Adrian

“What the fuck were you thinking!?”

I rolled my eyes as Rusty yelled at me, throwing a fit over the fact that I slept with my roommates. I looked down at him as he punched me repeatedly in the leg, trying his hardest to hurt me, but with little luck.

“Will you relax?” I asked, picking him up by the antlers, only for him to swing a kick at me. “Agh! What the hell, man!?”

“Hold still, dammit!” he said. “I can’t kick you if you move your head!”

I rolled my eyes as I dropped him on the bed. “I really don’t see what the big deal is,” I told him as I dug through one of my bedroom drawers.

“You don’t see what the… DUDE! Do I have to spell it out for you!? It’s Trixie and Chrysalis! Remember? The same Trixie and Chrysalis who used to live upstairs and bugged the shit out of us? The same Trixie and Chrysalis that blackmailed us into letting them move in? The same Trixie and Chrysalis that you’ve been butting heads with for the last year? Ring a bell!?”

“Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?” I asked, taking out a pair of flannel pants and putting them on.

“Last time I checked, no one goes from hating each other to fucking each other in less than two weeks!” he snapped.

“It’s a lot more complicated than that.”

“Alright, then. Explain it to me. I got time.”

I groaned and walked over to the bed, taking a seat next to Rusty. “Remember how much Chrysalis was complaining about how she couldn’t get any love?”

He nodded. “Yeah…”

“Well, it was getting to the point where it started to affect her health. Did you notice how grey her hair was getting and the wrinkles she was getting on her face?”

“I try not to look at her more often than I have to.”

I shook my head. “By then she didn’t have enough magic to disguise herself and try again for another victim, so she asked me and Trixie to help her out.”

“And you just said ‘yes’?”

“What was I supposed to do!?” I snapped, glaring angrily at Rusty as I gritted my teeth. “I may not have liked her, but I wasn’t gonna let her die!” He flinched at my sudden outburst, falling back onto the bed in shock. I felt a tinge of guilt when I saw that scared look in his eyes, even if it lasted for just a second. “Sorry…”

Rusty shook his head. “No, don’t be. I was being a dick.” He sighed. “I dunno, the idea was just… a lot to take in, but I didn’t even think about how you felt. From what you just said, it seemed like you didn’t really have a choice. Jeez, it probably wasn’t very fun, either. Chrysalis’s snatch probably had teeth on the inside, or something.”

I chuckled. “Well, if it did, I didn’t feel any. Honestly, they aren’t that bad.”

The jackalope opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped himself and thought about it for a second. “Um… were you talking about them in bed or… just them in general?”

“Well… both, actually,” I admitted. “Trixie’s really sensitive under all that bravado, and Chrysalis isn’t as cold as she lets on. They both had their own problems that I could kinda identify with, and we all realized that going at each other’s throats all the time wasn’t really worth it.”

“So… you’re friends now?”

I lied back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know what we are. I know I don’t hate them anymore, and we are getting along for the most part, but there are times where I feel… really weird around them. I don’t know if it’s the good kind of weird or the bad kind. It’s all really confusing.”

Rusty looked back at me, unsure of what to say, but then he gave me a smile and hopped over to the side of my head. “Well, however you feel, it’s only right that I try and be a little nicer to them, too.”

I smiled back at him and patted his head. “Thanks, buddy. That means a lot.”

“Hey, don’t mention it. As long as I’m your best friend, we’re all good.”

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

I sat up and looked at my bedroom door. “It’s open,” I called.

The door opened and Chrysalis stood outside, leaning against the door frame. “Hey, ENTM is about to start,” she told us. “You guys gonna watch?”

I shot out of my bed and onto my feet. “Oh, shit! I totally forgot about that!”

“Well, we better hurry. It’s eight-fifty-eight,” she said, and the three of us headed to the living room and switched the channel over to Starshine Network.

A FEW MINUTES EARLIER

Chrysalis

I sat in front of the TV, looking through the channel listings to see what was on, and so far, my search wasn’t going too well.

“Boring, shit, stupid, boring, boring, shit…” I droned as I went down the list. “Unbelievable. Over six-hundred channels and not a fucking thing to-”

I stopped the cursor at Starshine Network, where they were showing last week’s episode of ENTM. “Wait… today’s Tuesday, isn’t it? What time is it?” I thought as I glanced at the TV’s clock.

Eight-fifty-six.

“The new episode was going to start any minute. Adrian might want to watch, too, assuming he’s done getting yelled at by that rat.” I giggled at the thought at the little mutant chewing out his owner as I made my way to their room, but before I knocked on the door, my ears twitched as I caught a bit of their conversation.

“Honestly, they aren’t that bad,” I heard Adrian say.

“They? Who? Me and Trixie?” I pressed my ear against the door and listened further.

“Um… were you talking about them in bed or… just them in general?” Rusty asked.

“Well… both, actually. “Trixie’s really sensitive under all that bravado, and Chrysalis isn’t as cold as she lets on.”

A light blush burned onto my cheeks.

“They both had their own problems that I could kinda identify with,” Adrian continued, “and we all realized that going at each other’s throats all the time wasn’t really worth it.”

“So… you’re friends now?”

A short pause.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know what we are. I know I don’t hate them anymore, and we are getting along for the most part, but there are times where I feel… really weird around them. I don’t know if it’s the good kind of weird or the bad kind. It’s all really confusing.”

I stepped back when I heard Adrian say that. It seemed that I wasn’t the only one that felt strange around my roommates. Granted, my sense of it was more literal, but even he could feel something. I looked over my shoulder towards Trixie’s room and began to wonder: did she feel it, too?

“Bah! That doesn’t matter. I can’t waste my time dwelling on this. My show’s about to come on.”

After a few knocks on the door, I heard Adrian call “It’s open.”

I opened the door with my magic and played it cool, not wanting to arouse any suspicion. “Hey, ENTM is about to start,” she told us. “You guys gonna watch?”

My focus kept shifting between the TV and my own thoughts as the show went on. The episode was nearly over, and the judges were deliberating over who to send home this week. I felt awkward the entire time we watched the episode, and I kept debating with myself over whether or not I should talk to Adrian about what I heard.

I glanced at Rusty while his eyes were glued onto the screen. “If I do talk to Adrian, now wouldn’t be the best time.”

“They better not send Primrose home,” said the rodent.

“I dunno,” Adrian shrugged. Most of the judges liked her photo the best, but Hoity Toity liked the Comet Tail’s photo more.

“That jackass has been jerking over that mare all season,” the jackalope scoffed. “Besides, he’s the only one who thinks that, so Primrose has to win best photo. Majority rule, and what-not.”

“True.” The human then looked over to me. “What do you think, Chrys?”

That nickname again. I did my best to hide my embarrassment and thanked the heavens that humans couldn’t sense emotion. “Well, I-”

“Shhh! Hold that thought! The elimination’s starting!”

The six remaining contestants walked back into the room, standing by the wall opposite the judges. As always, Prim Hemline stood in front of the judges’ table with a set of photos in her hands while the other judges sat silently at said table.

“Six beautiful young mares stand before me,” she began, “but I only have five photos in my hands, photos that are screengrabs of your commercial you shot this week, and these photos represent the five of you that are still in the running towards becoming Equestria’s Next Top Model. The first mare that I’m going to call has performed the best this week.”

We all tensed up as Prim slowly revealed the first photo.

“Primrose.”

“Oh, thank God,” Adrian sighed, slouching back in the chair.

Primrose walked up and graciously accepted her photo before stepping aside as Prim Hemline continued the call-out. “Ginger Snap.” A light brown, freckled mare with a curly mane and tail blinked in disbelief and stood still for a half second before walking up to receive her photo. “You’ve improved a lot this week. Keep up the good work.”

“Thank you,” the young mare nodded with a small smile.

“The next name I’m going to call is… Comet Tail.”

A pale blue mare with a pure white mane and tail came forward.

“Ember Whisp.”

The nervous, red-orange mare with black hair stepped up to Prim, leaving two mares left.

“Moon Beam and Black Velvet, please step forward.”

The two remaining mares gulped and walked together, stopping right in front of Prim.

“Alright, guys. Predictions?” Rusty asked as Prim talked to the two mares.

“I dunno. It’s a real toss-up,” Adrian said. “Moon Beam’s commercial shoot went perfectly, but she sounded really robotic. Black Velvet had a lot more personality, but she ended up having to read cue cards to get the lines out.”

I squinted my eyes as I thought it over for a while. “Moon Beam’s getting the boot.”

“How do you figure that?” Adrian asked.

“It’s true that Black Velvet struggled with her shoot, and professionals prefer these things to go quickly; time is money, and all that. Still, with Moon Beam’s monotone in her commercial, it gave the impression that she didn’t want to be there, at least Black Velvet was trying.”

“Yeah, but you can’t just assume that Moon Beam doesn’t want to be there just because of the way she delivered her lines,” Rusty argued.

“Doesn’t matter,” I quickly countered. “The industry is all about perception, they go by what they see, and if they don’t see it, they don’t believe it.”

“But… shit, you have point,” he surrendered. “You really do know this business.”

I accepted the nice ego stroke as our attention shifted back to the TV. “So, who stays in this competition?” Prim Hemline said, and a low, tense tune played, a faux heartbeat thumping in the background. While it was quite corny, I still leaned forward in anticipation as there was a small part of me that wondered if my prediction was wrong.

Prim grasped the final photo and flipped it over, revealing a dark purple crystal mare with a jet black mane. “Black Velvet.”

“Huh, you were right,” said Adrian. “Well, fuck me.”

“I thought she already did,” Rusty snickered.

The human rolled his eyes. “Ha, ha, ha.”

I let out a loud yawn. “Well, that’s another episode down. See you two in the morning. I’ll check out next week’s preview tomorrow.”

“Later,” they both said as I got up and headed back to my bedroom, changing into my sleeping robe once I shut the door behind me. Another yawn escaped me as I climbed into the bed, my eyes slowly closing as sleep eventually took hold of me.

The sound of a distant crowd reached my ears, rousing me from my slumber. With tired, baggy eyes, I glanced at my door and let out a low grumble. “Does Adrian really need to have the TV up so loud when he’s playing video games?” I thought. “Hell, doesn’t he have work today?”

I got out of my bed, and as I got closer to the door, the noises from the crowd became louder, and when I grabbed the doorknob, I felt the door rumbling slightly. “The fuck is going on out there?” When I opened the door, instead of seeing the hallway, there was just a black void. Suddenly, I felt someone push me in, and as I stumbled and tried to maintain my balance, I heard the door shut behind me.

“What the-” I said, turning around only to find that my bedroom door was no longer there, and I was left alone in the black, empty space, still hearing the distant crowd. “What in Tartarus is going on?”

“Give it back.”

My ears perked up and my tail straightened out, hairs bristling at the tip. I could feel my heart beat a little faster as I looked around. “Who said that?”

“We want it back.”

The crowd became louder and I could see many pairs of eyes looking at me, eyes that I recognized. I winced as more voices began to yell at me.

“You were unfit to rule us!”

“We’re glad you aren’t queen anymore!”

“All you’ve done was sit and watch us suffer!”

“Give it back!”

“Why you little…” I growled. “I was the best thing that’s ever happened to you! If it weren’t for me, you’d all be scraping to get by! I was responsible for all of our victories!”

“And all of our failures! Countless, countless failures!”

My head began to ache and I fell to my knees, trying to shut the voices out. “Shut up!” I yelled.

“Give it back!”

“You can’t have it!”

“Hand it over!”

“Quit it!” I shouted. “I want nothing to do with you! Just leave me alone!” I shut my eyes, tears threatening to come out, and I tried as hard as I could to fight them back, but then I felt a sudden shortness of breath, and I when I opened my eyes to gasp for air, I found myself lying in my bed, still in my bedroom, lying on my stomach and breathing heavily.

“Ugh… damn it…” I mumbled tiredly as I rolled over to my left. “Where’s Princess Luna when you actually need-AGH!” As I turned, I fell out of the bed, landing on my back and hurting one of my wings. “Owwwww…” I groaned, my head resting against the foot of my nightstand. With blurred vision, I looked up and saw… something hanging over the edge of the top of the nightstand. As the image cleared up, I realized that it was my alarm clock…

But that realization was a little too late.

“AGH! FUCK!” I screamed as the clock landed square on my snout. I shot up and covered it with my hand, hissing at the pain and hoping that no one heard me. With my snout still throbbing, I walked over to my closet, opening it up and moving all my clothes out of the way with my magic. “Just to be sure,” I thought.

With everything else out of the way, I reached into the back of the closet and pulled out my little box. I gave it a little shake and let out a sigh of relief. “Phew. Good, it’s still in here. Still… I should check to make sure it’s okay-”

I flinched as I suddenly heard several hard and hurried knocks on my door. “Chrysalis, are you okay? We heard you yell,” Trixie called.

“I’m fine,” I answered. “The door’s open.” I stood still, looking at the small box in my hands as my roommates entered. “Sorry I woke you guys.” No response. Instead I felt waves of concern and slight fear. I looked over at Adrian and Trixie to see that they were staring at me. “What?” I asked.

“Your snout’s bleeding,” the unicorn answered bluntly.

I blinked and lightly felt my snout, a warm, green liquid staining my fingers. After contorting my face in disgust, I looked back at Trixie and Adrian. “Why so shocked, though? Have you never seen blood before?”

“The blood that we’re used to is red, not dark green,” the unicorn quipped.

I rolled my eyes.

“Trixie, the medicine cabinet in the guest bathroom should have a first aid kit in it. Could you get it?” Adrian asked.

“Sure,” she nodded before walking off to the bathroom.

“So, I take it I didn’t wake Rusty?” I asked Adrian.

He shook his head. “Nah. He’s a pretty heavy sleeper. He’d probably sleep through the Canterlot Invasion-”

I glared at him.

“Oh… sorry,” he said, a stream of embarrassment flowing from him.

“Well, it makes me feel a little better knowing he didn’t mean it,” I thought.

He looked up at me and rubbed his arm apprehensively. “So… what happened?”

“I fell out of bed and hit my snout pretty hard.”

“Did you have a bad dream or something?”

I tensed up and clutched the box harder. “Yeah…” I looked at Adrian and saw his eyes looking down at the box, a moderate curiosity emanating from him. Before either of us could say anything, though, Trixie returned with the first aid kit.

“Here you go, Adrian,” she said, handing the kit over to him. “I also got a cloth for Chrysalis.”

The human opened it up and took out a small spray bottle. As he set the kit down, Trixie approached me and wiped the blood off my face with the damp rag. I squirmed when I felt its cold touch, my wings flittering as a cold chill ran through me. “I can do it myself, you know. I’m a grown mare.”

“Just shut up and let us help you,” Trixie said as she wiped my face clean and moved aside.

“Hold still,” Adrian told me as he held up the small bottle of medicine and sprayed it twice on my snout.

My eyes widened as I felt a burning sensation in my nostrils, my yell of pain held back by my closed lips. “Rrgh! What the fuck is that stuff!?” I hissed.

“Relax. It’s just a magic spray medicine to treat bleeding,” he explained. “It should stop in a couple minutes. Besides, if it burns, that just means it’s working.”

“Are you gonna be okay?” Trixie asked as Adrian put the medicine away.

For a moment, I hesitated to answer, and I clenched the box again. “I… yeah.”

I caught a whiff of curiosity coming from the unicorn, only hers was stronger than Adrian’s. “What’s going on?” she asked. “You look a little frazzled. Is there something you want to talk about?”

Once again, I failed to give a straight answer. Was I really considering telling them? Confiding my insecurities about my appearance was stressful enough, and it hadn’t even been twelve hours since then. Did I really want to open myself up even further than I already did?

“Let’s not pressure her, Trixie,” said Adrian. “If she doesn’t want to talk about it, she doesn’t want to-”

“Fine,” I said, making a snap decision. “We’ll need to take a seat, though. It’s kind of a long story.” We all took a seat on my bed, and set the box down in front of me as I took a deep breath. “In my dream, I was hearing the voices of my old subjects. They kept telling me to ‘give it back’ to them.”

“Give what back? The box?” Trixie asked.

I nodded my head. “They kept demanding me to give it to them, like they deserved it, like they were the ones who forged it themselves.” The rage bubbled inside me, and my breathing became heavy. “They had no right to take what was rightfully mine!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Adrian interrupted. “What are you even talking about? What’s inside this box that’s was so important to you?”

“A lot of the stuff you’re saying is going over our heads,” Trixie added. “We’re a little confused right now.”

I let out a sigh. Of course they were. They’re totally in the dark. If I wanted them to understand, I had a lot of explaining to do.

I lit up my horn and opened the box, reaching inside and delicately pulled out the small ornament inside. The material was black and smooth, and it was decorated with round, green bulbs at the points. While seeing and holding it felt good, I’d never place it on my head again.

“They wanted my crown,” I told them. “It was the only thing I managed to keep after they exiled me.”

“Exiled you?” my roommates asked in disbelief.

“I just assumed you just left because you didn’t want to be their queen anymore,” said the human. “I didn’t think that they actually kicked you out?”

“How did it happen?” the unicorn asked.

I set the crown aside as I explained what had happened that day, the memory unfolding in my mind as I told the story.

It was two years ago, and my subjects and I had settled into a barren city, an old conquest from my early years as queen. After the Canterlot Invasion, I tried and failed to convert Twilight Sparkle, making two consecutive defeats. We weren’t in the best of times, but we’d been through worse, and with time, we’d surely bounce back.

Along with my guards, I stayed in the castle at the center of the city, and I paced around the throne room, trying to plan our next move. “Perhaps Equestria’s capital city was too ambitious,” I said to myself as I glanced out the large window at the north wall. “We should probably shift our focus towards smaller, developing nations, preferably one that’s already been weakened. Neighgypt might be a good place to start, considering they’re still recovering from a civil war. Hm… I should ask Chitin Chalice what he thinks.” I then heard several knocks, my attention now focused on the throne room doors. “Who is it?”

“It’s Chitin Chalice,” a voice on the other side answered. “Permission to enter, my queen?”

“Granted.”

The two large doors slowly creaked open and my head general walked in, the same stern look on his face that he always had. There were also five soldiers behind him, each of them among the best stallion and mare changelings my forces had to offer.

“Ah, I see you brought company,” I smiled. “Perfect, you’ve saved me the trouble of fetching you myself. I’ve come up with an idea for what we’ll do once we recover, and I wanted to run it by you and get your thoughts.”

“Actually, your highness, we have a more pressing issue that needs to be addressed,” Chitin said, retaining his stoic expression. Outside of battle, he was quite hard to read, his spirit hardened by his time as my head general, and I always had a hard time figuring out what was going on in that little head of his.

This time, however, something just didn’t feel right.

“Oh? And what would that be?” I asked cautiously.

“During our imprisonment at the hands of Twilight Sparkle, I discussed this matter with the other soldiers, and we’ve come to a decision.”

“That decision being?”

Chitin took a look back at his comrades, and then back to me. “We no longer want you as queen.”

My ears twitched as I heard that, and I wondered if I had gone insane for a second. “Excuse me?”

“It was a unanimous decision. Your numerous failed conquests have given us reason to believe that you are past your prime and thus unfit to rule. We believe that it is time for a new queen to take your place.”

While I maintained my composure on the outside, I was absolutely insulted! Me? Unfit to rule? How dare they make such a claim! My inner rant was interrupted by the scent of repressed anger, a scent coming from the soldier to Chitin’s left.

“Is there something you wish to say, Amaryllis?” I asked. “If so, you may as well say it now, since we’re all airing our grievances,” I couldn’t help lacing a bit of a venomous tone in those last few words.

“Only because you asked, Chrysalis,” she answered, intentionally putting emphasis on the fact that she omitted my title.

“That’s Queen Chrysalis to you, soldier,” I promptly corrected, raising my voice only ever so slightly.

“You’re no queen of mine!” she snapped, stomping her hoof hard enough for the impact to echo across the room. “You’ve long since outlived your usefulness! You’ve failed us two consecutive times, and our population has dwindled! It’s gotten to the point that we all have to serve in the army! We used to be able to have our less capable changelings live without having to fight, but now we all have to go!”

I continued to hold back my anger at her outburst and stared her down. “You should all be honored to fight for your kind.”

“Not when we have kids out there in the line of fire! My youngest son was sick and still had to participate in the Canterlot Invasion, and he was nearly killed! We’re the weakest we’ve ever been thanks to you! It’s time for a new queen!”

As she continued to berate me, I sensed similar emotions coming from the soldiers surrounding her. It seemed Amaryllis wasn’t the only one that had issues with me.

“You seem to have forgotten who led us to victory in our invasion of Timbucktu. Here’s a reminder: that was me. I was responsible for many of our successes.”

“And you’re also responsible for just as many failures! These past two defeats were only some of many! Our only conquests over the last hundred years have been of small, insignificant cities! We were once a force to be reckoned with, but now you’ve been queen for too long! It’s high time you stepped down!” At that point, the other soldiers joined in.

“What have you done for us besides fail?” one shouted.

“We’re tired of you doing nothing for us!” another added.

“What kind of queen lets her subjects starve!?” yelled a third.

“Silence! All of you!” I commanded. “You all have got some fucking nerve speaking to me like that! You’d better watch that tone of yours, you ungrateful little-”

“ENOUGH!” Chitin interrupted, and everything fell silent for a moment before he spoke up again, his voice returning to its usual calm tone. “This does not have to be a violent confrontation. My Queen, all we ask is that you step down from your position and allow the six of us to rule in the interim while we choose a new queen.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Hpmh. And if I refuse?”

“Then we will have to use force.” Despite Chitin’s emotionless stare, I could tell that he was serious. His skills in battle almost rivaled mine, and with five other high-level soldiers backing him up, I wasn’t sure if I’d actually win. “It does not have to be this way, however. Again, we only ask that you step down. Nothing more, nothing less. You may still serve as an invaluable member of the new queen’s council.”

“Wow. What an honor,” I said rolling my eyes. “So that’s it, then? You want a new queen? Fine. If all the work I do isn’t going to be appreciated, then it’s not worth exerting myself.” I removed my crown and held it in my hands. “There. I’m not queen anymore.” I raised an eyebrow when Chitin Chalice reached his hand out. “What do you want? A handshake?”

“No, ma’am. We want the crown.”

I scoffed and had a small laugh at that. “You’re joking, right? This is my crown.”

“The crown belongs to the queen, ma’am, and you no longer hold that position,” Chitin objected.

“This crown belongs to nopony but me,” I said back, raising my voice. “I fashioned it myself. It is a symbol of my leading us to victory in Timbucktu and belongs to me and only me. You can easily make one for your new queen.”

“Hand over the crown, Chrysalis!” Amaryllis shouted, and at that point, I had enough of her.

With a growl, I fired a small blast at the mare’s leg that was strong enough to bring her to her knee, but not strong enough to kill her. “Listen here, you little shrimp! I may not be your queen anymore, but I’ll be damned if I let you mouth me off like that! I’m keeping this crown, and that’s that! You got me? I’m not gonna say it aga-AGH!”

I yelled in pain as I felt another magic blast graze my arm, and I looked up to see Chitin’s horn glowing. “I tried to hold them back Chrysalis. I told them that we could resolve this amicably, but if you won’t give us the crown, then we’ll have to take it.”

“It’s not yours to take!”

“Have it your way, then.” He looked back at the other soldiers with a cold look in his eyes. “Get her.”

Without a word, the soldiers ran at me, and I used a quick teleportation spell to zap myself out of the palace.

Little did I know that there was a mob of angry subjects waiting for me.

“Shit!” I thought as I flew up and flew as fast as I could, holding the crown close to me and doing my best to dodge the incoming blasts.

“And that’s pretty much how it happened,” I finished.

“So that’s why you get mad whenever someone mentions that you used to be a queen?” Trixie asked.

I nodded. “I’m done with them. I have a new life now, and I’d never openly admit it before, but… I feel so much better off here. Even with all the stares and whispers, at least I had others that actually cared about me, like my boss and, well… even you two.” I then sensed feelings of embarrassment coming from the two of them.

Trixie cleared her throat. “Well, um… can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“I know that crown means a lot to you, but if you’re trying to leave your old life behind… then why keep it? I mean, I get the sentimental value and everything, but if it keeps reminding you of a part of your past that you want to forget, then is it really worth it?”

The question caught me off-guard for a moment, and I actually thought about what Trixie told me. Had my crown really become more of a painful reminder than a valuable trophy? Was it worth having it haunt me like this?

“I’m sorry if I overstepped any boundaries,” the unicorn apologized.

I shook my head. “No, Trixie. You’re right. The longer I hold onto this thing, the more it’s gonna remind me of my past. I… I don’t need it anymore.” I got out of the bed and headed to the door. “It’d help a lot if you two came with me. I could use some support.”

They both nodded and followed me out, heading out of the building and to a nearby alley. With Adrian and Trixie standing by my side, I used my magic to levitate the crown over a trash can standing by the alley wall. With one long, drawn-out breath, I focused the magic holding the crown up, the intense energy causing it to melt. We stood in silence as the crown deformed into a bubbly mess, dripping down into the trash can.

“Are you okay?” Trixie asked.

“Yeah,” I answered. “Why do you ask?”

“You’re crying.”

“Huh?” I felt my face and felt tears running down my cheeks. “Oh… sorry.” I wiped my face as the last bits of the crown were melted away.

“Don’t be,” said Adrian. “Tell you what. How about we all go out Friday night? We’ll be done with the recording that day, so it’ll be like a celebratory thing.”

I chuckled a little as we walked back into our building. “Sounds fun.” As we walked back to the apartment, I felt my chest become a lot lighter, a huge weight being lifted off of it. “You know, I might not have thought much of you two a first, but you turned out to be pretty good friends… I mean, assuming that we are friends.”

They looked at each other, then looked back at me with a smile and said “We are.”

Author's Note

Damn, a half-hour late. Welp, better late than never.

So, that was... quite the chapter. This was the hardest chapter of this story to write, and I had been wondering how to tackle it since before this story started. I'm sure you all have a lot to say, so don't hesitate to say it in the comments.

Also, thanks to primeoetgrunn, HC_Gamer, FourthWallAfroBrony, WIL_I_ZIN, and Naughty_Ranko for their name suggestions, as well as everyone else that put in their own two cents for what I should name the ENTM models.

So again, thoughts in the comments, and I'll see ye next chapter. Keep it sketchy, folks!