Chrysalis's Revenge

"I don't understand why you couldn't transform!" Starlight complained, as she walked Carapace up to the room he'd be staying in, until she could get news to the Hive. "All the other changelings were able to do it."

"Well, from what you said, that was a very emotionally charged event," Carapace sighed. "Maybe I need to make more friends before I can do it myself, like Thorax did."

"I don't know... I mean, you ought to have some affection for some changeling, right? That was enough for the others."

Carapace looked off into the distance. "Yes, I do," he said. "But I've never spoken about it to anyling. I usually don't even think about it, in fact, if I can avoid it. Caring for someling else, in the Hive, is only a recipe for disaster."

Starlight's eyes widened. "I think I get it! You're so used to pressing your affection down that you can't bring it to the surface now that you want it. You need to express it more. Why don't you tell me about them and why you care about them?"

"...Maybe tomorrow. Good night, Starlight."

She opened the door and let him into his room. "Good night, Carapace."

The sound of her footsteps faded away as Carapace looked around the room. The bed looked incredibly soft, and the blue crystal softly reflected the light of his lamp. The view of the stars out the window was lovely. He turned around in a circle, looking at every amazing thing, but when he turned all the way back around to the window, there was something blocking his view.

A changeling.

It buzzed into the light, and he recognized it. "Elytra? What are you doing here?"

"You betrayed the Hive, Carapace. Did you really think the Queen wouldn't find out?"

Carapace spread his legs in a fighting stance. "So. You're here to take me back to the clearing, where the Queen will punish me severely, and probably painfully. Do I have that right?"

"Sounds about right, yeah," Elytra said, mirroring his pose, wings spread and fangs bared.

"Now tell me if I'm right about this," he continued. "If we fight, you might beat me... but not before we've roused the entire castle."

Elytra swore. He was right. But he kept going.

"And then you'd flee, and Queen Chrysalis would punish you for having failed. She'd be really angry... she'd probably punish you as hard as she would me."

Elytra sighed. He was right, again. It was getting really annoying. And she knew what he was going to say next. He'd tell her her best bet was to stay with the ponies, to stay with him. He'd ask her to be a traitor, just like him. Well, she wouldn't.

Or, maybe she didn't know what he was going to say after all.

"All right, then," he said, getting up and trotting to the window. "Let's go."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As they swept into the camp about ten minutes later, Elytra was still struggling to understand why Carapace had come willingly--but she wasn't fool enough to ask him. Making him consider the reasons for an irrational decision would only result in him changing his mind, she was sure of it.

Darkness was descending on the forest, painting the trees in shadow, but the changelings were awake and waiting. "Ah, I see there wasn't too much trouble," Chrysalis purred.

Elytra stood as straight as she could. "No, ma'am!" she said proudly.

"Excellent," the queen said, and Elytra beamed. She wasn't sure when the last time she'd heard praise from Chrysalis was, if it had ever happened at all.

The queen turned to Carapace, sniffed the air, and scoffed. "Not even any love in you. Didn't you absorb anything from those hopelessly saccharine ponies?"

He shook his head. "It felt wrong to. I didn't deserve it."

She snorted. "Remind me how on earth you managed to be the Hive's top infiltrator, again? Well, no matter." Her horn glowed, and she lifted him into the air.

Elytra suddenly realized she had no idea what would come next. Back when Thorax had first deserted, Chrysalis had ranted and raved for days, constantly saying she'd show him "just what happens to those who betray the Hive." It had always sounded ominous and imposing, but Elytra realized Chrysalis had never actually said what it would be. In fact, Chrysalis herself was hesitating, almost as if she didn't quite know where to go from here herself.

Abruptly she slammed him into the ground with all the force she could muster, and Elytra thought she heard his chitin crack. It seemed Chrysalis had chosen to simply take out her frustration on him. She lifted him again and flung him against a tree, then another tree, then back to the ground, smashing him around like a rag doll. By the time she finally put him down again, his chitin was scratched, cracked, and bloodied. Elytra winced, and immediately reprimanded herself mentally. Carapace was a traitor who got what he deserved.

So why did she still feel sorry for him?

As he struggled to push himself to his feet and fell down again, Chrysalis lifted branches and vines from the ground, constructing a makeshift cage that was as thorny and full of brambles as she could make it, then flung him inside. He picked up more scratches as he landed heavily.

"Time for bed," Chrysalis announced, then looked back at Carapace. "We'll resume this tomorrow."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Elytra cocked an ear and listened. Everyling's breathing was slow and rhythmic. Slowly, she eased herself into a sitting position, careful not to even rustle the grass, and looked around.

They were all asleep.

With utmost caution, she stood up and crept across the camp into the trees. Once she was a fair distance away--far enough that the noise wouldn't be heard--she transformed into Queen Chrysalis.

What am I thinking? she asked herself, as she snuck back to the edge of the camp. I could get in serious trouble for this! Why am I bothering? She couldn't answer the question, but she also couldn't stop. Ever so gently, she lifted the latch on Carapace's impromptu cage. Ever so gently, she picked him up in her magic and carried him out of the camp. The two changelings on watch looked at her quizzically, but she breezed past them, offering no explanation--they wouldn't dare challenge Queen Chrysalis.

Once again, she waited until she was out of hearing range of the camp. Then she softly laid Carapace on the grass and nudged him with a hoof. "Carapace, wake up. Carapace. Carapace."

He opened his eyes, mumbled something, and looked up. When his eyes fell on her, he gasped and instinctively jerked away, and Elytra abruptly realized she was still wearing the guise of Queen Chrysalis. Her own magic wasn't strong enough to do much telekinesis, certainly not a full changeling, but when she was in the form of somepony, or in this case someling, with strong magic, she gained their own power. Of course, she still wouldn't be able to use as powerful of spells as the queen--she had the raw power, but none of the training or practice required to hone it.

Carapace, gazing up at her, suddenly relaxed. "Elytra?"

"What gave it away?" she asked, looking herself over. She was certain she'd gotten every detail right.

"The posture."

Elytra snorted. "Excuse me? I was standing straight, tall, and regal, just like she always does."

"Not enough." He stood up, groaning a little at his cuts and scrapes. "She holds her head even higher than that, so high it's almost going backwards. Sometimes it actually does go backwards."

"Really?" Elytra asked, shifting back to her regular form.

He nodded and continued. "It's like she's trying to beat Celestia. It's almost as tall as her throne was. She holds it so high that it's obvious she's trying to make up for secret insecurities."

"Um, that's not obvious at all."

He shrugged. "So, out of curiosity, why'd you bring me out? You seemed pretty determined to get me in there in the first place."

"I don't know!" She began pacing. "I guess it just--it didn't make sense. You basically sacrificed yourself for me, and that doesn't make sense, it isn't right."

"Um, most ponies would say that it's actually very right."

"But we're not ponies!" She turned and looked straight at him. "We're changelings, Carapace. We do what we have to to survive. We trample each other willingly in the process. But you didn't."

"And neither did you," he said. As she tried to process that statement, he added, "If you really want to know why I did it, I'll tell you. Or, better yet, I'll show you."

"Show me what?"

He leaned in, wrapped a hoof around her, and kissed her, deeply and passionately. Love, more powerful than any she'd ever tasted, flowed into her like a waterfall. It seemed an eternity before he released her and stepped back. "Did that answer your question?"

"Buh... Buh..." She could feel the heat rising under her chitin, and was thankful for the dark. Her brain had frozen up, and even if she could think straight, she was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to get it out of her mouth the right way. Everything seemed upside down, and she didn't know what she felt. Vaguely she heard a buzzing of wings as Carapace left, going back to the castle.

Finally she snapped out of it enough to regain some functionality. She headed back to camp quietly and returned to her spot without attracting any notice from the changelings on watch. She tried to clear her head of the whole affair, but as she drifted into sleep, her dreams were filled with Carapace and the feel of his muzzle against hers.

Carapace, meanwhile, fluttered back into his window in Twilight's castle. He barely felt his cuts and scrapes anymore; he was too giddy with emotion. He'd finally done it. He'd expressed his love for once instead of holding it in. Just like Starlight said.

Would it work now? For once in his life, he felt full with love. Surely that meant something. Taking a deep breath, he reared, opening his arms wide to bare his torso. Then he released it.