The Merging of a Goddess

Cinder Brew slowly opened his eyes.

“Ah my dear, you're finally awake. We just crossed the borders.”

Came the sweet voice of his queen rang through the wagon.

When he tried to get up, he noticed that his body was much heavier than he remembered. As he looked at himself, he noticed how well build his body suddenly was.

His entire body was larger and more muscular.

Even his wings have grown larger and stronger. He guessed that he had now the body build of his former boss.

“Admiring your new body, are you?” came the voice of his queen.

“I told you that I would give you a reward for your service.”

Cinder Brew quickly stood up and banged his head against the ceiling of the wagon.

“Come here Cinder~”

Cinder made his way through the wagon to the front side. On the driver seat sat Chrysalis in form of Pepper Side adorned with all of Pepper Side’s Clothes.

“Have you slept well my dear?” she asked in her melodic voice.

He just nodded.

“My queen…”

He stopped as she raised her hand.

“We are now on Equestrian soil, so don’t call me anything to do with queen. Our cover is a loving couple escaping the crimes of Klugetown. So act like it.”

Cinder Brew gulped but nodded, was he even worthy of the rank of a lover?

But if his queen wanted him to play his part, so he would do his best.

“Of course, ah… dear, whatever you say.”

Chrysalis smiled and pulled him into a kiss as two ponies walked past the wagon.

“Good boy…” she whispered into his ear when they broke apart.

As they rolled further along the road, he registered that they were in a City.

“Um, my… love… where are we?” He saw buildings so large that they reached into the clouds and more beings than he saw all his life in Klugetown.

“Well, we are in Manehatten, we landed in a seaside fort of Appleloosa and were shipped here. You slept through all of this, your body adapting to the transformation.”

Cinder sat beside his new… wife and stared at the city. At some point, they came to a giant temple, one side made out of white marble and a red roof while the other half was formed from deep blue stone with a golden roof.
Eight great pillars on either side of the building held the great roof of the temple. The way to the temple was flanked by statues of long gone warriors

“I’ve heard of the temples of the twin goddesses of Equestria…” whispered Cinder Brew in awe.

Chrysalis snorted bitterly while looking to the building.
“Yes, and in the temple, itself are two giant statues of Celestia and Luna…
And everything was built by changeling's hands.”

Cinder Brew stared at her, wide-eyed. “What?!”

Chrysalis just nodded.

“Yes, all of the old structures in Equestria were built by changelings and their servants…”

She looked at Cinder Brew almost weak and defeated.

“Cinder Brew, I will answer your questions at some point, but not right now.
Now we need to concentrate to get my plan into action. Understood?”

He just grunted, still stunned over the look of his queen.

“Ahm, my queen, I have another question… If you allow.”

She eyed him warily. “As long as it is not about the past then yes.”

He pointed at himself and all the new muscles he gained.#

“How did this happen? I mean I was not weak or something, but never in my dreams, I thought to get this buff… Was that your gift?”

Finally, Chrysalis seemed to perk up at the question.
She laughed in her sweet voice.

“Oh yes, that was me. You see, I absorbed the strength of your former boss, but we changelings handle things like strength or special abilities differently than over species.”

She let out a hum while thinking of how to explain the next thing.

“Other cultures of other species see such talents as special and most of the time individuals with such special abilities become rules and leaders. We, changelings, have different thinking. We see such special abilities as resources and their owners nothing more than donors. When we either consume or absorb such an ability, we gain it as a trait. A trait that we can gift others with. So take the strength I have given you. While I let you take the strength I still hold the trait of strength within me. In theory with enough energy I could gift countless individuals with the same strength you have now without ever losing the strength myself.”

A sigh escaped Chrysalis. “But it takes a lot of energy. You alone burned a lot of my energy. It will take time for me before I can give any traits to anyone.”

They drove further into the city in silence.

They came into a large plaza with market stalls around. Merchants cried in every direction for attention for their wares.

Every kind of creature was bussing about, looking through the goods or running to get their shopping lists done.

Many creatures tried to sell stuff directly, be it some souvenir or some other, more or less legal stuff.

“My… love… what are we doing here?” asked Cinder Brew while looking with big eyes around.

“This marked is even bigger than the one in Klugetown!”

Chrysalis nodded, her red hair falling into her face.#

“It’s Equestrias biggest marked. Do you see the buildings around the plaza? They are all shopping malls for different kinds of things.”

She looked around while wiping the hair out of her face.

She leaned over to Cinder Brew and whispered in his ear.
“If you know where to look you can even find things that even the princesses have no idea that they are sold…”

And if on cue a voice announced itself next to the wagon.

“Ah hello there, a young couple… How wonderful! And my what a gorgeous mare you have my friend!”

The owner of the voice was a male unicorn with dirty yellow fur and ash blond mane and tail. He wore a big jacket even though the weather was too hot for such items. Ragged jeans and a boulder hat completed the image of an unsavory person.

“What do you want?” hissed Cinder Brew. How dared this low live to insulted his queen with his petty compliments.

But before he could punch the dirty stallion a hand tapped his shoulder.

“Let me handle this…” Whispered Chrysalis.

She smiled sweetly at the unicorn.

“Oh how nice of you, thank you, kind sir!”

The unicorn let out a laugh, just as dirty as he was.

“Oh please madam, think nothing of it. I can’t help to admire beauty when I see it.”
He said while bowing.
He then perked up and came closer to the wagon.

“On the topic of beauty… Such a wonderful mare like yourself with no jewelry of her own is a crime against harmony I tell you! So how about we change this? What would you say to these beauties?”

He opened his jacket while speaking. On the inside hung gems of every color and size, though Chrysalis knew that most of them were just colorful rocks and nothing of worth. Well, everyone except one, a dark, obsidian-like stone.

Chrysalis pointed at the stone.

“What is that one?”

The unicorn got an uneasy look on his face.

“Well my dear, this is a rarity for sure. It comes from the newly build changeling kingdom and is very rare indeed…”

Chrysalis licked her lips. She could feel the power of the stone, a part of her former throne, destroyed by the wretch Starlight and the traitor Thorax. The chunk was only the size of her fist. But even that could be enough to help her future plans.

Chrysalis smiled sweetly.
“Oh that is wonderful, tell me how much does this cost?”

The unicorn's eyes widened a bit. It seemed that he didn’t seem to believe that anyone would buy the stone.

“Well… I… I… You see… ah… the stone is, the expensive and rare?”

Chrysalis just nodded and looked to Cinder Brew.

“Say how many bits do we have?”

Cinder Brew scratched his head and reached for a satchel on his belt. He opened and counted the bits inside.

“Well, it seems like we have 300 bits, give or take…”

“So…” Chrysalis addressed the unicorn,
“Would that be enough for the stone?”

The unicorn licked his lips nervously and stared at the satchel.

“I think that would be enough, yes…”

With a smile, Chrysalis grabbed the satchel and tangled it in front of the unicorn's face.
“Now then, do we have a deal~?”

With a quick motion, the unicorn grabbed the bag and tossed the stone in Chrysalis' lap. After that he tipped his hat.

“Nice doing business with ya. Name’s Slike by the way.”

Chrysalis raised a hand to cover her mouth and hide a giggle.
And with that Slike turned around and disappeared into the crowd.

“See my dear Cinder? Just like that, we got what I searched for…”

Cinder Brew had a concerned look on her face.

“My queen, what do we do now? That was all the bits we have…”

She just raised a hand, silencing him. When he closed his mouth, she grabbed the stone and went inside the wagon, beckoning Cinder Brew to follow her.
Inside Chrysalis let go of her disguise, standing a good head higher than Cinder Brew.

“Now watch..” she whispered.
She raised the stone into the air and over her now opened maw.
The stone fell silently into the fleshy confines of Chrysalis’ mouth. With a mighty gulp, the stone traveled through her neck, making a large bulb till it reached her chest and disappeared.
Seconds later the stone glimmered through the transparent belt of Chrysalis stomach.

“So, now we don’t have to worry about that little thing…” Chrysalis said, patting her belly softly.

“This will at an extra layer of protection against scanning spells and some enchantments.”

She turned to Cinder Brew, who stared at her uncomfortable while a small bulge was forming in his pants.

Chrysalis laughed, strolled to him, and swiped him into a passionate kiss.

“Don’t worry dear…” she said while running a single finger down his chest.

“We will have plenty of time later to `get to know us better”

She let him go and walked slowly to the front of the wagon again, hips slowly swinging, while green flames erupted around her and gave way for the appearance of Pepper Side.

“And don’t you worry about money, I have a solution to that…”

The wagon changed its course and headed to the largest building around the plaza.

“The Vault of Heaven, the biggest bank in Equestria. Only the royal vault is bigger and safer than this building. And it happens to house a little fortune of mine.”

Cinder Brew, who had followed his queen to the head of the wagon, cocked his head in confusion.

“Why is an equestrian bank accepting money from one of his enemies?”

Chrysalis’ gaze became distant, her mind recalling better days, the height of her power.

“The first invasion of Canterlot alone took months of planning and infiltration. Over a hundred changelings alone infiltrated Canterlot as workers, securities of nobles and merchants, or new staff of the castle. One even replaced a high-ranking military officer. Most of their earnings went to a single account under the name of Sleeping Butterfly. We can easily take what we need from this.”

The wagon stopped and the two of them hopped from it.

They stood before the large building, the façade made out of pure marble. Two giant carvings of the two sisters stretched over the entire wall, each holding a hand over their heads, the sun and moon hovering above them.
A massive oak-wood double door served as the entrance with heavily armed guards posted around the staircase, leading to the doors.

Cinder Brew had never seen such a large building and in such a good state.
Chrysalis reached with a hand to grab Cinder’s chin and then gently closed his opened mouth.

One of the guards saw them and chuckled good-natured.
“First time in the big city, huh boy?”

Cinder just nodded and followed his queen.
She already climbed the staircase and was on her way through the doors.

The inside of the bank was even more luxurious than the outside.
Marble statues stood on the sides of the giant entrance room, the floor laid out with a red carpet and a big fountain was placed in the middle of the room.
The wooden stairs, leading to the second floor, were decorated with gold and platin.
The reception desk was made out of finest yew wood. Before the desk stood long lines of waiting ponies and other creatures.
Chrysalis and Cinder just walked to one of the lines and waited for their turn.

Finally, they came to one of the desks
Behind the reception desks sat a finely dressed, slightly larger black-furred unicorn stallion with a grey mane and tail. Small glasses rested on his nose.

He looked up from his notes and books to eye them warily.

“How may I help you on this fine day?”
His voice was watery and slow.

Chrysalis smiled and presented a paper to the stallion.

“We would like to take something of the shared account of me and my friend, the name is Sleeping Butterfly, if you may be so kind…”

The stallion nodded slowly.
“Just a moment please.”

He turned around and lit up his horn. A folder flew to him and rested in his hands.
He opened it and sprang through the pages. Right up until the section with the names under S. When he found Sleeping Butterfly, he noticed extra writing to it.

“What have we here?” He thought.

“Account inherited by an enemy of Equestria, every attempt to raise money from this account need to be reported to the princesses themselves, in letter or person.
Warning, do not show any signs of concern while in presence of the suspects. Call for guards and police as soon as possible.

A droplet of sweat was running down his brow. Right before him stood two enemies of Equestria, so dangerous that the princesses themselves wanted to be informed?

He closed the folder, put on the best passive face he could muster, and turned to face the two ponies in front of his desk.

“I’m sorry, but it appears that there is a problem with the account, if you two would be so kind to wait here for a while? I will get our chamberlain and we can correct this situation at once.”

While he was talking, he was watched closely by Chrysalis. She noticed the slightly slower voice of the banker, a clear sign of trying to appear calm.
But the nervous tapping of his fingers gave him away.

“They know who this account belongs to in reality…”

“Oh if it is okay I will return with my friend tomorrow and we can clear the mistake together, won’t you agree?”

Chrysalis looked directly into the eyes of the banker. Her eyes shone in a weak green light, which the bankers quickly took over.

“Of course, we will see us tomorrow then. Have a pleasant day and I apologize for the inconvenience…”
Chrysalis grabbed Cinder Brew's hand and hurried out of the building.

“We need to get out of town quickly, this banker knows who I am.”

They climbed in the wagon and began to drive away.

They drove through the streets to the north of the city.

“My queen, where are we going?”

“To the train station. We will buy a ticket there and travel to Canterlot. We need to get to the second stage of my plan as quickly as possible!”

This shocked Cinder Brew, for his queen, sounded almost scared.

“Are you okay?”

Chrysalis sank into the driver's seat. Her voice drained and weak.

“No, I am not. Someone from my former hive must have given this account to the royal sisters. They will undoubtedly know that I was here. And we have no money to get unto the train…”

When they reached the train station sat Chrysalis almost unmoving in the guest seat, Cinder having taken over the role of driver after he saw the sorry state his queen was in.

The wagon stopped and Cinder wanted to help his queen out of the wagon as a booming voice sounded from the other side of the street.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T REPAIR IT!?” it was a light blue unicorn with a white mane and tail. She wore a large sorcerer hat, a white west, purple wide cloth pants and, a cape with star patterns. She stood in front of a repairing shop. Behind her were the remains of what was assumedly once a wagon. Now nothing more than a pile of more or less broken wood.

“Well,” began a burly earth pony with brown fur and blue hair. He has dressed in worker garb and a flat cap. “the fireworks damaged your wagon beyond repair. I’m sorry but it would be best to buy a new wagon.”

“Do you even know how much a new wagon costs?” cried the unicorn mare, tears forming in her eyes.

Cinder Brew nudged his queen with an opportunistic grin. “My queen, I believe our money problem just solved itself… just watch.”

He made sure that the street was clear and strolled to the now lonely unicorn mare.

“Excuse me, miss…” She looked at him, an angry look in her eyes.

“What do you want from the great Trixy?”

Cinder scratched the back of his head.

“Well, I heard that you need a new wagon…”

Trixi snorted angrily.
“Yes Trixi does indeed need a new wagon, some Changeling destroyed it while I was away…”

Cinder Brew grinned and pointed to his wagon. “As it happens we seek to sell our wagon for some money to travel to Canterlot and begin our new life there!”

He rubbed his chin while thinking.

“The wagon is in an optimal state, sturdy enough to withstand sand storms, and highly customizable. So what do you say to, let’s say 350 bits, sound fair?”

Trixi examined the wagon, her horn lighting up and sending a quick scanning spell over the wagon.

She smiled and nodded. “SOLD!” she squealed and took the hat in her hands. She lunged with one arm into the hat, far deeper when it should be possible, and brought a large bag of bits to light.

She tossed it to Cinder Brew who stood there, stunt and barely able to catch the bag. The whole bag was full of bits.

“Here ya go, now Trixi wants her wagon!”

Baffled Cinder could only stutter.

“H-how?”

Trixi just laughed.

“A magician never reveals her secrets… So now shush! The next train to Canterlot will leave shortly!”

With the bag of bits in his hand’s Cinder Brew rushed to Chrysalis, grabbed her hand, and together they ran to the station.

“Why are we running Cinder?” she cried surprised.

“I just sold the wagon and now we have a large amount of money!”

Chrysalis grinned at the news. As she heard a joyous cry behind her she saw a certain blue unicorn.

Chrysalis couldn’t help it and laugh whole-heartedly.

The irony was just too good, one of her enemies helped her in her revenge…

Later in the train

Chrysalis and Cinder Brew sat together in a cabin of the train, having brought this section of the train for themselves.

Cinder was counting the bits on a bench while Chrysalis laid in her bed was making plans in her mind.

Finally, she let out a sigh and rolled over to look at her servant.

“Cinder Brew, How much do we have left?”

“I counted 190 bits. The tickets consumed a good portion of our budget.”

Chrysalis hummed while running numbers in her head.

“I see, we need to find a cheaper hotel to stay for the time being then…”

The thought of his queen being forced to sleep in some cheap hotel send a chutter down Cinder’s spine.

“What will we do then?” he asked

Chrysalis grinned wickedly at him.

“We will find ourselves jobs… We will try to get into some noble house as servants and slowly bring the nobles under my control.
I don’t care if it is a major house or a minor one, either way, I will use it as the base of my operations and lair for future plans. One of the foundations of Equestria, its nobility, will be its downfall!”
Her following laughter was consumed by the sound of the train as he slowly drove through the night, Canterlot gleaming in the distance.

Canterlot Castle

In a luxuriously decorated room lay a big, white pony on her bed.
She read a letter that just arrived via emergency fire teleport from Manehatten.

“So Chrysalis has appeared again? Oh my, what a brilliant opportunity this is…”