//------------------------------// // 19 Pick up // Story: For science - Book three // by Znegil //------------------------------// I was putting on fresh clothes while Twilight was hastily writing a letter to her mentor. I had decided to send Lyra home since my plan for the rest of the day was too packed to do any more research today. She happily ran off to tell Bon Bon about the cool stuff she had seen today. After I was dressed, I sat in one of the libraries chairs and practiced the ‘blinking’ of my hand. I followed Chrysalis’ advice not to strain myself too much and let my hand appear only for fractions of a second and waited a minute before each new try. Like with my ability to sense others feelings, I felt it was getting much easier to let my hand appear. Without Chrysalis’ borrowed magic it almost looked natural in color, though a bit more on the orange side. “Hey Stella. Can I have your opinion?” I looked up from the stump of my arm and saw Chrysalis standing before me, dressed in the beautiful white dress Rarity had made for her. “How do I look?”, she asked and looked as unsure of herself as a kid on prom night. For the first time since I had met her she had put some serious work into the way she looked. Her usually wild mane and tail were carefully combed and she had applied some dark green eyeshadow. “Wow. You look absolutely smashing.”, I told her the truth and saw a little blush on her cheeks. “Is this real eyeshadow or did you just use your ability to change your appearance?” “All you see is real, I have promised Lavender to show her the real me and I'm sticking to that.” “Where did you find makeup on such short notice?”, I asked surprised. “Twilight was so kind to lend me the unused makeup-set her mother had gifted her.”, she replied. “Do I really look okay this way? I never had to pretty up my natural form.” “You look more than okay, you look really beautiful this way.”, I told her. “I'm sure Lavender will be stunned seeing you like this.” Hearing this brought a smile to her face which made her look even more lovely. “Can we please go right now?”, she asked and trotted nervously on the spot. I didn't need my ability to know how excited she was to meet her marefriend again. Thinking about my ability… I noticed I hadn't used my ability without wanting it for a while now. I was happy to get more control over it because it felt wrong to feel others emotions just like that. “Sure.”, I told her. “Twilight should be here any minute, she just went off to Spike, so he would send her letter.” Only a moment after I had finished Twilight came running up the stairs. “Okay, everything is done. We can… wow, you look amazing!” “Thank you so much.”, the nervous changeling replied with glowing cheeks. “Let's go.” … We were on our way to the train station when we noticed a familiar couple pulling a cart together through the snow, it looked a bit odd since Luna was much bigger than Applejack. She wasn't wearing her tiara or any of her usual attire and her coat looked surprisingly dusty. “Hey y’all!”, Luna greeted us with a huge smile. “It ain't funny if you're doing it on purpose.”, Applejack complained. “That's not what you said last night when we… Mmmmffff.” Applejack’s hoof was just a blur as she shoved an apple in Luna's mouth. “... we picked apples.”, AJ continued with a fake smile. “That's what we do here with or apples… we pick ‘em.” Luna had chewed down the one in her mouth and gave her marefriend a little kiss on her cheek. “She is so adorable when she is bashful.”, she said. “I was helping her all day yesterday and this morning at the marketplace. It's nice to do something completely different from my normal routine.” “Can we please move on? I think the train will arrive soon.”, Chrysalis complained. Luna looked at her in surprise, she only now seemed to have noticed her. I guess with all the snow around us her white dress had a bit of a camouflage effect. “Hello Chrysalis.”, she addressed her surprisingly warm. “Why are you in such a hurry?” “I just hate it to be late.”, she gave a very brief answer. “Her marefriend is on the train.”, I explained. “Oh I see, I have heard about them.”, Luna replied. “Well go ahead, lovers shouldn’t be parted, right AJ?” Luna pulled her into a kiss and Applejack pulled her stetson down to shield them from our looks. “Well, that sounds like you're busy.”, I said smiling. “Guess we go on to the station then.” “Finally…”, commented Chrysalis and trotted ahead. … Despite her worries, we arrived at the train station about five minutes before the train entered the station. She was looking around to see from which train car her marefriend would emerge, it was easy for her because like me she was much bigger than the other ponies around us. “Chryssi!”, Lavender shouted as she came out of the train car right next to her. Without hesitation, Chrysalis ran to her and put her into a firm hug. “Careful now, I'm still healing.”, the pearl colored mare with the lavender mane reminded her. The hug got visibly softer than before. “Sorry, I just missed you so much.” It took nearly a minute before she released her. “This dress really suits you.”, Lavender commented. “You look so beautiful today.” Chrysalis replied with a passionate kiss. I felt their love beaming as bright as the sun, I felt warm just by being close to it. Once she gave Lavender a bit of space again I decided to say hello as well. “Hi, I'm glad to see you're feeling better, we are so happy to have you here.” “Thank you for having me stay at your place.”, she addressed us. “Could you be so kind and take my luggage? It isn't heavy, but I'm not yet comfortable to use magic over extended periods of time again.” Before I was able to take it Twilight already had used her magic and it floated next to her. “Of course, I take it.” “Have you eaten yet?”, I asked. “We had planned to go to a restaurant together.” “That sounds lovely. Please lead the way.”