Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Choices

"Could you help me with this? Sorry about interrupting your work," said Twilight, motioning for Chrysalis to come closer to her.

The disguised changeling stood up from her desk and stepped towards Twilight. "Not a problem," she said, "I have time. What do you need?"

There was an air of nervousness to Twilight, a slight jittery edge to her posture and voice. She levitated her clipboard into Chrysalis's hooves. "Could you hold onto this for a moment? Well, maybe more than a moment, I might be gone for a bit longer than that. Don't worry though, I'll be fine." She gave an awkward little laugh, then visibly tried to slow her breath to calm down.

Chrysalis still wasn't fully sure of why she'd gotten up or replied to the alicorn in the first place. She wasn't really sure of what she was feeling at that moment, truth be told, it was a strange tangled mess and she was still trying to sort through it. She acted more out of experience and instinct in that instance, seeing an opportunity for information. Lowering her tone, she asked, "What's this about? Is something wrong, Princess?"

Still forcing herself to breathe slowly, Twilight pondered how to reply to the question for a few seconds. She nodded towards the scale she was holding. "Not the first time we've travelled through this one. We know what's on the other side. It's dangerous. This visit... shouldn't be dangerous, I'm taking the right precautions and I'm only going there to investigate. But I'm nervous something might go wrong." She hesitated. There was something more she wanted to get off her chest, but clearly doubted spilling it over with the pony Chrysalis had replaced.

Chrysalis reasoned it was worth a shot. Besides, it meant more time to process her emotions. More time before she had to question herself and her choices. "I promise my lips are sealed," she said. It was the truth, really, she had no plans to tell Stella any of what she could hear. "I don't ask to know what's keeping you on edge, but I believe that it might help you calm down if you shared it with me, or anyone else. We're all friends here, we help each other. And if it's as dangerous as you say, going in there so nervous won't do you any good."

Twilight let go a little chuckle as she finished hearing that. "Sorry. You sound like a cheesy motivational poster I'd make on one of my less stressful days. That's not a bad thing though." She took another deep breath in, and let go of it with a sigh. "You're right." Her tone dropped a bit lower. "I was supposed to run this test with Starlight, but she had something else come up at the last minute. We didn't put it on the official schedules. This scale is kind of a special case." She had a brief look around the laboratory. "And the exit portal seems to be moving around. That's mostly what I'm worried about."

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

It says something when Pinkie comes across as more menacing than Chrysalis. In any case, we'll see what comes of both Twilights' work.