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Duties

by Hiver

Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

Chrysalis slowly pulled herself from the now half empty vat before dropping onto the floor of the chamber, hitting it hard before laying still.

It had been almost fifteen minutes and I had started to get motion back into my legs. Carefully I got off the throne, my legs shaking slightly beneath me as I approached her, keeping out of easy pouncing distance in case I had to smack a bug.

“You sane again?” I asked as I stopped.

Chrysalis didn’t move for a second before she struggled up to sit, “…Do you have any idea what you've done?” she grumbled.

“Yeah. Stopped you from being an idiot and dumping all of this on your daughter. If you think it was for you, then you’re even more out of your mind than I thought,” I said and sat down, now when it looked like she was less crazy, “She needs you. She might not like it, but she needs you. Nobody else can teach her about being a changeling queen.”

Chrysalis glared at me and slowly got up, looking a lot more normal for her now, her green magic running across her chitin and gathering up what remained of the love jelly before she put it back in the large container, before she slowly crossed the distance between us.

I got up to meet her eye to eye as good as I could. She was most definitely a predator and I was weakened in the middle of her lair.

She may have eaten, but she had also tasted my emotions. Teasing her instincts more now would be outright stupid. So would be backing down.

Instead I met her eyes, keeping my wings folded calmly on my back. I still felt very faint, everything felt muted.

That helped.

She looked down at me in a way that was much more Chrysalis than the way she had looked when I first walked in. Say what you want about the evil bug, but she had presence in a way I had only before seen in Celestia and Luna.

“It was foolish of you to come here,” she finally said, “Two days later and I would have eaten you whole.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” I answered and stood as tall as I could without lifting my wings to look bigger, “You may have had less control, but you would have been weaker, you could barely move as it was. I might not be the strongest Alicorn, but with you that weak, I can kick your chitinous arse all across this chamber.”

She was quiet for a moment, “…You really do care for my daughter, don't you, little predator?”

“Yes. Yes I do,” I told her as I met her eyes, “I even care for the rest of the hive. They still need you.”

Chrysalis slowly moved around me and I turned to keep facing her, “And when they no longer do? When me being alive keep them back from building stronger bonds with the Ponies?”

“Then you can go crawl into the deepest darkest hole you can find for all I care,” I told her, shifting my wings, “But Skitter and the others need you. Until they don’t, you are staying right where you are.”

Chrysalis moved closer, wings doing a small buzz before she leaned down and nuzzled at the side of my head, “Well played, little predator. Well played indeed,” she murmured before she pulled back, giving my ear a lick on the way, “You may leave now. If you can still walk.”

Shooting her a look, I turned and walked out of the chamber.

If I’m completely honest, afterwards I didn’t really remember the rest of my trek out of the hive tunnels.

Walking out of the tunnels, I nodded to the guard ‘ling standing there before I took to the right, moving through the softly falling snow.

It took maybe a minute to get inside again.

That’s about as far as I got before my legs folded beneath me and I hit the floor, trying to get my breathing under control.

Quite frankly, it wasn’t fear or anything directly.

I just felt… I felt sick and quite frankly, like shit.

That’s where Sunset found me some time later. She didn’t say anything, she simply moved to help me up with her hoof and magic, guiding me to one of the sitting rooms close by.

Leaving me on the couch, she ducked out before returning a little while later with a cup of tea.

Climbing onto the couch next to me, she floated the tea before me and I took a sip before I sighed and leaned against her, “I feel like…crap,” I admitted and sipped the tea again as she offered it.

“Not surprised,” Sunset said, “I’m not completely sure what happened but I’m fairly certain it involved feeding Chrysalis. That was stupid.”

“Necessary,” I sighed and leaned against her.

She shifted to better support me, “…Maybe. Don’t make it any less stupid.”

“Mmm.”

Not sure I could really argue with that.

Sunset sighed softly, “Get some sleep, Page. You look dead on your hooves.”

“…Feel like it,” I admitted and settled down, “Bit drained… be back to normal in a few days. Better tomorrow.”


Author's Note

AN// Big thanks to FPSCanarussia for betaing this section.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5 Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 25 Minutes
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