Chrysalis

After everything that happened yesterday, last night’s sleep wasn’t that refreshing, to be honest. Knowing that this was my first morning living with roommates that I hated really put a damper on my mood, too.

Waking up in the morning was probably the worst part of the day for me. It’s too bright outside, and my morning breath would be so bad that it’d make me want to puke. I’d be in full-on zombie mode until I showered, which would always help to get my gears turning, and I would be doing that right now if somepony hadn’t been hogging the bathroom.

I sat with my back against the door, wondering when Trixie would finally get out and let me in, but there seemed to be no end in sight.

“For fuck’s sake, Trixie!” I yelled. “You’re clean enough!”

The sound of the faucet turning off gave me hope, but I shortly realized how foolish I was.

“It wouldn’t kill you to be a little patient, Chrysalis,” she nagged. “Some of us like to clean our bodies thoroughly. Besides, I haven’t been in here for that long.”

“It’s been thirty fuckin’ minutes!” I snapped back, only to hear the faucet turn on again. I shot up to my hooves, gritting my teeth furiously. “Why you… I HAVE A JOB TO GO TO, YOU INCONSIDERATE LITTLE-”

“Whoa, whoa! What’s with all the noise?” I heard from my right. I looked to see Adrian walking outside his bedroom door. It pained me to admit it to myself, but for an instant, I was jealous of the fact that he had the master bathroom all to himself while I was stuck sharing a smaller one with a degenerate like Trixie.

“I have to go to work soon, and I can’t even take a shower!” I answered.

Adrian rolled his eyes as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Trixie’s still in there?” he groaned, and then his volume suddenly increased. “Well, I guess it’s gonna be her broke ass that pays the water bill then!”

The next thing I heard was the faucet shutting off once again and hurried shuffling, and the door opening not fifteen seconds later. “I suppose I am clean enough,” she muttered with an air of fake poise that I could’ve seen even without my changeling senses.

“About damn time,” I grumbled, noticing something out of the corner of my eye; Adrian was standing in the hallway as if he was waiting for something. “If you’re expecting a thank you, don’t hold your breath,” I hissed, only for the human to shrug his shoulders and walk off. As I walked into the bathroom, I was initially relieved that I could finally take a shower, but then a sobering and horrifying realization came over me: I had to wake up even earlier than usual in order to beat Trixie to the shower.

Fuck.

Adrian

I breathed a sigh of relief as I left my building, happy that I could get a reprieve from Chrysalis and Trixie’s bickering. It wasn’t until after I let them live with me that I noticed how similar their voices sounded. When I first heard them arguing this morning it sounded like a schizophrenic yelling at themselves.

Now that I was stuck in this situation, heading off to work was even more refreshing than it usually was.

When I finally got to the studio, I took a deep breath as I entered the elevator and tried to get my mind off of my… living inconveniences. The steady beeping of the elevator as it passed each floor was somewhat therapeutic; the slow rhythm helping to get the stress out.

DING!

I shook my head as I tried to look as not-annoyed as I could, not wanting to worry Cel Shade or Roxy, but as the doors opened, all of those thoughts went out the window when I saw how festive everyone was.

“The fuck,” I thought at first, but then I remembered what had happened yesterday. “Oh right, we finished the mid-season finale for Gem Quest yesterday. Well, this kind of atmosphere is just what I need to get my mind right.”

“Hey, Adrian! You made it!”

I looked over to the crowd and saw Cel and Roxy walking over to me; smiles on their faces and snacks in their hands.

“We thought that all the grub would be gone by the time you got here!” Roxy chuckled as she tossed me a mini bag of popcorn.

“Thanks, Rox. They got any root beer over at the snack table?” I asked. “I could use one.”

“What’s wrong?”

I blinked at the sudden question. “What do you mean ‘what’s wrong’? I just need a drink.”

“Yeah, but when you said it, I felt a disturbance in the force.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re not going crazy on me, are ya?”

The diamond dog let out a hearty laugh, wiping a tear from her eye. “Nah, I’m just fucking with you. I saw what happened in the newspaper this morning.”

“Who the hell reads the newspaper anymore?” Cel asked.

“Well, I wasn’t reading it per-se. I was… kinda-sorta chewing on it… but that’s beside the point!” she whined before looking back at me, ignoring the look of disgust that Cel was giving her. “Anyway, is everything okay, now?”

I shrugged. “Well, the fire started on the floor above me and didn’t spread to my apartment, so that’s something.”

“Rusty’s okay, I hope.”

“He’s fine. To be honest, it’s not the fire that’s got me down, but what happened because of the fire.”

“Go on…” Cel urged.

I sighed. “You know my neighbors, right?”

“Trixie and the changeling queen? What about them?”

It took a second for me to respond, because I still couldn’t believe it myself. “They… moved in with me.”

“What!?” they yelled, their voices barely reaching the volume of the party.

“Why the hell would you let them live with you!?” Cel asked. “I thought you couldn’t stand them!”

“Believe me, I can't,” I reassured her, “but they know that I have a pet in my place and they wouldn’t have hesitated to tell the landlord if I didn’t let them stay.”

“At least tell me you’re charging them rent, or something.”

“Don’t worry, I made it perfectly clear that they weren’t staying for free. They’re gonna be splitting the bills with me, and I laid down all the ground rules.”

“Okay, but are you sure they’re gonna follow them?” Roxy asked.

“Feh,” I scoffed. “I doubt anyone would let Chrysalis live in their building due to her former reputation, and Trixie is too broke to live on her own, so there’s a good chance they will, and as long as they do that, everything will be… bearable, at the very least.”

“Can I get everyone’s attention?”

We all turned towards the sudden voice, and we saw Mr. Render, one of the studio executives standing in the center of the room.

“Now, I’m sure you all know that this is Gem Quest’s final season, and with the mid-season finale out of the way, we’re right on track to finish the series by the time it has to air in October.” We all cheered despite the bittersweet reality that a show that we had been working on for so long was going to be ending. “So, in honor of one of Phantom Foal Studios’ most popular shows, let’s celebrate!”

Everyone raised their glasses in celebration as we all went back to enjoying the party, only for Mr. Render to approach me, Roxy, and Cel Shade.

“May I speak with you three for a moment, in my office?” he asked.

Roxy, Cel, and I gave each other quick glances of worry. “Uh… sure,” I answered as we followed our boss to his office. He opened the door for us, letting us walk in before him and take a seat at his desk as he shut the door.

“What the hell’s going on?” Cel mouthed to Roxy.

“I dunno, but I’ve seen pornos that start out like this...” she mouthed back with a shiver.

“Will you two relax?” I told them. “I highly doubt that we’re here for that.”

Mr. Render finally took his seat behind his desk and looked at the three of us. “So, I’m sure you guys are a little sad that Gem Quest will be ending.”

We nodded.

“I thought so. To be honest, I am, too. That show helped this studio to make a name for itself. It was quite the… gem, if you will.”

We nervously laughed at what we assumed was a joke.

“Once that final season airs, Phantom Foal Studios will need a new hit, something that meets, no, surpasses Gem Quest’s quality and popularity, and that’s where you three come in.”

“Say what?” Cel asked in confusion.

“I see a lot of untapped potential in you three. When you first started working here three years ago, I put you to work on Gem Quest’s second season for a reason. You guys have helped the series look better than it’s ever looked before, and I think that, if you put your minds together, you’ll be just as good at creating your own series.”

Those last three words echoed in my head. Your own series… My nervousness almost immediately turned into excitement once I realized what Mr. Render was getting at.

“We’ll still need the three of you to do scenes for Gem Quest, especially the season finale, but I’m gonna pull some strings for you three in order to make the creation of this new series a priority. It doesn’t matter how long it takes as long as the final product wows me. I expect only the best from the three best animators we have,” he chuckled, “but don’t tell anyone else I told you that.”

“We won’t let you down, sir!” Roxy barked happily.

“I know you won’t,” he nodded with a smile. “Now, with that being said, I think I’ve kept you guys away from the festivities long enough. Go out and enjoy yourselves.”

As the three of us left the office, I tried my best to contain my excitement until the door was closed. “Yes! Finally!” I cheered.

“Well, someone’s happy,” Cel joked.

“You’re goddamn right I am! This is our chance, you guys! We’ll be able to have our own show created here at the studio! We’ll be doing more than just animating scenes! We’re gonna have a story that we came up with end up on TV!”

“I’m just stuck on the fact that Mr. Render told us how awesome we are,” the pegasus smirked.

“Yeah, but imagine how awesome we’ll be once we get this new show started!” Roxy chimed in, tail wagging at high speed. “We’ll be going to conventions, doing press releases, signing autographs… it’ll be amazing!”

“First things first, though,” I told them. “We need to come up with an idea.”

Trixie

I’ll admit it, I could’ve been a little more productive today.

While I should’ve been coming up with some ideas for my next routine, I spent the better part of the day sitting in front of the TV. I had to change my repertoire every two months in order to keep things fresh for my audience, and I had about a month left before my next change, and so far, I had nothing. I mean, I thought I was onto something yesterday, but then the fire happened, so it’s safe to say that fire spells are out.

What really bugged me was that I had no place to practice my spells outside of rehearsals. If it wasn’t for Adrian’s stupid rule, I’d be trying out some new magic right now.

“Maybe if I cover my tracks well, he’ll never know...” I muttered to myself. “No one’s around after all.”

“Yeah, no one except me.”

My heart jumped when I heard Rusty’s voice from behind me, and my look of surprise transformed into a disdainful glare.

“It’s only been a day. Have you already forgotten rule number ten?” the rodent asked. “No magic up in this piece, honey, and you'd better believe that Adrian will be the first guy I call when I catch you."

Shit. He was right. Rusty could easily call Adrian from the landline.

"So, are you gonna do something other than hog the TV?" he asked as he hopped onto the coffee table. "I'm sure your 'Great and Powerful' ass has left an imprint in the couch by now."

"Oh, be quiet," I said with a dismissive wave. "I haven't been here that long."

"Sweetheart, it's ten after four."

"What!?" I yelled, shooting up from my seat after looking at the clock on the wall. I knew I had wasted a lot of my day, but not that much!

Just then, I heard the door opening and turned to see Chrysalis walking in, letting out a long yawn. “Ugh… I. Am. Exhausted.”

“Oh yeah. Standing still while others draw you must be sooooooo tiring,” I drawled.

“Shut up, Trixie,” she said back with an uninterested tone. Not two minutes later, she came back into the living room, now dressed in a pale green tank top and black sweatpants, heading towards me. “Make room. I’m watching the TV.”

“Says who?” I objected.

“Says rule number seven.”

“Last time I checked, rule number seven stated that you have to let everyone else know ahead of time if you have a show to watch,” I reminded her.

The changeling merely smirked as she sat on the other side of the couch. “Yes, but the rule also says that you can’t hog the TV all day, and judging from the crater that’s formed underneath you, I think you’ve been here for quite a while.”

“As much as I hate saying this, she’s right,” Rusty shrugged, and I begrudgingly handed the remote over to her. As the former queen smugly changed the channel, the door unlocked once again and Adrian walked in with an idiotic smile on his face.

“Could you dial back the enthusiasm a little,” Chrysalis commented. “It’s flooding my senses.”

Adrian paid her no heed as he jubilantly hummed to himself. “Not even you can ruin this day for me, Chryssie. I am in too good of a mood.”

The changeling shot him a deadly glare. “Call me ‘Chryssie’ again and I’ll slit your throat.”

While the threat surely scared me, Adrian didn’t seem fazed in the slightest. Whatever’s got him in this good a mood must have been something really amazing.

“So what’s the good news?” Rusty asked, hopping over to him.

“I’ll tell you all abou-”

KNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCK!

We all turned our heads to the door, alarmed at the sudden and rapid knocks. Adrian looked into the peephole, and let out an annoyed sigh.

“Who is it? The landlord?” I asked.

“No, it’s your little fanboy,” he groaned.

My ears perked and my tail bristled as I jumped out of the couch and ran into the hallway. What the hell was he doing here!? “I’m not here,” I said quietly as I stayed out of sight.

Adrian shrugged and opened the door, and the next thing I heard was heavy and tired breathing. “Where’s Trixie!? I heard about the fire! Is she okay!?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. She’s fine, Lenny,” Adrian answered.

“Larry.”

“Whatever.”

“Well, do you know where she is now?” the boy asked.

“What do I look like, her father?”

“I know where she is,” Chrysalis chimed in.

No. She wouldn’t. She’d better not!

“You do?” Larry asked excitedly.

The next thing I heard was hoofsteps hitting the floor, and I assumed that she was walking over to the door. “Oh, yeah. She still lives in this building. We’re all sharing this apartment for the time being,” she told him, and I imagined an evil grin on her face as she sold me out. "In fact, she’s here right now. Hey, Trixie! Come and say hi to Larry!”

I furiously gritted my teeth, mentally cursing Chrysalis as I tried to come up with an excuse. “I’m a little… busy at the moment,” I lied.

“Well, she can’t see ya, kid. Later,” Adrian told Larry. “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” With that, he shut the door and turned to Rusty. “Come on, let me tell you what happened at work today.”

The two of them walked past me and into their room while I stomped over to Chrysalis, who looked back at me with a satisfied smile.

“Chrysalis, you bitch!” I yelled. “What the hell was that for!?”

She shrugged. “I just wanted to see your reaction. Your face turns the cutest shade of red when you get mad.”

“You know what? FUCK you!”

“No thanks, I prefer mares with a little less meat on their bones.”

Just as I was about to zap one of her bug eyes out, we heard three knocks on the door. After looking through the peephole, she turned towards the hallway and raised her voice. “Adrian! It’s the landlord!”

We heard an annoyed sigh before he walked out of his room and towards the door. “Hello?” he answered.

“Good evening, Mr. Lewit,” the old earth stallion said to him. He then looked at me, “Miss Lulamoon,” and then at Chrysalis. “Miss Chrysalis. I’m surprised to see you all in one apartment. You’d think that I’d be rid of at least two of you. So much for that.”

“Someone’s in a crabby mood,” Chrysalis taunted.

“Don’t test me today, missy! I’ve got half a mind to evict you!”

“Hey, I’m not the one who burned the third floor down.”

I groaned. “How long are you gonna keep mentioning that?”

“As soon as I stop smelling the ashes,” she snapped back.

Adrian put both his hands up, one in front of me and one in front of Chrysalis. “Look, Mr. Saddleton, why all the hostility? I haven't caused any trouble in the three years I’ve lived here and I always pay my rent on time.”

The decrepit pony scoffed at him. “You just haven’t fucked up yet. Anyway, I just want to let you three know that I’ll be keeping a real close eye on you, and if I see the slightest hint of shenanigans, it’s out with all three of you!” With that final statement, he walked away, his bitter old bones somehow managing to carry him.

Adrian sighed as he closed the door. “Crazy old fuck,” he muttered under his breath. “Well, that killed my mood.”

“Great. As if we don’t have enough nonsense to deal with," I groaned. "Sweet Celestia, I hate that old coot.”

Chrysalis didn’t look any less displeased than the rest of us. “Hmph. At least we all have one thing in common.”

Author's Note

And so the common enemy reveals himself. I'm sure we all have had that shitty landlord at some point in our lives, and if you haven't... you'll see.

So, Trixie's still broke, Chrysalis is expecting a raise, and Adrian has an opportunity to fulfill his dream! We'll have to see how things unfold in the next chapter, and maybe you'll see a familiar Manehattanite, as well.

Until then, keep it sketchy, folks!