Chapter Eight: Requests

Chrysalis stared out at the calm lake in front of her for a second before lobbing another stone out into the water, the stone losing its bright green aura. One skip, two skip, three skip, stop, sink. The changeling queen sighed and looked at her hooves. The thin stones on the ground in front of Chrysalis piled around her hooves, one by one levitating from each other with a bright green aura and soaring through the air, only to sink into the lake as they lost momentum. Chrysalis lifted another stone out of the slowly dwindling pile and inspected the stone in front of her eyes. Giving a small nod, Chrysalis focused on the stone, drew it backwards, and let go of the magic hold on it. Another stone flew out into the lake once more, coming to a halt after five small skips and sinking to the bottom of the body of water. Night still hung in the air in Equestria, the full moon in the sky making small sparkles in the rippling lake. A confused expression formed on Chrysalis’s face as she heard hoofsteps on the grass in the clearing behind her, along with the sound of two ponies lightly snoring.

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow as her gaze met with the changeling in the clearing, Augury setting the two ponies on his back on the grass. “Back so soon, Augury? You only left this morning, what’s the rush with this mare?” Chrysalis asked as she began to walk toward the clearing.

Augury looked up from the two mares beside him, fixing his sight on Chrysalis. “Huh? Oh, I didn’t even notice you there.” Augury said, walking away from Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie a little. “I had a good chance at getting one of the mares about ten minutes after I even stepped hoof in Ponyville. I figured it was probably going to be the only chance that I got, so I took the opportunity.”

“Well, good work. You could have waited a day a or two before you captured them, you had three days. Oh well, the way you deal with these missions is your choice, I guess. Which mare did you grab this time?”

“That’s kind of the thing... I, uh, had to get two of them.” Augury muttered, scratching the back of his head. Chrysalis stopped in the clearing a few feet away from Augury, her eyes opening wide slightly as she leaned sideways to look at the two mares Augury had brought.

Chrysalis lowered her brow and turned her head to Augury. “I thought I told you not to get two of them at the same time. Was I not clear in my directions?”

“Look, if I would have taken only Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy would have been left out in the forest all alone. You want to get all of the mares, right? All six of them? Everfree is dangerous at night, she would have-”

Chrysalis interrupted Augury and slowly started advancing toward him, Augury backing away at the same pace. “I don’t care what she would have been, I told you not to get two mares in the same capture. Do you realize it’s going to be a lot harder to get the other mares now that you’ve so foolishly had pity on your targets?” Chrysalis asked.

“Did you expect me to leave her all alone out in the Everfree forest? Please, just hear me out.”

Chrysalis came to a stop as Augury backed into a tree at the edge of the clearing, the familiar situation making Chrysalis’s anger rise even more. “Oh, I would love to hear what made you ignore my orders.”

Augury swallowed lightly. “You wanted to get the six mares so Equestria wouldn’t have the use of The Elements of Harmony, right? If we get the six mares altogether, we can use the element’s power ourselves.” Augury said, trying to appeal to Chrysalis’s senses as best as he could.

“I doubt that is the reason why you went and took two mares at the same time. What was the situation?”

“The two mares over there were in a group of three other ponies. I got rid of the three other ponies as discretely as I could and as fast as I could. I-”

“You showed yourself to the ponies!?”

“No! I was in a different form, alright? They couldn’t possibly know that I was a changeling by how fast I was going, not to mention I wasn’t in my natural form.”

“You were just in the form of a pegasus, right?”

“Yes. I took care to not raise awareness because of another alicorn.”

“At least you did something right. Go on.”

“After I got rid of the three other ponies, I put a sleep spell on each of the two mares over there and started to get ready to go... but...”

“But what? What did you do?”

“I may have been seen by another group of ponies in my changeling form...”

“You what!?”

“I don’t know if they saw me clearly! It was dark! Please, just don’t hurt her!” Augury closed his eyes tightly, shivering lightly as he leaned against the tree behind him. Chrysalis sighed and stood upright, lifting a hoof to her face and inhaling and exhaling deeply. Augury opened his eyes slowly, yet still shivered with fear.

“Augury, stop shaking.” Chrysalis said briefly. Augury slowly calmed himself as he breathed deeply, his body coming to a halt in its place after a second.

Chrysalis lowered her hoof from her face and stared at Augury intently, the changeling against the tree staring at her with a sense of pleading. “How dark was it?”

“It- it was fairly dark. I doubt they could have gotten a clear image of me since I was out of the light of their lanterns. Just, please, don’t-” Augury stopped as Chrysalis raised a hoof to his face, Augury switching his line of sight from Chrysalis’s hoof and her face frantically.

“I’m not going to do anything to Tranquility or the mares that you’ve captured. I trust that you’re telling the truth and the ponies didn’t see that you were a changeling.” Chrysalis leaned forward and put her hoof on Augury’s chin, her face only an inch away from Augury’s. “Promise me you’ll stick to the guidelines that I gave you? No more gong outside my directions, okay?”

Augury returned the stare Chrysalis gave him as he looked into Chrysalis’s eyes, fear reflecting off partial anger in between the two changelings. “I... I understand.”

Chrysalis moved her hoof to Augury’s cheek and tapped him lightly. “Good.” The changeling queen lifted her head back up and Augury moved away from the tree as Chrysalis began to walk toward the two mares in the middle of the clearing.

Augury cleared his throat. “What is with your excessive need in touching me?” Augury asked as he rubbed his cheek.

“Augury, please. Just come with me and fill their cocoons.” Chrysalis pleaded, lifting the two mares on the ground onto her back. Augury let out a small sigh and followed after the changeling queen as she headed off deeper into the forest.

“Something wrong, Chrysalis? You don’t seem to be as eager to bicker with me tonight.” Augury said as he and Chrysalis walked through the forest.

“My thoughts are conflicting with themselves. I’m having a hard time thinking.” Chrysalis replied.

“What is it? Something happen?”

“It shouldn’t matter to you. Just leave it to me to decide.”

“Whatever you say.” Augury stayed quiet for a second, the light snoring of the two pegasi and the two changeling’s hoofsteps filling in the silence. “Uh, Chrysalis?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think I could have an extra day for my next mission?”

“And why would I let you have that?”

“I just... I want to go back to Ponyville just for a day, without any distractions. I miss home. All I ask is a day, just for me, so I can put all of this aside for just one day and not have to worry about anything. I just ask for a single day, please. I’ll get back to the mission right after, I promise.” Augury said. Chrysalis walked in silence for a second and came to a stop at the edge of the clearing further into the forest, turning around to face Augury, who had stopped as well. The changeling queen and Augury stared at each other for a second, Chrysalis squinting slightly.

Chrysalis ran her eyes across Augury. “Under two conditions.” Chrysalis stated. “One, you do not go in contact with any of your friends or family. If you happen to run into them, keep the conversation as short as possible and continue on your way. Two, you stay in the form of a pony for the entire day once you get into Ponyville. Even if you go inside a secluded area, stay in your pony form that you choose. Am I clear?”

Augury nodded. “Yes.”

“...Then you can have another day. You will still have three days to get the next mare and bring her back, mind you. Just think of this as a little reward for your work so far.”

Augury lifted an eyebrow and smiled mischievously. “Are there going to be other rewards in the future?”

“Don’t push your luck.” Chrysalis said as she turned around and began to walk into the clearing behind her. Augury chuckled quietly and followed after Chrysalis. On the right of the clearing from Augury, six cocoons hung from six different trees along the tree line, the trees the cocoons hung from untouched by Augury’s previous actions. Rarity still hung in the cocoon on the far left, the gas inside of the cocoon seeming to have thinned a little. Tranquility’s cocoon remained in a tree on the other side of the other six green caskets, the lavender mare still staring unconsciously into her eyelids.

Augury and Chrysalis stood at the two cocoons beside Rarity’s, Augury gently lifting Pinkie and Fluttershy off of Chrysalis’ back and placing them in the two separate cocoons. Augury turned his head to Chrysalis, who only motioned her head toward the quickly sealing green caskets that the two unconscious mares hung upside down in. Sighing, Augury turned his head to the two cocoons in front of him, both of them finishing the process of sealing shut, the transparent side of the cocoon completing itself. Augury moved his head forward and gently pierced his horn into the pink mare’s casket, leaning backwards and taking his horn out as he heard the sparkling of the assimilation gas come to a standstill. Chrysalis moved away as Augury stepped to Fluttershy’s cocoon, repeating the process he had done with Pinkie.

Chrysalis smiled as Augury took his horn out of Fluttershy’s cocoon.. “Half of the targets already in their assimilation process. Well done Augury. First thing tomorrow, your next mission starts.”

Augury kept his glance at the ground. “I have that extra day, remember?”

“Of course. I expect to see another mare in one of these cocoons in the next four days, understood?”

“Sure.” Augury muttered. Chrysalis watched as Augury slowly turned away from the line of cocoons and made his way across the clearing, coming to a stop at the tree Tranquility’s cocoon hung from and laying down. Chrysalis shook her head slightly and started off into the darkness of the forest beyond the clearing.

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The sun slowly came over the horizon in the distance of the mountains, the moon slowly fading away in the light of day. Stars erased and black faded blue, another beautiful day in Equestria emerged from the darkness of night. In the distance of the forest, birds chirped and other such woodland creatures awoke from their slumber. However, no sound radiated from the area a certain slender figure meandered through as she made her way through the forest. Her hoofsteps echoed alone in the shadows beaming down from the canopy above her, the silence becoming a regular occurrence at this time of day. Yet, the quietness does not bother the changeling queen, as she has her own mind and a resentful companion, or what she saw him as, to fill in the gaps of noise. Chrysalis stepped out into the sunlight of the clearing further into the forest, letting out a loud yawn and squinting as the light met her eyes. She scanned the area for a quick second, and the longer she looked, something seemed missing. Recalling to her memory, Augury had slept underneath Tranquility’s tree, but upon further inspection as Chrysalis walked over to the lavender mare’s tree, Augury was no where in sight. The grass around the tree only had one trail of barely noticeable hoofprints, and even then, they only stretched out into the middle of the clearing.

Chrysalis sighed and looked at the ground, digging gently at the grass and dirt beneath her with her right hoof. “Already left? I was hoping to have another conversation with Augury.” Chrysalis thought sadly to herself. “Oh well... maybe its for the best. I really should get started with them today anyways. The army isn’t going to wait forever.” Next Chapter: [9] Familiar Faces Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 23 Minutes