Chapter 3: Pieces in Place
It was hard.
It was hard for Spike to tell Pinkie everything from then to now. It was hard for him to watch as her positivity slowly faded away. Her mane didn’t go fully flat at any point, but it definitely sunk as the story continued.
“… And… yeah…” Spike finished. “We’re… the only ones left. They’re gone. Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity… all of them.”
“O-oh…” Pinkie stuttered.
Spike knew that the first thing he had to do was encourage her and assure her. As long as Pinkie kept being herself and didn’t lose hope, she’d have a much better chance of holding her own.
“But it’s not all bad!” Spike encouraged. “They’re not… gone gone!” In actuality Spike didn’t know if corruption could lead to death, but he decided to stick with the best possible outcome. “And… you’re still here! Alive and well! And you’re not alone! I’m here too!”
Pinkie looked at him but he didn’t see her happy self return just yet. “But… it’s just us… and nearly everyone we know is gone or… we don’t know.”
“Listen…” he continued. “If we can stop the darkness, we can save them! All of them! Our friends, the Cakes, all of Equestria! We’ll need a lot of things, and one of them is… a smile! And a… a… ‘giggle at the ghosties,’ in your words! The world needs us! And they need the Element of Laughter!”
Pinkie finally smiled, a slight but apparent smile, and stood up, her confidence already returning.
“Yeah! Yeah! You’re right Spike! Wanna save the world, don’t do it with a grouchy frowny face!”
“That’s the spirit! We can do it! Yeah, sure, we’ll need to plan… a lot. And research… a lot. But if we stay on top, we can totally do it! You’ve gotten out of even some of the most impossible situations! It’s not time to give up yet!”
“YEAH!” Pinkie jumped in excitement, careful to not land on her bad hoof. “So… what do we do first?”
“Well-” Spike stopped. “Wait, you’re asking me?”
“Yup! I can’t really think of anything.“
“I-I can’t think of anything either…” Spike mumbled. “I’ve… never been in a situation like this before where… the stakes were high, I was there, and… Twilight isn’t. Like it… falls on you or… me.”
“Silly Spike, you’re overthinking!” Pinkie sat next to him. “I just asked for ideas, that’s all! There’s not really a leader in this situation.”
“Yeah, you’re right, you’re right…” Spike began to ponder. “Hm… well… we need to know what this corruption is but if it’s something Equestria’s never seen before then… we have no records! And we can’t find out on our own just like that! Especially since without magic users like Twilight, it’s going to be nearly impossible to catch and learn about the darkness!”
“Well, maybe there’s always the chance that somewhere out there, there’s someone out there that can help with that!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “After all, we escaped, so it’s totally super-possible that lotsa others have escaped too!”
“Yeah, that’s true. We made it. Why can’t others. But who knows if they went to the forest or somewhere else?-…”
“Well, only one way to find out!”
Pinkie left the room, and seconds later returned with something clipped on a strap around her side. It was her party bazooka, only this time the barrel seemed retracted.
“…We go out and look for them! And if any nasty corruption gets in the way, they can say hello to my updated party bazooka, now updated to be retractable for the super extra surprises!”
Deep down Spike didn’t really want to go. At least not right now. Only now had he just gotten to safety, and he felt unprepared. Plus he and Pinkie still had injuries to recover from. Pinkie was Pinkie, sure, but the condition she was in usually isn’t an appropriate one in case there’s danger or fighting.
“Well, I mean… I guess we don’t have any other options on what to do,” Spike shrugged. “It’s just that… I don’t have much to defend myself with, and fire breath doesn’t last forever!”
Both Pinkie and Spike left the room and proceeded to go down the stairs.
“I’m sure there’s something around here!” Pinkie assured.
“Weapons? In the Treehouse of Harmony? Probably not. I hate to say it but I think the only thing I can really use is my fire breath.”
Pinkie and Spike got to the bottom of the stairs, and were already near the exit.
“Are you sure?-“ asked Pinkie. “Because if we get in a sticky situation and you’re not prepped-“
“It helped me escape anyways, and I got enough rest for it to recharge. It’ll be okay as long as I don’t use it too much. May or may not be a good idea but what are you gonna do? Worst comes to worst, I’ll probably throw rocks or something…”
“And if we’re about to lose… we run. We hide. We outmaneuver. It worked before after all!” Pinkie said, continuously popping out of different spots, some of which shouldn’t even be possible for her to pop out of.
Spike said “Yeah,” but because of the sudden burst of unsureness that he felt going out, all he thought was…
“Who knows how many more times we can get away?…”
Without another word, and only a happy nod from Pinkie, they went further and further from the Treehouse, getting deeper and deeper into the forest. They kept their senses on high alert, listening for even the closest hiss, looking for the slightest sight of anything dangerous.
Both Pinkie and Spike were at the ready, to do so much, with so little they had. Maybe they could have made better decisions or options for preparation, but it was too late to turn back now.
And for Spike, in spite of his confident exterior, deep inside, just one image of those smiles and blank eyes were enough to give him a slight shiver. But he stayed hopeful.
Because all they could do was hope and try.
***
Chrysalis tried. She thought over who she could potentially get help from and every option was far from likely. Most of the powerful villains she considered were gone, and who knows if the corruption could bring them back like it did her?
After all, stone sleep is far different from the aether or the afterlife.
She was desperate to avoid the only decision she could make, the only decision that would even increase her chances.
Her enemies were annoying. They were pathetic. Their ways were disgusting.
But they were smart and she knew that they always escaped from the impossible. That’s why she considered them. They always won, always beat her, always beat others. It would be inevitable for them to get away.
But this option had risk, and it wasn’t for the world or her life. It put her morals at a risk.
She knew that they would try and get under her chitin. She knew that they’d try and teach. And even if they didn’t… spending time would start to make her turn. If the time she had with Tirek and Cozy Glow nearly tempted her, the damage with this risk would be irreversible.
She’d grow soft. She’d be infected, not by corruption, but by friendship.
She would prefer the corruption.
Her senses were high, and on the lookout for anything whether it was a threat or something useful. She was low on crossbow arrows, but that didn’t concern her. She could hold her own without it, but she saw no issue with having it.
It wasn’t long before she picked up something. Her ears twitched, and the corruption on her body fizzled, as if her senses were even enhanced.
She was quick to hide, ducking into thick brush and peering from around a tree. She listened, not making a sound, her slightly distorted heartbeat pumping, being heard in her ears.
She saw no shadows. It was a forest at night after all. But soon she saw them, faces all too familiar. Twilight’s small, not to mention weak, dragon assistant, and her annoying, disgustingly happy, pink friend.
She surprised herself when she didn’t even smirk or chuckle at the condition they were in, especially the pink pony. Instead, she was stuck in a limbo of hesitation, keeping herself from making a choice she vowed that she’d never make in the first place.
But then she reminded herself once more that she was alone. Slowly but surely this army would grow and she would never be able to experience her freedom and get what she truly wanted. And any allies that she wanted were inaccessible, and she didn’t have any more time to try and find an alternative.
She took a small deep breath. She didn’t think of a full thought-out plan, she didn’t decide to take her time to coax them in. She cut right to the chase.
“Greetings, you two,” she greeted, not leaving her spot. “I’m aware that just the sound of my voice may be alarming.“
Both the dragon and pony stopped.
***
“Is that who I think it is?…” Spike questioned out loud.
Pinkie Pie already reached and grabbed her bazooka, standing up on her hind hooves as it fully extended.
Slowly, someone stepped out from a hiding spot. Spike’s body tensed up when he saw who it was and Pinkie immediately shot her bazooka at the figure, covering it in pasty cake batter.
Their suspicions were true. It was Queen Chrysalis, the corruption on her body in spots, especially her eye.
“Hmph. I suppose something like this was inevitable…” she scoffed, a small irritated and disgusted growl in her voice.
Once he finally got a good look at Chrysalis, a realization quickly came across Spike. Her eye being normal… no smile… a small amount of the corruption…
“Chrysalis?… Is that… really you?…”
“Yes of course it’s me!” she spat. “If you must know, I asserted my rightful dominance over this… whatever it even is!”
Pinkie paced around her, bazooka clipped back on her side so she could move. “So what are you doing here, then. Hm? HM?!”
Chrysalis hissed quietly, but kept composure.
“Allow me to cut to the chase…” she began. “I have always intended to take over Equestria. Drain love from all that inhabits this land, and rebuild my kingdom! But with… this….” She flicked out her hoof, showing the glob of the black matter pouring out of one of the holes in her hoof. “… my chances were taken away from me! My options were limited and after some time I realized my best option was-“ She gagged. “To seek your-“
She choked. Literally. It was like trying to say it was cutting off her words.
“Heeeeeeeeeelp?” Pinkie inched closer.
Chrysalis snapped her jaws as a message for Pinkie to back off.
“Yes! Yes! YES!! I seek your help, more specifically, Twilight Sparkle’s!”
“She’s gone…” Spike said. “She got corrupted.”
Chrysalis raised a brow. “Really?… What about Starlight Glimmer?”
“Gone.”
Chrysalis had a brief scoff-like laughter. “And I assume your other Princesses are gone too?”
“We don’t know,” said Spike. “I sent a letter but I haven’t heard back.”
“How interesting…”
“Let’s backtrack though… you would actually rather have our help then giving up, either to corruption or death?”
“A temporary alliance is different than taking some pathetic offer for friendship!” Chrysalis snarked. “It can last as long as it needs to, and when the job is done, I can resume to my own motives, as long as I stay committed to not letting your ways get to me…”
“Uh, Spike…” Pinkie squeaked with a rare occurrence of urgency.
He didn’t notice. “Well we could use your help anyway! Look, fine, we can… not try and teach you stuff that could actually help you, and as long as we do that, you help us with what we need.”
“Spike-”
Pinkie was again cut off, this time by Chrysalis. “If I do even stay by my decision to help you, I give the orders! I don’t take! I give!”
“SPIIIIIIKE!!!”
“Pinkie, what is it?!” Spike shouted.
Pinkie pointed at a certain direction with complete urgency, her hoof slightly shaking.
Both Spike and Chrysalis quickly glanced, and out of nowhere, someone sprung right into action, already on the attack.
“̴T̴h̴e̷ ̴G̸r̴e̸a̴t̶ ̸a̴n̴d̵ ̶P̴o̷w̸e̸r̵f̷u̸l̸ ̷T̷r̴i̷x̴i̸e̴ ̷i̴s̷ ̶h̷e̴r̶e̷ ̶f̶o̸r̵ ̶a̷n̷ ̸e̶n̴c̵o̶r̸e̷!̴”̴
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A bit surprised that Chrysalis took the cake batter shot so well. But then again she has been through worse.
This is going well, and it's quite interesting see Chrysalis actually work with the heroes. the alliance does feel a bit rushed, but I don't mind it.
11510307
For the record, one could say it technically hasn’t been made official yet and what happens in the next chapter would do the job.
Oh no, not Trixie too!
This story is getting more and more interesting. Now Queen Chrysalis has joined the party. Now, I am wondering on how she would react about saving Twilight and her friends, specifically Starlight.
Only time will tell, and I will patiently wait.
Keep up the great work!
woah! I hope our Characters, Leo and Gizmos can come and rescue them!
11510661
This is an entirely different universe. It has nothing to do with the Reformverse.
11510667
i see oh well still waiting for the Reformoverse story to continue i am still looking forward for it!
Chrysalis, the unwilling ally but an ally nonetheless.
Even mind controlled Trixie loves taking center stage.
11509390
For some reason I remembered the example of Sonic from the comics. There was a techno-virus that acted much like Pibby's glitch, taking over everyone and turning organic victims into hive-mind zombiebots. The bottom line is that Sonic himself was infected, but the constant run to exhaustion did not allow the infection to be controlled.
also on Adult Swim's April Fool's Night airing 2022, Pibby's glitch failed to get hold of the morally adult depressive characters.
11512234
Wait really. Is there a clip of this you could possibly link?
Chrysalis may not want to team up with Spike and Pinkie but so far it's her safest bet. Love the story so far! Keep it up!
Yay, the Magus has joined the party.
She took it well.
I picture her almost hurling, like Vegeta from DBZA.
... I was kinda expecting Chryssie to blast her mid-sentence.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is on Great and powerful pain!"