//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: Friendship Retreat, Part 3 // Story: How A Realist Saved The Show // by Mare Of Mystery //------------------------------// Already 3 minutes in, Chrysalis was still weeping to the floor as her constant sounding woes were the center of attention for the changelings. It was enough for James to sit patiently on his seat and poke at his phone screen while she let it all out. Thorax on the other hand was curiously waiting for James' next course of action, as well as the rest of the changelings. "I don't think she's going to stop any time now," he poked at James' shoulder area, trying to get his attention off the screen, "Shouldn't we just go for it?" James took a big sigh, stashing his phone away, "Alrighty, I'll try to simmer her down, you follow behind." "Okay!" He got up from his seat and gently approached Chrysalis as she continued her bawling from being called a terrible mother from Thorax. James didn't quite expect it would be this easy to get to break, so he just went with the flow and tried to confront her as the tender being he is. He wasn't sure where, to begin with, so he just went with the first thing on his mind and gently lowered his right hand onto her head and gave it a little pat. "There-there...Chrysalis..." he took a deep breath before asking her, "Let it all out, just let the tears flow down you like a flowing waterfall. I know you were trying to do what's best for your children. All you wanted was to have subjects who were loyal and supportive of you 100% Also, you wanted your hive to grow into the kingdom you deserve to have. However, all it took was one changeling to stray away from the pack and forge bonds stronger than friendship, and all of your children went and converted from draining the love to sharing it. Blinded by rage, you wanted to exact revenge on the ones that wronged you. However, I didn't bring you here just to forgive all of them, I wanted you to understand." "...*sniff*...Understand?" she muttered out, raising her head to see James and Thorax's face with her eyes dripping with tears. When James was about to finish his sentence, Thorax stepped in behind him and picked off where he left, "To understand that it's all in nature to embrace change, even if that change will drastically alter the rest of your life. I may not be the fiercest-sounding or abrasive-acting leader you may think to be, but even I'm...no...we're learning how to adapt to our new lifestyle. We were so filled with the mindset of stealing love for ourselves, we didn't take into account, other creatures. I've seen how love can flourish and bring others together." "...I...I thought..." "You were wrong to believe love can only be 'just a food source', It's a complex emotion that even I'm not entirely sure on!" Thorax continued in his speech, "I just wanted to live a life where we don't have to steal any creatures feeling of happiest and still thrive as a wholesome community. But you're not ready unless you can embrace change." James could be very much impressed by the amazing speech from Throax's heart, it almost gave him a tear shed. "Very good Thorax, I see that you have what it takes to be a ruler after all." The two were inspecting Chrysalis, as her crying was slowly diminishing and wiped off the excess tears on her cheeks. Taking a few seconds to recuperate from her breakdown before she timidly asked, "Y-You said I was a bad mother...why!? I've raised you when you were just hatched, and I've taught you how to transform...I just don't understand..." "For fucks sake, is she still crying about that!?" "Chrysalis! Please...please in Celest's name, LISTEN TO US!" once more, Thorax raised his tone in agitation, "You don't listen to me! You always focused on plans or revenge...or plans of revenge! I need you to understand that you aren't fit to be ruler again unless you open your eyes and face the music! Change is inevitable!" "I know...I know..." she lowered her head down an angle and raised her forelegs to see her chains, "But you don't understand how I feel about this! F-first, I raised all of you from birth taught every single one of you to transform and trained all of your skills. Then the next thing I know, you threw it all away! I knew I was a terrible mother for leaving all of my children! I always knew! I never thought it would be verbally said out loud to me!" While turning over to the changelings, James noticed all of them sharing the same guilty stares as they all stared at each other side by side. They seemed to still sport a soft spot to Chrysalis, she was their hive mother after all. He would now have to move on to the next question for confirmation. "Now Chrysalis, I am going to repeat this; Starlight was offering you to share your love and practice the meaning behind friendship. You turned down that offer, why did you?" It was like she was contemplating whether to answer or not when she stood silent for a while as she picked up his question, "The reason? I don't know why I just...couldn't trust anypony after what happened the last time.." "Last time?" this had James scratching his chin when she answered back. "N-Nevermind! I was just frustrated with her! That's all!" she blurted out to him, seemingly agitated with her answer. And the act of sleuths on James' face made him squint over at her, seeing the subtle signs that she's hiding something meaningful in her head. "It was like Chrysalis was about to say something that could've been the epicenter of her past, the cause of her wickedness. But at the last second, she shook her head out and decided not to spill out her secret. As much as I was dying to know, I need to respect her decision not to tell me the truth." "You don't have to tell me, but if it's the sole reason why you refused," he pointed his right index finger above her head, "Then you must be a complete moron for holding a grudge for this long. You're a changeling that refuses to change, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That's the true definition of insanity!" She wasn't venting out when James called her a moron, Chrysalis tried finding the right words to say next when she muttered, "But, Starlight...she ruined everything! Not only my plans to conquer Equestria, but she destroyed my whole life's work! She doesn't understand what's it like when the ones you care about go through change!" "Brain blast!" James sighed, "So what about Starlight!? You would be surprised at what she did to a small town, stealing their freedom and brainwashing them. All because her foalhood friend left to attend magic school because he got his cutie mark, and I'm not going to talk about how she used Starswhirls spell to travel back in time to stop Twilight and her friends from getting their cutie marks and Twilight having to go on a wild goose chase to stop her and ended off being the first student of friendship. " "She...did all of that?" Pulling out his phone and tapping on a few tabs later, James prepared to display the season 5 premiere where Twilight and her friends entered a rural town with the dictatorship authority of Starlight. He fast forwards the unnecessary parts and showed her scenes of STarlight stealing each cutie mark from the townsfolk, and showing the dark side of her. Everyone including the changeling hive saw a side of their heroine they had never seen before, even catching Thorax off guard as the clips rolled by. "Wow, she was so upset that Sunburst moved away, she started to plot a quarter of her life to destroy cutie marks but then apparently obtained a cutie mark herself just so that she could practice high-leveled alicorn magic to take away said cutie marks?" said Pharynx, "To be honest...that's kinda dumb and hypocritical of her." "That's debatable to the fandom, but that's far from the point." James was rambling nonsense that it didn't phase Pharynx or Thorax, "She plotted revenge on the sole purpose of her foalhood friend's departure, in this case, a cutie mark, and bent on taking revenge on said cutie marks by taking them? Hmmm, where have I heard of that before? Seeing the video footage of Starlight doing all of her sinister tasks and attitude was making Chrysalis feel something she hasn't felt before. It was hard to describe like it was clawing inside her at the back of her mind. She stood there facing down as this strange feeling eats her on the inside. "What is this? Why do I feel something strange inside? What did you do to me!?" "What did I do?" Answered James with another question, shrugging his arms, "Tell me what this 'feeling' you're talking about?" "It is difficult to explain it with words. Every time I see these events, I find a hint of similarities between us, but I had nothing to do with them at all, I wasn't there when it happened. Arrgh! What is this sensation I'm experiencing!" Chrysalis placed her forelegs on her temples, figuring out how to get rid of these emotions stirring up. All James did was put up a small grin as he answered, "Chrysalis, that's sympathy you are feeling. The sorrow you felt of your hive drastically changing their whole lives matches with Starlight's feelings when Sunburst got his cutie mark. It probably wasn't the same events you experienced, but the moment he obtained a cutie mark was the sole purpose of her. But, she found out that all it took was a bit of understanding to thwart her plans and became the first student of friendship. She ended up making amends to Sunburst and rekindled their bond. Things are never going to change for the better unless you don't change yourself. Speaking of change, It seems that the changelings here still miss you, look at their faces..." Reaching out his index finger to the faces of the changelings, James directed Chrysalis to steer her attention to all of her children from the hive. All she could think to believe were expressions of disappointment and disgust were a mix between anxiety and sadness, most of the changelings were even teary-eyed. "You, miss me?" she could barely keep more tears falling from her tear ducts, asking out loud. "Of course we do! You'll always be our queen!" a changeling in the near front of the crowd praised her. "We want you to come back, we've learned so much more about love and friendship! We don't even need to feast apon it!" cried another changeling next to the previous one. "I...I don't know what to say..." tears were forming around Chrysalis' eyes once again, "I left you all behind to fend for yourself, thought that you could never want me back. The love you all share is strong, I can sense it." "Then why not share it yourself?" asked Thorax, slowly walking up to her, "It's easy, just..." "I can't...I just...can't!" CHrysalis repented on the idea again, averting her face away from him. "Why not?" "Because...I..." She was stopped by James, throwing up his palm to gesture to her, "Enough! If you wish to remain like this, it's your choice. Now Chrysalis, tell me this; Even after everything you went through today, do you still want to plot revenge on Starlight? All of your changelings miss you, they are willing to take their time teaching you what they learned to get you up to speed on their new way of lifestyle, and Thorax is a lousy leader." "Pffft, thanks for that one..." moped Thorax. It took a while before Chrysalis could fathom to answer his question, having a lot to take this all in as she again looked at herself shackled. Seeing the emotional turmoil Starlight Glimmer went through in her youth, and her sinister ploy in response to it, all to be stopped by Twilight's encouraging offer of friendship. It was the same thing Starlight was offering her, however, she turned her down and ran away. "I..." A single letter came out from her breath, as Chrysalis proceeded onwards, "...I don't...not anymore..." The second she spoke up, Thorax and the rest of the crowd were shocked by her frail-sounding tone and teary eyes. This was one of the rarest times their hive mother showed a bit of emotion from her. James could simply let all the gasps fill the atmosphere as he slowly walked over to Pharynx's side and prepared to reach over his ear. "You can unchain her now, and give her back her magic too," he whispered, with Pharynx showing a little look of concern on his face. "Are you sure about that? What if she tries to pull a fast one on us?" "We won't find out if we don't test the waters. Besides, I won't hesitate to throw her in Tarturus if she tricked all of us. Now, do it!" One stern answer from James was already enough for Pharynx to comply with his order. He got his horn lit up and began to unlock all the chains and shackles that were restraining Chrysalis, one by one they clung to the ground. The poor changeling queen carefully rubbed the parts of her forelegs where the chains sealed, slowly as she can feel her magic slowly returning. Just a precaution, James readied his phone as he held it behind his back with his right hand and his left hand slightly raised ready to stop time in her direction. But, he could already tell that his precaution wasn't necessary when Chrysalis remained seated, acting all ashamed of herself from her flustered face. Thorax on the other hand walked upfront to her trying to keep his head all high and taking a big gulp. "Chrysalis...I just want to say, sorry..." he humbly apologized straight to her face as Chrysalis quickly turned her eyes at him. "Sorry for...rebelling against your orders, setting a coup over the hive ruler, practically changed our lifestyle for the foreseeable future...and calling you a terrible mother. " "No! I should be the one apologizing, I betrayed all of you for not accepting change! Trying to plot revenge after revenge for conquest, and everything!" she was practically bawling at this point, "I knew that my efforts always end in misery, I just couldn't accept to change! I will set things right, I promise you and to every one of my children that I can become a better ruler! But I don't have any idea how would I prove to myself that I'm willing to accept friendship?" "Now that the change of heart is already in motion, now to go to the final steps of the plan." "Unless..." taking a step forward in front of her, James reached for his pocket the six photos and strands of mane from the bearers of harmony to wave them around in front of her face. "...Unless you are willing to take matters into your hoof and set things right " "Set things right? How?" Over just inside the tree of harmony cave, James and Chrysalis exited out from the blue vortex that he made with his phone. He wasn't so worried about the inevitable future, he calmly lifted his hood to conceal his face and walked a couple of feet away from where Chrysalis stood to get a head start. But slowly, he turned his head back to give her a bit of explanation. "We're close by, I'll watch you from a distance from here." James said in an orderly fashion, "Now, go on.." She answered with a slow nod and kept her quiet to preserve her energy as she peeked her head out of the cave and towards the campsite. Seeing the vast majority of creatures scattered all over the place and spot familiar faces too gave Chrysalis a chill down her spine. Step-by-step, she walked carefully as not to draw attention. Reaching just a few feet outside the cave, she now entered the premise of the campsite, but suddenly stopped when a pony she wasn't keen about was standing in front of her in the way of her stealth. Chrysalis has seen and transformed to many ponies before, but never one bearing two different eye colors, it piqued her interest. "Hmmm?" she hummed, noticing the bear silence of the colt not fearful of her, "Strange... I don't recall ever seeing you." The unusual colt chose his next words carefully when he spoke up, "You must be that Queen Chrysalis Ocellus' been talking about." "Ocellus..." Chrysalis repeated to him, "Of course, she would. What's your name, boy?" "Mobius," he answered. "Mobius, will you direct me to the location of Starlight?" asked Chrysalis, keeping her tone very sane, "I have something important to tell her." "Sure, why not?" Mobius was nonchalant about her presence, agreeing to lead her to Starlight. As the campsite was just finishing its last steps of preparation as most of them got their tents pitched up, Twilight and Starlight were inside a tent to prepare for the next tasks on schedule. She kept a long checklist and checked off another box from the list and scrunched her mouth like she was anticipating breaking their silence. "Twilight, is something wrong?" Starlight asked, across from her gathering some papers, "You seem tense." Her response was quick, but Twilight finally gathered the courage to answer her, "I'm alright, it's Mobius I'm worried about. We've been doing it for so long, it's getting bland for us. I think I need to push him if I want to get results out of him, perhaps you can help out!" "Woah! T-M-I Twilight!" barfed Starlight, gagging at the sight of Twilight's words, "...but maybe I could get back at his sister if I..." "No! Not like that!" shouted Twilight, "I was talking about his magic lessons. I want him to push himself to the limits if he wants to learn the hardships of casting. He's already at advanced Unicorn Techniques Vol 3; The same stuff they teach at Celestia's school!" "Oh...Oh yeah, I can teach him some things." Starlight giggled, "To think that the Princess of Friendship would be in the hoofs of her former student." But soon after, the tent flap that was zipped up shut flew open as Rainbow Dash's head popped through it, seeing a slightly concerned look on her face that made Starlight and Twilight act clueless. "Rainbow? What's the matter?" "Uhh..." she wasn't eager to answer right away as her voice droned on, "...Y-You better take a look at this..." Twilight and Starlight both teleported simultaneously out of the tent and over the campsite, which was very eerie as no creature was speaking at the moment. They were focused mainly on the unsuspected guess that arrived at their campsite. The only thing they spotted was Mobius walking in front of somecreature they never expected to see ever again. Especially for Starlight, it clicked inside her head as she quickly trotted over to intercept. "Chrysalis!" she barked at her, gently pushing Mobius aside as her horn was on standby, "What are you doing here? And what are you about to do to Mobius!" "Mobius!" He didn't expect to be tackled by Twilight as her hooves wrapped around his neck and began to cradle him back and forth. She squeezed her cheeks onto his and continued to rub his chest. "Are you alright? Did the bad lady hurt you or steal your love?" "Twilight...I'm fine!" Mobius teleported away from her grasp and quickly turned to Starlight, "Stop Starlight! She didn't try to attack me, she was just calling for you!" "Of course, she would..." Starlight slowly dimmed the glow from her horn, but kept vigilance as her stance was still active, "What are you up to? Revenge? Another scheme to conquer Equestria? " The tension was rising from the ground up, the students being shielded behind the adults, and Radial Shine playing along with this whole scene. It took a few seconds before Chrysalis could conjure up her answer. "Starlight Glimmer...I have come to..." but, the longer she continued her words, there were brief moments of pauses followed by a sniffling noise coming from her snout. "A-Atone for my crimes!" "What?" It was rather an awkward and tension-breaking event for Starlight and the rest of the creatures, seeing the changeling queen breaking down into a vulnerable state as she wrapped her forelegs around Starlight and cried on her side. Starlight barely could fathom what was happening right now, she stood with all the confused look on her face as Chrysalis' started to break down. It was dumbfounding to see someone as wicked as her crying on the spot. "Wow, is that your mother Ocellus?" Silverstream pointed at the bawling changeling with a talon, as she stared at Ocellus next to her in total embarrassment. "I...guess so?" she answered pretty much flustered. "I-I planned to steal the elements of harmony by creating phony replicates of Twilight and her friends!" she gave her the full explanation of her scheme, retracting from her hug and stepping back a few steps before she transformed into Shutterbug, "I was the one who took the photos of them and lucked strands of their mane! It was me the whole time!" "WHAT!?" Twilight and her friends gasped, breaking their mean glares in seconds. "Y-You were that weird photographer!?" Starlight could only try to make sense of all of this breaking discovery. "Why are you here then? Aren't you going to attack us?" "Attack? No, I came to say..." reverting to her true self, Chrysalis immediately choked on her next few words as it was difficult for her to say it out loud, "To say...I'm sorry!" "Oh my Celestia!" Rarity placed her foreleg onto her mouth in dramatic effect, "She just said the S word!" Thinking this as some elaborate scheme to gain everyone's trust was out of the picture, Starlight was still confused as to why she was acting like this. Are these feelings of sorrow real?, she asked herself. She wanted to get more information pried out of her by quickly getting to the point of things. "Why the sudden change of heart? Or is this some plan of yours to gain sympathy points from us?" The word strike her like lightning, Chrysalis jerked her head up in response to the particular word and proceeded to hold Starlight by her sides, "Sympathy? Yes...I knew exactly what you've been through! Your foalhood friend left because he received his cutie mark and left you all alone. It strived you to plan your revenge by enslaving a whole town and stealing all of their freedom. Those feelings of loss and anger have a great resemblance to what I went through. Even if minor details weren't the same, we share a common sorrow!" The jaw of Starlight was left wide open, processing all of this for a brief moment, "H-How did you know all of that?" It was when Applejack left Mobius and trotted over next to Starlight, seeing how Chrysalis and her unusual behavioral patterns and speech, "Starlight, I believe she's telling the truth on this one; this ain't no lie at all!" "R-Really?" Twilight was next to come up to her, leaving Mobius from behind, "You mean all of that Chrysalis?" Chrysalis nodded. "Yes, I've seen it all! How my envy grew when my changelings transformed and changed their lifestyle. How I was the one who betrayed them all. Even...how I'm a horrible mother for leaving them!" "Mother?" the three mares cringed up on that last one. "But they still wanted me back! Even after I strayed away from them!" the first time, Chrysalis pulled up a precious smile on her face, still having tears formed up in her eyes, "I never thought they would still love me even for what I've done to them! But...I need dire assistance!" "And that assistance would be?" Twilight made sure she would finish her sentence, anticipating Chrysalis to answer. "Please! Teach me the ways of friendship!" coming down to a kneeling position, the eagerness to learn friendship filled Chrysalis as she begged right in front of them. Spawning in the list from thin air, Twilight carefully skimmed through the array of checks to make sure she didn't miss a step, "Wow...this wasn't part of the list." "Wowy! She's really serious about learning about friendship!" Fluttershy added, slowly gesturing the rest of her friends to step forward. "Girls, would you like to call in an emergency meeting?" Fluttershy got the rest of the mares formed a huddled circle with their heads leaned in to whispered amongst themselves. Even Radial was caught up in this, even though she knows exactly what was going on behind the scenes, she had to act all clueless about it. Just when it was over, Mobius' side was lightly tapped by Smolder as to join their huddle circle when they quickly got together. He squeezed in between Gallus and Silverstream when they all scrunched their faces together. "So, what are we talking about?" he had to ask, only to get visible shrugs from a few. "I don't know, they're doing it, we just don't want to look dumb by all of this!" Smolder answered him, "What do yo uneven do in these things?" "Look, the teachers broke their circle!" Sandbar quickly poked his head out to see the mares separate from their huddle circle. As the eight mares got back from their meeting, they directed all eyes on Chrysalis, who seemed eager to figure out what kind of judgment they'll pass on her. Twilight was the first to break their silence, as she firmly stated herself in front of the changeling. "Chrysalis, the girls and I have talked about it, and we have come to a conclusion." pausing for a dramatic effect, Twilight called forth her authoritative nature, "We decided to have mercy!" "Wait, are you?" "Yes silly!" blurted Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down in joy, "You're welcome to learn about friendship! I mean, there's a school for that!" Happiness filled Chrysalis' face as she lightened up her mood, "R-Really!? I couldn't believe you would be so much forgiving after I ruined your brother's wedding, and cocooned you in my hive!" "Okay...you're pushing it..." Twilight clenched her teeth for a tad second, as she went over another piece of information, "But Chrysalis, if you're content of attending the school of friendship and learn the ways of friendship, you must first...say it..." "Say what?" she wasn't sure what Twilight was awning about, it caught her off guard for a moment. "You know," continued Twilight, "Three words; the first one starts with an 'F', the second one an 'I' and the last one an 'M'. Do that and you're 100% on board!" It immediately clicked in her, turning her head away for a brief moment. "Oh, that?" "Yes...now say it..." With one huge cough and a big gulp, Chrysalis took all her guts and wits to say the words that Twilight and her friends were eager to hear her say. "F-F-FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!" "OH, AMAZING! SHE SAID IT! SHE SAID THE THING!" Twilight was squealing hard as the joy spread amongst her friends, "We've got another special student of friendship aboard the ride!" Twilight and her friends got together and hoisted up Chrysalis as she was lifted off the ground and only held by the forelegs of the ponies. The students on the other hand were smiling from the distance, especially Ocellus, where she was shedding tears from her eyes that made the rest of them notice it. "Why is Yona's friend sad? Should be happy!" Yona said. "I'm not sad Yona...I'm happy..." she sniffed while answering her, "Mobius...that Jo guy did get her to change." "Jo?" Gallus raised his brow over the unfamiliar name, "Who's Jo?" "That would be me!" The celebratory cheers ended short as an unfamiliar voice was heard from everyone in the campsite. James couldn't keep it in much longer, but it was the first time he was visibly going to reveal his presence in front of the six and the students. He slowly took his time step-by-step to the campsite where everyone was standing at. His staggering height was enough for them to see his tall figure and sealed face from the brinks of their necks. "Everyone looks small upfront, guess that's where the 'Little' comes from in the title." "Woah! That creature is huge!" Sandbar took a while to marvel at the behemoth. "Whatever it is, it looks creepy!" jittered Silverstream. "I don't know about you guys, but it looks kinda badass..." hiding a small smug on his face, Mobius complimented on the 'unknown figure'. "Who goes there?" Twilight quickly changed her mindset and stared down at the creature, ignoring the height of the creature, "What's your name?" "My name is Jo Amon, a pleasure to meet you upclose your majesty!" James made a quick bow gesture ingratitude of her presence, "This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me." "Enough with the formalities." she barked, "My name is..." "Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship and bearer of the element of magic." he surprisingly finished her sentence to keep her quiet, "No need to introduce your friends too, because I know everything about them." "No way!" Rainbow Dash scoffed at his presence, "I bet you don't even know me at" "Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria, and the first one to perform a sonic rainboom. You have a pet tortoise named Tank, and you adore the Daring Doo series like it's your life." He pointed a finger back and Rainbow Dash, making her gasp. Mulling over the strange digits from the creature's limbs, Twilight analyzed them as of the knee exactly who the creature before them was. She needed to throw it out there, "Hang on! Those are fingers! You're a human! But how did you keep your form when entering the mirror? The magic should be able to transform you into a creature of this world!" He didn't expect her to catch up on him being a human, so James simply played it off as it was of no importance, "That's simple, I am not a human from that world but another! It's similar, but rather different at the same time." "It's him!" Chrysalis shouted in excitement, "The one that helped me see the error of my ways! Amon! They truly accepted me into their school of friendship, and all I did was apologize as you said. To that, I thank you!" "What!?" The mares gasped in total unison, "You're the one that confronted Chrysalis?" He made a nodding gesture with his head, "She was about to do something she was going to regret, I made sure that she didn't go through with it and setup a little intervention at her hive. No need to thank me, just doing this out of kindness." "Even if that's all true, she hasn't shared her love at all!" added Starlight, keeping a close eye on the creature. Lifting his right index finger, he went and pointed straight at Starlight, "Correct. However, it was her choice not to share her love and remain who she is. You can't force her into making the right choices, you just need to make sure you understand her from where she stands. Like how you were the one who made all of her children change on the spot. You should know what it felt like for her from your childhood. Shame on you!" "I...uhh..." Starlight was choking on the next few words to respond, like everything he said wasn't particularly false. "...I guess, I kinda did all that stuff to her." "Exactly! I just came here to make things clear," He was proceeding to walk forward, close to Twilight and her friends, "I won't be bothersome to all of you, all I'm asking is your forgiveness of Chrysalis and make her a student of friendship. She's been through a lot lately." "O-Of course we'll teach her the ways, and you seemed to be non-threatening." confirmed Twilight, "But that doesn't change the fact that you're a human in the land of Equestria! It's just, such a fascinating discovery!" "Say, Amon..." Chrysalis slowly walked up to him with a small smile, "T-Thanks again for all of this, it means so much to me now that I realized my fatal error. Would you like to stay around here?" "Yes! I've got tons of questions about this world of yours!" jumped Twilight, preparing her quill and paper on standby. "My humble apologies, but I must be going now to do research of my own." He answered with a formal bow. "I bid you good luck on teaching Chrysalis about the importance of friendship!" Chrysalis and the other ponies were bummed for the strange human not sticking around at the campsite. While they were staring at him walking across the area and to the flight of stairs, he had to keep his cool to not break his character, but he felt internally over at the long flight up. "Shit! Why did I have to take the flight of stairs!?" "So...what happens now?" Rarity placed that thought out there, trying to make sense of all of this, "Some strange creature randomly shows up and helped Chrysalis shed light on friendship and he just leaves like that? What is he going to do next?" "I don't know about you girls, but he seems very easy to get along with. Like I already know him." keeping a small smile on her face, Twilight quickly got things prepared for the next thing on the schedule, "Alrighty! I'll just have to squeeze Chrysalis into the activities, this will make up for her friendship orientation!" So far, James had accomplished the first half of his mission, he was huffing out from his mouth as he took the final step up from the campsite and began to catch his breath at a nearby tree stump a few feet away. Almost on the verge of passing out, he took his time to recollect his mind. "I have already done 50% of my work, and it's just the first half of season 8. Now, to tackle onto the big boys, literally. Tirek should be stuck in Tarturus, but I have no clue what to do with him! As for King Sombra, maybe the backup plan will do the trick, but that's not a true solution. Oh well, better not to overthink it now, so far I need to rest and take it." Just when he thought he was alone, two ponies seemingly followed him way up to the surface; Radial and Mobius. They made sure they weren't followed exactly as the two slowly reached next to Radial. "You did it," complimented Radial, scratching her chin, "I'm guessing you gave her a talking of the century?" He quickly got out his phone and into the transformation app, where he tapped on the icon to end his conscious clone and made Mobius vanish at the sight. Then, he quickly tapped onto the transformation button to bring him back into his unicorn form. "It was not me that told her off, it was Thorax..." corrected Mobius, "Even getting help from Harmony and her feature. Now, what brings you here?" "Twilight asked me to check up on this 'Jo Amon' fellow, but he doesn't seem to be here." the sarcastic tone of Radial sparked her voice, "I guess it's just you and me, Mobius..." He already took notice of her curiosity as he played along, "Oh shoot! Better go tell Twilight about the bad news." "After telling Twilight and her friends the strange disappearance of Jo Amon, I enjoyed a full day of activities with my friends and the six. Chrysalis was hitching along too, but they were awkward vibes coming from her and Starlight. Guess they still needed time to be around each other. After doing some hiking, scavenger hunts, and other friend-based activity. It was getting pretty dark as dinner was just about to wrap up." It was getting pretty dark outside from the looks of the moon rising from Princess Luna, luckily the campfire was already started from Starlight. Everycreature got around in a circle and told ghost stories along the way. But after the final story from Rainbow Dash, Twilight reminded every creature that it was time to hit the hay. "Alright, folks! It's getting pretty late, so I want you all getting ready to sleep!" she announced, "Tomorrow is the second day of our friendship retreat, so be ready!" After waving a few of his friend's goodnight and separating, Mobius was immediately stopped by Twilight placing her foreleg on his shoulder area. It gave him a slight mewl from her soft and warm touch. "Oh Mobius, I just want to mention," she saw him turning his head towards her, looking very curious, "I gave Chrysalis permission to sleep in your tent. Sorry about that." He wasn't too disappointed, Chrysalis did join this camping trip last minute, he just had to figure out one thing, "It's fine but, where do I get to sleep?" The only thing Twilight did to answer him was a small faint grin on her face followed by a slight elevation of her right brow when she turned her eyes toward an open tent...her tent, to be precise. This drastic change caused Mobius to be so appalled, his jaw nearly dropped a few inches in awe. "Fuck yeah!" Twilight let out a whisper to his ear, "That's right handsome...you'll be sleeping with..." "Your big sister! Now come on!" Their touching moment was cut short by Radial teleporting in front of the alicorn as she gently slapped her hoof off of her little brother. He said nothing, as his short-lived euphoria, ended with him sleeping in the same tent as his sister. Twilight sighed in utter disappointment as she slowly walked to her tent head down. James always dreamed of cuddling with his best pony, and it could happen. But sadly, it was taken away by his very own sister. "Mission failed...we'll get em next time..."