The party had been a lot of fun, it was almost midnight when we walked home together.
“That wasn't so bad, wasn't it?”, I asked Chrysalis who had been awfully quiet since we had left town hall.
She had been in deep thought, so it took her a moment to process I said something.
“Yeah… it went surprisingly well. Despite being without disguise they had been very welcoming and even supportive, no pony even questioned our method of feeding.”, she replied. “Makes me wonder what had happened if we had tried this approach years ago.”
“Well, not all communities are as welcoming as here in Ponyville.”, Twilight explained. “The ponies of Canterlot and other bigger cities are a bit harder to win over.”
She didn't respond to that as we continued our way through the snow.
After a few minutes she spoke up again: “I guess I have an appointment with Rarity tomorrow morning, she did insist on making new clothing for me.”
“That was to be expected.”, I said grinning. “She would go crazy if you walked around in this makeshift thing much longer. I have to visit her anyway for more winter clothing, we can go together tomorrow.”
“Somepony would have to accompany me anyway, it’s not like you would have me walk around Ponyville on my own.”, she said in a perfectly calm and rational tone… but I felt she was a bit hurt even though she knew the reasons.
We all were aware of the rules Celestia had laid upon to us, so there wasn’t much we could respond with.
After a minute of silently walking through the white and quiet Ponyville I had made up my mind. “I guess we could ask Celestia in our next letter to give you a bit more freedom, you have been very cooperative and I have no reason to believe you would misuse our trust.”
Twilight and Chrysalis both came to a halt and looked at me surprised.
“I… I guess we could ask her.”, my marefriend carefully replied.
“Thank you.”, Chrysalis addressed me after a moment in a very warm tone.
…
As we entered the library both of them softly bumped their hooves against the side of the door to get the snowy remains out of the underside of their hooves. Much to our surprise, we found Spike was sitting in one of the library chairs reading his newest comic book.
“Spike!”, Twilight shouted. “You should have been in bed hours ago.”
He winced at the sudden shout and jumped to his little legs. “Sorry Twilight, this comic was so exciting I had a hard time putting it down and…”
“Hush! To bed right now.”, she cut him off. She practically pushed him into the little room he was sleeping in since we needed more privacy in our bedroom. We heard muffled voices as she continued scolding him.
“I’m really thankful for all you did for me so far.”, Chrysalis suddenly addressed me. “Without you, I wouldn’t be in this relatively good position, especially with Lavender. Even if I had conquered Canterlot, I doubt I had any chance to be with her in such a relationship as we are now.”
“There is no need to thank me for that.”, I replied to her.
“But I don’t understand why you did it.”, she immediately continued.
I was a bit surprised by this. “Is it hard to believe I just like helping others?”
“No… yes… we were enemies… I have such a hard time reading you. I’m used to knowing what others are feeling, at least a little bit… I don’t even know how your feelings smell.”, she answered and looked a bit frustrated.
‘It’s an ability she used all her life to judge what others think of her and how to deal with them in the best way.’, I thought. ‘It must be like seeing others and suddenly encountering a blackness without any real shape.’
“Okay, go ahead and smell me.”, I told her.
She looked at me surprised. “What?”
“If it helps you to trust me more, go ahead and learn how my feelings smell. I'm feeling very happy right now, because of the party, what you said and other things a well.”
She slowly closed the distance to me, it looked like she wasn't sure if I really meant it.
“Don't be shy. Come and smell my happiness.”
‘That's a sentence I had never expected to say.’, I thought to myself smiling.
“If you say so…” She went the rest of the way and started sniffing along my neck. Her muzzle rubbing along my skin made me giggle.
“That's pretty close…”, I remarked between the giggles.
“If I get this rare chance I want to have the best results.”, she answered without taking her muzzle away from me and it made me giggle even more.
As I was able to notice my surroundings a bit better again, I suddenly froze up.
“There is a new spicy smell emerging, what's that?”, Chrysalis asked me still sniffing my neck.
“That's a bit of shame you're noticing, with fear rising quickly.”, I whispered. I could not take the eyes off Twilight and her angry look. I noticed how this situation must look to her.
“What in Tartarus are you doing!”, she shouted.
Chrysalis immediately moved away from me and stared at Twilight as well.
“Honey, it isn't what it looked like…”, I started to defend myself as I felt incredible amounts of jealousy and anger through our connection.
“WHAT WERE YOU DOING?!”, Twilight screamed and used her magic to throw a large book at us. I just tried to protect my head from the impact…
The book hit a green barrier with a muffled ‘Thump’.
“AND STOP TAPPING INTO HER MAGIC, YOU ARE MY MAREFRIEND, DAMMIT!”, she screamed and it looked like there were actual flames surrounding her body.
I immediately dropped the barrier.
“No… that was by instinct… it just was the nearest source, I guess… please hear me out.”, I stuttered. “I love you and would never betray your love.”.
“It's true.”, Chrysalis agreed and looked quite scared. “I was only trying to smell her feelings. You can use a truth spell on me if you want.”
The flames surrounding her body disappeared but she still looked less than convinced.
“Think about it.”, I continued. “If there had been any romantic feelings you would have felt them through our connection.”
“What connection?”, Chrysalis asked but I hushed her.
Twilight thought about that for a moment before I felt her anger fade and it got replaced by regret. She fell to the ground, her body weakened by this magical surge.
“I shouldn't have doubted you.”, she whispered while I ran up to her and held her in my arms. “But there is nothing more important to me than your love…”
“No, it’s all my fault.”, I tried to calm her down. “I should have thought about how this would look and told you about it before doing it.” I slowly brushed through her mane. She had been tired before, so after this eventful day she was slowly drifting into slumber.
“It's all okay.”, I told her in a calming tone. “It was a crazy day, but we can rest now and let it all go.”
Within only a few more moments her breathing slowed down and she had fallen asleep.
I looked at the wooden floor where she had stood before and saw four burn marks on it.
"You can feel each other's emotions through some connection?", Chrysalis whispered in my ear.
"Let me get her into bed and I will explain it to you.", I whispered back and slowly stood up holding Twilight in my arms. Only now I realized Spike was standing in his doorway looking worried.
"Is everything alright?", he asked.
"Everything is fine.", I silently replied. "We just had a little misunderstanding and she is tired now. Go back to sleep."
He nodded and went back to his room.
I carried Twilight up the stairs, Chrysalis trailing behind me. She opened the door for me and I softly put my marefriend onto our bed. After I had tucked her in we left the room and sat down in the library again.
It took me a moment to gather my thoughts but she just sat next to me and waited until I was ready to tell her.
"Back in my world, I already was able to feel strong emotions from the person I had a special bond with, but in a very limited way.”, I finally started to explain. “When she died I withdrew myself from social interaction with others... I was afraid of getting hurt again.”
I looked at the ceiling and took a few deep breaths to prevent myself from crying. Chrysalis leaned in close to me.
*Sniff* *Sniff*
“Sadness.”, I whispered to her. “That's sadness you're smelling. It hurts to remember her… but it would hurt even more to forget her.”
Again I took a moment before I continued. “But then I visited this world and something impossible happened, I fell in love again.”
I felt this warm feeling rush through my body, filling me completely and I heard a silent little purr from ‘Chryssi’.
“It didn't take long for me to notice a connection again, weak at first but after we gave in to our feelings it was crystal clear to me. This connection is much stronger than what I had experienced before, I believe the magic of this world is to blame for that.”
We just sat next to each other for a while, I was exhausted from everything that had happened today and closed my eyes for a moment.
“How does it feel when you sense her feelings?”, she asked after more than a minute. “Do they have a ‘taste’”?
I tried to pin down how it felt.
“No… they feel like my own, but… not. Somehow weaker… muffled.”
I looked at her, a creature that had been able to sense feelings for many decades, somehow I expected she had an explanation for all of this. But she just looked at me while nodding slowly.
“Have you sensed the feelings of others as well?”, she asked resting her head on one of her front-hooves.
“No.”, I answered almost automatically, it felt like a betrayal to Twilight if I sensed others feelings as well… but I thought about it a little longer. “Maybe.”
Chrysalis looked to be surprised by this answer, she scooted closer with her chair and looked directly at me. “Tell me about it.”
“It happened for the first time shortly after I had arrived in Equestria, I had visited Fluttershy to bring her a little present. She told me we were friends and I… felt an enormous amount of friendship beaming from her. It felt so nice and warm, I became so very happy from it… but it was too much, I felt overwhelmed. After a few moments the feeling faded and everything felt normal again.”
“Go on.”, she encouraged me after I had been silent for a few seconds.
“I think in some cases I feel a few emotions from others as well and I believe these feelings sometimes influence my own mood, I don't like it.”
“Is there an example you could give me?”, she asked.
“Remember when I was very harsh towards the palace guards?” She nodded in reply. “I think I felt their anger towards you and what you've done and that made me angry as well.”
She leaned back in her chair and we sat in silence for a minute or two.
“I'm not sure who of us is the more interesting test object for Twilight to learn about.”, she finally told me. “I think we should go to sleep right now, I need a fresh mind to think about all of this. Tomorrow you should tell your marefriend what you've told me tonight, there is no need to tell her we have talked about it first.”
With these words she disappeared into her room.
--------O_O---------
The little clearing in the Everfree Forest was shunned by all animals after what had happened days ago. It was misleadingly quiet as the portal opened again and it's blue glow illuminated the area.
Another flying drone appeared from the opening, much bigger than the last one. It quickly flew upwards, it was higher than the trees before the portal closed again. The drone started to scan the wider area around the clearing, it would gather all data necessary to proceed to phase two.