Author's Note
Edited by:
This story is part of the Interactive Storytelling Experience at Ponyville Ciderfest 2023. Check out the website at
A preview of what to expect from stories at the convention next week
War and Angy
Fizzy arrived and blinked at where she was. It appeared to be an insect hive big enough for ponies. The dark foreboding corners and areas of slime gave it away. The soft glowing green lights were fading and hard to see by. There was clear evidence of abandonment and a total lack of creatures which made this place all the more creepy to her.
“Hello? Is anyone here?” Fizzy called out trying to figure out where she was and if the portal behind her to this place could be reopened somewhere.
“GO AWAY!” The voice boomed out around her and made the very ground she walked on shake and shutter with a violent eruption of activity. Then the booming voice slowly died down and Fizzy became more curious as well as agitated now.
The fact of the matter was, she was on a mission, and wasn’t gonna let anyone tell her what to do.. “How dare you? Get out here and face me, you coward.”
There was a pause as her voice boomed and echoed through the abandoned hive. It felt like shouting into the void, if the void were a city every resident had just abandoned all at once without warning. That added to the creepiness, where was everyone? There were clear spaces for whatever lived her to sleep and other places to work and she swore somewhere was an abandoned hatchery.
“Who dares enter my hive? Who dares to challenge me? You think you can come here and pick apart what’s left? To come after the scraps and seize them from me. You surely are the lowest of the low, but your love will be what I feast upon tonight.” Fizzy heard something skittering across the walls, straight towards her.
She lit the fire within to become burning around her for light and revealed a very large pony looking creature. It was made of chitin instead of flesh though. There were holes sliced through it like swiss cheese and the distinctive zigzag horn as it suddenly buzzed upon insect wings right towards her.
“I’ve heard of you, Chrysalis, and you’re an idiot if you think I’m gonna let you shove me in a cocoon as a snack pack!!” Changeling magic lashed towards Fizzy only for a ball of fire to sling back from her horn towards Chrysalis. The two collided in a bright blast that filled the room like a firework filling the night sky to make it as bright as day for a moment. Both covered their eyes and glared at each other.
“Your anger is formidable, and it gives you power.. I wonder, perhaps you could use this rage to help me.” Chrysalis was pondering an idea, a twisted one at that as she dropped from the ceiling, landing with a slam into the ground that kicked up dust and dirt around them.
“Tell me, what are you mad about, my dear sweet kirin creature?” Chrysalis invited leaning down to purr her poisoned honey words across Fizzy’s ear.
“And how are you going to help me? Why are you going to help me? You’ve never helped anyone other than yourself your entire life.” Fizzy demanded staying on guard ready to sling spells in her defense and focusing on building her rage and anger as a shield against the terrible evil queen.
“Oh my, so much fury. That’s not entirely true, I was willing to help that runt Cozy Glow and that big bad tuarian creature Tirek. What makes you think someone like you with all your might and all your rage wouldn’t be a benefit to little ole me?” Chrysalis used her changeling magic to create illusions of Cozy Glow and Lord Tirek as she spoke, swirling them around her hoof before casually blowing the magic at Fizzy only to watch it incinerate as it got close to the Kirin turned Nirik.
“Such rage, such fury,” Chrysalis leaned down and touched Fizzy’s cheek, ignoring for a moment how it burned her quickly and trying to push through the pain to be as enchanting as possible. “A bit of that rage in exchange, I can provide you with a dreamy little magical item. What do you say? What do you think? You’re obviously on some quest for vengeance, surely you need all the help you can get and cannot possibly afford to turn me away, my little nirik.”
Fizzy took a moment to judge the queen of the evil bugs and her intentions. She knew that most if not all changelings had turned to sharing love instead of consuming it but she also knew Chrysalis was without redemption and would be after something much greater than just a bit of Nirik or Kirin magic. “What are you really after?”
“Oh if you must know, that stupid mare Cadence is what I really want. However, a little power here and a little power there wouldn’t hurt me in the slightest to possess. Now come on, what would you want to share a little bit of that power so I can understand the rage you enter that creates your nirik form.” Chrysalis explained and took a moment to take in the darker hues, the burning flames, the rich colors. All of it tantalized her eyes. She wanted that kind of enraged power, no, she needed it deeply.
“Listen here you, I can tell you how it works inside me but I can share some of the power with you if you have a gemstone to place it in.” Fizzy offered as she held her Nirik fire in her hoof hovering just a few centimeters from Chrysalis’s face. “However, what do I get in return?”
Chrysalis had that on hand. Her horn flared to life and a stone appeared next to her, on that stone was a portal. “This.” Fizzy’s eyes lit up at the site of the portal before her. “This portal will take you anywhere you wish to go, but only once. I assure you that it will work precisely as I describe.”
“Not good enough, you’re going to go through it with me and then and only then will I share this with you.” Fizzy fired back.
Chrysalis laughed and cackled, “Oh do keep that enraged paranoia about you. It delights me and you are right to not trust me, very well, we go together. Now where is it you want to go?”
She leaned down to Fizzy and whispered, “Where does your heart desire to take you, you can tell me and we shall go together, onward as you share a little sample of that power with me.”
Fizzy stepped back, taken aback by the offer as she judged and tried to make her decision.
“Well, originally I was just looking for an internet connection, but here in the book, with your magic, I could maybe do more….”
Chrysalis raised an eyebrow and groaned, “What do you intend to do there, if I may ask, my angry little friend?.”
Fizzy turned and grinned at Chrysalis
“I’ve got a show to run, Queenie, and there’s stuff out there that could help me do that.”.” Fizzy turned away, still smirking. “And that’s all you need to know.”
“Very well, off we go then!” The portal warped and changed and Chrysalis stepped through, offering one of her appendages in a weird warped angle to pull Fizzy through. She hooked onto it and pulled right there. Chrysalis would have her Nirik fire, to add a little small bit to her magic while Fizzy would be able to go precisely where she wanted and gather a bit more strength for the pages ahead.
