//------------------------------//
// Burning into a Fire Beyond the Point of Return 
// Story: Poems for Chrysalis 
// by Omegathyst 
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"I have three haikus for you," Tiger said, feeling the curves of her lips move upward. The facial expression came to her as naturally as a bee to a flower, staring at the stormy grey of her beloved's skin.

Chrysalis stared back, observing Tiger Tornado, taking in the mint green bow in her bushy mane, the one in her tail, and the pink flower cuffs on her hooves. A lavender strand fell from Tiger's pelt, just out of Chrysalis' gaze.

"I hope this isn't too much," Tiger covered her eyes with her foreleg. "Mother was generous this time around, still daydreaming of her daughter as the wife of...well, Canterlot royalty."

"She doesn't know it was used for you," Tiger smirked, still concealing her eyes. "You two must meet, that would be my paradise."

Tiger rested her leg on the ground, exposing her half-lidded gaze, batting her eyelashes as she bit her lip. Pulling out a sheet of paper, she never took her eyes off Chrysalis, only looking away to read.

"Hooves in my depths, highs rolling off all my fur, bathed in thoughts of you,” Tiger blushed, looking away from Chrysalis. “Forgive me, if that was too much information, you’ve given me a lot of imagery to say the least.”

“Cerulean hair, gold underneath your coal skin, fifty shades of green,” Tiger stated the second haiku. “I wrote that one right before art class. And now the last one, I hope you don’t mind it.”

Tiger looked at the bottom of the paper, her mouth opening and closing several times before speaking.

“One day in my tux, my bug queen walking in white, our union lasting,” Tiger smiled, looking Chrysalis right in the eyes. “Can you hold me, Chrissy?”

Tiger tucked the paper back into her backpack and walked forward till Chrysalis’ hooves were resting firmly on her shoulders. The warmth spreading throughout Tiger’s body lured her into an euphoria that she became all too familiar with. The feeling that she knew changelings would die for, the feeling that brought her pen to the paper every time, the feeling that painted the imagery her last haiku brought to life.

“Hope you don’t mind that last haiku,” Tiger whispered. “Mother would walk me down the aisle, every last changeling and pony that ever wronged you would see your life with me. And my classmates, their mouths would hit the floor, my teachers too! The queen that they imprisoned, free to marry the mare that’s fallen head over hooves for her.”

Chrysalis couldn’t look away, the connotations of Tiger’s words turning like gears in her imprisoned mind.

“You don’t have to say it back, but know that I feel it from the bones within my body to the tips of my hooves,” Tiger pulled away, resting her bushy mane against Chrysalis’ chest. “You’ve gotten me starstruck, my still daylily.”

Tiger allowed the sun to start setting below the orange and pink splashes in the sky before pulling away from Chrysalis’ embrace, staring right into her eyes.

“I’m going to bring a surprise next time, I’m sure of it,” Tiger decided. “Maybe not quite the one we’re hoping for, but something you should look forward to. Trust me.”

Tiger Tornado zipped her backpack shut and took to the sky, bells ringing in her head as she already longed for that warm euphoria, burning into a fire beyond the point of return.