//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Vision/Getting To Know You // Story: [Archived] Scales and Carapaces // by ProjectZerro //------------------------------// The night was cold and quiet to her, it seemed like nothing was alive for a short while. There was no sound, not even the wind could be heard, and the only noise to be heard was the gasping and panting of a lavender princess. Twilight had just shot up out her rather hectic sleep, she was gasping for air and was holding her covers close. Tear rolled down her face as she sobbed quietly. Before she could recover the doors to her room shot open, Blue Sky and a guard ran in and stopped at the foot of her bed. “Your highness! What happened? What was that light?” Blue Sky asked clearly concerned. “Light?” “Yes princess, a light shined from your room, a bright purple light, I had thought you were up studying until I saw how sporadic the light was getting.” “N-no nothing happened, I just…had a nightmare….” Blue Sky and the guard simply stared for a moment before Sky looked at the guard and gave him to okay to return to bed. After he closed the doors to Twilight’s bedroom, her lit a candle and walk around the bed and sat close to where she was. “What happened in the nightmare?” Twilight wanted to drop the subject but Sky had proven to be more than willing to press the issue well beyond her comfort zone. She inhaled and whispered something under her breathe. “Yes?” Sky said listening closer. “It was about Spike.” She muttered again, still not loud enough to hear. “Princess you have to-“ “IT WAS ABOUT SPIKE!!!” She screamed at Sky making him almost drop the candle. He stood up quickly and stared at Twilight, he had seen her snap before, mostly from scheduling errors or forgotten promises, but this was new. “THE DREAM WAS ABOUT SPIKE!!! .........he was alone…dying…reaching out…to anypony…to his friends…to Celestia……to me…” She was past the point where she could stop her tears and now she was letting loose. She put her hand to her face and cried, “He called out to me…but there was nothing I could do…” “Madam Sparkle.” Sky said calmly, having regained himself, “It is only a nightmare…a bad dream that is all.” “You don’t understand…” Twilight spoke with a raspy tone in her voice from crying. “It wasn’t just a nightmare.” “But even you…” “I know…maybe I was hiding it…but it wasn’t a nightmare…it was a premonition…a peak into the future.” Sky had read many books on the subject so he knew its theory well, but there was always one fact, alicorns, or rather extremely powerful beings, would from time to time get very vivid or very blurred visions of the future. Twilight was smart, very smart, so he knew that she wouldn’t lie about this, and that she wasn’t just scared of a bad dream. “What does this mean your highness?” Sky said place the candle on a nearby counter and sat back down on the bed. “I…I don’t know…oh Spike…please let this just be nothing more than a bad omen…” She said holding onto herself quietly as Sky looked upon her, not sure what he could say. After managing to calm Twilight down, Sky waited for her to sleep before leaving her room, he silently closed the curtains and windows, he left the room and canceled or pushed back and appointment Twilight had for the day. She needed to sleep, to rest, otherwise she would fall apart. Sky slept for the remaining hour of the night and was awoken by his alarm, he then decided he needed to help Twilight in some way. He walked over to one of the higher ranked guards, “Captain, is there any way to get a letter to the princess’s assistant Spike?” The guard thought for a moment, “No I am afraid not, his letter are sent and received by a magic link he has with the princess, that’s the only way I can think of sir.” Sky cursed under his breathe and remembered something, he quickly took flight to Spike’s room. He had completely forgot something, while Spike was away he had gotten lots of help from ponies around Ponyville, but one ‘creature’ in particular was always lots of help. “Owlowiscious!” Sky shouted slamming the doors open, frightening the knowledgeable owl out of his sleep. The owl seemed to glare at Sky hard, “Sorry about waking you, but I need your help, and so does Twilight.” Owlowiscious full attention was on Sky now. “I need to you go find Spike, I have no way of getting to him, but you should be able to find him right?” Owlowiscious gave a hoot of intent and nodded quickly. Sky smiled and sat down at Spike’s desk, “Good now take this letter to him, I don’t mind how long it takes you, just find him,” he quickly began to write a letter, “And give him this.” He rolled up the letter and handed it to the proud owl, he flapped his wings and flew off immediately, “Hope this turns out well…” “You don’t say?” Spike said in honest astonishment. Chrysalis had been passing the time by recounting some of their more...unpleasant experiences during their travels. “Oh yes, you have no idea how disgusting he made me feel, I thought I would lose my stomach. What man could possible smell so terrible!?” Chrysalis shivered at the thought of her last attempt to feed her hive before she had been unable to walk, “But as much as I hated it, I had to, I need to feed them…” “And you did well, I think you all lasted so long because you helped each other…however it does not change that…their time was coming faster than yours…” Spike and Chrysalis had been taking about many sad things, not because they wanted to, but if they were going to completely trust each other, nothing could be hidden, well some things were never going to be said aloud. Chrysalis has always pulled up things about her time as a queen and how she and the other queens were always at odds. They weren’t exactly sisters, but they each ruled their hives collectively, well until recently. “Your past makes mine look like a field of roses, remind me to never feel bad for myself again.” He made a faint attempt to make the conversation turn less depressing, luckily it did the job. Chrysalis laughed a small bit, “I will do just that, I need you happy Sir Spike.” Now she’s just being a tease. “But honestly you are a fantastic listener, I have met many males who simply begin to doze off when I talked for great lengths.” “Thanks for the compliment but I find your storied very interesting, besides I could get used to listening to you talk.” He decided to tease back a bit, causing Chrysalis to jump a bit. “Keep that up and I’ll drive my hoof down your throat.” She said aggressively. Spike had come to realize that Chrysalis wasn’t very good at taking compliments, but he just couldn’t help but tease her, maybe Discord had rubbed off on him. “Yeah sure, I’ll be scared when you can actually walk.” “Touché…” Spike looked down the road and saw a small group of ponies walk toward them, they looked like travelers and had been the first ponies they had seen since Spike met up with Chrysalis, “Hopefully we can get by with any…Chrysalis?” Spike had looked down to Chrysalis and she was silent but something seemed off, he rested a hand on her shoulder and she spun around to face him, her eyes filled with fear. Spike was completely taken aback but then he thought about it, he had helped Chrysalis see he wouldn’t hurt her, but she was still very skeptic. This was the first time she had run into anyone else, into ponies she didn’t know, for all she knew they could be assassins. However Spike’s warm claws rested themselves on her shoulders, making her calm down a bit as he turned her forward, he grabbed the wheelchair and began pushing her forward. What was he doing? Was he going to turn her in? Was she about to be tortured for her crimes? These were all Chrysalis could think as the strangers got closer. And they passed by, as if not ever noticing her, they had just moved on with incident. She felt incredibly stupid regardless of what may have happen, she had become frightened…of normal ponies. Chrysalis bit into her lip and sighed heavily, she had nearly fainted from fear and now she felt weak, and she hated feeling weak. Ever since Spike found her she’s been terrified that this whole ordeal was just a sick way of making her pay for her crimes, she knew this wasn’t true but she could help but be wary. Miracles like meeting a kind dragon who is more than willing to help her recover from the loss of her hive, didn’t happen without some catch. A purple claw rested on her shoulder as Spike tried to calm her down a bit. She was thankful for the gesture but she decided to stay silent. Spike took her silence hard but just accepted that she wouldn’t speak up, he shook off a sigh and continued walking down the path. He wanted to help her in some way, but she still didn’t completely trust him, that’s what he thought at least. And she definitely seemed the type to blow up if you revisit something touchy too many times. A short time later Spike and Chrysalis decided to set up a camp for the night, Spike had been walking for most of the day and needed to take a break. Chrysalis watched as Spike laid out the mat as he had done the night before and pulled a few covers out of his bag. She assumed they would be sleeping apart this time, for some reason or another this bothered her. Spike lift Chrysalis out of the wheelchair and sat her down against his bag, this was the first time she got a good look at it. His bag was rather big, not so big that it was a problem, but big nonetheless. Chrysalis turned to see Spike scouting about to check for anything dangerous. She shifted a bit and began rummaging through his bag, she found a different fabrics and bags with what looked like seeds in them. She saw a large bundle and touched it, hard but smooth, “Must be gems…” She dug some more and found what looked like a journal, she was tempted to look though it until she heard Spike coming back. She quickly put the journal back and tried to go back to how she was when Spike left. “Nothing dangerous in sight, we should rest easily.” Spike turned and looked at Chrysalis and blinked, she looked nervous. He shrugged it off and sat next to her, he dug into his bag and pulled out his bundle of gems and popped a whole gem into his mouth and chewed it up in seconds. The crunching noises coming from Spike’s mouth just brought back up that he was a dragon, friendly or not. “I’ve been wondering about something…” Spike’s voice shook her from her frightened daze and she looked at him, “Yes?” “Your hive…were they your children? Or just subjects?” He wanted to word it differently but he knew saying it up front would be best. “No, though I understand how you would come to that conclusion, however I was far too concerned with dealing with my so-called sisters…” Chrysalis sighed at the thought of the other hive queens, “The five of us have always been fighting for leadership, I was the middle child of my mother five children.” “You all had different fathers correct?” “Yes, and like the deadly mantis, she killed them as soon as she became pregnant. Something about not wanting to risk her throne, I just think she was crazy.” Chrysalis waved a dismissive hand in the air to cut any of Spike’s knight-like comments before they started. “Though I have thought about having children, I soon became too wrapped up in the conquest of power.” “Now that think about it…just how-” Spike slapped a hand over his mouth. Rule #1 of Rarity’s Gentledrake Handbook: "NEVER ask a mare her age, under no circumstance, unless for a professional matter, must you ask a lady her age." “Just over ninety years I suppose, though in terms of ponies I’m in my late thirties I think. [I am playing this by ear so just disregard this]” Chrysalis said as if reading Spike’s mind. “Sorry.” “Do not be bothered by such small matters, I am no weak mare and I have not asked you to treat me as one have I?” Spike shook his head and Chrysalis smiled, “Though I must ask how old you are so well, and in that case what of your friends?” Spike looked at her with a smile, happiness and love pulsing off him as he remembered his friends, Chrysalis forewent asking and just started to feed, while fearing she may become overweight. “Well Twi was around six or seven when she hatched me, it has been nearly twenty-five years since then so I'm twenty-five.” He let his tail flick side to side a bit as he went on, “Twi is thirty-one, and Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie are all thirty-two, give or take a birthday, it’s been a while. Lastly Fluttershy and AJ are both thirty-three, again not sure, I’ve been busy.” “When you think of them you certain are happy.” Chrysalis said feeling full all of a sudden. “Why wouldn’t it make me happy? They practically raised me, each one of the girls are important to me.” Spike said with a proud smile. Chrysalis saw this as a perfect chance to break that knightly mask of his, “Anyone of those girl more ‘important’ than the others?” Spike sputtered a bit with a bright blush across his face, he hadn’t expected a question about romance, and Chrysalis was eating his nervousness up. “Well?” “…well I just…two are truly dear to me…” “Two!? Oh my, it seems you’re not hoarding gems but something, or rather somepony else…” “What!? No no no no no that’s not what I meant!” Spike waved his claws up in the air, his brave knight-like face, now that of a preteen being asked on a date. “Then what did you mean?” “Well…Twilight and Rarity…they are the dearest to me by far, but for different reasons…” At the mention of Rarity his happiness and nervousness turned to a sort of sorrow, Chrysalis had basically punched an emotional landmine. “I-if it is difficult to talk about…” She had shared her thoughts and rage with Spike as they walked down the road, and even pointed lots of it at him, but now she had to listen. More like wanted to, but she would never admit it. “Rarity was a long time…infatuation might be the right word, a childish crush…one that I knew wouldn’t work out too well, I was always a child to her, and I never got the chance to tell her how I felt, instead I simply moved on, but she noticed the change in me and told me she knew all along how I felt. Throughout all of my service to her, carrying things, finding gems for her and even being a pin cushion…she knew.” “Doesn’t sound like you were her friend to me, more like a servant.” Chrysalis said aloud without meaning to. “Well she didn’t meant to, she didn’t know how to turn me down without hurting me, so she let me figure it out, I’m glad she did. Afterwards she even gave me lessons.” Spike laughed bit, “Lessons on how to woo mares. She called it ‘Rarity’s Gentledrake Handbook’, silly isn’t it?” “It sounds…rather nice…to be able to come back from such pain with a closer relationship…you were bless with that chance.” Chrysalis said thoughtfully. “I know, and now for the hard part…Twilight…she’s something that’s for sure.” “Your sister? Are you sure you want to go into this? If it turns into incest…” “Will you cut that out? …Twilight essentially gave me life…she raised me from the start…she’s always been there for me, whenever I made a mistake she was there to help me fix it or learn from it, she always told me I was needed, she help give my life purpose…” Spike smiled and put his claws together envisioning his sporadic sister freaking out for no reason in particular. “I owe everything to her…” Chrysalis unknowingly began to clench the mat beneath her, she could feel Spike’s emotions, but hearing them made it so much clearer. And it began to sting, “So that’s why she the most important to you?” “Yeah, strange reason huh?” Spike leaned back and laughed, he still hadn’t recovered his knight mask but his natural face took less effort. He had been trained by RD and Rarity to put up the face of a soldier so cover for his naiveté. He was still very young considering how dragons age. “But other than that I’ve never really been in a romantic relationship, never really got the chance.” Chrysalis looked at Spike with a strange look, “Odd I would think with the way you carry yourself you’d at least…” She stopped speaking as she saw Spike’s purple scales turn red, “Forgive me I just…I’ll just be quiet now…” The silence between them was uncomfortable to say the least, but Spike just started to laugh a bit, Chrysalis gave him yet another strange look. “What are you laughing at?” “Oh, nothing, just ya know…I’m glad you are feeling better, you’re cracking jokes at me, teasing me and generally engage in conversation…” Spike’s heart was in the right place but Chrysalis couldn’t hold it in, she curled up a bit and got very quiet. Spike shuffled over to her and reached a hand out to her, but before he could attempt to calm her down, Chrysalis’s cheek had been pressed against his hand. Spike blushed for second only for it to fade as he saw the look of sadness on her face, “……let’s go to sleep huh? You can tease me some more tomorrow.” Chrysalis jumped out of Spike’s hand as she came to her senses, she looked at him, and before she could say anything, his child-like smile suddenly made her drowsy, “I’ve made a mistake…I should I have left your mask on…” Spike laid a pillow underneath her and covered her up as she laid down, he sat up against a tree and smiled at her, “Sleep well.” She nodded and closed her eyes, and much faster than she expected, sleep took hold of her. Spike breathed a sigh of relief and looked up and the dimming sky, “Well…better get some sleep.” He closed his eyes and began to breathe lightly. Night took hold of many across Equestria, all except one duty-bound owl. To be continued...