Solace in unexpected places
Chrysalis felt more defeated than she had ever been. Oh sure, the wedding had gone disastrously. And before that there was that debacle with the tax collector fraud scheme. And can't forget when that dragon decided that taking some of his far too large hoard was worth attempting to burn down the hive. And her self help book she penned under a false name when bored had been completely made fun of. And…
...Okay so maybe the past roughly 100 years hadn't gone that well. But before she could always retreat to her throne room, complain to the lesser changelings that had to listen to her, and get massages and comfort; all the things she deserved! But now that is all gone. Betrayed, stranded, backstabbed at her moment of glory! It really wasn't fair that Discord had taken their side, and the ponies are a nuisance to her plans as always, but her children should've had her back. Sure, she banished Thorax, but he was supposed to see how weak and sappy ponies really were, to see how much better changelings were! To become more like his darling brother, not lead a revolt! She buried her snout in her legs and huffed.
Oh how she'll show them all. Come back with a vengeance, retake her home, convince the changelings friendship is awful and to be eaten with salt, and steal another one of a kind treasure from another species to carve into a throne! Then, she can go to her dungeons and maniacally taunt Starlight, Twilight, Thorax, Celestia, and those other ponies whose names weren’t important enough to remember whenever she needed stress relief. She could almost smile her happiest bare-fanged smile from just imagining it.
All that as soon as she had finished licking her wounds in this comfy cave of course. Running away dramatically had felt right in the moment, but the wasteland which helped to deter nosy visitors wasn't exactly the easiest to hide in. She had seen that garishly colorful pegasus flying around searching, and thus chose the loveliest cave to avoid her in. Not too freezing, roomy, a hard to spot entrance, some lovely toxic pools of water, and filled with wonder. Because she was there. Anywhere royalty like her was became wonderful by transitive property (her Royal Tutor would be proud). A perfect place for Chrysalis' cold, tired, battered, definitely not out of shape, sad self.
So of course as she lay there, thinking things couldn't get any worse, that it would turn out the cave already had a claimant. The bunched brush really should've clued her in, but did it have to be a MANTICORE that lumbered through the entrance and postured at her with flared wings and fangs?
Chrysalis was done. She didn't want to deal with this. She gave her best little greeting hiss to the peeved homeowner, before curling up and looking away. If that stinky beast eats her it eats her. There was no way she was giving the ponies the satisfaction of catching her. She heard it approach it, felt its paw press her into the ground, felt its warm breath as it opened its mouth above her and... sniffed her. And kept sniffing.
Oh of course. Of course after all this a manticore is going to decide that her royal self isn't even good enough to eat. That's how it gets even worse. An undignified goring and her body gets left to scavengers. As Chrysalis kept raging in her mind, she stalled, as even her perfect royal mind couldn't process what happened next.
The manticore leaned forward and gently licked the scratches she had acquired during her strategic retreat. Pity? Pity? "Do you think I'm a wounded whelp in need of care? Something so weak it can't even be considered an equal? I DON'T NEED A BEAST'S SYMPATHY!" She turned and shouted at it, fangs bared, trying her best to hold back her tears.
The manticore stopped, stared at her, before resuming its licking.
"I said stop! Unhand me, you idiot! Or just kill me! This is pathetic!" Chrysalis writhed, but the manticore still had her pinned properly. It ignored the yelling and attempts at biting it (Damn thick hide!), and kept licking her with its rough tongue. After it was satisfied, it huffed, tucked in its wings and tail, and simply curled around her trapped form. Chrysalis gave up yelling and doubled her efforts to gnaw at it, but to no avail. She felt drained, and eventually gave up and closed her eyes to drown herself in internal sorrow. How pathetic. How weak. No one would believe that she was a queen…
At least it wasn't cold anymore. The manticore's body was quite warm, and if it wasn’t for being trapped she could almost call it cozy. Too bad she was much too miserable and stressed to get any proper rest.
A few minutes later, Chrysalis was fast asleep.
When she woke up, the manticore was gone, the daylight was streaming in through the opening, and she was terribly sore. Perhaps she shouldn't have had her Royal Personal Trainer executed for the torturous exercises she tried to inflict upon her.
Hm.
Nah, she was definitely trying to torture Chrysalis. Only possibility. No sane creature would do those exercises willingly.
As she found ways to justify her level of fitness to herself, she heard something outside that made her freeze. The awful grating sound of pony chatter.
"I am starting to believe that you simply can't believe that she got away from you darling." "I'm telling you Rares! There's no way she could outrun Equestria's fastest flier. She has to be hiding somewhere!" "Mhm. And if we don't find her in the next half hour, could I convince you to stop scratching up my hooficure over a lost cause? It's not as if she can threaten us without changelings. And we could all use some rest, and celebrate our already fine victory." "Fine, fine. But we're using that full half hour! Starting with that opening there!"
The bickering was drawing closer. Chrysalis broke into a cold sweat. Was this her final stand? She was sure she could take them on, but she wouldn't be able to catch that rainbow one, and then they would all be on top of her in no time once the alarm was raised. She could maybe take that fancy one hostage? No, that probably wouldn't end well either. She could only pray she could take them both out quickly and then make a run for it. She stood up on her aching limbs and slowly prowled towards the entrance, ready to pounce the moment bright pony fur poked its way in. She could hear the steps coming closer, and closer. Her heart thudded in her ears.
A large whoosh, and thud, was heard outside. Followed by a quite irritated and deafening roar that drowned out Chrysalis’ heart.
"Oh dear. You would pick a manticore's den of all things wouldn’t you."
"We can take it on! You wanna go tough guy? Hey. Hey! Let go of me!"
"Rainbow. There's no reason to bother the local ecosystem, what would Fluttershy say? We're leaving good sir, no reason to fight. You're just defending your home, and you wouldn't want to give up your meal now."
"I can take him. I can take him!"
"Come on Rainbow. We could both use a bath. At the very least."
The voices grew further and further away, and Chrysalis collapsed to her knees. She was... safe? The ponies wouldn't take her last vestige of safety? She giggled, breaking into a cackle as the manticore came in. She was safe! She won! (Kinda). She got away! And the ponies would live to regret it. Her scheming was interrupted by a wet plap in front of her as the manticore dropped a half eaten carcass in front of her. She hissed. "I'm fine now you fool! The ponies gave up. I would've been fine even if you hadn't chased them off! A queen doesn't need the sympathy of an animal like you."
The manticore stared at her, and simply pushed the food forward with a paw. Chrysalis paused, and huffed. It wouldn't be that bad to spend another day resting. And she was hungry after all.
"... Don't expect a thank you."
Chrysalis tore a bite from the carcass and a bite of the manticore's love as it leaned forward and began grooming her again with its rough tongue. Things could be worse, she supposed.
Author's Note
My first mlp fanfic. Only slightly edited after writing it late in a sleepless night, but felt better to post it then block on editing it further. Always been interested in posting something to this site that I've enjoyed for so long, and finally did so after many years. Hopefully I'll end up writing more fics at some point.
Hope y'all enjoyed, and do forgive the lack of complete polish. Appreciate all of y'all who read this.
