Chrysalis

“Alright, I’ll see you later, Professor Perspective,” I said, waving goodbye to the teacher as I left her classroom. As soon as I walked into the hallway, however, my façade of happiness instantly went down. It had been three days since Trixie’s show; I still wasn’t able to get a love session with anyone, and the fact that I had to continuously use my shapeshifting magic on the job wasn’t doing me any favors. I felt lightheaded all day, and when you throw in the occasional stomach pains, it’s a wonder how I’ve been able to last this long without passing out.

“At least I made it to lunch…” I thought as I made my way to the school café. “I don’t know how long I can survive on just regular food and drink. This dry spell is literally killing me…”

“Chryssie!” an upbeat voice called, and I turned around to see Cross Hatch. A sigh of relief escaped me as I waved to him. He always had a way of making the day a little more bearable, no matter how bad it was. “How’ve you been?”

“Well, to be honest, I’ve been better,” I chuckled. “Haven’t been feeling one-hundred percent lately, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.” I quickly ordered my food before turning back to Cross, who looked at me with some concern.

“Now that you mention it, you are looking a little under the weather. You sure you’re okay, Chryssie?” he asked.

“Trust me, I’m fi-” *cough* *cough* “-ine, Cross Hatch.”

The stallion narrowed his eyes and raised an eyebrow. “You don’t look ‘fine’ to me.” I opened my mouth to object, but instead I fell into a hacking fit, covering my mouth so as not to be rude. “Alright, that settles it, you need some time off to recoup.”

“Wha? Oh, no, Cross Hatch, I’m just fi-”

“No you aren’t, Chrysalis,” he interrupted sternly. “I don’t believe in someone overworking themselves. Your health should be the top priority. Go home, take the rest of the week off, and don’t worry about making up the time. Consider this a paid vacation, you’ve earned it.”

I didn’t bother responding. Cross Hatch was usually a very relaxed stallion, but there were these rare moments where he showed his serious side, and there was no changing his mind once he got to that point.

“Well, if you say so…” I sighed as I got my food and coffee. “I guess I’ll see you next week then… Thanks, boss.”

Cross nodded with a smile. “You’re welcome, Chrysalis. Whatever it is that’s got you so sick, I hope this time off will help.”

“I hope so, too,” I chuckled as I left the café. “I really hope so…”

Adrian

“Backslash!”

“Yaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!”

“GAME! The winner is… SHULK!”

Rusty groaned. “Okay, Adrian. What the fuck?”

I blinked. “Huh?”

“I almost never beat you in Super Smash Bros, and you were using Kirby! Kirby is your best character, and I just murdered you! Seriously, what the actual fuck?”

“I dunno, I’m just… out of it,” I answered half-heartedly.

“Well, you better get back in it. Your boss gave you, Cel, and Roxy the day off so you guys could have more time to think about the new show,” Rusty reminded me.

“Says the guy that wanted me to play Smash with him.”

“Nothing gets the creative juices flowing like a good video game session, Adrian.”

“Normally I’d agree with you, but Smash is just not doing it today,” I sighed.

Rusty rubbed his chin, eyeing me up and down. “Is it Smash… or is it you?”

“Please don’t try to be profound. It’s not your thing.”

“I’m serious, Adrian. It’s starting to look like all this work you’ve been doing with this new series is starting to tire you out.”

“Can you blame me?” I asked. “I have to make a series that has to be better than Gem Quest was, and that show was a powerhouse! I mean it’s nice to know that Mr. Render thinks that Roxy, Cel, and I can do this, but that belief also gives us, or at least me, that sense of pressure to perform, especially when he said that we were the three best animators the studio had.”

“They say that staying on the top is harder than getting to the top,” said Rusty.

“Again, profound is not your thing.”

Just then, the door opened and Chrysalis walked in with a look on her face that was just as tired as mine. We eyed each other, and usually one of us had some smartass comment to make, but I just… wasn’t feeling it today. I turned back to the TV while she walked into the hallway towards her room.

“Damn, you really must be stressed,” Rusty commented. “Y’know what? I’ll pick a shit character for this next match.”

“DONKEY KONG!” the game announcer yelled.

“Ugh! Will you two please keep it down!?” we heard from the hallway.

Rusty scoffed and repeatedly pressed the A button on his controller.

“DO-DO-DO-DO-DO-DO-DO-DO-DO-DONKEY KONG!”

We then heard hoofsteps coming our way before Trixie showed herself. “Some of us are trying to get some work done! I’m trying to think of tricks for my next routine and I can’t think straight with all the racket you’re making!”

“Can you not yell?” I asked with a twitching eye. “I’m right here. Inside voices, Trixie.”

“Alright, house meeting!” Rusty suddenly announced!

Chrysalis, Trixie, and I all sat in the living room with Rusty standing on the coffee table in the center.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that there’s been a lot of stress between the three of you, lately, and to be completely honest, it’s starting to annoy me. So, since we have the entire afternoon off, I suggest we all blow off some steam with a nice trip to the bowling alley. Sound good?”

The first one to say something was Trixie. “Well… I suppose that a little fun would help me relax,” she admitted.

“And I might be able to find someone to bed while I’m there…” Chrysalis added.

“And schooling you two in a game of bowling should help me feel a little better,” I finished before receiving glares from both mares.

“Ha! You think that you can beat the Great and Powerful Trixie at bowling? Ha! That’s a laugh!” the unicorn boasted.

“It would be nice to see you two squirm in defeat…” the changeling said, more to herself than to us.

“Have you even bowled before?” I asked.

“Feh! I’ve ruled over an entire kingdom and won many battles. A simple game is foal’s play!”

“We’ll see if you’ll be singing the same tune once we hit the lanes!” Trixie said as she got up and headed to her room. “We’ll go as soon as I get changed!”

“Hmph! This should be fun,” Chrysalis chuckled to herself, before getting up and leaving as well.

Rusty looked at the two mares and waited until they left before letting out a laugh. “Ha! Worked like a charm!”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”

“I knew you guys wouldn’t resist the chance to show each other up in a competition, and you took the bait!” he snickered, puffing his chest proudly. “I knew that the possibility of one of you beating the other two at something would be the perfect de-stressor!”

“You clever bastard,” I smiled. “We’ll be back before eight tonight, right?”

“Of course! ENTM is on tonight! I’m not missing that!” Rusty looked at the TV for a second, then looked back at me. “Wanna squeeze in one more match while they get ready?”

I shrugged. “Sure. Why not? I have more than enough time to serve you some Kirby.”

Rusty smiled and picked a different character before starting the match, and the announcer yelled “3… 2… 1… GO!!!”

Trixie

“Let’s establish this right now,” Adrian said as we all put on our bowling shoes. “No magic. Period.”

“I’m not gonna need magic to beat you two,” Chrysalis scoffed.

“Says the mare that’s never played the game before,” I commented, rolling my eyes, then looking down at the shoes I rented, pulling a face of disgust. “I can’t believe that somepony thought it was a good idea to have patrons wear shoes that have been on somepony else’s filthy hooves.”

“They clean ‘em,” said Rusty.

“A two-second spray of Febreze doesn’t count as cleaning, rodent.”

“Well, you could always not wear the shoes, slip on the lane and crack your head open,” he quipped, then looked up at Adrian, only to get no response. “Aw, come on. It’s not my best, but that deserved a chuckle at the very least.”

“Meh, it was alright,” the human answered vacantly.

“It was actually pretty bad,” Chrysalis added.

“Well, it feels nice to not be bashed for once,” I thought with a relieved sigh.

Rusty let out a humph before hopping over to our lane’s scoreboard and typing in our names, putting Adrian first out of favoritism and Chrysalis last so she could at least see how the game worked before she tried for herself.

“Watch and learn, ladies,” Adrian bragged as he picked up his ball and approached the lane. Chrysalis watched him closely as he got ready. I would be, too, if I were her. If she wanted to beat me, she’d have to take as many notes as she could, especially considering that Adrian and I had to explain the rules to her on the way over here.

The human took a deep breath before taking his first step, bringing his arm back before swinging it forward, sending the ball down the lane. He seemed pretty confident in himself at first, but that confidence broke once we saw the result of his throw.

Seven-ten split.

“Not a good way to start the game,” Rusty mumbled.

“Well, now I know how not to throw the ball,” Chrysalis snickered.

“Yes, that was quite the lesson, Adrian,” I said with a laugh.

“I’d like to see you do better,” he challenged me as he used his second throw to knock down one of the remaining pins.

“Fine, since you asked, I will,” I smirked, picking up my ball and walking to the lane, shooting Adrian a look as we crossed each other. “Magic isn’t the only thing I’m good at,” I said, tossing my ball down the lane. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched the ball roll down the center of the lane, but then it started to drift to the left.

“Wha-? Nonono!” I thought in a panic. “Don’t- Just go- AGH!”

I hung my head as the ball ended up knocking down only three pins, and they made a dull, pathetic sound they made as they fell.

“You have no idea how much good this is doing for my self-esteem,” I heard Chrysalis say.

“I can still pick up the spare!” I snapped as I got my ball back. I focused my eyes on the seven remaining pins, taking a calm, deep breath and taking a slower approach to my second throw… which was a mistake. The ball ended up rolling at a snail’s pace down the lane, eventually ending up in the gutter.

It was painful to watch.

The looks of mockery on Adrian, Chrysalis, and Rusty’s faces only made it even more aggravating. “Looks like somepony can’t put her money where her mouth is,” the changeling laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, go shove it in your leg holes,” I grumbled, stomping back to my seat.

“Looks like it’s my turn,” she smirked as she got her ball and got ready to take her shot. Unlike Adrian and me, she didn’t take any time before throwing her ball, and we didn’t really take her seriously.

“She’s not gonna make it,” he said, and Rusty and I nodded in agreement.

Chrysalis, however, turned around confidently and walked back to us without even looking to see if she knocked down any pins.

I folded my arms, leaning back in my chair and grinned at her. “You’re not gonna knock down any pins like tha-”

“STRIKE!!!”

The scoreboard suddenly flashed as a little cartoon played on the screen, showing a set of bowling pins exploding.

Chrysalis looked down at me with a satisfied look on her face. “You were saying?”

I gritted my teeth, my nostrils flaring as I looked at the scores, the painful reality that I was dead last hitting me like a freight train. However, I was not going to let that stop me. “It’s only the first frame, Chryssie. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Fifty.

After nine long, painful, embarrassing frames, my score… was fifty. I realized around halfway through that this was less of a game between the three of us, and more of a game between just Adrian and Chrysalis. I was just extra.

It was Adrian’s turn, and he had already gotten two consecutive strikes in his final frame. Throughout the whole game, the lead was going back and forth between him and Chrysalis, and while Adrian was currently in the lead, Chrysalis still hadn’t taken her turn, so he needed as big a lead as he could get. When he made his last shot, he ended up knocking over seven pins.

“Good enough, man. Good enough,” Rusty said as his owner came down and sat beside him.

“Just skip my turn,” I said with a dismissive wave, and Rusty tapped the “Skip” button on the scoreboard screen to fulfill my request. “There’s no point in me going at this point.”

“Good, now I don’t have to wait to win this game,” Chrysalis boasted as she practically strutted over to the lane, bowling ball in hand.

“I doubt that you’ll win this, Bughorse,” said Rusty. “You’ll need a turkey to win.”

“Why the hell would I need a bird?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “Is that some kind of bowling-speak for ‘good luck’?”

I rested my fingers, on my temples, trying to take in the stupidity of what I just heard. “It’s when you get three strikes in a row.”

The changeling gave us an incredulous look. “And they call it a ‘turkey’? That’s fucking stupid! How on Equus did they make a connection between bowling and birds!?”

“Just throw the damn ball!” Adrian interrupted.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and turned around to face the lane. Again, she took no time in her approach and simply threw the ball down the lane.

Strike.

She whistled musically as she got her ball back, walking up to the lane again and taking her second shot.

Strike.

I looked over at Adrian and saw that he went from slouching back in his chair to intently watching Chrysalis in the desperate hope that she would somehow mess up. It was hard to believe that the changeling was doing so well in her first game without using magic, and as much as I wanted to say that she was cheating, there wasn’t a single hint of magic to be seen.

Before taking her final shot, Chrysalis looked back at Adrian and winked at him. “Good game,” she said, focusing her attention back on the lane and making her last roll.

“CLUCK-CLUCK-CLUCK!”

We looked at the scoreboard and saw a turkey walking across the screen with bowling pins following it. “WINNER! PLAYER 3!” an automated voice announced as Chrysalis happily walked over to us.

“Not so bad for somepony that’s never played the game, huh?” she asked, blowing nonexistent dust off her fingers. “Looks like you two weren’t as good as you thought.”

I looked up to the ceiling with a sigh. “Well, at least the game was kinda fun.”

Chrysalis nodded in agreement. “I’ll admit, the rat had a good idea for once.”

Rusty cleared his throat. “First off, don’t talk like I’m not here. Secondly, I’m not a rat!”

We all had a laugh as we took off our bowling shoes. While I did lose the game by an embarrassing landslide, I still had a rather fun time.

“Hey, Trixie!” a young voice said behind me.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I thought vehemently. I turned around to see Larry coming towards me and my right eye began to twitch at the sight of him.

“I didn’t know you bowled,” he said with a smile as he sat next to me, and I moved one seat over.

“Well, I don’t. Not very often, at least,” I told him. “You’ve met my roommates, Adrian and Chrysalis.” They both gave uninterested nods at the boy, who didn’t really pay much attention to them, either.

Larry shuffled a little in his seat. “So, I’ve been wondering… you’ve been kinda distant lately…”

“Lately?” the four of us answered with equal amounts of confusion.

“Is it because you’re dating Adrian?” he finally asked.

“WHAT!?” Adrian and I blurted out, and everypony turned to look at him before going back to their own business. Meanwhile, Chrysalis and Rusty fell to the floor in fits of unrestrained laughter.

“You mean you guys aren’t dating?” Larry asked for clarification.

“Fuck no!” the older human asserted.

“Well, can I ask you something, then, Adrian?”

“I know I’m gonna regret this, but what is it?”

“Um… how do I put this? How can you live with two pretty mares and not want to date at least one of them?” Larry asked. “I mean, you may not like Trixie, but there’s still Chrysalis.”

The changeling blinked, not knowing what to say to that.

Adrian gave Larry a serious look. “One word, kid. Standards. I have them. Since we’re asking questions, though, what’s with your little obsession with Trixie?”

“What do you mean? Look at her! She’s so pretty! She has a nice, soft-looking mane, and her body is so… perfect.”

“And…”

“And?”

“There’s no other reason why you like her?”

“It’s the only reason I need, isn’t it? And if I like her so much, why doesn’t she like me?”

Adrian groaned, putting a hand to his forehead. “Okay, Leroy-”

“Larry.”

“Whatever. I’m gonna keep it one-hundred percent with you. This is honest guy advice right now. Here’s the problem: you’re not looking at Trixie as an actual mare. You’re looking at her as just something that you think is pretty. A girl isn’t obligated to like you back just because you like them, and you can’t look at them the way you look at Trixie. What if she was you sister? What if Chrysalis was your mother?”

“Oh, man… If I had a mom or sister like that, I would be in so much trouble.”

“The fuck?” Chrysalis and Rusty said as they looked at each other.

“Some of us don't have any females in our apartments, and you have two! How is it fair that you get to live with them, and not even do anything with them?” Larry asked. “That’s selfish, if you ask me.”

“You’re missing the point, kid. They aren’t things that you can just have. If they don’t want you, they don’t want you. Deal with it. Bottom line, you need to control yourself, ‘cause both Chrysalis and Trixie are gonna grow old, they’re gonna get all wrinkly and shit, and the bigger the boobs a woman or mare has, the more they’re gonna sag as she gets older. Look at Trixie; I guarantee you that in a good fifty or sixty years, she’ll be able to get a mammogram and a hooficure at the same time.”

“Hey!” I interjected, only for Adrian to hold his hand up in front of me before continuing.

“Just keep that little tidbit in mind. If you wanna find someone you’re compatible with, which, knowing you, is probably no one, just look at a girl as an actual person or pony with a brain of their own, ‘kay?”

I was surprised at what I was seeing. As unsuccessful as it was turning out to be, Adrian was trying to get Larry off my back.

“I dunno… That sounds hard…” the boy said, unsure of himself.

“Ugh, this kid is a lost cause,” Adrian said under his breath.

“Alright, Larry. How about this?” Chrysalis spoke up as she got onto her hooves. “C’mon, kid. Walk with me. Talk with me.”

Adrian and I watched them suspiciously as they walked off and rounded the corner to one of the hallways.

“Wait… isn’t that the hallway leading to the bathroom?” Rusty asked.

It took a few seconds for the bulbs to light up in our heads.

“Tell me she’s not…” I said with dread.

Adrian had the same look of horror on his face. “I… think she is…”

We sat there awkwardly for a good three minutes before we heard Chrysalis and Larry come back. “Now shoo.”

“What did you do, exactly?” I asked.

“I got Larry off your back for two months,” she answered. “You’re welcome.”

“I’m guessing I owe you another favor now?”

She shook her head. “I did this as much for myself as I did for you. I don’t need that kid coming back to the apartment and harassing the rest of us just because he’s obsessed with you.”

“Well, thanks anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Chrysalis looked to her left for a moment, then looked back at us. “I’ll be back. I gotta see if they sell breath mints at the snack bar.”

Rusty shuddered. “Aaaaaagh! Too much information!!!”

Chrysalis

It’s been several hours since we’d gotten back home. I felt somewhat refreshed after consuming some of Larry’s pent up lust, and I’ve been eyeing the clock, waiting for eight-o-clock to come around. At around seven fifty-eight, I left my room and headed to the living room.

“An episode of ENTM will be a great way to end the day,” I thought, but when I reached the living room,Adrian and Rusty were already sitting in front of the TV.

“Sorry, Bughorse, but we were here first,” said the rodent.

“Well, I have a show to watch,” I told them. “I barely use the TV, anyway, so I can at least have one hour-”

“Previously on Equestria’s Next Top Model…”

What?

I looked at the TV screen and saw a recap of last week’s ENTM episode. Were Adrian and Rusty really watching it, too?

“I can feel you judging me, and I don’t like it,” said Adrian.

“N-no… This was actually the show I wanted to watch,” I said, and they both gave me a surprised look. “What? It’s a show about models, and I’m a model. Is it that unusual?” I sat down on the opposite end of the couch and watched as the theme song played. “I hope tonight’s episode is good. Last week’s elimination left a bad taste in my mouth.”

Rusty chuckled. “You sure that wasn’t from that dick you sucked earlier?”

I gave him a deathly glare. “Unless you want to spend the night in my stomach, I suggest you shut the fuck up.”

The rodent gulped and looked back at the TV in fear. “Yes, ma’am.”

Author's Note

Looks like these roommates are starting to let up on each other. Hopefully, this little trip helped to de-stress them. Trixie still owes Adrian and Chrysalis one favor each, though. I wonder what it'll be...

Let me know what you guys thought in the comments, and I'll catch you guys later.

Keep it sketchy, folks!