Author's Note

I'm sorry.

Wouldn't Want To

Chrysalis took a deep breath. This wasn't really a big deal. In fact, it was rather obvious. Of course they couldn't let her out of the underground bunker. And, since she was at a military institution, communal showers were to be expected. And Twilight would obviously have to stay with her, because they needed to keep an eye on her. It was all fine and rational. Not anything like that one dream where—

No, she could not think about that. Not now. Especially not now. None of those dreams, actually. Because that would make an already incredibly horrible situation even worse.

The man poked her in the back of the neck with his rifle. "Hey, Swiss cheese. Keep moving."

Right. She had to walk. Walk to the shower. With an Alicorn Princess of Equestria. Yeah. Nothing—no big deal.

Chrysalis shuffled along, amazed at the scope of the operation. So much metal, such a long corridor. Her mother, who was nicknamed "The Great Hive-Builder" for a reason, would have been proud of the work—In exactly the way she wouldn't have been proud of her offspring's—

Stop thinking about that!

"Alright, ladies," the captain grunted, coming to a stop in front of a door, "This is it. I've remove the hot water limits since you're our special guests, but try not to take too long, alright? Oh, and we had this pre-stocked with something that should work on your guys' manes. Acone's idea. Even recommended a brand, which I thought was a bit strange, but I guess he does his research."

Twilight walked in. Chrysalis tried extremely hard not to watch her as she did so. Eventually, she admitted defeat and just closed her eyes.

"Chrysalis?"

She perked one eyelid up, which was greeted with the sight of a confused Princess.

"Aren't you going to come?"

Celestia-FUCKING-dammit, Chrysalis thought, forcing her body to shove itself through the door. It slammed behind her.

The room was much nicer than the Queen expected. Not that it was exactly luxurious, but the tile was clean and the metal shower-heads weren't rusted. Twilight was already underneath one, tentatively trying the knob.

"I don't know how to work this," she muttered. "I've never done this before."

Chrysalis twitched.

Twilight turned around, looking at Chrysalis. "At least, not with a control device like this. Maybe you..."

The unicorn's horn lit up, pushing the knob out. Water instantly sprang forth from the spigot.

"Ah, there we go," she said, happily. "I bet you turn it to control temperature."

Chrysalis watched as she rotated the knob to the right, testing the water with a hoof. She moved it about a half-inch back to the left and stood in the stream, sighing.

"That's better," she said, as the dark fluid caking her coat began to thin. "Much, much better."

She stood with the water pouring through her mane for a minute or so, not moving. Chrysalis noted that she liked her showers hot. Extremely so. The room was already foggy from all the steam.

Hot, maybe, but not as hot has her—

STOP IT

"Chrysalis? Are you ok?"

Chrysalis looked up, surprised. "What?"

"You were shaking your head, like this..." Twilight replied. She demonstrated by rapidly wiggling her head from side to side, sending droplets of water everywhere.

Chrysalis tried not to blush in embarrassment. "Ah, no reason. So, uh..."

Chrysalis staggered to the opposite end of the room, as far away from Twilight as she could be. "How do you work these?"

"Just pull and... wait, no," Twilight replied. "They probably don't want you using magic. Here, take the one next to me, I'll work it for you."

Chrysalis twitched, strolling back to the other end of the showers. She took her place underneath the shower head Twilight was pointing at, trying to keep her breathing steady.

"Back up before I turn it on," Twilight instructed. "I don't want to burn you."

Chrysalis did as she was told. Twilight turned the handle about half way, and the water rose to life. "That hot enough?"

Chrysalis tilted her head, touching her horn in the stream. "Maybe a few degrees hotter."

Twilight turned the handle more. "Satisfied?"

Chrysalis nodded. "V-Very."

As quickly as she could, she stepped in the stream. Hopefully Twilight would let her shower in peace, and she wouldn't have to—

"You need help with your mane?" Twilight, to Chrysalis's dismay, asked. "There's shampoo here."

Chrysalis gave another curt nod. "Get yourself first."

"Oh no, the guest always comes first," Twilight responded. "Celestia herself taught me that."

Chrysalis briefly considered faking a heart attack.

To her side, Chrysalis heard a shimmering. She felt her hair carefully, almost tenderly, pulled from her head.

"I'll get it, don't worry," Twilight said.

* * *

In a room down several corridors and hallways, Veladre snapped his fingers at the video monitor.

"The bug totally wants to fuck Twilight," he exclaimed.

Acone's head whipped around in the direction of the captain, an expression that could best be described as a snarl on his face. "What?"

"One-hundred-percent," Veladre said. "She's got the hots, bad."

"Are you trying to make us spying on them in the fucking shower even more awkward?" Acone asked, holding up a hand. "This is creepier than my fucking middle school principal already. No need to make it worse."

Veladre raised an eyebrow. "Middle school principle?"

"Put cameras in the boys locker room. Got fired, went to prison. Nasty shit."

"Really? That's... really similar to what we're doing, actually."

"Yeah, I know."

"...Well, no, I wasn't trying to make it awkward," Veladre responded. "I was just making an observation. I was in the bug's situation once. Bobby James at the East High locker room. Most torturous experience of my life."

Acone mentally moved telling the captain the joke about the Asain, the Homosexual, and the Pope from the "maybe" list to the "definitely not" list.

"And what makes you say that?" Marshal asked, annoyed. "Why do you think the situations are similar?"

"Chrysalis keeps shuddering whenever she says anything remotely sexual, and is currently fucking trembling," he responded. "It's obvious."

"Guys!" Lieutenant Taylor's voice was strained, on the verge of yelling. "Stop talking! Every time you talk important shit goes on! Look!"

The crew turned back to the monitor. Chrysalis was standing under the water, Twilight right next to her. One purple hoof rest on the black chitin of the Changeling's lips.

"Shit," Veladre muttered. "Maybe this is more like that time with Bobby than I thought."

* * *

"It wasn't your fault."

Twilight's voice was quiet. Almost tortuously so. Chrysalis' brain swirled, filled with a horrible mix of depression, anger, arousal, shame, and fear.

"I don't know what the relationships between our two nations will be like after all this is over," the Alicorn continued, "But I promise you that it wasn't your fault. You couldn't know."

Twilight removed her hoof. Chrysalis looked deep into her eyes, then nodded, turning away. She managed to get a single word out: "Thanks."

Twilight turned off the water, walking towards the door. Chrysalis followed her, head held a bit taller. She still wasn't sure about Celestia, but Twilight seemed as benevolent as she claimed. And so soft, too. Gentle. Brilliant. Really nice ass—

Chrysalis shook her head. No, she definitely, definitely couldn't think about that now. The entire shower encounter had already done too much, and she was about to go get strapped down, with no way to "cool off." And not even in the fun way.