//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: Feeding 
// Story: Prelude and Encore: A Tale of Friendship, Betrayal, and Forgiveness 
// by WritingDragonfly 
//------------------------------//

	Spike rounded the hill on the way to the bench, a book in hand. Looking off to the edge of the forest, he saw an orange pony sitting on the bench. He grinned. "Things are getting quite interesting." He ran towards the bench and started waving towards the pony. "Hey!"

The pony looked up. Giving a slight smile, she raised a hoof. "Why, hello, baby dragon."

Spike arrived at the bench. "You lied to me yesterday, you know that?"

"Wha?" Chrysalis looked confused. "Look at who yer' talkin' to, Sugarcube." 

Spike chuckled. "It is so weird hearing you talk like that."

Chrysalis scrunched up her nose. "Am ah' really talkin' like her?"

"Yup. And it's hilarious."

Chrysalis frowned at him. "Anyway, whaddaya mean, 'I lied?'"

"About the spell you mentioned." Spike sat down on the bench and opened the book he had brought with him. "I decided to look it up last night, and I think I found it. What's the last line of the spell?"

Chrysalis tilted her head. "Ah' believe... 'This is the fate that I select.'"

"Well then, I was right. It isn't a emotion abandonment spell, exactly."

Chrysalis looked at him, slightly annoyed. "Well, ah' was simplifyin' it."

Spike looked up at her incredulously. "There's a pretty big difference between 'abandoning emotions' and 'not letting emotions sway your actions.'"

Chrysalis sighed. "Alright, alright. What the spell actually does is stops emotions from directly affecting yer actions. It's pretty severe though; it can make ya' seem like yer nearly emotionless. That's why ah' said that it makes you abandon yer emotions."

"Okay. That makes sense. And that's pretty much what the book said."

Chrysalis frowned. "But it's odd ya' were able to find that. Ah' thought it was a spell written by a changeling..."

"Apparently not." Spike pointed to the book. "However, the book doesn't mention the author of the spell..."

"Does it mention how ta' revert the spell?" Chrysalis was suddenly looking at him pleadingly.

Spike shook his head. "No. It only mentions the rhyme you told me yesterday."

Chrysalis sighed. "Oh well."

Spike gave her an inquisitive look. "Why are you so desperate for the method of reverting the spell?"

"It's been sought out by the changelings fer a long time..." She looked down at her hooves. "There are many of my subjects that have cast the spell and regret it..." She sighed. "Well, they regret it as much as they possibly can in their state..."

"Ouch." He looked down and closed the book. "By the way, you stopped talking like Applejack."

"Did I?" Chrysalis looked at the dragon. "I wonder, can you figure out why?"

"You can't just tell me?" Spike pouted.

"Nope." Chrysalis gave a devious smile. "This is revenge for the little 'Who do I like' challenge you gave me."

Spike sighed. "Can you at least give me a hint?"

Chrysalis looked off to the side, thinking. "Hmmm... You should think about the spell a little bit."

Spike drooped his head. "That's it?"

"Come on. It's not that hard."

Spike sat silent for about a minute. Then he spoke.

"So, the spell stops emotions from swaying your actions... in addition, as a drawback, it prevents a changeling from innately taking on the personality of one they copy..."

Chrysalis nodded in confirmation.

"If I combine those two thoughts, then I guess it means that the reason you copy their personality is that you actually copy their emotions, and let those sway you into acting like them... however, with the spell, that doesn't happen anymore..."

Chrysalis gave a slight smile.

"So then, what just happened is that your own emotions became more powerful than the ones you copied from Applejack, since you were thinking of the misfortunes of your subjects... Am I right?"

Chrysalis nodded once again. "You're quite smart for your age, baby dragon."

Spike sighed with relief. "Thank you."

Chrysalis stood up. "Since you figured that out, I guess... is there anything you are curious about, concerning changelings?"

Spike thought for a moment, then stood up. "I'm a bit curious about the way changelings feed."

Chrysalis looked up. "There isn't that much you don't already know..." She suddenly smiled and looked back at Spike. "You know what? Let's go into town. I'll show you first hand." With that, there was a flash of green, and she had transformed into a pegasus with a pinkish coat and a brownish mane.

Spike grinned. "Airheart, eh? You must be paying attention; she doesn't show up around here too often."

Chrysalis grinned back. "Exactly why I picked her. Let's go."







There weren't many ponies in the town square when Chrysalis and Spike arrived. "It is getting kind of late, isn't it..." Spike muttered.

Chrysalis began to look around. "Who can I manipulate here the easiest..." Her eyes finally settled on a blue unicorn with a white and blue striped mane. "Spike, who is he?"

"That... " Spike thought for a moment. "That's Pokey Pierce."

"See how it looks like he's waiting for someone? That's my opportunity." Her eyes flashed green.

"Good luck." Spike grinned. "With your track record, you'll need it."

"Shush! I'll signal you over if I succeed." Chrysalis flew towards the unicorn. "Oh, Pierce!"

From that point on, Spike couldn't make out the conversation too well. He was able to see Pierce's eyes flash green for a moment, though. "Is she gonna get it right this time...?"

Suddenly, Pierce looked confused. He said something, and Chrysalis stepped back and gave a response.

Spike sighed. "And suddenly, everything goes downhill..."

Pierce got angry, and began to yell, suddenly giving Spike ability to hear the conversation.

"I don't know where you got that idea from, Airheart, but you're not my marefriend!" Pierce stomped off in a huff.

Chrysalis stood still for a second, then quickly flew back toward Spike. "That didn't work it was stupid I drew attention to myself let's go," she said, mashing all of her words into one sentence. 

Spike chuckled and they both ran the way back to the bench.







They arrived at the bench shortly after, both out of breath.

"Wow, Chrysalis," Spike said. "That was professional right there." His tone was snarky and sarcastic.

Chrysalis looked away from Spike, and stayed silent.

"I mean, really, you should make a job out of it!"

Chrysalis looked at the dragon. "It IS my job, Spike!"

Spike was taken aback. There were tears in her eyes.

"I have to protect my people, I have to help them survive, I have to keep them from starving... but I can barely get food for myself, let alone others..."

Spike opened his mouth to reply, but stopped, unable to find the words to say.

"I'm a terrible queen. It's as simple as that."

"Alright, stop right there." Spike was staring at Chrysalis, determined.

"Wh...what?"

"I won't let you degrade yourself like that. You're not a terrible queen." Spike smiled. "I'm not sure how well I know the real you, but from what I've seen, you are caring. You worry so much about your subjects. And that's one of the most important aspects of a good leader. Don't go calling yourself a terrible queen just because you haven't mastered a stupid hypnosis spell! You can learn that! But you can't 'learn' compassion! You can't 'learn' kindness! You have what's important!"

Chrysalis stared at Spike, dumbfounded. Then she gave a slight smile, and wiped her eyes. "I guess you're right."

Spike gave a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry about teasing you."

Chrysalis gave him a kind look. "It's alright. ...Shouldn't you be going?"

Spike looked at the sky. "Oh, jeez!" He started running off towards the library. "See you tomorrow!" he called back to Chrysalis.

She smiled. "Goodbye, baby dragon!"

Spike disappeared out of sight. Chrysalis sighed, and looked at the bench. She gasped.

"He forgot the book..."