lesson in the shade of a particularly large, rugged oak. It was on this day that Octavia felt that their odd little friendship had reached a point of comfort close enough to pry into the Queen’s social life.
“Tell me, what do you feel when you look upon that odd little DJ companion of yours? I already know the answer, of course, being what I am, but please, humor me.” She grinned that dangerous, off-putting grin of hers, fangs bared, and her teeth on full display. Octavia was sure by this point that Chrysalis didn’t even realize when she did it.
“I-I…. I feel…” She blinked in surprise. That was it, then. Chrysalis gave a curt nod, and her bow glided across the strings of the cello to test the tuning. Satisfied, she started going through her scales.
That was it, then. It felt odd to think about, even considering just what kind of race Chrysalis was, but still, The Queen of the Changelings? In love?
“With… with who, if I might ask?” Octavia sat across from her, tail swishing to rest at her side.
Chrysalis broke into laughter, jagged and maniacal, the kind that Octavia was sure only mad scientists had any right to laugh. She wondered if Chrysalis was even aware of her habit of scaring the living daylights out of ponies; the suddenly empty park must have been some sort of tip-off at the very least.
At last, the laughter died off, and Chrysalis smirked, and stared at Octaiva with lidded eyes as she broke the ensuing silence with three simple words. They were the last three words that Octavia could have possibly expected.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
Octavia chuckled as the clock struck exactly one PM and a sharp rapping at the front door caught her ears. As she trotted out of the room to answer, she couldn’t help but feel some sense of amazement at how much things picked up after that particular conversation. Lessons were filled with much more enthusiasm, their conversation topics branched out into much more interesting places, and her student shared intimate details of her exact plans to woo her beloved Twilight into marriage.
She would have to file ‘proposal via music’ away for a later date.
Author's Note
Admittedly, I love this prompt, but find annoyance with it at the same time. I was trying desperately to keep the word count below 1500, but for everything I wanted to do, I was looking at 2000-2500 words if not more, since I had originally wanted to show the interaction between Octavia and Chrysalis over time, as Octavia slowly comes to know the Changeling Queen, up to the point where Chrysalis becomes comfortable confiding in Octavia.
hopefully I can also provide some other, more common and well-received pairings in the future.
