//------------------------------// // "Hello, Chryssie. Nice to Peck You!" // Story: My Little Villains // by HiddenUnderACouch //------------------------------// "So, how is the rice pudding?" Fluttershy asked, pushing her empty bowl away. Her belly purred a little, thanking her for this delicious breakfast and, surprisingly, her body felt even lighter than before. "It's awesome!" Sombra exclaimed excitedly, his lips covered in the pudding. "Best thing ever!" Fluttershy smiled. The foals certainly had quite an appetite. Sombra, for example, had just emptied his third bowl. She found that the young child demanded a lot of food to grow and function properly and Fluttershy was happy to provide it. "’Tis very good. The flavour could use a little bit of diversity, but I liked it a lot. Would definitely eat again," Nightmare Moon said, swiping away the remains of the pudding off her lips with a white towel, like a gentlemare. "I'd recommend adding some spices, either southern or eastern. They specialize in making dishes of rice, so their spices fit right in!" "Meh," Chrysalis said, pushing the bowl away from her. "I've eaten better." Fluttershy felt a little hurt about Chryssie's disregard of her efforts, but she didn't say anything. Maybe her skills as a cook weren't as high as she had assumed. The clock on the wall let out a loud chirp and a little wooden nightingale jumped out of the house. Fluttershy got a little lost for a moment before she realized what time it was: time to go out into the yard and do her daily chores. She was about to fly out immediately, when Nightmare Moon's voice interrupted her train of thought. "So, what should we do now?" she prodded, pushing the bowl away. Fluttershy became a little confused. It was a good question, what should they do? She obviously couldn't leave them alone at home; no good would come out of that! Taking them outside seemed like a bad idea but, she couldn't keep them inside her house forever. Besides, some fresh air would be ideal for their young bodies. "We can go outside. There is a lot to do there," Fluttershy offered. "I have a lot of animals that need—" Before she could finish her sentence, the trio jumped from their seats and rushed outside through the door. "—tending," Fluttershy finished lamely, knowing very well nopony was listening anymore. She really had disrupted her usual schedule, but she hoped the animals would understand and forgive her as she had three little foals to take care of. Fluttershy put all the dirty dishes into the sink—she would wash them later—and went outside. Her body shuddered at the feeling of the soft morning breeze touching her skin. The sun rose, its warmth already drawing many of her pets out of their homes. The chicks strode around behind the fence, their mamas watching carefully, mindful of any threats. Their proud fathers patrolled near the feeding stand, ready to lash out on anypony who approached it. The bees swarmed near the garden area, trying to pollinate as many flowers as they could. Fluttershy took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself for the chores. So, what did she have to do? She had to feed the chickens; water the flowers; bring food to the bears, boars, spiders, bunnies, hares, butterflies... Chrysalis squinted and took a good look around herself. Fluttershy's yard was filled with all kinds of animals but, none were familiar to the young changeling. It felt so weird admitting it, but she knew absolutely nothing about her surroundings! A small bug with multicoloured wings landed on her nose. At first, the young changeling got confused, for she had never seen a bug this colourful. It had beautiful colour pattern on its wings, which confused the changeling's young mind even more. All the spins and whirls and the big hairy spiders... "Aah!" Chrysalis shrieked, as the big spider jumped off her muzzle, landing into the soft grass. "Sweet gosh, it's humongous!" Chrysalis had seen spiders back in the fledgling room, where she had been born, the corners of that place always had webs in them and where the webs were, there were always spiders. Chrysalis hated the fledgling room. Stupid caves. The big spider looked at her with all of its eight eyes, and suddenly took a menacing position, as it was preparing to jump. It seemed quite capable of doing so; its legs were long and strong enough to allow it to jump back on Chrysalis's face. The filly put her gameface on and prepared to strike back at the vermin, when suddenly it stuck one of its long legs into the area behind its pincers. Whatever tricks you've got up your legs, I'm ready! Chrysalis thought, when suddenly, instead of something menacing like a stream of acid or a bone twice as big as itself, the spider took out a pretty white flower and extended its leg to Chrysalis, offering it to her. It tried its best to express happiness with all eight eyes, even going so far as to try to make a smile out of whatever it had for a mouth. "Ha!" Chrysalis spat and depreciatingly slapped the flower out of the spider's leg. "Offer your flowers to somepony else!" She turned her attention away from the spider and looked around once more. All these animals, bugs and birds—there was so much life, so much movement in this place, so much to find out! So much to explore! The changeling decided to head for the small wooden house behind a fence that was not far from her current location, where the birds that couldn't fly were walking around. Chrysalis wanted to take a closer look at them. Maybe there was a reason why they couldn't fly. Maybe there was a mystery, a conspiracy she could discover! And hopefully no spiders to the face. Who knows what secrets this place held, what kind of ancient artefacts and long forgotten legends could be found in this house... which looked more like a shed. Maybe, just maybe, this Fluttershy was actually an archivist and hid powerful items in her yard. Maybe she was a magician and invoked these fantastic beings, these birds that couldn't fly. Though, it was unlikely, for Fluttershy didn't have a horn, thus she couldn't call upon magic. Had she both horn and wings, Chrysalis would have assumed that she and Nightmare Moon were related. Where was Nightmare Moon, anyway? Chrysalis scanned the surroundings, looking for the shadowy alicorn, but she was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't see her sparkly mane anywhere. What is so attractive about her mane, anyway? Chrysalis stopped for a second and stroked her own mane several times. Her curls were, in no way, worse—in fact, they were even more beautiful. Who couldn’t resist the charm of her long, straight, bright green hair? She just needed to take a pose and swing her mane around. Chrysalis sighed heavily and turned her sight to Sombra, who was resting under the sun. He could resist. He didn't even notice her, instead deciding to gobble up Nightmare Moon's mane. Of course, that was it, it was sparkly! Chrysalis gloomily turned away from Sombra and walked towards the fence. So what if he didn't notice me? It isn't like I wanted him to. I just don't like being ignored, that's all! Sombra closed his eyes and threw himself onto the soft grass. The ground was warm and yet a little wet. They should have gone out later, but he enjoyed the little bit of water on his coat. He saw no problem with that. The nature welcomed him, just as he welcomed it. Dozens of little critters came out of their hiding places to take a look at the dark-coloured foal, which, just like many animals here, rested under the sun's warm gaze, enjoying every single moment of it. A little red fox gathered all its courage and left his hiding place in a bush, walking carefully and slowly towards the strange foal. It measured every step, every movement, in order not to alert the pony. What if he was hostile? The unicorn simply smiled with his belly exposed to the sun and his fore-hooves held apart, as though he was about to hug the sun. The fox approached the foal and poked him on his side with its wet nose. He felt so warm and soft to the touch, so much so that the fox decided to poke him again. "Ow!" Sombra exclaimed and opened his eyes to see who was disturbing his sleep. Instead of something nasty, he saw the pointy muzzle of a fox and its deep green eyes. "Oh... hi! Is this... your spot? Should I move?" Sombra asked with a nervous smile. He was new here and the last thing he wanted to do was to make enemies. "I don't mind... I don't mind at all." The fox sniffed at him, checking him for any unknown smell. He found none and sat down in front of him, tilted its head and just stared. Sombra looked back at the fox, scanning the critter that he had never seen before. "I know how foxes look like, but you're much puffier than foxes on any picture I've seen," Sombra pronounced with wonder, eager to touch the animal but afraid to do so. His most childish instincts roared inside him, urging him to just move forward and touch the animal, find out how it felt, run his hooves through its fur and... and bite its tail! It looked so puffy, so long, so tasty! But Sombra held back, his inner fledging adult telling him to keep cautious and stick to manes when it came to biting. This train of thought derailed violently as he came to think about Nightmare Moon again, instantly blushing when the image of him chewing on her mane while she tried to sleep— Or did she sleep? She said she wouldn’t slept at night. Sombra suddenly felt even weirder. Not only did he disturb Nightmare Moon, but he also had been stuck to her through whole night while she was awake! He felt so ashamed now... He got interrupted once more, when the feeling of a cold wet tongue was registered by his burning cheek. The fox continued to lick him, thinking that his cheek had turned into a lollipop, Sombra assumed. "Hey, hey, okay, enough," Sombra said, giggling. "Come on, stop." Truthfully, he didn't want it to stop. It was funny, tickly and strangely pleasing. It was like the fox wanted to be his friend and just showed it in a weird way. Still, this strange offer of friendship may not be ignored! Thinking he had understood the fox's intentions, Sombra smiled and licked its nose in the same manner as it did his cheek. The fox backed away slightly, as if Sombra had just tried to eat it alive. The foal smiled widely, closing his eyes. "I like your way of making friends," he said happily. "We are friends now, right?" He looked at the fox with a hopeful glance and it replied by licking his cheeks once more. "Yay! We are friends!" Sombra exclaimed. After a few licks, the fox ran away, leaving the unicorn to rest. Suddenly, a butterfly landed on his nose. It flapped its beautifully multicoloured wings and stared at Sombra. Then, he felt something climbing his back... and his belly. "Woah... he-he, not all at once!" Sombra said, giggling, as many little insects came to greet the newcomer. While others would scream, Sombra knew they weren't out to hurt him. They were out to tickle him. "He-he..ha-ha-ha... Oh-ha-ha-ha..." he could barely stand. His eyes filled with tears of joy as he saw other animals coming to greet him. He was surely going to have great time! ... bears and lizards that lived under a rock! After remembering all animals she had to take care of, Fluttershy quickly rushed to do her daily duties: first of which was to feed the chickens. They were always the most demanding ones, and would squeak for days until properly fed. Even carnivores weren't that demanding. It took minutes for Fluttershy to find the bag wherein she kept the grain. She quickly carried it to the chicken coop, humming a tune on her way. Several butterflies landed on her head and accompanied her. "What are you saying? A new foal? Oh, that must be Sombra," Fluttershy listened to the butterflies. "I hope he's not causing you trouble. Oh, he's your new friend? That's so delightful!" Sombra was actually making friends with her animals! What delightful news! She was glad her animals liked the new ponies; this would surely make their stay much more pleasant. Maybe not only Sombra, but others would try to make friends with her critters. Maybe even adopt them as pets! Sombra looked like he could use a pet tarantula; Nightmare Moon would love an owl and Chrysalis... She suddenly heard loud clucking in the coop, the sound of fighting and cracking wood. It seemed that the roosters had decided to pick a fight with each other again, or one of the foxes had wandered there accidentally. She hated when her animals fought. She always felt like she was responsible. "Oh, no! Not again!" she groused, dropping the bag of grain near the fence, planning to pick it up after solving the problem. Fluttershy quickly flew over the fence and approached the coop. "Please, my friends, there's no need to be hostile!" she said in a firm, but tender tone. "Come out, and we will have a civilized talk, like all chickens, hens and roosters should." There was no reply, and Fluttershy felt a little worried. Usually, they would immediately listen... "Ah! Stop pecking me!" Chrysalis's loud voice reached Fluttershy's ears. Then, the little changeling jumped out of the coop, a big rooster right behind her. Chrysalis turned her head just a little to see if he was chasing her and immediately received a painful peck on the head. In retaliation, she created a fragile wall of coruscant green energy and used it to push the rooster away from herself. "Leave me alone!" she shouted, putting all her power into this wall, which wasn't nearly enough to stop the angered animal. The rooster broke through and Chryssie panicked. Forgetting she had wings, she ran towards the hole in the fence, hoping to slip through it and escape. She ran so fast her hooves actually dug into the ground, throwing up the chunks of dirt into the air. The hole in the fence was her only chance of escaping, so she ran, ran as fast as she could. Her heart was pounding, blood pumping in her temples. She had to get away. "Aaah!" she screamed, as she slid into the hole. Her head fit through just nicely... The rest of her body didn't. The rooster approached the changeling, who, from this position, could only swing her tail around, hoping to slap the rooster across the face and drive him away from her backside. "Aaaargh, gosh darn it to heck!" she crowed, trying to push her body through. What an awkward position to be in. "Grr, you stupid bird!" Chryssie swore and then suddenly her eyes widened and her lip started to tremble. Fluttershy gasped as Chryssie unleashed a terrifying, blood chilling shriek as the rooster pecked her backside due to the absence of her head. "Waaaaaah!" she screamed, and tried to kick the rooster, but it already backed away. "You little, stupid, smelly feathery..." The rooster decided to give the noisy changeling another peck, but he stopped immediately when Fluttershy gazed at him with disappointment. "Mr. Tuft, that is enough!" she said in a strict voice. "You know better than peck silly fillies on the head! So stop right now!" The rooster looked at her with surprise in his eyes. "If... that's okay with you, of course..." Fluttershy blushed. The rooster nodded to her, recognizing Fluttershy, whom he knew and loved, and stalked away with his head held high, feeling proud about defeating a foe and protecting his hens. "Aaaaah..." Chryssie moaned, desperately trying to reach her behind with her forehooves. "It huuuurts." Fluttershy landed behind the fence and pushed Chryssie through the hole, finally freeing her. The poor filly quickly sat down on the ground, making sure the hurt bit of her butt touched the coldest part of it. "Why did you even go there?" Fluttershy asked, flying over the fence and landing near Chryssie. "You know the coop is the house for chickens, roosters and hens, right?" "Hens? Chickens? What are those?" Chryssie said, feigning ignorance, rubbing her behind. "Ouch, it hurts!" "Oh?" Fluttershy gasped. "Let me take a look at it. I can help you." Chryssie eeped, when the pegasus carefully positioned her in such a way that she could see where the peck landed. Fluttershy hummed thoughtfully. There was a small bruise, but nothing major. The little changeling got away easy. "I can apply some salve to ease the pain. It will take just a mome—" "No. There is nothing you need to apply to my butt, I'm perfectly fine!" Chrysalis replied, angrily shoving Fluttershy's hooves away. "I don't need your help!" "But Chrysalis, what's wrong with helping? I'll just apply some salve, there's nothing wrong with that!" Fluttershy said in a somewhat offended voice. She really wanted Chryssie to feel better around her, but the little filly clearly didn't want to even consider the idea. "Blah, I can handle myself just fine!" Chrysalis groused angrily, walking away from her. "Go help Nightmare Moon instead. That cry-baby could surely use your help! Bwah... Stupid bird." She rubbed the bruise several times and disappeared behind the corner of the fence, probably going to the nearest drinking bowl where she could apply some cold water. Fluttershy felt hurt by her words and even more by her behaviour. Out of all three, Chryssie seemed to be the meanest, possibly even a real bully. The kind pegasus didn't have to deal with a bully being in her care before. For a moment, she wished Twilight would hurry up and finish the spell, but quickly drove away those thoughts. There was no time to waste and still so much to do, so many animals to feed and treat. However, Chrysalis did have a good point... Fluttershy hadn't seen Nightmare Moon ever since she had finished recounting the animals she needed to feed today, which was quite a long list. She saw Sombra and Chrysalis, but, where was Nightmare Moon? Fluttershy turned around, scanning the surroundings for the traces of the dark alicorn but found none. She flew higher into the air, trying to cover more ground, but the filly was nowhere to be seen. "Nightmare Moon! Nightmare Moon!" She called for the child, hoping that she would at least give her a sign. No answer followed. Fluttershy really started to worry about Moon's wellbeing. What if something bad happened to her? What could the residents of Ponyville, the memory of the nightmarish arrival of the Eternal Night's Harbinger still alive in their minds, do to the defenseless alicorn? The thought was blood chilling. Suddenly, she noticed a little blue sparkly patch on the ground, ending right near the bushes. Realizing that it was the filly's mane, the horrified pegasus rushed down to help her, her heart beating like a drum. If anything bad happened to a filly she was supposed to watch over... What a nightmare! Fluttershy swoop down on the ground and ran towards the bush as fast as she could. All kinds of scary pictures were popping up in her mind, predicting the horrible fate that was awaiting the little filly in the bush. Horror, pure and sheer horror! Fluttershy moved the bush apart and looked around. The poor filly was lying on the ground, unconscious. The pegasus felt a chill run down her spine. "Oh no!" She gasped and kneeled before Nightmare. "Moon, are you okay? Please, answer me!" The alicorn didn't reply. Only her calm breath was the signal that she was still alive. Fluttershy grabbed the filly and lifted herself off the ground. She had to carry the poor little alicorn to the house at once! Her life might be in danger, she had to help her! She flew through the air as quick as she could, air whistling in her ears. She busted through the door right into the guest room and looked around with anxiety. Should she go upstairs and put the filly in her bed, or would it take too long? Fluttershy had no time to waste. She put the filly on the couch in such a way that she was looking at the ceiling. In the dimmer lighting of the room, Fluttershy had finally noticed the minor burns on the alicorn's body. The red skin was barely noticeable behind her dark colored fur, but some parts, especially her back, had been badly burned. Fluttershy wasn't an expert, but they looked liked a second-degree burns. "Oh, sweet Celestia, why is this happening?" Fluttershy muttered, tears filling her eyes. She felt so irresponsible for not looking out for the filly, allowing her to just collapse in the sun and get burned so badly. Fluttershy quickly flew to the kitchen, to make compresses with cold water. That should ease the pain. Before going back, she rushed to her room upstairs and got some anti-burn salves. The green liquid, contained in a small bottle, had saved her so much trouble whenever her animals got careless around fire, but now it could save a life. When Fluttershy returned to the room, holding the bottle in one hoof and the compress in another, Nightmare Moon had already woken up. She slowly turned her head and looked at the pegasus. Fluttershy was horrified by how sickly she looked. Her eyes were muddy and swollen, and her face sported shades of green. "Oh... what happened?" she muttered weakly. Fluttershy quickly approached her and put the compress near her to have a free hoof wherewith she could gently stroked her mane. "Oh, Moonie, you had me so worried." "Oh... ‘tis nothing. I just walked outside into the sun... Can't remember anything else..." the filly replied, touching her forehead. "I keep forgetting I shouldn't go into the daylight..." Fluttershy quickly figured out what was wrong. All these burns, all of them were caused by the sun but, why? Why would Nightmare Moon react to the sun in such a way? The answer seemed as obvious as it was scary. Nightmare Moon simply could not stay in the sun for too long. Her very essence reacted to the sunlight and hurt her frail young body. Fluttershy felt such sadness about it. That meant the poor filly would have to stay inside the house during the bright day, doing nothing, while the other children played. Even the thought of it seemed horrifying. "Poor little thing," Fluttershy cooed. "Tell me, how are you feeling? Do the burns hurt?" "They do... a little bit... I also feel... dizzy..." Nightmare Moon replied. Fluttershy felt another ball of sadness crawling up her throat. "Hang on, sweetie," Fluttershy said. "Could you please turn around? I have some salves here that will ease the pain." Without hesitation, though with some struggle, Nightmare Moon turned on her belly. Fluttershy carefully applied the salve on her hooves and started gently rubbing the oil onto the filly's back. A few minutes after Fluttershy finished, the extract dried out and sucked into Nightmare's skin. Her burns already looked much less dangerous and painful. To solidify the victory, Fluttershy applied the cold compress. The little filly eeped when she felt the chill running down her spine. "Fluttershy, I am grateful for thy help, but I am no ice-cream cone," she said, making Fluttershy giggle. "Don't worry, it's just some cold water," she said, and gently touched the filly's head. "I think I'm done. Are you feeling better?" "Yes... though still a little dizzy... and my stomach hurts," Nightmare Moon informed Fluttershy. The pegasus sighed heavily and gently rubbed her cheek against Moon's. "You should have told me that the sun hurts you. You endangered yourself greatly," Fluttershy said, feeling her usual shyness go away and her tender heart taking over. "I know... I just thought it would seem alienating to thee, that I can't walk out in the sun. That would ruin our relationship," she replied and Fluttershy felt the filly's cheeks get warmer. Her body temperature was rising, either because of the sickness, or because she felt awkward. "No, it wouldn't," Fluttershy replied. She stood near Nightmare Moon, thinking that her presence would make the filly feel better. However, her job was not yet done. She needed to get more salve and she had just used the last bottle of it. To heal the burns completely, she needed more. Fluttershy decided to put the filly to bed. In her state, staying in calm and quiet would help her recover faster. "Moonie, I need to go now. I hope you won't be angry if I put you to bed, and go get some more salve? I promise, it won't take too long," Fluttershy asked quietly. The filly nodded. "’Tis okay, Fluttershy. Worry not, I shan’t depart the world of the living," Nightmare Moon replied. Fluttershy carefully picked the filly up and wanted to carry her upstairs, but a wall of magical energy appeared in her way. "Nay, I wish not to bother thee anymore. Please, if thou wouldest be so kind, make me a bed as the ones provided for my comrades," Nightmare Moon asked quietly. Fluttershy wanted to protest, but decided not to. She felt the filly would not back down. *** The camp-cot had been set up. Fluttershy had found the puffiest blanket and a pillow she had left and set Nightmare Moon down into it gently. She had positioned her in such a way that she could feel comfortable and wouldn’t have to turn. While Nightmare Moon got used to the soft, bouncy cot, Fluttershy found a small wooden bucket and put it to the side of the filly's cot. "Wherefore is that?" Moonie asked and Fluttershy got a little confused. "It's a... a trash bin. In case you feel... very, very sick, you should use it. Don't worry, I'll clean everything up," she explained. Nightmare Moon made an expression of disgust, clearly understanding what she meant. "Eew, ‘twould be unladylike of me!" she noted, and tried to pull her hind legs closer to herself. Hidden under the puffy, white blanket, she felt warm and protected. "Are you comfortable? Do I need to bring more pillows?" Fluttershy asked, but Moonie shook her head. "Nay, I feel very good. Thank you, Fluttershy," she smiled at the pegasus, causing her to melt inside. Nightmare Moon looked so cute when she was smiling. Her little fangs didn't look menacing at all, and her big sparkly eyes only made her look even cuter. She was like a little kitten. Fluttershy felt such tender in her heart the moment she looked at the alicorn. "Now, sleep, sweetie. I'll be back soon with help," Fluttershy said and leaned towards the filly. Nightmare Moon carefully raised her head, putting her horn out of the way and let the pegasus kiss her forehead. The poor filly was on fire. It seemed that she had suffered a sunstroke as well as the burns. Fluttershy felt so sorry for poor Nightmare Moon, that she felt that one kiss wasn't enough, and kissed her once more on the cheek. She smiled at Moonie after kissing her and wanted to leave, but the filly spoke once more. And those words, Fluttershy would remember the rest of her life. "Nopony has called me Moonie before... And, in my opinion, it sounds very lousy and poorly constructed grammatically... But, when thou say’st it, it sounds so... lovely," Nightmare Moon spoke slowly, as if it’d take great effort to enunciate her thoughts. "Thank you for caring for me, Fluttershy. You're the kindest pony in the world." Fluttershy had never thought that she would get praised by Nightmare Moon, a pony whom she was taught to be afraid of since her foalhood. Even though she had already befriended Discord, who was basically in the same case as these three but... at the same time, it was something different. These three 'villains'... they were different from Discord. Much different. She felt some weird feeling inside of her. It was warm, tender and very... close to her nature, and yet, she couldn't figure out what it was. She didn't know what it was. One thing she knew for sure as she finally left the room and closed the door behind her. Her life was going to change. Her entire schedule was going to change. Her duties were going to change. She whistled gently and a pretty blue jay approached her, quickly flapping her wings around. "Please, find Angel and tell him to take care of my duties for today... I have urgent matters to attend to... If that's okay with you, and I'm not... disturbing you, that is," Fluttershy said, and the bird sung a little tune, to convey his 'Will do!' and flew away. Fluttershy took a deep breath and sat her sights on the forest. She would probably have to take Sombra and Chrysalis with her. Considering what Chryssie did in such a short amount of time, she better not leave them alone here. Taking them along didn't seem like a bad idea. Nopony would find them in the forest, they could play all they want, and the fresh air was even more potent in the forest. *** "Tee-hee... You're tickly." Sombra said, when the spider put one of its legs to his cheek. "Tee-hee-hee." The spider continued to climb Sombra's face despite the previous attempt being futile. Maybe accepting its flower hadn't been a good idea since he intended it to be in his mane. Sombra didn't mind a flower in his mane. In fact, he quite liked the idea, but he could have done it himself; there was no need for the spider to facehug him. The spider carefully extended his leg holding the flower towards Sombra's mane. The foal stood still, waiting for it to finish and finally stop tickling him. Occasionally, he would let out a giggle or two, but otherwise, he was completely motionless. Carefully, slowly, the spider was only moments away from its victory. The flower was centimetres away from its destination and the spider’s dream was almost complete. It had finally given a flower to somepony! "Sombra! Come here, I've got something for you," Chrysalis exclaimed, approaching him. Her horn quickly coruscated in green energies the instant she saw the spider. Before it could place the flower upon Sombra's head, she threw it away on the ground. "Hey, you didn't have to do that!" Sombra exclaimed. Chrysalis gave him a cynical look. "You had a big bug on your face. I don't think that is what you usually want, but..." she looked at him one more time. "If you're into that, that's fine with me." She slowly walked up to him, scaring the little critters that surrounded Sombra away, and sat down by his side. "You seem to be handling these parasites quite well, aren’t you?" she said, smiling. Sombra gave her an angry look. "They're not parasites. They're my friends!" he replied angrily, whereto Chrysalis only giggled. "Fine, fine, if you say so, sugar," she said, leaning closer to him. "Still, would you be so kind to hear me out?" Sombra looked at her confused, then licked his right forehoof. "I'm not sugar," Sombra deduced after tasting himself and Chrysalis groaned loudly, facehoofing. "Sweet love, you're annoying!" she hissed, hoping that he wouldn't hear her. "Yes, you're right, but... tell me, would you like to play a game with me?" "Oh, a game! That sounds like lots of fun!" Sombra exclaimed, turning to Chrysalis. "What do you want to play? Hide and seek? The ball? Fun magical duel?' "Whack-a-mole," Chrysalis replied, grinning rather evilly. "Or rather, whack-a-hen." Sombra looked first at Chrysalis, then at the coop, where the hens were stalking around. "Huh? Why would you whack a mole? Or a hen?" he asked, tilting his head. "Do you know how nuts crack when you step on them with your hoof?" Chryssie turned to him and the foal nodded in agreement. "The same deal with moles and hens - you just..." "Bam!" she suddenly shouted, jumping at Sombra and nailing him down on the ground. "And they crack. Just like that!" She grinned widely, baring her long, pointy, slim fangs and leaning closer to Sombra, looking him straight in the eyes. "So, are you playing... or are you a chicken?" she asked in a saccharine voice, licking the tips of her fangs. Sombra felt the blood in his veins freeze. His limbs felt numb and his face became as pale as chalk. "S- sure, I'm in... Sounds like... f-f-fun." he stammered. Chrysalis gave him a kind smile and quickly backed away. "Atta-boy. Let's go, we have a lot of hens to whack," she exclaimed merrily, turned around, and marched towards the fence, which protected the hens from the outside world. "So, this is the plan: you grab them with your magic and I whack them with my magic!" Her body gifted her whacky desires with a tickly spasm. "Oooh, yeah, this is going to be grea—" She went silent as a shadow descended upon them. "Ummm, I'm sorry to interrupt your games... but do you mind taking your games somewhere else, like the forest? You see, I have to collect some herbs, and I don't want to leave you all alone here... so do you mind coming with me... to the forest?" Fluttershy said, her cheeks turning bright pink. "A forest? Yaaaay!" Sombra exclaimed. "You hear, Chryssie? We can play whack-a-hen in the forest! It's so much more fun!" Sombra's celebration was interrupted when his mouth was slammed shut by Chryssie's toxic green magic. "Whack-a-what?" Fluttershy asked, looking at the two, and Chrysalis quickly turned to her, displaying a fake smile. "Whack-a-fool! It's a.... an old board game... that you play in a forest," she lied, hiding her bluff quite unsuccessfully. "Oh... okay then... Sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun," Fluttershy, who clearly saw through Chrysalis' lie, said, but feigned ignorance. "Let us go then!" Fluttershy led the way, and when she was out of the hearing range, Chrysalis turned to Sombra and hissed at him. "I swear, if you ruin my plan of revenge, I'll play whack-an-idiot instead!" She finished her statement by hissing at him, which showcased her fangs. Sombra tried to, but couldn't say anything because of Chrysalis's hoof in his mouth. "Keep quiet! Just follow me and everything is going to be okay," she said. "Now, I'll take away my hoof. If you keep quiet, that will mean that you and I are friends. Deal?" She slowly removed her hoof from inside his mouth and swiped the saliva off using the grass. Sombra didn't utter a word. "Great! Now, friend, let's follow our kind pegasus. Maybe I can come up with a better plan of vengeance!" Chrysalis exclaimed and glanced hatefully at the rooster behind the fence. "Nopony pecks my butt and gets away with it. You'll taste my wrath soon enough, rooster!"