Author's Note

Finished this yesterday but I forgot to post it. Curse my bad memory! Thankfully I didn't completely forget to post it. Enjoy the pseudo-scientific jargon!

The Colours of the soul.

The Colours of the soul.

(Chrysalis)

Sitting on my newly carved throne, this one being made of Peridotite instead of Voidicite, like my last one, I immersed myself in the hive-mind. Grogar and Discord had relocated, the mountain cave they were in now empty and silent. With a thought, I sent a handful of scouting parties to search. Hopefully, they would find another trace of the tyrannical Warlock. Looking further, I found the changeling volunteers enjoying working alongside the people of Fantasia. I smiled in joy.

My vision suddenly went blurry, now tinged with gold. I recoiled at the strange occurrence, shivering as a strange sensation ran down my back.
Again? Again, my sight is blurred? How does this keep happening? Why does this keep happening? Ever since I used the last of Discord's power against the Eradicator, my magic has begun to act strange. First, my dreams, then my concentration, now the hive-mind. Why do I keep seeing these random colours? I thought to myself. Shaking my head, I cleared my mind.
It will do me no good to speculate. I dove back into the hive-mind, hearing my children's worry over me. Assuring them that I was fine, I continued my work.

My queen. A group of Arcadians are approaching the hive. I heard a guard inform me.
Send a scout to meet them. I responded.

Of course. I heard. A minute later, I saw the group of people, standing in the desert.

My queen. They are another team of scholars. The scout reported.
Scholars? What happened to the usual team? They are not set to arrive for another two days. I wondered.

I shall ask them.

"Queen Chrysalis wonders what happened to the previous team and why you are two days early?" The scout asked.

"Ah yes. The previous team caught a nasty flu. It seems they caught it in one of their expeditions." The leader of the group answered.

"And the early arrival?" The scout added.

"To inform you that the other team was unwell. Since we are so curious about your kind, we volunteered to deliver the message." The leader finished.

"Huh. Marvin Luster was always the reckless type." The scout said, turning back to the hive.

"Yeah. He really needs to learn to keep his head on straight." The scholar commented.

The head researcher's name is Marvolo Luster, not Marvin. These men aren't from the institute. I thought as the imposters drew nearer, closely watched by scouts.
Are they spies? Or infiltrators? We'll have to find out. I thought as the imposters entered the hive. My vision blurred again, this time with purple and dark green.
They are disgusted at us? When they have the audacity to try to trick us?! You will not be allowed your way. Children, bring them to me. I ordered. The imposters followed my children towards my throne room. I clenched my fists, feeling my anger radiate from my hands.
Wait, that isn't anger. I thought as I looked down at my hands on the sides of my throne. My hands felt normal. But my eyes were drawn to my throne. The spots where my hands rested were no longer the green of peridotite. They were blanche white, as if someone had spilled white paint on them. Or had sucked the colour out of them. My arms tingled as I sat.
What is happening to me?

The doors of my throne room began to open. I straightened myself on my throne, schooling my features. The man leading the fake team, a Walker with short green hair and black skin, took a step forward.

"An honour to meet you, Queen Chrysalis." He said, bowing at the hip.

"Thank you. If I may, what illness has befallen Marvolo Luster?" I asked innocently.

"Oh, nothing serious. Just some insect borne flu. They'll be right as rain in a few days." The fool responded.

"Good, good. Now, why did you respond to Marvolo just now, when you responded to Marvin before?" I asked with narrowed eyes. The imposter stiffened. "It is not so easy to trick a Changeling." I said, my children emerging from the crevices and holes in the walls of my throne room. "Now, who are you and what have you done with the real scholar team?" I demanded, my horn glowing with magic.

The imposter glared at us for a moment before smirking. An item fell into his hand from the sleeve of his robe. As he held up the blue scarab-shaped object, a sound reverberated throughout the room, causing all changelings to scream at the horrible, painful chittering screech.

"Well, what do you know? Works on changelings too!" The Walker gloated. "Now, your majesty, I believe it's time for you to abdicate! Or, more specifically, get abdicated!" He shouted sarcastically. From a satchel at his side, he pulled a flame-bladed dagger. "Say goodnight, monster!" The imposter shouted, bringing the knife down.

(Diego)

I kicked through the wall, pistol in hand. At my highest speed of processing, I assessed the situation.
37 changelings. Status: incapacitated. 9 unknown individuals. Status: armed. Queen Chrysalis. Status: threatened. Solution: eliminate threats. I raised my pistol at the thug closest to Chrysalis, the barrel of my gun glowing.

Acquiring targets.

Targets acquired.

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I fired my pistol, the energy bullet whizzing through the air, striking every thug through the head and knocking them out, ending on the final thug. Hearing the annoying sound of chittering from the device in front of Chrysalis, I aim at it.

ʞɒɘɿઘ
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Firing again, I reduce the scarab to pieces, stopping that annoying sound. Walking up to the queen, I help her to her feet.

"Agh… thank you, Diego. It seems the rumor about you being awake was true." Chrysalis remarked as I helped her into her throne.

"That's not all that happened." I say, Chrysalis's head rocketing up at my voice. "Whoa. Careful Chrysalis. You'll break your neck if you raise your head that fast." I joke. Chrysalis stares at me with wide eyes.

"Since when can you talk?!" She exclaimed in surprise.

"Since I woke up. And man, is it sweet. Not to sound egotistical but I missed the sound of my voice." I commented.

"We can discuss that later. How did you get here so fast?" Chrysalis asked as I began helping the changelings around the room, letting them have a drop of quintessence to pep them up.

"One of your drones that was in the castle rushed to the throne room to tell the princesses about what happened. As soon as Luna heard about it, I started flying." I explained as I helped another changeling to their feet.

"I see. Thank goodness. Another second and I would have been-"

"Yeah." I cut her off. "It's a good thing I arrived when I did." I said as I continued, now almost done with the changelings.

Notice: I am detecting an unknown energy signature in queen Chrysalis.
Unknown?

Response: Correct. I am unable to ascertain the nature or origin of the energy.
Huh. That's the second one this week. First Caulina, now Chrysalis. And let's not even forget Luna… Voltron?

Response: Scanning now. Voltron said as I looked at Chrysalis.

Attention: Scan completed. I have detected a 81% match to the genetic ability princess Luna holds. I am also detecting an energy signature that is being masked by her magic. I have rechecked previous scans of princess Luna, she has an energy 90% similar to the energy that queen Chrysalis possesses.
So she can absorb darkness too? I mentally ask, still staring at Chrysalis.

Response: I don't think so. The energy and her genes are different from princess Luna's. Also, look at her throne. Voltron says, my sight switching to the green stone chair. Looking it over, I see nothing strange until I look at where Chrysalis's hands are resting. There, the throne is perfectly white.

"What is that?" I asked. Chrysalis looked up at my question, seeing me looking at her throne.

Response: It is a complete lack of photonic refraction. Those specific spots are 100% colourless. Pure white.

"What is it?" Chrysalis asked. "My throne? It's made of peridotite." Chrysalis said. I walked closer.

"No, what's this?" I asked, pointing at the white spot under her hands. She raised her hands from the throne, looking at the blank spots.

"I-I don't know. I don't know how it happened." She answered. I looked at her hands as she held them up.

"I think I do. Look." I said, grasping one of Chrysalis's hands. She looked at it with bewilderment. Emanating from both of her hands were wisps of green light. She stared at her hand as the green light danced around it. She began flexing her fingers. As her hand closed, the green light dimmed.

"W-what happened?" She asked, opening her hand. On her palm was a small bundle of green vines. She looked at it with befuddlement. "What's this?" She asked.

"Voltron?" I asked my partner.

"Scanning:…" Voltron stayed silent for a moment. I could feel that he was confused.

"What's up, buddy?" I asked.

"Answer: Through an unknown process, possibly some form of transmutation, queen Chrysalis has transformed the "green" that she absorbed from the peridotite into flora. I possess no knowledge of how this is possible." Voltron finished. Chrysalis shared my feeling of astonishment.

"Wow. And considering how encyclopedic your knowledge is, that's weird." I commented.

"Couldn't magic do this?" Chrysalis asked as she poked at the bundle of plant matter.

"Answer: The necessary magical formulae needed to accomplish the transformation of abstract colour into physical matter is so immense that it is feasibly impossible. The only possible manner of accomplishing this task is through either dimension warping, which you are not capable of, or through a complex energistic reaction, which I believe is being generated through the unknown gene in your DNA." Voltron lengthily explained.

"I…" Chrysalis trailed off, absolutely confused.

"Yeah, I barely get it but the basics is, it's not magic, it's biology." I summarised. Chrysalis looked slightly less confused.

"So, now what?" Chrysalis asked. Voltron stayed silent for a moment again.

"…Response: Try doing what you did to make the plants again." Voltron said. Chrysalis looked at the plants in her palm, her hand still glowing lightly. Closing her fingers on the bundle of vines, she closed her eyes in concentration. Opening her hand again, the vines leapt upwards, growing quickly. From her palm, a sapling developed, producing leaves and stems, her hand no longer glowing. Chrysalis opened her eyes to see the small tree, looking at it in wonder.

"Nice job. Although, I have to admit, Green Manipulation is not a superpower I've ever heard of." I commented.

"Negative: Chrysalis's gene only appears to be functioning at partial capability." Voltron said, making Chrysalis look at me.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Shift: Attempt to do to the ground, what you did to your throne." Voltron explained, pointing at the floor. Chrysalis looked down at the dark green hard resin. Holding her other hand level to the ground, she closed her eyes again. For a moment, nothing happened. Chrysalis scrunched up her face cutely before her hand glowed like before. This time, the glow was a dull, almost crystal clear white. Dark green light started rising up from the ground, leaving the ground a pitch black colour as the "green" merged with the light around her hand, turning it green. Chrysalis opened her eyes, looking at her glowing left hand.

"It appears to be Green Manipulation to me." Chrysalis commented.

"No, that's from the floor. Before you absorbed the colour, your hand was glowing white." I explained. "Wait…" I trailed off as I realized something. "Try to do that with me." I said. Chrysalis looked at me for a moment before pointing her hand at me. After a few seconds, nothing happened.

"Nothing." She said.

"Huh." I muttered. My sight drifted to the throne Chrysalis sat on, seeing the white spots on the arm rests. I then looked back at the pitch black ground. "Hold on, maybe it doesn't work on white." I said. Looking around, I felt the need to frown, despite not having eyebrows. "And of course, everything here is a shade of green." I said before I saw the hole made from my entrance. "But that isn't." I said, looking at the brown sand.