The Curse Of Chrysalis

Chapter 7

It was another typical day in the hive as Kris and Cory worked on improving the weapons and armor and training the changelings in combat. All was quiet for the time being as Chrysalis sat in her throne when a male changeling guard suddenly buzzed in a hurry through the hive to the queen. “Your majesty! Your majesty!” He yelled as he flew fast as he could. This was no doubt getting the attention of the hive. “Your majesty!” The changeling finally made it to the throne room and landed getting on all fours panting heavily.

“What is it? Why have you come so urgently?” Chrysalis asked with a slightly annoyed tone.

“My queen...it’s...it’s…” The changeling panted.

“Speak!” Chrysalis exclaimed.

“IT’S THE MAULWURF!” He finally let out.

For the first time, Chrysalis looked frightened but only for a moment. “Assemble all the guards! Get all the younglings and non combatants deeper in the hive!” Chrysalis ordered the guards. They both saluted and went about spreading the word. “Why now of all times?” She then asked.

Cory and Kris came rushing into the throne room. “Your highness, what’s going on?”

“One of the few threats to a changeling hive is on the way. A maulwarf. You two are to join the others to hide deeper in until we can deal with the situation.”

“My queen, perhaps we could help.” Kris offered.

“No, this thing is too strong and dangerous. I will not let you fall to harm. You two are too important...to the hive that is.” Chrysalis stated.

Cory frowned. “Your majesty, exactly how powerful is this Maulwurf? Can your changelings defeat it?”

“It will not be the first time we had to deal with one. It is not an easy task, but it can be done.” Chrysalis stated. “Last time we...lost a few trying to simply drive it away.”

Cory narrowed his eyes at this. “Then we must help. If your plans to take over Equestria are to succeed, then we can’t lose even ONE changeling. If this creature is such a threat, then it must be slain. We are more than able to do so. You brought us here because you wanted powerful soldiers, let us show you just HOW powerful we are.”

“I brought you here to help me and my hive take over Equestria, not fight a monster you can’t beat.” Chrysalis said. “This thing is huge and has a very thick hide. You cannot beat it.” Chrysalis said.

Kris whispered to Cory. “If we’re to convince her to let us help, we may have to reveal the fact we can use magic. It may be the best way we’ll be able to take on this Maulwurf.”

“I know, just let me do my work.” Cory whispered back before speaking to Chrysalis again. “My queen, this is not a weapon of war we are dealing with, it is a mere beast. All we have to do is get past it’s hide.” Cory said before his arms were covered in black and white fire. “And we have the power to do that.”

Kris was floating now with his legs crossed and arms held at his sides with his thumbs and forefingers touching while a ring of black and white fireballs formed behind him.

Chrysalis’s eyes widened in surprise. “You can use magic? Why have you not brought this up before!?”

“It didn’t seem important and no one ever asked if we could use magic. We just assumed you thought we could. You did intend to summon powerful soldiers to aid you.” Cory replied.

“Even so, I cannot risk you two getting hurt. You don’t know what this thing is like and the hive needs you….I….need you.” Chrysalis stated, looking away slightly.

Cory and Kris looked at her with pure determination. “My queen, you risk more if we don’t deal with this Maulwurf. Despite the love we’ve given, your forces are still not at full strength. You risk losing more changelings to this beast. At least with us, we can put an end to this threat. Just give us a chance, and we will show you that your faith was not misplaced.” Cory said to her, devotion and love flooding from him and Kris.

“Please my queen. Give us a chance. We will prove ourselves. If we cannot handle a Maulwurf, then we shouldn’t even be in charge of helping you take over Equestria in the first place.” Kris stated.

Chrysalis was silent a moment in thought. She closed her eyes and looked away with a sigh. “If I let you go, you have to SWEAR you will return unharmed and unscathed. I don’t want to see a single scratch on either of you.” She looked back to the two. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Clear as crystal my queen.” Kris said bowing.

Cory bowed as well. “You will not regret this, your highness.”

“I’ll need to be out there too with the guards giving orders. So I will be keeping a close eye on you both.” Chrysalis said before standing from her throne. She lit up her horn and, in a green flash, was now dawned in black armor and wielding a scepter. “Do either of you have armor?” She asked.

Cory shook his head. “Won’t be needing it. We can use our magic to form personal barriers to protect us. Besides, any armor will slow us down for what we’re going to do.”

“And from what I saw from Kris a moment ago, I’m guessing you can fly as well?” Chrysalis then asked.

“Fairly well.” Kris replied.

“Fine, then let us go, we must make ready for the Maulwurf.” Chrysalis buzzed her wings and flew off for the exit.

Kris levitated himself up with a white aura surrounding him to follow.

Cory merely ran after them, keeping up as white flames licked at his feet.

Chrysalis looked back at Cory. “Can you fly or can’t you?!”

“Kris is the flyer between us! But my speed is unmatched!” Cory replied, showing no strain as he easily kept up.

“Except by me!” Kris added with a smile.

“Just do not fall behind.” Chrysalis ordered. They reached the exit and headed for where the rest of the changelings guards hovered and were waiting.

“It’s almost here!” One changeling guard shouted. The ground could be seen being pushed up in a trail heading right for them.

“Get ready everyone! Do not let it strike fear in you!” Chrysalis called out. “Stay strong and fight as one!”

Kris levitated back down to the ground next to Cory. “Finally a challenge.” Kris commented.

Cory frowned. “We’re not drawing this out. We’re killing it in one attack. I need time to get it ready, think you can keep its attention off the changelings until then?”

“And I thought you were going to ask me to do something difficult.” Kris replied. “We’ll make short work of this thing.” Kris looked up to Chrysalis. “My queen! Trust us to deal with it for now! Keep everyone back and we’ll take care of it!”

“Remember, I don’t want to see a single scratch on either of you! That is an order!” Chrysalis called down.

“Of course your majesty!” Kris bowed.

“Your will be done!” Cory bowed before standing and spread his legs out in a half crouch. He held his right arm down with the hand open like it was grasping something, the left hand holding it at the wrist. Black flames then erupted off of him and began channeling toward his right hand.

“I’m gonna go earth bender on yo ass boi.” Kris said before taking a solid stance with his knees bent and his feet far apart with both palms out, his left close to his head and the right held outward. He was really going to be using his magic to manipulate the earth to make it seem like he was earth bending like from the Avatar series. As the maulwurf tunneled closer, Kris raised his forward left foot and stomped down. At the same time, a stone pillar shot up out of the ground forcing the maulwurf up like the pillar uppercutted it. It was a giant mole monster with a nose in the shape almost like a star covered in blue fur and bear-like arms with long sharp claws.

In mid air after the upper cut, Kris then slammed his palms together and made two more pillars shoot up from the ground diagonally to sandwich the maulwurf. He then released the creature to let it fall. The creature fell on it’s back but rolled over and turned before letting out a roar. It charged at Kris. Kris grinned before charging at it. Just before they reached each other, Kris dropped to one knee, formed fists, and swung them up making a large stone fist shoot up and hit the underside of the maulwurf in the gut. It roared out from the hit.

Chrysalis and the other changelings stared in awe at the power Kris was showing dealing with the monster single handedly when in the past, they struggled just to drive one away at the cost of a few lives.

Cory however was still where he was, black flames pouring into his right hand. Sweat was dripping from his face as he focused on charging this one attack. He knew as powerful as they were, physical attacks would only piss the thing off. But what he was going for he knew it wouldn’t have a defense against.

Kris was now juggling the maulwurf with constant stone fists punching it around and knocking it back and forth then hurling it upwards only to fall into a fist coming at it from the side. The maulwurf was starting to get really mad. When it finally hit the ground, it tried to burrow into it. “Oh no you don’t.” Kris slammed his foot down with his fists at his side turning the ground to solid rock, making it impossible for the maulwurf to dig away, at least not right away. On top of that, Kris then thrusted his hands up and formed a curving wall so the thing couldn’t just run away. “Yo bro! You ready yet!?” Kris called back to Cory. The Maulwurf charged at Kris screeching in anger. Despite having fun, Kris was looking a bit tired from using so much of his magic and energy to pull off what he was doing as he was sweating.

“YEAH! JUST GET ME A CLEAR SHOT AT ITS HEAD!” Cory responded, still focusing on his own attack.

Kris then formed a series of stone cylinders that quickly shot up and wrapped around the maulwurf and lifted it up. It screeched and squirmed trying to break free. “Here you go!”

Cory grunted as he pulled some focus from his attack to channel white flames to his feet. He then ran at full speed for the Maulwurf before leaping, the flames at his feet exploding to launch him. He soared through the air and was fast approaching the beast. “EAT THIS YOU FUCKER!! MIND CRUSHER!!” He roared out before slamming his right hand onto the maulwurf’s head, the black flames all pouring into it. Seconds passed like hours before it screeched in pure agonizing pain. Its howls of pain rang out what felt like many hours, but was only five seconds, before it went limp, the light leaving its eyes. Cory fell off, falling from at least four stories, his own magic at its limits.

Kris had reached his limit as well and could only stand there slumped. “Cory!” He called out of fear.

Chrysalis buzzed as fast as her wings could go and managed to swoop in and catch Cory just before he hit the ground. “Are you...all right?” Chrysalis asked Cory as she held him in her arms.

Cory grunted before grinning. “My...right arm’s….completely numb, and feels like my whole body is kicking my ass, but….a good sleep and some food…..and I’ll be right as rain.”

“Did I or did I not order you not to let yourselves get one scratch?” Chrysalis said with a light glare as she came to a landing in front of Kris.

Cory chuckled. “And neither of….us have a scratch. We’re merely….exhausted from….using too much magic. That attack took a lot out of me. Had to make sure….big boy went down in one move.”

“I’m just exhausted also. All that pummeling I did to the thing took quite a bit out of me.” Kris said.

“Yet it seems it wasn’t just ONE move that took it down. It was many moves by Kris and one move by Cory.” Chrysalis stated. “I think your strategy did not go as you say it did.” Chrysalis stated.

Kris chuckled at that. “I guess not.”

“I asked Kris to keep it’s attention.” Cory said as he regained some breath. “From what you told us, that thing has too strong of a hide to get through normally. So I had to use my magic to force it’s brain to feel pain. Kris could easily have flown around it like an annoying fly and the plan would have worked just the same. I poured nearly everything I had in that attack so I could make sure I could kill it. Trust me, Kris could do the same, but he’s more subduing than killing. That’s my job.”

“Yep, he’s my little psycho killer friend.” Kris said jokingly. “I distract, he kills.”

Chrysalis let Cory back on his feet but let him lean on her a moment. “Well, whatever the case, you did manage to defeat it. For that, thank you. You’ve done this hive a great service.”

“We were merely doing our jobs my queen.” Kris said bowing weakly. “You need not thank us.”

Cory grinned. “Besides, the changelings are like family to us. Losing even one would hurt too much.”

Chrysalis gave a signal and four female changeling guards buzzed over. “Take them back to the hive, get them cleaned up, fed, and make sure they get some rest.”

“My queen.” The four bowed before picking up Kris and Cory and flew them back to the hive. “Thank you both. If it weren’t for you two, who knows who might have died today because of that thing.” The changeling on Cory’s left carrying him said.

“Yeah, it could have been one of us that died, or all four of us.” The female changeling on Kris’s right carrying him stated. “Or more.”

Cory smiled. “We may have been brought here to help you take over Equestria, but this past week has made the hive our home and the changelings our family. If it means keeping our family safe, we’ll do whatever we can.”

“Exactly. We’re not going to just sit by and do nothing when someone or someones we care about are in trouble.” Kris added. “So Wingsell, Chorta, Mist, and Auburn, thanks for the ride back to the hive.” Kris said to the four.

“You know our names?” Wingsell, the one on Cory’s right that was carrying him asked.

“You four have been with us the most. And we never forget a pretty face.” Cory said with a smile.

This caused the four to blush with smiles. “Thank you.” Auburn, the one carrying Kris on his left said.

“So I’m just curious, we haven’t seen Silk around in a while. Is she okay?” Kris asked.

Mist responded. “She’s fine, she just works mostly in another part of the hive helping to guard the younglings.”

“Ah, gotcha. I’d just like it if she came by to see us for a visit once in a while.” Kris stated.

“Then again, the same can be said of you four as well. When we’re not working, we’re always happy to see you.” Cory added.

“I guess we can do that.” Chorta replied. They soon reached the hive and the four helped Kris and Cory get cleaned up and led them to the dining room to eat. Word was passed that it was now safe so the rest of the hive went back to normal activities. Kris and Cory though were now the talk of the hive. While the majority of the guards saw and told what happened, the truth kind of started ballooning to where it sounded more epic and amazing than it really was. This was starting to show through the next few days as most of the female changelings would swoon over Cory and Kris whenever they saw them, the fact the two would just pour out their love at almost all times only escalated it.

Chrysalis allowed Cory and Kris to take a day off after all they had done for now. So they were free to look around the hive better. Kris and Cory were going about when Kris nudged Cory. “Dude, notice the looks we’ve been getting from the girls?” He asked with a grin.

Cory rolled his eyes. “I’d have to be braindead to not notice. How long do you think we have until they go full fangirl and start trying to break down our bedroom door?”

“You may not like it, but this is like a fantasy come true for me.” Kris said.

”Oh, I like it, don’t get me wrong. I just want to be able to sleep in our room without fear of getting raped by a rabid fangirl. I do not want to become that abomination Justin ‘YOU KNOW WHO’ and attack fans.” Cory said with a groan.

“Eugh.” Kris shivered at the mention of the pop star boy that shall not be named. “Yeah, not a fan of that guy. Oh...well looky here.” Kris then smiled looking to the side noticing three changeling girls wearing roughly made shirts with Cory and Kris’s faces on them over a heart. “It begins!”

Cory smiled at it. “Well, for handmade work, it’s not bad.”

“Hi guys!” The mareling in the middle called out. “We heard what you did to that Maulwurf. So cool.”

“Yeah, totally. We heard how Kris totally uppercutted that beast into the clouds and how Cory slammed it back down with a haymaker making it plummet like a rock into the ground making a massive crater.” The second on the left said.

“And how you tow totally double teamed it for a wicked kick to it’s face sending it flying through a mountain.” The right said.

“Uuuuh…” Kris droned in confusion.

Cory whispered in his ear. “Dear god, a rumor mill has cropped up, and it’s already got its first overblown story.”

“Then we heard how…” The middle started but Kris cut her off.

“Um, ladies, I think the truth has been a bit overblown here. That never really happened that way.” Kris said.

“It didn’t?” The left one asked.

Cory shook his head. “No. Let us clear things up. Kris used his magic to control the earth and keep the Maulwurf busy while I prepared a powerful attack. That uppercut was real, though he used a pillar of earth to do it. Double punching was done with stone fists Kris made. And I never kicked it in the face, I slammed my hand onto its face to deliver my attack, which ended the battle.”

“So, you didn’t just punch it so hard at the end it just exploded into bits?” The right mareling asked.

Cory chuckled. “No. The attack I used ended up with my entire right arm going numb and my whole body feeling like it was on needles. If I used an attack as powerful as you described, I’m sure not only my arm, but half my chest connected to that arm would have blown up with it. We’re powerful, but we’re not gods.”

“Awe.” The three whined together. “Well, we’re still fans. You two are totally big heroes of the hive.” The middle mareling said. “In fact, that’s what everyone is calling you now and we’re the first of your fan club. ‘The hive heroes’!”

“Hmm, not a bad ring to it.” Kris hummed in thought.

Cory chuckled at this. “Better than some names humans would have come up with.”

“Once we got more members for our club, we would be honored if you two came by to visit and maybe talk with us.” The right mareling said.

“I don’t see why not, provided we won’t be busy that day.” Kris stated.

“Agreed. Besides, like we said to the queen, the changelings are our family, ALL the changelings. If anything, we’d be honored to visit.” Cory added.

“Eeeeeee!” The trio squealed in delight. “Thank you both so much!” The middle mareling said. “Can we….um...get a hug?”

Cory clutched his chest. “So….cute.”

“Cuteness level...over...nine thousand. Can’t...take it.” Kris grunted stumbling on his feet.

Cory then scooped up the trio in a hug. “I can’t resist when you ask like that!”

Kris joined the hug which elicited an ‘Eeee!’ From the trio.

After they broke the hug, the three marelings waved by and the two were left to walk about on their own. “So, it seems we got our own fanclub now.” Kris commented.

Cory chuckled. “Can you imagine the Rainbow Dash fanclub meeting our fanclub?”

Kris shivered. “I don’t think I WANT to imagine that. It would be an all out fanclub war over who’s better.”

Cory grinned. “Yep.” He looked about. “So, where to next?”

Kris gave a serious look. “Are you ready to handle the ultimate level of cuteness? Because I have just the idea of a place to check out where the cuteness levels are off the charts.”

Cory had just as serious of a look. “I have an idea what it is, but go ahead.”

Keeping his serious look, Kris turned to face forward. “We’re going...to the nursery.”