17 - Night Mare Games
Chrysalis grumbled as she heard a knock on the door of the library, interrupting her reading. She still didn’t understand why ponies knocked on the door of a public building like that. Maybe it was some foal looking for candy for Nightmare Night, though she hadn’t expected that to start quite so soon.
Nightmare Night was one of those pony holidays that she was actually aware of, though had never gotten involved with. Some of her subjects used the night of costumes and frights to their advantage in mingling with ponies for love or information, though never in their natural forms. Even if they might be able to get away with saying it was a costume, it was still too great of a risk.
The knock came again, more insistent this time. With a sigh, Chrysalis set her book aside and rose from her comfy couch. Upon opening the door, she openly stared at what she saw.
“Hello, Twilight!”
“What are you wearing, Rarity?”
“I…am Nightmare Moon!” She raised her hoof to caress Chrysalis’ cheek and continued in a seductive tone. “Do you like it?”
Chrysalis knocked her hoof to the side with a growl. “What did I say about flirting with me?”
“That you would hurt me if I did it to manipulate you. I’m not manipulating you, I’m trying to get into character, you and Luna are madly in love, after all.”
“You may be following the letter of my rule, but you are certainly violating the spirit of it, and you know that.”
Rarity smirked. “That’s what you object to? So, you admit that the two of you are madly in love?”
Chrysalis blushed. Merely out of embarrassment over being caught in Rarity’s little trap and certainly not because she had feelings for Luna, or because her love letters had been getting gradually bolder and more sensual.
“I admit nothing.”
Rarity laughed. “I’m just teasing, pay it no mind. Now, where is your costume?”
“I’m not getting involved in this silly tradition.” She said with a scowl. She was perfectly happy leaving it to Spike, who had already gone out to spend the day with foals, or to Time Keeper in his silly alicorn costume, though which alicorn he was trying to emulate she had no idea.
“Well, that certainly won’t do! Fortunately, I anticipated as much.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re coming with me.”
“No, I’m not.”
Rarity grinned cruelly as her horn began glowing blue.
“I don’t recall saying you have a choice in the matter, honey.”
Chrysalis yelped as her hooves were lifted from the ground and she started floating within Rarity’s magical grasp.
“Hey, put me down!”
“Mwa ha ha! I think not! You are within the clutches of Nightmare Moon now, and I shall never let you go!”
“What is wrong with you?!” Chrysalis shouted as she flailed her legs in defiance, nearly clocking Rarity in the head.
“As I said, I’m merely getting into character! I’m sure Nightmare Moon would not let her victim, or her lover, go, and I think you qualify as both right now!”
“You’re fucking crazy!”
Somewhere within the library, a door creaked open.
“Uh, is something wrong?”
Chrysalis twisted her neck to look behind her and saw Time Keeper had stepped out from the basement. He had a fake horn attached to his forehead, wigs of a long, flowing silver mane and tail, aesthetic contact lenses of a cloudy grey and a new fake cutie mark of an hourglass with sand flowing backwards overlaid on top of a spiral.
Rarity smiled warmly at him and spoke as if everything were normal. “Nice costume.”
“Thanks?” he looked between Nightmare Rarity and the floating Chrysalis uncertainly. He gestured vaguely at them with a questioning look.
“Oh! I’m just taking her to see her costume.” She stopped to chuckle. “She’s being a little stubborn.”
Time Keeper stifled an outburst of laughter.
“This isn’t funny! Help me, you moron!” Chrysalis hissed.
“No, I think Rarity’s got this handled. I wouldn’t want to go up against Nightmare Moon, after all.”
“Traitor!”
Time Keeper laughed as he went back downstairs, closing the door behind him.
Chrysalis shivered in the cool autumn air as Rarity dragged her through Ponyville. So, this is what that felt like, being dragged along through the air by a unicorn. She had done it so many times to others, Spike more often than not. It was an odd combination of relaxing and embarrassing.
“Put me down, this is humiliating.”
“If I do that, you’ll run away.”
“We both know that I could force you to put me down, so let’s avoid that, shall we?"
“Hmmm…” Rarity waved at a passerby.
“I promise I won’t run away, I’ll look at your costume.”
“I think you mean your costume.” Rarity corrected. “I wouldn’t want you to worm your way out of this on a technicality.”
Chrysalis sighed. “I’ll look at my costume, happy?”
“We could have saved so much trouble if you had just said so in the first place, darling!”
With a smile, Rarity gently lowered her to the ground. Chrysalis scowled at her, but it was mostly for show. She wasn’t really all that angry at her, and she was curious about the costume she had made. As frustrating as she sometimes was, Rarity was top notch at that sort of thing. If it were half as good as the Nightmare Moon costume she had on, it would be a sight to behold.
Chrysalis followed her inside the Carousel Boutique and followed Rarity upstairs to her room. The entire building had been decorated suitably for the holiday inside and out with spider webs complete with spiders, pumpkins carved with the image of Nightmare Moon, tombstones with the names of her family and friends, and much more.
“Here it is, Twilight! I think you are going to love this!” Rarity came out of her walk-in closet with a black, folded up costume in her magical aura.
Curiously, Chrysalis took it from her and unfolded it. It took her a moment to realize what it was, but when she did, she tensed up and had to suppress a scream. It was a costume meant to cover nearly her entire form from head to tail, with a body she would step into and zip up and a mask to cover her entire head and neck. It was almost entirely black, except for the large blue eyes on the mask and stretch of navy blue on the back where a pair of insectoid wings were attached. Its tail was short, mane a thin fin like membrane, curved dark horn on the forehead, had limbs full of holes, and the opening the wearer was intended to look out of representing its mouth was full of pointed teeth.
“It’s that creature you became when you were exposed to poison joke! I figured there would be little better to strike fear into ponies tonight than that hideous monstrosity! Do you like it?”
“Love it.” Chrysalis’ eye twitched as she lied through her fake smile. This was a catastrophe! Of all the things Rarity could have made for her, she had to make her a changeling! She almost laughed, remembering what Spike had dressed as. The dragon would be dressed as a dragon, and the changeling a changeling.
“Perfect!” Rarity exclaimed as she pushed her behind a changing screen, either oblivious to Chrysalis’ distress, or ignoring it entirely. “Put it on! Put it on!”
Chrysalis stood staring at the costume for several seconds, not moving. Maybe if she told Rarity that she was still traumatized from the poison joke incident she would let her get out of wearing it? Surely, she wouldn’t be so cruel as to force her to wear it, would she?
“Is there something wrong? Does it not fit? I used the measurements I have on file, but I imagine it could be a little loose if you’ve lost weight thanks to your constant diet. I assure you that I can make some quick adjustments if needed!”
Chrysalis pursed her lips. Rarity was so excited about this. She’d definitely be disappointed if she refused to wear it. She looked over the costume one more time. It’s not like she’d actually be a changeling, and refusing to wear it would be just as suspicious if not more so, right? With a sigh, she began putting it on. After doing up the last surprisingly well hidden zipper, and levitating the mask onto her head, she stepped out and gave her best attempt at a reassuring smile, though she was sure she failed. Rarity still didn’t seem to notice though, if her squeal of delight was any indication.
“Oh, it fits perfectly! I’d dread to have your metabolism. You barely eat a thing and haven’t lost a pound, have you? The moment you stop you are going to blow up like a balloon!”
“Then I won’t stop.” Chrysalis grumbled. Not like that would be difficult.
“Oh, I’m sorry, that was probably rude of me. You look fantastic the way you are, you don’t need to lose any weight! And the costume looks marvelous, too! Truly a frightening monster you have become once more!”
“Thanks.” Chrysalis said acidly. Would it be too much to ask for just one pony to see the inherent beauty of her changelings?
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure there’s nothing—”
“Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse me.”
Rarity trotted downstairs to the front door, and Chrysalis slowly followed after her. The former was handing out candy by the time she caught up.
“One for you, for you, and even for you, Pinkie.”
Chrysalis stood behind Rarity and couldn’t help but smile at the foals dressed up in their little costumes. She especially like the little colt dressed as a pirate. Pinkie was amongst them, costumed as a chicken. When her eyes fell upon Chrysalis, they went wide and she half screamed, half made incoherent chicken noises.
“It’s just me, Pinkie.”
“Monster! Run away or she’ll gobble us all up!”
With a cacophony of childish screams, the small group stampeded away.
“That’s it, I’m taking this off!” Chrysalis reached for the zipper with her magic, but was halted by Rarity.
“Oh, please don’t! It’s Nightmare Night, you’re supposed to frighten ponies!”
“I don’t want to scare children!”
“Oh, don’t worry about them, it’s just because of Pinkie working them up. She loves being scared on Nightmare Night, so she exaggerates for the fun of it. Your costume is great, but my work isn’t that good. Please, keep it on, for me.”
Chrysalis closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath.
“Fine, but I’m going home.”
“I’ll accompany you.”
Chrysalis walked through Ponyville, a frown frozen upon her face. She tried her best to ignore everything around her. Rarity, however, seemed eager to convince her to do otherwise.
“Oh look, there’s Applejack in a wonderful scarecrow costume!”
“Hi, AJ. Bye, AJ. I’m going home.” Chrysalis greeted and farewelled without even slowing down.
“Uh…hi and bye, I guess?” Applejack responded in bewilderment.
“Don’t be like that, Twilight! We should at least stop to play her game of apple bobbing!”
“Not interested.”
“Well, how about the pumpkin launch? You try to catapult a pumpkin at a target, it’s fun!”
“No.”
“Then perhaps—”
“I said no.”
“Is that Rainbow Dash I—”
“You really don’t lis—”
Chrysalis was interrupted by a sudden crash of lightning that struck right next to her and she leaped away from it in fright.
“Bwahahaha!"
Chrysalis glared up at Dash wearing a shadowbolt uniform as she sat on a solitary thunder cloud. With nary a moment’s hesitation, she knocked her off the cloud with her magic.
“Whoa!” Dash recovered from the fall and began hovering, but Chrysalis was satisfied to have gotten her message across. “Lighten up, Twi! It was just a prank!”
Ignoring her protest, Chrysalis stomped past.
“Geeze, what’s her problem?”
Rarity gave an apologetic look as she chased after her grumpy friend.
“Twilight, I know you’re upset thanks to Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, and perhaps you don’t like that the costume I made for you is so frightening, but this is a festival, you should really at least try to mingle and play some games!” Rarity protested as Chrysalis reached the library doorstep.
“How many times do I have to tell you that I have no interest in this stupid holiday, I just want to spend a quiet evening reading at home!” She yanked open the door and saw Luna inside. She was as tall as she remembered her being from the future with her mane and tail blowing in an ethereal breeze, just like her sister’s, and her colouration had turned to much darker hues. Even from behind she was clearly as irritated as Chrysalis felt, if not worse. She slammed the door shut and faced Rarity.
“So…about those games?”
Rarity narrowed her eyes. “Why don’t you want to go in there?”
“Is it so hard to believe that I changed my mind?”
“Yes.” Rarity began to pull open the door with her magic, but Chrysalis pushed her body up against it to keep it shut.
“You don’t want to do that.”
“You mean you don’t want me to do that. Who’s in there?”
“Nopony!”
“Do you really expect—” The door slammed open from within, sending Chrysalis tumbling forward into Rarity and both of them fell to the ground in a heap. “Ow. Would you be a dear and get off of me?”
Princess Luna stood in the door frame, gazing down upon the two, scowling.
“Twilight?” Luna’s scowl transformed into a smile when she realized who the one in the full body costume was.
“Hello, Luna.” Chrysalis groaned through the pain.
“Princess Luna? What an honor it is to see you again!” Rarity fumbled awkwardly into a bow as she got up from the ground. Luna’s face darkened once more upon seeing who Rarity was dressed as. Rarity, noting her change in demeanour, looked down at her costume and chuckled nervously. “Well, this is certainly awkward.”
“Do you try to mock me with your dress?”
“No, certainly not. Um…imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?”
“Given the other ponies’ reaction upon my arrival, I sincerely doubt that was your intention.”
“Ha…ha…my choice of attire was perhaps a tad bit insensitive. I think I’ll just leave you two love bugs alone and slip on home and into something a little less offensive.”
Chrysalis internally cursed as she watched Rarity run away, removing the one thing that was distracting the princess from her. Said princess’ attention once again returned to her.
“Love bugs?”
“I think it was a joke based on the costume she made me wear.”
“She knows about us? I thought you wanted to keep us a secret.” Her eyes narrowed accusingly. “Perhaps you have begun to agree with the idea of going public?”
“I didn’t want her to know, she’s very observant and found out on her own. She promised to keep it secret.”
“A secret between two is hard enough to keep, one between three will not be a secret for long. But, no matter, come along. It is plenty private enough inside.”
Chrysalis found herself lifted into the air by magic for a second time that evening, and was forcibly brought inside as she swallowed her screams. She found herself gently lowered onto the sofa in front of a standing Luna who examined her closely. Thanks to the boost from her furniture, they were practically eye to eye. Luna, seemingly satisfied with her investigation of her appearance, gave a lopsided grin.
“Not quite what I was expecting for your true form. I take it Rarity has seen it?”
“No, she hasn’t. She’s merely seen a lesser version of my kind.” Chrysalis said, leaving out that the lesser version had been her stuck as a normal changeling.
“Oh? There are others of your kind and they are lesser than you in some way? What would that make you to them?”
Chrysalis bit her lip. She had already told her more than she had ever told a pony before, was there really any more harm in revealing more, especially if it could keep a potentially psychotic princess from splattering her insides across the walls? She suppressed the voice that told her to clam up about changelings and continued after confirming they were truly alone.
“I’m kind of like the alicorn version of my kind.”
Luna smiled. “It is oddly comforting to hear that I had been bested by the best of your kind, at least. However, I can’t help but notice that your costume has both wings and horn.”
“The alicorn analogy isn’t perfect. We’re not ponies, we all have those.”
“Fascinating. An entire race capable of magic and flight. One capable of hiding in plain sight as they take on any form they desire. Your kind sounds straight from a horror story.” Chrysalis opened her mouth to protest, but Luna shushed her with a hoof over her lips, causing an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Or a bawdy one.”
Luna removed her hoof and leaned forward for a kiss, and Chrysalis’ unease ramped up to near stomach churning fear. In a panic, she lit up her horn and pulled upon the door to the basement as violently as she could, causing a sudden bang.
“Time Keeper?” Chrysalis half shouted in a bluff as she ducked beneath Luna’s muzzle and jumped from the bed to investigate the open door and meet a pony that was never there. “Huh, weird. I could have sworn I saw him. He must’ve run off when he saw us.”
Chrysalis turned back to Luna only to be greeted by fiery eyed fury.
“You are avoiding my affections.” She accused in a level voice that did not match her expression.
“What? No, I—”
“Not just now, but in past encounters as well. You have always shied away from my touch.”
“You’re just imagining—”
“You are afraid of me.” Luna’s horn lit up and Chrysalis stepped back in alarm.
“No, I’m—”
“You are afraid of me.” She repeated, louder, as she took an even larger step forward.
“I swear I’m not!”
Luna slammed Chrysalis against the wall with her magic, and her eyes began to glow a terrifying white.
“DO NOT LIE TO ME!”
Chrysalis flinched at the incredible volume of Luna’s voice. Half of Ponyville had likely heard, and if she were to say anything about her identity like that, then her cover would be completely blown. Lying to her was only making things worse, as impossible as it seemed, so she prepared to do the one thing that was usually left as a last resort when dealing with ponies: admit the truth. She took a deep breath.
“Yes. I am terrified of you.”
“YOU ARE JUST LIKE THE OTHERS, YOU THINK I AM A NIGHTMARE STILL AND WILL DESTROY YOU!”
“No, I don’t fear that.” Chrysalis closed her eyes as she trembled, then forced them back open. Speaking with eyes shut could be seen as suspicious, and she needed Luna to believe her. “I’m afraid because you know what I am and at any moment could reveal my true identity to the ponies, ruining my life completely, and quite possibly the lives of all my kind. We rely on secrecy to survive, and being exposed could kill us all.”
Luna’s eyes and horn went back to normal and Chrysalis dropped to the floor with a loud thud. With a sudden look of horror, she started to approach the fallen changeling, but stopped herself mid step.
“I…I am sorry.” She apologized with downcast eyes. “I have been frustrated lately by the treatment I have received since returning from the moon, and I have just taken it out on you. Being treated as a monster day in and out has put me on edge.”
Chrysalis smiled weakly as she painfully got back up on her hooves. “I think I can relate. My entire species is out of a horror story, right?” Chrysalis noticed there was a tear at one of the leg holes of her costume. Rarity would not be pleased.
“I apologize for that as well. It was a poor attempt to ‘be flirty’, as I have overheard some of the maids gossiping of in our castle.”
“It…wasn’t that bad of an attempt.” Chrysalis tried to reassure her. She figured it would be best to do anything within her power to soothe the crazy mare’s mind. Being slammed against a wall by an alicorn’s magic really hurt, and she was eager to avoid a repeat performance.
“You do fear me, then.”
Chrysalis nodded.
“In hindsight, it should have been obvious.” Luna mused sadly.
“It’s a problem with me, not you.”
“Thank you for your kind words, but that is another lie. The fault is my own, I have been in a position of such frightening power over you from the beginning, with control over the fates of not only you, but your entire species it would seem, and if that were not enough, shortly before trying to woo you I had tried to kill you.”
“To be fair, shortly before trying to kill you, I tried to woo you. You’re too hard on yourself.”
“We do not exactly make for a healthy model of a relationship, do we? But no, I am not hard enough on myself. I practically forced myself on you when you were too frightened of the consequences of saying no.”
Chrysalis began to object, but closed her mouth. Luna was right. If she had believed that Luna wouldn’t retaliate over being rejected, would she have ever gone along with any of this? She doubted it.
Luna shook her head. “That is not the kind of relationship that I wish to have, one where my partner is only with me out of fear.”
“Are…you breaking up with me?” Chrysalis was unsure of how to feel about the idea, relief or disappointment?
“I am merely making a temporary retreat. I have no intention of giving up, but until I find a way to bridge this power gap between us so that we can proceed as true equals with no cause for fear, I will not force our relationship forward.”
“Oh.”
Awkward silence fell between them for several seconds, interrupted only by the jovial laughter of foals in the distance.
“Uh…maybe we could start with something simple, like going out there and playing some of the games they’ve set up together?”
Luna sighed. “It is probably ill advised. I came here tonight in part to convince the ponies of your village that they need not fear me, but they all ran or cowered in place from my presence.”
“So? That’s their problem. You’re just going to play some games with a friend. Advice from one nightmare to another, don’t let the fears of stupid ponies get in the way of what you want. Letting yourself be bothered by them will only overwhelm you.”
“I…had not thought of it that way. While I would prefer they love me as they do my sister, perhaps I can be content with your love.” Luna winced. “I apologize. I should not be so presumptuous.”
Chrysalis laughed. It was almost like night and day between how Luna was acting now and when she had slammed her against the wall minutes ago.
“Don’t worry about it, come on.”
The two of them left the library, and almost immediately ponies were going out of their way to avoid them. Luna, despite her earlier words, couldn’t help but frown. Chrysalis sighed. Maybe she should try to do something about that before trying to play any games.
“If they really bother you, maybe we should hit up Rarity first.”
“The one who mocks me by dressing as Nightmare Moon?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. She might have a costume you can use.”
Luna’s face brightened. “A disguise! What a novel idea! If they do not recognize me, I can get close to them and show that I am not to be feared! Then, once they love me, I can throw off the disguise and they will realize they were wrong to recoil at my presence!”
“Er…yeah.” Chrysalis didn’t bother to say that no costume was likely to properly disguise the giant pony in their midst, and she was mostly hoping that wearing a silly costume would make her seem less scary. She didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm.
The pair arrived at Carousel Boutique and entered.
“Rarity?! I’ve got a fashion emergency for you!”
Rarity entered the shopfront from within the back, notably wearing a witch costume instead of the Nightmare Moon one she had on earlier.
“Oh, hello again, Twilight, Princess Luna. Sorry about earlier, I have changed into a much less objectionable attire, I hope. I usually loathe to wear a repeat of last year’s costume, but it seemed prudent to do so given the circumstances.” She looked over Chrysalis. “I see, you’ve already damaged the costume. Worry not, I can have that fixed in a jiffy!”
Chrysalis waved her off. “Not that. We need a costume for Luna. She wants to be a little less frightening.”
She looked Luna up and down.
“Hmm…I don’t have much in your size.” She continued in a half mumble. “Perhaps something I had designed for Princess Celestia?”
“You made something for Celestia?” Chrysalis asked.
“It was more a proof of concept, an experiment resulting from a sudden inspiration you could say. Wait right here, I’ll be right back.”
Luna looked at the retreating Rarity with some apprehension.
“I am unsure if I am comfortable wearing something intended for my sister.”
“I don’t think we have much in the way of options. How bad could it be?”
Fifteen minutes later, Luna was wearing a long, flowing dress of white with gold trim that was emblazoned with representations of Celestia’s sun cutie mark. Luna’s face was fixed in a scowl that would put Rainbow Dash’s expression when forced to model for Rarity to shame.
“There we go. It’s a little big for you, but it’s the best I could do on such short notice.”
“My sister is known for being exceptionally large.” Luna said acidly.
Chrysalis burst out laughing. That was exceptionally catty of her, and Chrysalis loved it. Somebody willing to speak ill of that frustrating busy body was a breath of fresh air.
“Er…right…the princess’ dimensions aside, I think this should help…uh…I’m sorry, I can’t. This clashes terribly with your coat and is clearly too large for your frame.” Rarity admitted.
“I look ridiculous.”
“Like a filly trying to wear her mother’s dress, I’m afraid.” Rarity confirmed.
“Now, now, it may not look great on you, but looking like that should get ponies to fear you less.” Chrysalis assured her.
“I do not wish to replace fear with mockery! I am no court jester and will not be laughed at!”
With no further warning, Luna bit into the dress and with a mighty pull, tore it off in one go.
“No, my…never mind.” Rarity sagged as she watched Luna destroy her work before her very eyes. At that moment, with a representation of Celestia’s cutie mark between Luna’s teeth, Pinkie Pie busted down the door and charged in with a group of foals.
“Rarity! Nightmare Moon is in Ponyville and—” She paused when she saw Luna. “She ate Princess Celestia and is in cahoots with the bug monster! Run for your lives!”
Luna spit out the fabric. “No! I did not!”
Luna’s protests came too late as the newcomers all ran back out the door screaming. Chrysalis rolled her eyes.
“They’re already gone.”
“I…see.”
“Don’t pay Pinkie any mind, Princess. As I told Twilight, she likes to exaggerate her fears. She thinks it’s fun.” Rarity tried to soothe her.
“Well, I do not.”
“Just forget about them, this was a waste of time. Let’s just go back to plan A, ignore them and focus on playing some games.”
“I suppose.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more assistance. I just don’t have anything that would suit you on such short notice. I hope you can at least enjoy the rest of your date.”
“It’s not—” Chrysalis paused. “Huh. I guess it kind of is.”
The admission brought a small smile back to Luna’s face.
“What sort of games do they play?” Luna asked. Chrysalis tried to remember some of the things Rarity had been babbling about earlier, but failed.
“I don’t know,” she admitted, “but I’m pretty sure I know somepony who’s running one. We could ask her about it.”
“Is this another one of your friends that helped you defeat me?”
“Yes.” Chrysalis said after a moment’s hesitation. No sense lying, she’d find out soon enough.
“It’s not the pink one, is it?” Luna asked darkly. “I hate the pink one.”
“Pinkie…takes some getting used to, but no, it’s not her.”
“Good.”
It took some time for Chrysalis to retrace her steps and find Applejack, mostly because when she stopped to ask for directions, the ponies cowered at the presence of Luna rather than helping. Noting the princess’ frustration over their reaction, she decided it was best to not try again or interact with any ponies at all until they had a suitable distraction available.
“Applejack, finally I found you!”
AJ chuckled. “Ain’t exactly hard to find, I’ve been here all night. Not even that far from the library. Nice costume, by the way. I remember that thing, real scary stuff.”
Chrysalis suppressed a sigh.
“Forget about my costume!” She nearly shouted before lowering her voice. “The Princess here is feeling down because of the way that ponies are treating her and I want to distract her with some games.”
The two looked over to Luna who had stopped to greet a pair of foals, only to have them run away screaming.
“I…see. Shame, really, she ain’t that bad. She seemed okay at that tea party we had with Princess Celestia. Maybe a little grumpy, though.”
“Applejack, focus! Games!”
“Oh, right, sorry. Well, ya can always start with my game, bobbin’ for apples.”
“How does one…bobbin’ for apples?” Luna asked, finally rejoining Chrysalis after her failed attempt to mingle.
“It’s real simple, ya see this tub filled with water here?”
Chrysalis eyed the apple filled water with trepidation. She didn’t think she would like this game.
“Yeah.” Chrysalis said, trying to hide her unease.
“You just stick your head in and try to get an apple with your mouth. Best part is that you can eat any apple that you get. Fun, nutritious and delicious!”
Chrysalis winced. “So, uh…feel like trying this one, Luna?”
“It seems overly simple for a game, but very well.”
Luna stepped next to the tub and took a deep breath before dunking her face into it. Seconds later, she rose back up with a shiny, red apple between her teeth, face dripping with water and the tiny bit of her ethereal mane that had fallen in was plastered to her forehead, having lost its unnatural billowing. Her eyes crossed as she looked at the apple before taking a big bite out of it and removing the rest of it from her face with her magic.
“Your friend is quite right, this is most certainly delicious.”
“Course it is, it’s straight from my farm. Best apples in all of Equestria!”
Luna took another bite and chewed with a blissful smile. After swallowing, she looked at Chrysalis.
“Your turn. I want to see you get soaking wet. It’s only fair, after all you’ve already seen me.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“Uh…right.” Chrysalis frowned as she traded places with Luna by the tub.
“Hold up, might wanna take off the head of yer costume, I doubt Rarity would appreciate you gettin’ it wet, right?”
“Right.” Chrysalis gladly took the opportunity to stall by lifting the fake changeling head from her real one, setting it aside on the ground. A cool, autumn breeze struck her now exposed face, made even colder by the sweat that had built up beneath the warm costume piece. She shivered and tried to ignore just how close winter was getting.
With one quick breath, she dunked her face into the water, and if she thought the wind had been cold, it had nothing on the water. She involuntarily gasped, inhaling some of it, jerking her head back and entering into a coughing fit. She shoved AJ off as she approached with a worried look.
“That’s fucking cold!” She said once she could finally breathe again.
“Language, Twilight.” Luna scolded her. “There are foals around.”
“Right, sorry.”
“Well, maybe it’s a little cool, but it ain’t that bad. You sensitive to the cold or something?”
“I just don’t like it.” She denied the accusation, even if it were true, and stepped away from the tub.
“Are you not going to finish the game?” Luna asked.
“And stick my head back into that ice bath? No thanks.”
The corner of Luna’s lip rose in a smirk. “Well, then, it would appear that I win.” She boasted as she took a final bite from her apple and tossed the core into a waste basket Applejack had provided.
Chrysalis’ eye twitched.
“Uh, Twilight? I don’t like that look, this ain’t that kinda game, you didn’t lose.” AJ tried to calm her friend as she returned to the side of the tub with a scowl. “Remember what we just learned at the Running of the Leaves?”
“Shut up, Applejack!”
Luna’s smirk grew into a wide grin.
“Alright, just sayin’ this is a bad idea. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Chrysalis slammed her face back into the freezing pool and violently sloshed her way through its contents in search of an apple. The first few proved elusive, slipping away from her, but finally one stuck to her teeth and she rose from the water, holding her trophy high and proud, her entire head, neck and mane were completely drenched along with a large radius surrounding the tub, its waterline visibly reduced. Applejack had taken several steps back to avoid the splash zone and several nearby ponies looked at her with concern. Ha! She hadn’t lost to this stupid game!
Applause from a singular source came from behind her, and she turned to see Luna sitting on her haunches and clapping her forehooves together while wearing the head of Chrysalis’ costume, ill fitting on her as it was. Out of the corner of her eye, Chrysalis could see a mare leading her child away from the scene. She was suddenly very aware of the sickening, sweet juice from the apple oozing onto her tongue.
“Bravo!” Luna cheered.
Chrysalis awkwardly removed the apple from her mouth with magic and blushed lightly in embarrassment. “Uh, thanks.”
“Are you not going to eat that?” Luna asked. Chrysalis looked around, noting that ponies were still giving them a wide berth. She stepped closer and spoke in a hushed tone so that only Luna could hear.
“My kind don’t eat pony food. It can actually make us sick.”
“Oh?” Luna grinned mischievously. She took the apple from Chrysalis with her own magic and, while maintaining eye contact, slowly licked the juices with her very large tongue from the holes that Chrysalis’ teeth had made and then took a bite. Chrysalis blushed harder.
“So, fair Applejack, what other games are there tonight for our amusement?”
AJ blinked. “Oh, uh, right. Well, there’s the spider toss game over there. You toss a rubber spider at a web and try to get it as close to center as you can. There’s also the pumpkin launch, where you use a catapult to launch a pumpkin at a target.”
“Tests of accuracy, splendid! Come along, Twilight, we shall continue our competition at the spider toss! You took two tries to bobbin’ for apples, so I am still in the lead!” Luna trotted off towards the mentioned game and AJ stepped next to Chrysalis.
“So…you an’ Luna, huh?”
“Shh! We’re trying to keep it a secret.”
“Coulda fooled me, she ain’t exactly being subtle.”
“No, she isn’t.” Chrysalis grumbled. It would appear that not pushing the relationship forward did not preclude Luna from flirtation.
“Is that why you ain’t chasin’ Big Mac anymore? I know you ain’t really the type to stop just ‘cause I told you to.”
“It was just one stupid kiss, I wasn’t chasing him! I just thought he was cute!” Applejack sighed at her words.
“Well, I guess ya ain’t the only one who thinks so. I know it don’t mean much now since, well, ya know,” AJ nodded towards Luna, “but I’m sorry. I over reacted. Yer rough ‘round the edges, but ya ain’t all that bad. Big Mac could do worse than you.”
“Didn’t you already apologize for that back at the Summer Sun Celebration party that Pinkie threw?”
“Honestly? I can’t remember.”
“Well, thanks anyway. It means a lot to hear it, first time or not.” Chrysalis said honestly. Sure, she had only ever seen Big Macintosh as a source of love, but the sentiment still meant something.
“Are you coming?” Luna called out from next to a basket filled with fake spiders, one of them held aloft in her blue aura.
“Go, your marefriend awaits.”
Chrysalis trotted over to her ‘marefriend’.
“About time. Have a nice chat with your marefriend?”
Chrysalis’ eyes went wide with alarm, remembering her boasts of being a very jealous mare. “What? No, I…Applejack’s just a friend, I swear! She’s probably not even into mares!”
Luna giggled. “I merely jest. Come, let us play!”
The princess flung the spider she held only for it to fall horribly short of the goal, barely two thirds of the way there.
“You missed.”
Luna scowled. “It’s not my fault! Spiders make a terrible projectile! They are horribly non-aerodynamic!”
Chrysalis took some ammunition of her own and tossed it at the target, landing directly on the center of the web. She smirked.
“Looks like I win this time.”
“That was merely a practice round! I shall try again!”
Luna took another spider and hurled it at the web, putting far too much force into it this time. The spider flew right over the target and nailed a passing, dark grey pegasus stallion in the head, knocking him over with a cry of shock and quite possibly pain. A small crowd of ponies gathered around the poor stallion, glancing fearfully at the source of the attack.
With a cocky smile, Chrysalis casually tossed her second spider. While it missed the center, it still stuck to the edge of the web rather than pelting an innocent bystander.
“Looks like I still win.”
Luna growled. “I will not be outdone!”
Her horn glowed and engulfed the entire basket and then her magic disappeared. Chrysalis’ brow wrinkled in confusion as nothing happened at first. Finally, the spiders began to move as if alive, crawling from the basket in droves. Ponies screamed in fright and ran in terror as they crawled over every centimeter of all three webs that had been set up in the distance. Luna pumped a hoof triumphantly, seemingly unaware of the terrified ponies around her.
“Now how many points do I receive?”
Chrysalis raised an eyebrow.
“I’m pretty sure that’s cheating, so none.”
Luna’s triumphant grin faded. “Hmph! Well, we are merely tied, then. We still have one more game to go!”
Chrysalis chuckled as she followed the huffy princess. Cheating or not, that had been amazing.
“Did you actually bring those spiders to life?”
“It is merely a spell to temporarily animate non living entities, they are no more alive than my shadowbolts were in the Everfree Forest.”
“Well, alive or not, I’m impressed. Do you think you could teach me that spell?”
“Perhaps later, first we have a competition to complete!”
Moments passed and the two were loading their first pumpkins at the conveniently, but not coincidentally, abandoned pumpkin launching station. Chrysalis admired the little, repurposed siege weaponry. It was awfully crude, but even if it were just being used in a simple game, it was still an implement of war. With an excited grin, she looked over to Luna.
“Ready for battle, general Luna?”
“Fire when ready, private Twilight.”
Chrysalis and Luna slammed their hooves simultaneously on the trigger mechanisms of their respective catapults. Two giant, orange fruits soared through the air. One hit the target, but just barely, while the other sailed past it and crashed into a parked cart full of hay bales, knocking it over and painting the area with pumpkin guts.
“Looks like I’m ahead again.” Luna boasted.
“The war has only begun!” Chrysalis shouted with a twinkle in her eye, and another pumpkin already ready to go.
Luna eagerly reloaded her own weapon, and they both fired in unison once more. Both projectiles missed their targets this time, each landing on either side of a pink pony dressed in a chicken suit, splattering her and the foals accompanying her and eliciting screams from them.
“Nightmare Moon is laying siege on Ponyville! Quick! Get the royal guard! Save the foals before she eats them all!”
“Hmph. I missed.” Luna said with a mischievous smirk.
“There’s plenty more pumpkins.”
After losing track of time and running out of pumpkins, the two of them were completely covered in pumpkin innards, matching everything in sight. Rarity would surely be pissed at her for ruining the costume, but she didn’t really care. The two laughed joyously, a sound not heard by anybody else since all the other ponies had long since fled the scene of the fruity assault.
“I have not had such fun in over a thousand years!”
“I told you to stop worrying about what stupid ponies thought of you.”
“You were right, I should have listened.” Luna answered with glistening eyes. “Perhaps it is not so terrible to be feared, as long as I have somepony they fear along side me.” She leaned a little closer to Chrysalis.
“That’s the spirit.” Chrysalis leaned forward, tilting her head up and her lips opened slightly. Right before their lips touched through the toothy maw of a mask the princess still wore, Luna broke away.
“No, the problem of the disparity in our positions has not been solved. I will not press forward with our first real, mutual kiss. I would not wish for you to do something you regret.” Luna placed a gentle hoof on her cheek.
Chrysalis opened her mouth to say something, but stopped as a shiver overtook her. What was she doing? She had let the fun of the night make her forget how quickly this mare could ruin everything for her. No…another voice in her mind told her that Luna wouldn’t do that, she wasn’t as frightening as she had been led to believe in her original timeline, not to mention the boost to her love reserves would be phenomenal. The first voice scoffed at the idea that she wasn’t so cruel, reminding her of the damage she had personally caused to her people in the original timeline. Luna had been particularly fierce in hunting down her changelings. Chrysalis had never felt so conflicted before in her life.
“I see your hesitation. As sad as it may be, I believe I have made the right decision. Besides, we are in public. You do still wish to maintain secrecy, unless I am mistaken.” She declared, removing her hoof from Chrysalis’ cheek.
“I…suppose so.” Chrysalis’ disappointment oozed from her words. It was probably too late to worry about ponies not suspecting their relationship given their behaviour tonight. Maybe she really did enjoy the idea of rumours spreading ahead of going public, as she had said during their last meeting. Luna smiled sadly.
“Do not fret, I shall find a way to bridge this divide and silence all objections that remain in your mind. Now, let us find another game to enjoy.”
Chrysalis looked around at the carnage. “I don’t think any other games survived the war.”
Luna did the same. “We…may have gone a little overboard. Oh, over there, your little dragon companion comes. Perhaps he knows of more activities we could partake in!”
“Hey, Spike, over here!” Chrysalis beckoned the dragon over, and he jogged up to them in his equal parts amusing and adorable dragon costume.
“Hi, you two. What the heck happened here?”
Chrysalis coughed. “We have no idea.”
Spike gazed skeptically at the two of them, standing there still covered head to tail in the evidence of the battle.
“Dearest Spike, we seek more entertainment from this night. Do you know of further events we could partake in?”
“Well, it’s getting kind of late, so there’s not too much left, at least for those my age. I was just on my way to the candy offering ceremony.” Spike lifted up the bag held in his claws, presumably filled with candy.
“Candy offering ceremony? What’s that?” Luna pressed curiously.
“It’s where all the foals gather around a statue of Nightmare Moon and offer her candy so that she fills her stomach on that rather than them.
Luna sighed.
“I still can’t believe my sister allowed such vile rumours of me to spread. I would never eat foals, or any pony for that matter.” She said with mild irritation, which was certainly a step up from how Chrysalis would have expected her to react.
“I know that, and the foals do too. They just like being scared sometimes, it’s all in good fun!” Spike explained.
“They like being scared? I have heard it already this night, but I find it hard to believe.”
“Well, it’s true. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some candy to offer and I don’t want to miss it!”
Chrysalis watched as Spike ran off, a plan forming in her mind.
“Princess…do you have a sweet tooth?”
“Yes, I do quite enjoy sweets now and then. Why?”
Chrysalis smiled.
_______________________________________
Chrysalis stood off to the side of a crowd of ponies, mostly foals, that were gathered next to a statue of Nightmare Moon. Zecora seemed to be regaling the children with spooky tales of Nightmare Night, much to their delight. She looked quite attractive in that costume of hers with her mane made silky smooth and parted so that it fell to either side of her face with fake spiders ornamented on it. She wore a fancy dark cloak that was accentuated with golden trim. Chrysalis didn’t know if she had dressed to impress any pony in particular, but she certainly was impressing her. Under different circumstances, she might have made a pass at her, but as strange as it was to admit, she was already taken. Sort of. She also reflected on how she was finding herself attracted to yet another mare that held the fate of her species in her hooves and wondered if that said something about her personal tastes.
A little foal stepped up to the statue of her sort of mare friend. She recognized him through the smears of pumpkin as the colt dressed as a pirate that had been with Pinkie this night. She smiled absently as he overturned his bag and dumped out his offering. He was so small, even for a foal, and really cute.
Just then, the wind picked up and lightning flashed, courtesy of the pegasi part of the alicorn behind it. Nightmare Moon in the flesh appeared from a thundercloud above the statue, eyes glowing bright white.
“CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE, YOU WERE WISE TO BRING THIS CANDY TO ME! I AM PLEASED WITH YOUR OFFERING! SO PLEASED THAT I MAY EAT IT INSTEAD OF YOU!”
With mad laughter that sent a shiver up Chrysalis’ spine, Nightmare Moon swooped down upon the crowd of ponies, letting loose a couple extra cracks of lightning for effect. She doubled back as the crowd fled with screams and landed next to the large bowl filled with candy at her statue. With a mischievous grin, she popped a piece of candy into her sharp, fanged mouth.
Chrysalis approached her, admiring the disguise. It looked exactly as she remembered from when she had first interrupted the Summer Sun Celebration all those months ago, and what she remembered was really hot. Scary as fuck, but hot. She remembered her vow from back then that she would either fuck or kill that mare, and she figured that she knew which it would be now. Perhaps it would not be for awhile yet, but one day.
Upon Chrysalis’ arrival, Luna changed back to her normal form with a flash of white light, and smiled at her with perfectly flat teeth.
“That was hilarious.” Chrysalis said with a chuckle. “And that disguise was amazing.”
“I may not have your proclivity for it, but I do have some spells for transforming myself. Thank you, Twilight. This has been a most enchanting night.”
“Princess Luna?” A small voice interrupted them.
“Hmm? Why hello their, my little pony.” Luna smiled warmly at the same pirate costumed colt from earlier, who had evidently been brave enough to return. Chrysalis tried to ignore how eerily like Celestia she had just sounded with that greeting.
“This was only my first Nightmare Night ever, but it was the best Nightmare Night ever! Do you…do you think you can come back next year?”
“You…enjoyed my presence here tonight?”
“Uh huh. It was scary, but fun!”
“Well then, I’ll just have to return to make the next one even better!” Luna announced, raising her voice so all the foals that had not been quite so brave could hear too, though thankfully not approaching the volume of her magically amplified voice from earlier. Chrysalis didn’t think her ears could have survived much more of that.
“Thanks, you’re my favourite princess!”
“Better than my sister?”
“Way better!” He shouted as he hugged the much larger mare’s leg before running off. Tears began to form in Luna’s eyes as the rest of the foals cheered for the good news.
“It may be just one foal, and one night a year, but I finally am better than my sister. Thank you again, Twilight, you have no idea what this means to me.”
“Hey, keep working at it and I’m sure the rest of Equestria will realize just how great you are, too.”
“Yes…one day they will all see the beauty of my night.”
“And of you, too.”
_______________________________________
To: Princess Celestia
I have much to report on tonight. First is perhaps something I should have known already, but have always found so incredibly difficult to put into practice. Being honest about how you feel about those you are wary of can lead to dramatic improvements in one’s relationship with them, since it allows for a correction of the issues that plague said relationship. Second is that sometimes you must forget about what others think of you in order to find happiness in who you are. Third is that even a single friend can help you get through personal struggles that are nigh impossible to overcome on your own. Fourth and most importantly, if Rarity’s scolding is anything to go by, it is nearly impossible to remove pumpkin stains from whatever materials that she uses to make her costumes.
From: Twilight Sparkle
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I really like this take in both Chrysaliss relationship and Luna's first Nightmare Night.
Ps: Was Time's costume a reference to The Legend of Trixie?
So close to admitting her feelings!!!!
Oh well, at least she's getting there.
Aww, this was nice. For a moment there, I thought Chrysalis would offer her own shapeshifting to aid Luna's Nightmare prank.
One of the more interesting aspect of this take on Chrysalis is that soft spot she seems to have for foals and other children.
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It definitely was a great chapter.
I just wish the site would notify me when a chapter is thrown in the middle like this.
I'm guessing he's meant to be the Alicorn of Time?
Oh my god I had completely forgotten about the poison joke incident.
Love the interaction here.
Nice interquel chapter addition.
damn you, you actually make me want to ship chrysalis and luna.Its not that I'm against it but there is the other version of chrysalis running around and can pretty much sink the ship anytime she wants.
for now I'd settle for og chrysalis developing her tsundere ways and calling her og since she was technically there first due to time keeper.
this reminds me of several fan-stories and a fan-comic that "shipped" Chrysalis with CELESTIA!
This was a totally adorable chapter! Oh, our adorable little psychos...
This chapter was excellent and did a great job setting up the future of their relationship by getting the fear/power disparity out in the open. Now Luna and Chrysalis have months to come to terms with that and work it out via letter before moving forward in a healthy way. That'll pay off big time when you move forwards with future chapters since the timeline in your old plan would have forced you to bowl over that to some extent, but between this and a simple reference back to a letter exchange (presumably containing a lot of day-to-day minutia we don't need to read) you're good to move forwards.
P.S. The dress was supposed to be a stereotypical pink abomination with mountains of lace Cadence would blanch at, not Celestia's hand-me-down. A quick search gives me this image which captures the intended feel even if it isn't as frilly as it's supposed to be.
s3.amazonaws.com/bronibooru/38f359d16ece2fb2a3ec85d94318cc19.jpg
10693443
I don't see how the other Chrysalis could be a specific problem to that relationship. There's no way she'll convince Luna she's "Twilight", and I don't think Luna even knows her real name so she'd just see them as two different changeling "alicorns" without realizing the temporal shenanigans involved.
Wow, if it wasn't for the fact this is set before Hearth Attack, I'd assume Rarity was needling her deliberately. Luckily for Chrysalis, she's so cranky in general that Rarity will probably have no way to link this to the real reason she's upset, because there are too many possibilities.
Also, that was a cute date. Besides everything else, it's probably good for Chrysalis to have someone she can talk about her true self with. The only other one in the know is Time Keeper and that relationship is definitely sour.
Well, good to see some progress on their relationship. Also, ship it like FedEx!
D'awwww, Chryssie actually had fun! Though I bet she'd be even happier if they managed to nail Pinkie in the face with a pumpkin or ten.
it took me days to find that this is actually new i only ignored it before
Why is it I feel like the next chapter posted is going to have something horrible happen? You can't just be giving us this fluff for free something bad is going to happen isn't it? I can just feel it like a calm before the storm kind of thing, and even though we traveled back in time for this bit I feel like we are going to see so interesting stuff happen next. Also is he chronos? Way back in chapter one something was said about chronos so I though it was worth a guess.
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Prologue rather than chapter 1, but that's nit picking. It's a solid guess.
well one of most shitty luna i've seen.(excluding clop fics)
she acts like a webtoon male lead. a wet dream that doesn't exist beyond schoolgirl's wet dream....