//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Starting Again/A Look At Home // Story: [Archived] Scales and Carapaces // by ProjectZerro //------------------------------// The early morning light slowly made their way up to Chrysalis’s face, causing her to stir away and raise a hand to cover her face. Then she opened her eye wide, and stared at her hand. She could move, after being unable to even sit up without assistance for nearly four months, she could finally move, but she soon learned, that this was the extent. The rest of her body was a little numb, but she felt much better. Then she remembered what happened the day before, she covered her face with her hands and sob quietly, then she looked to her side. Spike had his eyes closed and was quietly asleep, she didn’t know why the dragon had helped her. He had no reason to. Maybe he wanted something from her? No that wasn’t it, she knew she was wrong, he helped her, and that’s what was important, but she still felt something was wrong. She felt a small pressure around her waist, she looked down and Spike’s tail was wrapped around her. The blush on her face could’ve been seen on the moon. Frightened to wake Spike up and find out this was a dream turned nightmare, Chrysalis sheepishly shook Spike, “D-dragon? Hello?” Spike twitched a bit and she squeaked, causing Spike to half wake up. “Huh? No I don’t want a time share…” Chrysalis’s fear burned away and she rolled her eyes. She shook him a bit and he opened his eyes, “Hmm? Is it morning already?” Spike’s eyes led themselves to Chrysalis’s, then the memories from the day before flooded into his mind. He looked at Chrysalis who seemed to be doing much better and opened his mouth, he hesitated but he knew it had to be said. “I’m sorry.” This completely caught Chrysalis off guard, but she steeled herself, maybe she was worried that in her weakened state the dragon may be trying to get her to drop her guard. Though since the best she could do was move her arms, she realized she couldn’t do much to fight back. “Why say this? What have you done?” She wondered if he had done something in her sleep and began wiggling a bit as her anxiousness took her. “I…couldn’t help them, I just took you away, just like they asked…I could only save you…” Then it hit her again, she bit her lip to fight back the river of tears that was building itself up but instead turned her tears into a suspicious glare, “Why did you help me? I attacked your friends, and I almost took over Canterlot, why…why would you help someone like me?” The question had burned its way into her mind from the moment Spike had appeared in front of her, but she had been too weak to ask him yesterday, but now she could get an answer. Now there would be some sort of clarification, of understanding…of hope that she could trust him. “…do you know how I was born? Or rather hatched?” Spike asked getting a puzzled look from Chrysalis as she shook her head. “My adoptive mother Princess Celestia-“ He chuckled a bit as the color faded from Chrysalis’s face, “Had found my egg one day, apparently I had been either abandoned or lost.” “She told me she tried to hatch my egg and even waited quite a while for my egg to hatch, but nothing came of it, until my sister, Twilight, got ahold of it, she used her magic on the egg for a project and ended up hatching me, so I was born under some really strange circumstances.” Spike looked up to the sky, and covers his eyes from the sun with his free hand, “I was raised by Celestia and Twilight, along with her family of course. I guess that was the biggest factor in how I am now, and I learned that I was much different the hard way.” “May I ask how?” Chrysalis interrupted, wonder what this had to do with her question. She could taste the happiness and love coming off Spike in waves as he recounted his past. Her cheeks got a little dark as she tried to ask Spike to feed if just a little, but Spike smiled at her as if he had read her mind and gave her the okay. “As a hatchling I tried to find myself by joining other dragons, this didn’t go well. I found the dragons I met there were harsh and didn’t care much for the things I was raised around. Twilight came for me when I was rejected and I held onto a firm belief that all dragons were greedy and cruel creatures.” He snickered, “That changed after I met Altos, a friend of Celestia’s and another dragon. He wanted to meet me, a dragon raised by ponies, and honestly I was pretty scared. When I met him for the first time all I could think about was how the other dragons treated me.” Spike sighed heavily, “I’m still bother by it to this day.” “So what happened with the dragon?” Chrysalis seemed a little impatient, she was getting into his story little by little. “Well I met him when he flew to Ponyville to see me, Twi and the others thought he was going to cause trouble but all he did was dash straight to me and ask me questions. It felt like my grandfather had come to see me.” He laughed a bit and continued when he saw Chrysalis glare at him. “He asked me what it was like living with them, ponies I mean, and he was so excited about everything I said, he seemed so old with how his voice sounded, but he jumped around almost as much as Pinkie Pie. He was really smart too, he’s travel all over Equis, at least he said he has, he knew stuff about the world that Twi only had theories on. So needless to say I got over my fear of other dragons when I met him, he even told me there were a lot more like him out there.” “As much as it thrills me to hear your tale of getting over your fear of dragons, how does that answer my question?” Chrysalis asked. “I was getting to that,” he moved his tail from around her waist and moved it to her back to support her. “I told Altos about my first experience with the other dragons, and he told me that I wasn’t wrong, some dragons were savage, but then he told me something that stuck with me to that day, no matter who you meet, or what they do to survive, everypony, dragon or otherwise, has their reasons, if they have someone close to them or even living on their own, they’re doing whatever they can to survive. It is true that some ponies, dragons, griffons and many others do bad things, terrible things sometimes, to survive, but there are plenty that have a good reason.” He looked at Chrysalis and smiled, “Your guard told me you put your life at risk to save your hive.” Chrysalis looked away from Spike, she had tried her best to save her hive. The thought that she could only watch as her hive starved to death was painful, much too painful. But a purple claw found its way to her cheek and carefully made her look at the smiling dragon. “Even if I have lingering feelings from when you attacked Canterlot, that was so long ago, and it would be cruel to hold what happened against you, you lost your home, and……your hive…what kind of honorable dragon would I be if I wouldn’t help someone who was begging me on their death bed?” Spike’s eyes began to tear up a bit. The happiness that Chrysalis had been feeding off while Spike told his story slowly began to turn into a simmering sorrow. What happened to her hive hit Spike hard, she realized this, but she at least knew now why he had helped her and was still helping her. Chrysalis found herself on the verge of more tears, she closed her eyes to let the tears dry. She pulled herself off of Spike’s tail, she had just enough energy to begin trying to stand on her own, Spike rushed to help her up but she stopped him. Using the tree for support she stood up, albeit shaking, and turned to Spike who quickly stood up. Spike look at Chrysalis as she struggled to stay standing, he then realized that she was just a little taller than him, he could look directly into the glistening green eyes of the fallen queen. She let go of the tree which made Spike jump a bit and stayed standing, then she bowed to Spike slowly, trying to keep her balance all the while. “Thank you…Sir Spike.” Is everyone going to say that? “Thank you for what you’ve done…for everything you’ve done for my hive…I failed my hive, but instead of leaving me for dead, they took care of me and waited for someone they could put they’re trust in…” She began to fall but Spike caught her quickly. “………thank that damned goddess Celestia it was you that found us…” Spike slowly sat down with Chrysalis and smiled at her, “Never thought you’d say that.” “Don’t get used to it.” “That’s the kind of attitude I expect of you.” Spike laughed and watched as a smile built up on her face. “Be careful what you wish for Sir Spike.” Again with the ‘Sir.’ Spike and Chrysalis chatted for a short while before moving on, Spike wanted to get to Ponyville quickly but since he now had to worry about Chrysalis he needed to be careful. He passed the idea to continue carrying her, but she shot it down immediately, the idea of being carried bridal-style by Spike made her face heat up. Instead she asked Spike to gather sticks and branches, and a lot of them. Then she had Spike think about something that would fill him with love and joy and fed off him, well fed may be a strong word, more like absorbed the waves coming off him. With a buildup of energy she used what little magic she had to turn the twigs and branches into a wheelchair. Spike tested it out a bit before lifting her onto it, she felt a little helpless not being able to stand, but she had to bear it. The energy Spike gave off was filled with magic, which helped her heal, but it would be days before she could walk again. “So Spike, where too now? Not many places will take a guest like myself.” Chrysalis asked with a noble but sad huff in her voice. “Well we won’t enter any towns or anything unless necessary, so for now we’ll be camping every night.” Spike said as he put his things away, getting ready to move from their camp site. “I was trying to get somewhere…but I think you should recover enough energy to be able to shapeshift for prolonged periods of time.” “Very well thought out plan you have there, I had no idea you could come up with such a thing, not to be rude mind you.” Chrysalis chimed a bit, hearing that her remark merely made him chuckle. “Well I did grow up with the smartest pony in Equestria next to Celestia, you kind of pick this kind of stuff up along the way.” He pulled out a small package and closed up his bag. He unwrapped it and a delicious smell crossed Chrysalis’s snout. “What is that?” She turned to see Spike eating a sandwich, it looked like it consisted of herbs, spices and a few other vegetation, “…oh my…of course you wouldn’t you grew up around ponies…” Spike looked at Chrysalis with a raised eyebrow, “You assumed I was a carnivore?” She looked away bashfully, making Spike laugh aloud. “I don’t blame you, would you like some?” He passed her an untouched sandwich and smiled happily. Chrysalis looked at the sandwich and took it warily, it smelled good, but looks can be deceiving, she knew this first hand. She brought the sandwich to her mouth and took a small bite, within moments she had eaten the rest of the sandwich and was staring at Spike in shock. “What was that!? It was delicious!” “Thank you, I’ve been told I would make a wonderful chef, would you care for another?” Spike said as he waved another sandwich in the air, Chrysalis nodded excitedly and Spike handed it to her. He put his bag on his back and wrapped a large cloth over Chrysalis as she ate, she looked at him and understood the meaning immediately. She used a small bit of magic to turn her horn into that of a normal mare’s and her eyes changed as well but kept their green brilliance. “This is the best I can manage, if you continue to help me recover I should be able to walk in about a week.” Chrysalis said as she took another bite into her sandwich. “A week huh? What makes your think that?” Spike said as he began pushing her in the wheelchair down the road at a slow pace. “I lost my ability to stand a few months ago, a short while after I couldn’t move my arms, but I’ve recovered as you can see, so I’m merely being hopeful.” She waves her hand in the air a bit and Spike chuckled a bit. “I am shocked however.” “At what?” Spike kept his eyes on the road as they walked down the opposite path he had meant to take, he wanted to see Twilight and the others, but Chrysalis would be with him, so he decided to buy a little time. He sighed inwards, just low enough not to hear, he had planned for an emotional return home, but this was okay too, he was hoping to understand some things about Chrysalis, though she would never know it. “You have so much love in your heart, so much happiness and kindness, it’s a little unnatural.” She looked at him over her shoulder and finished her sandwich and placed her holey hands underneath the cloth, the cloth itself was covering her body well, but she was being extra careful. “I guess it comes from living with the ‘Elements of Harmony’.” Spike said acting as a royal official, his voice posh and eccentric, getting a fit of giggles from Chrysalis before she cleared her throat and stared down the long road. Spike smiled and continued on their way. Spike was not the only one that was going to be busy, a lavender colored alicorn princess quickly walked down a corridor of her huge crystal castle as she was begin pestered by officials and politicians who were turned away by Celestia and Luna. Twilight tried to ignore their complaints while paying attention to her temporary assistant, who while she was helpful, she was no Spike. Spike, just saying his name made her heart twist in pain, she missed him so much, she wondered how he was doing all the time. Even though he sent her letters she was still constantly concerned. He was the kind of pony, or rather drake, to lie to somepony so they wouldn’t worry about him. She took a deep breath and turned to the shouting ponies and raised a hand, she let out a sigh and smiled, “I will listen to all of your complaints and worries in due time, as soon as you pass them by Princess Cadence of course.” A group groan let Twilight they bought it, “Though it has been some time, I am still training as a Princess, and Cadence happens to be my senior as well, so she would be able to get a word in with Luna, and then you may get a chance with Celestia, so you do well to go see her.” With that all of the attention that had been on her now on how to get to Cadence, Twilight let out a low sigh of relief and moved down the hall quickly, as to get away, “Sorry Cadence.” She got to her room and her temporary assistant, a very energetic male pegasus with black hair and a little grayish blue coat, cleared his throat a bit, he had been recommended by Celestia so she always gave him her full attention, seeing that he had gotten her attention he opened his mouth to speak. “Madam I apologize for letting so many of them get through the front gates, this will not happen again.” He bowed lightly causing Twilight sputter about, she never got used to being treated like royalty. “Oh no, I know it is not your fault, I’m just a little exhausted from all the attention.” She gave him a sweet smile as he raised his head, and as he looked up the smile on his face reminded her entirely of Spike’s goofy grin. She bit her lip a bit causing her temp to get worried. “Miss Sparkle? Are you…ah you are thinking of that drake friend of yours, Spike was it?” He look upwards thoughtfully to remember his predecessor before he left. Twilight smiled, “I’m sorry Blue Sky, even the smallest things remind me of him…” The blue pegasus named Blue Sky chuckled, “Not so much as a sister but a mother, or maybe even a wife?” His eyebrows raised and a sly smile built on his face as Twilight choked on an invisible substance. “W-W-W-WIFE!?” Twilight’s face was a bright red, her lavender color completely blocked out. “Tis but an observation,” he watched the princess of friendship look this way and that and laughed a bit, “I was only joking your highness, your truly are fun to tease, but you shouldn’t be so concerned for your brother, he has done a perfect job taking care of you yes? It took me four months to become used to your habits, and he has been doing his for some time, I am sure nothing could harm him too greatly.” Twilight looked at Blue Sky, he was right, Spike was much too strong for anything to harm him, and he had done a very good job helping her, she smiled brightly now, all worry vanishing. “Besides nothing is more deadly than those experiments you call ‘food’.” He said as he quickly walked out of her study. “What was that!?” Twilight ran after him with a blazing fury in her eyes. To be continued...