Roomies

Chapters

001 - Of dates gone wrong and Minecraft
002 - Date central
003 - Nowhere to go but up
004 - Gaming Therapy
005 - Setting up the night in
006 - Getting and forgetting a headache

001 - Of dates gone wrong and Minecraft

Intricate Weave sighed as he walked up to the door of his apartment. Well...that date was a bust. And he just knew his roommates were going to make it worse. Well, one of them was, anyways. The other was well behaved and actually a moderating agent. Surprisingly enough.

The stallion was a unicorn pony, with the standard spiraling horn on his forehead. His coat was a light blue, while his mane and tail were dark green with a streak of yellow running through them. His mark was that of a standard spell matrix, but the runes seemed to shift when they weren’t watched. To signify his talent at coming up with new spell ideas. Not that he could cast them all or that they were all good ideas. But every so often he had a good one, submitted it to the researchers up in Canterlot, and got a cut of the money they made off it. His royalties off the spells he’d helped make weren’t anything to scoff at.

Still, he didn’t like fame or attention, so he lived a nice, quiet life in Ponyville. Well...as quiet as one could get. He was still an upstanding citizen and mostly helped to evacuate the townsfolk when something major was happening (once a week, like clockwork). So it really shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise when he was asked if he would house two parolees while they served their sentence.

In the end he’d capitulated, because nopony else would be capable of coming up with a spell on the fly if something went wrong. Still, he made them pay rent. Not because he needed it, he didn’t. He just wanted them to contribute and have a productive job.

The stallion pushed the door open and sighed. “I’m home,” he announced to the house at large, closing the door behind him as he trotted inside. His saddlebags were put to the side as he wandered into the living room.

The room almost seemed split in two. The left half of the couch, and coffee table in front of it, was immaculately clean. As was a black Lay-Z-Colt. A black chitined mare with a lacy green mane, and blue-green eyes, quietly sat on the couch. In her hooves was a novel, “A Better You” by Mindscape. The right half of the room was a mess. Candy wrappers, cans, tissues, various magazines were on the floor, the right half of the coffee table, and all over the other half of the couch. A pink mare with a purple mane, and a cutie mark of some kind of teal glimmer, was laying upside down on the couch. She was chewing on something and staring at the TV as her lit horn levitated a Gamestation controller. A can levitated up from the floor and was poured into the mares open mouth. Gunfire erupted from the TV, occasionally making the insectoid mare wince.

The chitinous mare smiled as Weave entered. “You’re back! How did it go?”

“He’s not bringing her home and he’s obviously here, so he probably bombed.” The pink mare said bluntly, not looking away from the TV.

The chitinous mare frowned at the pink mare. Her horn lit green as, simultaneously, the game paused, the controller was set on the coffee table, and the TV shut off.

“Hey!” The pink mare whined.

“You could at least greet Weave.” A chitinous hoof, covered in holes, gestured at the stallion. “I’m sorry, I tried to keep it clean, I really did. The rest of the apartment is good, I also tidied up your room on the chance that you’d be bringing company over.”

“Thank you Chrys,” the stallion smiled at her. “And yeah...things didn’t turn out well. I mean, I showed up on time, I was nice, I complimented her...it was going great. We ordered lunch, it was delivered, and then suddenly,” he slammed one forehoof into the other. “She sees something over my shoulder, shouts ‘Dash!’ and takes off. Leaving me with two half-eaten lunches and a bill.”

“Sucks to be you.” The pink mare snorted, rolling over and shaking her head violently as she moved into a sitting position, accompanied by the sound of crinkling bags.

“You’re welcome.” ‘Chrys’ gasped. “Oh! I have great news! I had my final meeting with Twilight, my last meeting with Misty, and I paid off my court costs! By next week, I will be off parole!” She gave a happy, yet sharp-toothed grin. “Though, I still have to check in with Twilight every year on my birthday.” She immediately wilted. “A-also, I was encouraged to find a partner so I don’t have any relapses. Sooo I’ll probably be joining the dating game too.” She gave a weak smile. “What a way to ring in the new year huh?

“You can be whoever you want, it won’t be that hard.” The pink mare rolled her eyes.

“No shapeshifting. That’s what Twilight said. I have to get used to being me.” Chrys nodded. “I won’t let you get to me Starlight.”

“Mm.” Weave grunted as he sat in his armchair, which was thankfully on the cleaner side of the room. “Good advice all around,” he eventually commented. “I’m glad to see you taking this so seriously.”

“It took me long enough.” Chrys nodded with a wince. “I still feel bad about the few times I didn’t clean up after I… hmmph.” She coughed into her hoof with a bright green blush on her cheeks.

“Still kinda gross that you cum eggs.” Starlight deadpanned, magically tugging a bag out from behind her back and tossing it on the floor.

“Star, behave,” Weave chided her from the chair. “Otherwise I’ll stick a level-seven magi-lock on your horn. Again.”

“Fine. Fine.” Star rolled her eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I got so excited, I kinda took over the conversation.” Chrys gasped suddenly. “So! You’re date! Or, lack.. Thereof… Ummm… Anything I can do to help, a hug, cuddles, bath, BJ?”

Weave eyed the bugmare warily. “What was that last one?” he asked.

“Bath- Oh… Sorry! Sorry! It slipped out!” Chrys’s blush grew. “F-forget that last one!”

“I mean, he didn’t score so you choking on his dick is probably the only thing he’ll get tonight.” Star snorted a lewd smirk at the two.

Chrys tried to make her rather large form shrink further into the couch.

“Star, one more word out of you and I’ll bump it up to level eight,” the stallion threatened.

“Ugh… fine.” Star rolled off the couch and stomped off down the hallway until she ducked to the left and slammed her door. Chrys jumped at the slam.

“Sorry…” Chrys said quietly.

“Not your fault,” the stallion quipped. “Honestly, I could do with some cuddling to make me forget about how the date didn’t go. What’s on?”

Chrys patted the couch seat next to her with a hoof as her green aura poked the TV remote. “It’s been mainly New Year’s prep and the occasional action movie, depending on the channel. Which is why Star switched to playing Resistance. Kinda felt like a passive aggressive dig, because the enemies are Changelings, but, I just tried to get lost in my book.”

“Weak,” the stallion commented. “Oh. Idea. Where were we in Minecraft? I was being the miner, you were building a base for me to drop stuff off in, we were having fun. I remember we were doing something big…”

“You had found a big run of Diamonds and I’d just completed the library for enchanting. Oh, I also made progress on fishing, found you a few Mending books while turning Minecraft into a clicker game.” The bugmare giggled.

“Sweet,” the stallion got up and trotted over to the couch, sitting next to the bugmare. “We need…” he counted on a hoof. “Five at least. Three to make a diamond pickaxe, which we’ll use to mine up four obsidian, and the other two and a spare book to make the table itself. The rest of the diamonds we leave until we get fortune 3 on a pick. Then we get all the gear.”

“Yay planning.” Chrys quietly cheered. “Sooo… Planning on seeing the mare again? You know, if she shows up to explain why she took off?”

“I mean, she was cute, but that was also because I think she just became a mare,” the stallion pointed out. “It felt like she was trying too hard to date the first stallion she thought was ‘cool enough’ for her. Like I had to try to impress her. Anytime I tried to share what I do for work with her, she was all ‘uh huh’ and whispered something under her breath.” Weave booted up the game and passed the second controller over to Chrysalis. “Okay, so...hmm. How many levels have you managed to get while fishing?”

“Ugh… that… Ugh, that makes me uncomfortable just hearing that. You’ll find a nice mare who’s interested in your work.” Chrys smiled. “And ummm…” Her wings popped up as she blushed. “I’m… level… fifty?” She grinned awkwardly at him. “Sorry.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” the stallion grinned. “Okay, so, I’ll make the pick. You need to put some books and lapis in a nice big chest in the library’s antechamber or wherever, somewhere where they won’t interfere with the table working. It’ll be your job to fish around in the table until it gives you two fortune 2 books. We’ll combine them in an anvil, get fortune 3, and stick that and the mending book on the diamond pick. Then we can get an undying pickaxe that gets us all the goodies.”

“Oooo! Got it! Imma go gets me a chest and the stuffs for the chest~” Chrys sang. “Yay… Say, sorry to harp on the dating topic, but, do you think I could find a mare, you know, if I’m actually me?”

“I’m sure there will be somepony out there for you,” the stallion commented. “Somepony who will look at your shapechanging as a wonderful trick for the bedroom, and not as a ‘oh my Celestia you fooled me into dating you’ trick. I mean, I’m pretty sure there’s somepony out there who’ll love you for you and only occasionally ask you to turn into, I dunno, Twilight or something.” There was a dinging noise. “Obsidian gathered. Time to make the table! Coming out of the mine and- wow, you decorated.”

“Yeah! You like it? I kinda stayed up to make it all pretty.” Chrys grinned then blushed again. She coughed. “And Ummm and my… ovipositor issue? I’m sorry! I’ll drop it!”

“You might need a few mares,” the stallion commented. “One to date, and one to get stuffed. Oh wow, thanks, I would have gotten lost without the signage. Okay! Library, oh, you thought ahead. Crafting benches in every room?”

“Why wouldn’t I separate out the crafting areas? Oh! Look down the mountain! I made a thing. Well… I made a village. A… big… village.” Chrys maintained her blush. “I may have spent a couple… few hours on it…” Chrys hummed. “And thanks for the multiple mares idea- Oooo I wonder if Lyra and Bon Bon would be interested. That would be a bit of an awkward conversation… Hey, so I was wondering if you two would like an awkward third wheel? Oh and how does one of you feel about getting thirty eggs pumped into you in five seconds?”

“Probably start them off with a date at the local coffee house first,” the stallion commented. “Enchanting table, smack in the middle of the library. Now you get to fish around in the table until you find enough Fortune books to make a fortune 3 book. Meanwhile...I have some more obsidian and a plan.”

“True.” Chrys nodded. “So, what are you making? Oh, and want anything to drink? I got a few kinds of bubbly earlier today.”

“Sugar soda, made with real sugar,” the stallion commented. “Do you have a room that you can easily secure and is large enough for a new structure to be added to it?”

“Absolutely, top floor has a blocked off doorway to the right of the stairs.” Chrys commented as her horn glowed. A soda can, a bottle of apple bubbly, and a glass levitated out of the kitchenette and onto the coffee table.

“Cheers,” Weave popped the can and levitated it up close to his muzzle. “Okay, I don’t need fourteen, but I like having the corner pieces. All of them placed...flint and steel, and-”

“Beware the pigpones!” Chrys gasped.

“Eh, just don’t smack them and you’re fine,” the stallion chuckled. “Besides, I’m only going in for quartz and to map the place a little bit. Also to secure the other side with a nice box and an iron door.”

“Still, be careful.” Chrys warned, pouring herself some bubbly. “Lemme know if you need help. I’ve gotten pretty good with a bow.”

“Let’s just see what’s on the other side,” the stallion hummed. “Okay...pretty clear around the portal and- no. No way. That’s a fortress! Just over that massive lake of lava, but I can see it over there!”

“Gimme a minute and I’ll build you a bridge.” Chrys replied. “Want me to snipe Blazes for you?”

“Nah, I need to look up how to make a Blaze Box anyways, but that’s a worry off my shoulders. Infinite source of rods. That’s one more step! I just came for the- there’s some quartz. Now I can upgrade our smeltery to be actually smart!” The stallion took an iron pick and mined out a whole vein of quartz for use in his plan.

“Got stone blocks for days, bridge is under construction, three layers deep just in case, and I’ll start boxing it in. I’ll torch it at first until I get something better to light it with.” Chrys hummed while taking a drink of her bubbly.

“Well if you’ve got a nice fortune book, I can get you some glowstone lamps to use in your decoration now,” the stallion commented. “Fortune basically means I can mine a whole block of glow without losing any. Wrap it in redstone and you get a lamp.”

“Oooooo! Glowstone...” Chrys cooed. “Oh, and wanna do anything special for New Years later?”

“Eh, my fam typically celebrates the first day rather than the last,” the stallion replied easily. “Gonna work on the smeltery now, and- oooh, that looks nice. You made ramps up to the input chests. But yeah, we typically have like, little trays of sweet gherkins and black olives, sandwiches and all sorts of snacks throughout the day rather than any big dinner. Saves us having to cook. Plus we watch the flower floats, the Rose Bowl parade. Not so much the buckball game afterwards.”

“Well wanna do something like that tomorrow?” Chrys asked. “I mean, I don’t have plans.”

Weave blinked. “I mean, I’d have to find a place that still has sandwich trays and the like. They’re mostly sold out for the parties that are happening tonight. Also...done. Now the super smelter should input items into all the smelteries at the same rate. Things to be smelted and the fuel alike.”

“Yay. What’s next on the plan?” The bugmare asked.

“Got that book?” the stallion asked, sipping his soda.

“Yep I do!” Chyrs grinned.

“Cool cool,” the stallion said. “Bring it and the mending book to the anvil, and I’ll slap them on this diamond pick. Then we just need...unbreaking 3 and efficiency 5, but those can be later. Fortune/Mending is undying as is, if you mine the right things.”

“And…. here are things.” The bugmare said, chugging the rest of her bubbly.

“Perfect! Behold the ultimate pick with which to mine diamonds!” the stallion chuckled madly. “And now, I’ma go find all those diamonds I left behind and get us all the gear we could ever need.”

“You do that, I’m going to fortify that bridge.” Chrys said, sticking her tongue out.

“Mhm. Diamond armor for everyone. Fortune 3 basically means ‘always getting 2, sometimes getting 3 diamonds from one ore.” The stallion hummed a little song as he went down into the mines.

“You are a pone and you’re diggin a hole, diggy diggy hole~” Chrys started to sing.

“Heh, sometimes I regret teaching you that song,” the stallion chuckled. “Okay, vein one. Vein...two. Three, four, five…”

Chrys’s voice shifted as her fire briefly rolled over her neck. “Ye hornhead, ye don’t got enough drink te make a proper diggin pone.”

“True, but I don’t tend to drink anyways,” the stallion pointed out. “I stock it for Star, but eh. I can take it or leave it. And that’s the last diamond vein.” The stallion whistled happily as he came back up to the smeltery room. “Go on, why don’t you guess how many blocks of pure diamond I’ll be able to make.”

“Ehhhmmmm…” Her voice returned to normal. “Five?”

“Try half a stack,” the stallion replied cheekily. “I found a lot of diamond and just left it alone, ya know.”

“Shit, really?” Chrys blinked, pouring herself more bubbly.

“Armor for everyone!” the stallion cheered. “Oh, but uh, hmm. We’re going to want protection 4, unbreaking 3, and mending on everything. And feather fall on the boots.” He shrugged at Chrys’ incredulous expression. “Hey, do you want to replace all our gear when it breaks? Mending means it heals off of gained XP, and that means you put it on and go to the mob grinders to fix things.”

“Yes please on everything.” Chrys nodded happily.

“Question,” Weave interjected. “That town. Did you fill it with villagers?”

Chrys slowly looked down at him. “Obviously. Each villager has a job and I’ve already leveled quite a few of them, and yes, there are golems about.”

“Okay, while I could steal a few to make an iron golem farm-” Weave said, holding up a hoof to stop her outburst. “Could! Not going to! But. Librarians. If they get leveled up enough, they can sell Mending books.”

“Oh right, I saw one or two.” Chrys nodded with a hum. “You can go check, or I could go check.”

“There’s a loop you can do though,” the stallion smirked. “You can buy bookcases, break them, sell the books back to them, they’ll eventually lower their prices...and you start making emeralds. Cheap, easy, fast way to level up a librarian.”

“Ooooo!” Chrys cooed. “Nice!”

Out of the blue, there came a knocking at the door.

“Oop! Door!” Chrys paused the game.

“Here, I’ll just drop out, you can work on your building,” the stallion offered, letting Chrysalis continue to play while he got up and went to the door. His horn glowed as his magic turned the doorknob.

“Kay!” The bugmare called out.

Weave looked out the door. Paused. And went to close it again.

“Who is it?” Chyrs called.

“Somepony who better start talking, fast,” the stallion growled.

“Kay?” The bugmare called.

“I’m sorry!” Came from the other side of the door.

“That’s all you have to say?” Weave narrowed his eyes.

“No- Just- Sorry for bailing like that. My sister flew by and she’s never home, so I went to catch up for a moment, but the moment I said that I was on a date she yelled at me, then I went back and you were gone, and I found out you paid the bill, so I felt bad, and I found out you lived here, so I came by to say sorry, and- here.” There was a jingle of bits. “I got your bits back and paid for the meals. And I wanted to say that I’d like to try again. If… you want to. And I’m sorry if I seemed uninterested! I just- It was flying over my head and I was trying to figure out what you were saying. And- Yeah. It was a mess and It’s my fault and I’d like to try again, maybe coffee, or something.”

“There’s bubbly inside and the rude roommate is sulking.” Chrys called out. “It’s New Years, come hang out and chill with us.”

“Yeah, we’ve got Minecraft, and we just hit a few tipping points,” the stallion commented. “She’s an amazing builder, I’m a decent miner and technical stallion, it works out.”

“It’s on the Gamestation!” Chrys called out.

“Need a good warrior? I’ve kinda had some practice thanks to Sweetie and Button getting me into it.” The voice said with a clear chuckle of embarrassment.

“Hey, no reason to worry. In fact…” the stallion opened the door further to let the mare on the other side in. “Hey Chrys, you got a Looting sword up and running yet? Slap some sharpness and sweeping edge on it as well as mending and unbreaking, and we can send the newb out to hunt some Enderpones for the next major phase.”

“Gotcha.” Chrys called out, magically dragging more drinks, glasses, and food out onto coffee table while also sweeping the trash off of it. “Sorry for the mess. The roomie is a bit of a hog.”

“It’s fine-” The mare that stepped in was a pegasi or burnt orange coat, purple mane, and violet eyes. As well as a pair of slightly smaller wings than normal. “You’re- You’re-”

“Yes, Queen Chrysalis, Changeling Queen and recovering villain.” Chrys sighed. “Welcome to the apartment.”

“Thanks… Ummm where do I sit?” The mare asked. “O-Oh and I’m Scootaloo.”

“Pleasure.” Chrys nodded and smiled. “Sit wherever.” she shrugged.

“Oh, hang on a moment,” the stallion said, before charging his horn and firing at the couch. The small charge activated a prepared array, and the couch jumped a little before it grew into a three-pony couch. “Ta-da, expandable couch,” Weave said with a smile, sitting next to Chrys. “Came up with it a month ago.”

Scootaloo trotted around and sat on the other side of Weave. Chrys levitated a controller over to the mare and she took it in her hooves. “Want me to sign in as Guest?”

“If you’re willing to try with our resident spell nerd, then go ahead and make yourself a log-in.” Chyrs chuckled and winked at Weave.

“Yeah, go on, just don’t take too long,” the stallion pointed out. “Miss builder probably is getting antsy about not being able to finish off some things.”

“So sue me if I like the feeling of building again. Reminds me of building a Hive.” Chrys bristled, her wings buzzing.

“Hey, it’s fine,” the stallion chuckled. “I like the challenge of beating the game, you like building the base up, there’s no wrong way to play. I would build, but I’m pretty sure I’m a terrible judge of what is and isn’t good looking. But at least I never get lost underground.”

“Oh, you’d think I’d have a memory for tunnels, but no I can’t find my way anywhere down there.” Chrys rolled her eyes.

Scootaloo snorted.

“Okay, so let’s hop back in,” Weave hummed. “Right. You’re going to want to head to the north and a bit east, we set up base around a mountain.”

“Gotcha.” Scootaloo. “You guys got a cartography table?”

“Yep.” Chrys nodded. “Oh want anything, we got Hanover pretzel pieces, cheetos, chips…”

“What kinda pretzel pieces.” Scootaloo asked.

“Eh, we got buffalo and honey mustard.” Chrys commented, levitating the bags up.

“Oooh, those both sound good,” the stallion noted out loud. “Hmm. Well you should be able to see our base when you get close thanks to somebug building the great wall around the village.”

“I like my defenses like I like my mares. Impregnable.” She blinked. “Wait…”

“Shit-” Scootaloo coughed as she tried not to inhale soda.

“Chrys, are you trying to choke our guest?” Weave deadpanned, his magic thumping Scoots on the back.

“I’m sorry, that slipped out.” Chrys once again sank into the couch.

“I hope that’s the only thing that slips out.” Scoots chuckled, as she got her breath back.

“Well if you’re brave, you could look between her legs and find a nice big throbbing-” Weave started to tease.

“A nice big throbbing what?” Scoots smirked and looked over at the bugmare.

“Nothing…” Chrys grumbled, blushing bright green.

Weave smirked. “Okay, so...I need to work on getting the materials together for a blaze box. Glass, stone, jack o lanterns, trapdoors, a sticky piston, some redstone...I’ll need a brewing stand, to make it somewhat easier too.”

“And I’m just going to murder anything I can find.” Scoots chuckled, returning to the TV.

“What do you need me to do again?” Chrys sighed.

“Hmm,” Weave hummed to himself. “Well if you have that bridge, then...Let’s think. Oh. Books, right. We need all the cool books to make sure our gear never dies, and you need to buy Mending off the villagers.”

“So I go and commit treeicide.” Chrys chuckled, relaxing.

“Could do,” the stallion admitted. “Okay, let’s work-”

“Fuck’s goin’ on out there? Can’t a mare jill in peace?” Star called out from her room.

“Dammit Star, that’s an hour with the mark seven lock!” Weave snapped.

“Ugh, what it’s not like- Oh... so that’s her.” There was a grumble. “Sorry, I suppose.”

“...Is that the first time she’s apologized for her antics?” Weave asked Chrysalis.

“Eh… I think so.” Chrys blinked.

“Congrats on growing as a pony, Star,” Weave called to the mare hiding elsewhere in the apartment.

“Whatever, I’m putting my headphones on and hoofing my bean till I pass out.” There was another slam.

“She seems… difficult.” Scoots blinked, shrugged and went back to the game.

“She is,” Weave sighed. “She does the bare minimum and thinks it’s good enough.”

“Oh. One of those ones. How is she worse than a reformed villain?” Scoots asked, then blinked at Chrys. “No offense.”

“None taken.” Chrys shrugged.

“Don’t ask me,” the stallion rolled his eyes. “I think she takes some perverse joy in breaking out of the magi-locks I put on her for her misbehavior. Speaking of,” the stallion’s horn lit up as a bolt of green light snaked through the apartment.

“Motherfucker!” Came from the room further in.

“And, just cause I’m curious, how perverse?” Scoots asked.

“Well they get harder to crack the more challenging they are, and I’m starting to integrate self-improving spellwork into the matrix,” the stallion mused. “So I think she’ll have about thirty minutes of straight challenging, fighting back spellwork to break through.”

“Thirty minutes of peace…” Chrys sighed.

“And I don’t know what that means but, yay?” Scoots blinked.

“It’d be like if you had to wrestle with a rope around your wings for thirty minutes before you could fly again,” Weave explained. “One that kept retying itself and acted more like a snake.”

“Gross.” Scoots made a disgusted face.

“I haven’t had to wear one in… How long?” Chrys hummed and looked at Weave.

“Six months?” the stallion mused. “Sounds right. You only got up to the mark three.”

“See, I’m doing better.” Chrys grinned toothily.

“Got a nice couple of fangs there.” Scoots pointed out.

“Thanks, they’re mostly for show. Mostly.” Chrys giggled.

“Whereas Star seems to try to beat her best time every time I slap her with a lock,” Weave pointed out.

“She really does get a weird kind of enjoyment out of it.” Chrys rolled her eyes.

“At least it buys us time where she’s busy focusing on the lock rather than making sex jokes,” the stallion grumbled.

“I mean, I don’t mind sex jokes. When in the right company.” Scoots shrugged.

“Weave is the most prudish one here. I’ve just calmed down a considerable amount.” Chrys snorted and nudged the stallion.

“Mostly because somepony has to keep the two of you in check,” the stallion grumbled. “Honestly, it’s like the pair of you want me at times.”

“Don’t want to make things awkward…” Chrys coughed and looked away. “More awkward. Can’t say the same for Stary. Plus, I don’t think you’d even be interested in a mare like me.”

“Hey, I’ve heard of weirder relationships.” Scoots patted the stallion’s leg.

Weave turned to Scootaloo and slowly raised an eyebrow in incredulity.

“What? Some couples are open.” Scootaloo pointed out. “And don’t even get my started on that royal, Princess Ember, King Thorax, and Spike threeway herd thing.”

“S-so, should we get back to the game, o-or would you two prefer to talk?” Chrys spoke up. “Or, I could just go to my room a bit…”

“It’s fine, we can talk while we play,” the stallion commented. “Okay, so the blaze box works like...I think this. Put down the light sources to stop them from spawning-”

“I’ve got some jack o lanterns.” Chrys spoke up, fidgeting out of the hole she made herself in the couch.

“So, if we’re being brutally honest. Weave, am I attractive?” Scoots asked, glancing at the stallion.

“You’re cute, but that’s the problem, I get the feeling that you’re young, fresh on the dating scene, and wanted to snag somepony as fast as possible,” the stallion commented. “Don’t get me wrong, I would still totally date you if you hadn’t made such a mess of the first date.”

“Actually, I’d just gotten out of a bad relationship with Rumble.” Scoots winced as her gaze returned to the game. “Like, really bad. Break up was a mess. You were the first guy I actually got the nerve to say yes to. Aaaand I went and fucked it up.”

“How could you be mad at that. Look at the face.” Chrys waved a hoof at the mare.

“Well, give me a mo-” the stallion put the last light source down and turned to Scoots. He winced at the expression on her face. “Eesh. Okay, fair. Sorry for the critique. I didn’t know you well enough to say any of that. So...what do you want out of a relationship with a nerd like me?”

“You’re cute, and while I don’t get any magic stuff, I like that you’re passionate about it. So, I like that you like talking about it. Who knows, you might be able to educate a stunted featherhead like me.” She shrugged.

“Already coming up with a spell for that, by the way,” the stallion pointed out. “I’m gonna have to go over it in my workbook of ideas, but I might be able to cobble together a custom spell for you. Okay, boundaries for the box made, let’s get to placing-”

“Whoa, wait a sec Weave. I just get a little winded after flying and can’t fly for as long as other pegasi. It’s not that big a deal. Definitely not something to worry your cute horn over.” She poked his horn with a hoof.

“Nope, gonna give you a spell now that you’re not acting like you were,” the stallion commented. “Might only take me a few more hours to figure it out. Okay, stone, check. Glass...This is the annoying part, because you can’t pick it back up if you put it in the wrong place.”

“I can help.” The mares said in unison.

“I need a glass casing to finish off the box, including the roof,” the stallion commented. “Also a piece of carpet, all the trapdoors, a hopper, some chests, and a slab. I have the redstone bits on me.”

“Uuuuhhh… I’ll get the stuff for that.” Scoots blinked. “Hey, counter question, What did you see in a stunted pegasus like me?”

“Well, you’re cute,” the stallion commented. “And you’re also eager about the things you understand. You seem to be the act-first type, which is a balance to everything else around here.” He shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know enough about you yet to say what I like best about you.”

“Well, Since this is kinda a re-first date, plus bugmare-”

“Sorry for being awkward.”

“It’s good. I’m actually a bit of a mechanic-slash-inventor. And while your spell is nice, I have been working on a little something to help me fly. Though I might’ve been reading too many comics before I started the blueprints.” Scoots chuckled. “When I’m not doing personal projects, I fix things for other ponies. I got my cutie mark by ramshackling my old scooter back together for Pinkie’s kid.” She tapped her flank showing an image of a screw, a nut, and a bolt.

“Huh. We could probably make something awesome together,” the stallion mused. “Okay, the bits for the box are in place...Now for the dangerous part. Taking out the light source. Good thing I made a fire resistance potion first.”

“You do that. I’m gonna go hunt me some enderpones.” Scoots shrugged, before a smirk crossed her lips. “What kind of awesome things do you want to make together?”

“Don’t say anything, don’t say anything, don’t say anything.” Chrys mumbled, blushing.

“I dunno, you could do the technical side, I could do the magical side,” the stallion hummed. “Okay, blazes in the chamber. Pushing the button, and...yes! Haha! Infinite blaze rods!”

“Yay!” Chrys cheered.

“So you’re saying you want to pump your hot magic into my cold metal hole?” Scoots commented, glancing at the stallion.

“Crude metaphor, but it works,” the stallion commented. “Okay. Blazes are on lockdown, now we need to pretty up the place a bit so it’s a mite bit safer to be here.”

“Did…” Scoots blinked and looked at Chrys. “Did he not get the joke or is he so used to them at this point that they don’t do anything for him?”

“Eh.” Chrys shrugged. “The way to the fortress is clear by the way and… well bend me over and spank me cause I’m a bad girl, portal. End Portal. That’s not supposed to be here. Is this from an update or something? Or is it a trap?”

“Wait, what?” the stallion blinked. “End Portal already? That has to be a trap. We haven’t yet managed to make any eyes of ender.”

“I mean it’s not filled.” Chrys mentioned.

“Like me… yet.” Scoots snorted.

“So… eh?” The bugmare shrugged.

“Well, mark it and we’ll get to it,” the stallion shrugged. “Infinite blazes, how many eyes do we need to fill it?”

“Let’s see.. Three. Six. Nine. Twelve!” Chrys grinned.

“Oh, twelve enough for you Chrys?” Scoots gave the mare a lewd smirk.

“Pfffft, twelve’s an off day.” Chrys waved a hoof. “Gimme a good hole to let off my steam and I can take thirty in a day, easy.”

“I get the feeling you both are talking about something incredibly lewd,” Weave deadpanned.

“Dicks.” Scoots deadpanned.

“She’s low key calling me a slut.” Chrys chuckled.

“Uhuh,” the stallion rolled his eyes. “How’s that ender hunting going, Scoots?”

“Fuckin’ Enderpones aren’t dropping eyes.” Scoots snorted.

“You did get the looting sword, right?” Weave raised an eyebrow. “Also, they should be dropping pearls, we make them into eyes.”

Scoots blinked. “Right… Huh. Turns out I have thirty pearls. Shows how much I’m paying attention.”

“Okay then, six blaze rods, to you,” the stallion commented. “Break them down and make the eyes, stick them in the portal, but for the love of the goddess, do not go in yet. We don’t have cool armor or bows.”

“Teamwork. Yay.” Chrys commented.

“Hmm,” the stallion hummed. “We have almost everything we’d need. Armor, check. Weapons, check. We should each get some slow falling potions before we go in.”

There was the sound of a door opening and a sound of hooves. A silver ring covered in cracks dropped into Weave’s lap. “Nice one.” Star commented. “Here for drinks. Then I’ll leave you to your eventual threesome.”

“And a happy new fucking year to you Star,” the stallion commented. “Did you time yourself?”

“Came in three minutes.” Star commented, taking a drink out of an apple bubbly bottle. “Oh, you meant the lock. Eh, twenty-five minutes. I’m getting faster.” She smirked as she propped herself up on the couch to rest her forelegs about Weave’s head.

“So you are, might be time to upgrade you to the mark eight,” the stallion mused.

“Mark Eight, what are you, a techpriest?” Star snorted.

“I don’t know what she references half the time.” Chrys mentioned to the pegasi.

“I got it.” Scoots nodded with a chuckle.

“Just an inventor of spellwork who can’t stop tinkering,” the stallion commented. “Oh, you’ll like this feature. Mark eight locks have a bit of artificial intelligence in the spellwork. Meaning they learn how you beat them and act against that ever working again.”

“Keep talking like that and I may have to come over more often.” Scoots giggled. “Talk nerdy to me.”

“Oh great… Another one.” Star rolled her eyes.

“I think it’s cute.” Chrys snorted and glared at the mare still drinking from the bottle.

“Okay, so…” The stallion hummed. “Trading abuse time,” he eventually decided. “I’ll do the loop with the villagers for mending and whatever other books I think are worthwhile. Meanwhile, you two can enchant some books to be useful for our gear.”

“Anything specific?” Chrys asked.

“More mending wouldn’t be too bad.” Scoots hummed.

“Huh. This actually looks halfways decent.” Star deadpanned. “Even though it’s spending time with you two… three… She’s okay.” She pointed a hoof at Scoots.

“Should I be worried that she might actually like me?” Scoots asked.

“It is a first and that’s kinda concerning.” Chrys glanced between the two.

“I’m just waiting for the other horseshoe to dro-” Weave spoke up.

“And I’m bored. Don’t barge in unless you wanna see a mare being debauched.” Star trotted off, bottle still held in her magic.

“Whelp, that’s still politer than she has been,” the stallion commented.

“Is she growing as a pony?” Chrys blinked.

“I mean, she can’t always be a flankhole right?” Scoots shrugged. “Ooooo glowstone, gonna make use of that.”

“Yup yup, lamps are fun,” the stallion nodded. “And eh, I wouldn’t say she’s growing. More like being nudged in the right direction via very large sticks.”

“Just be careful where you put the sticks.” Scoots snorted.

“I can cut the sexual tension with a knife.” Chrys said dryly.

“I’ve grown numb to it,” the stallion rolled his eyes.

“Awww… Can’t I fix that?” Scoots asked.

“I mean, you could try. I think Star and I broke him within the first couple of months.” Chrys sighed.

“I think it was somewhere around the third time you shoved your ovipositor in her ass and had her cumming eggs out her mouth,” the stallion nodded.

“Ex-fucking-scuse you?” Scoots blinked.

“I haven’t done that in over a year!” Chrys squeaked out. “I actually haven’t done anything in… about the same amount of time.”

“Damn. And Star just let it happen?” Scoots raised a brow.

“No. She kinda… jumped me… in the living room… then Weave trotted in.” Chrys wilted.

“Before that it was the kitchen,” the stallion commented. “Before that it was my room. Tartarus, I still found Star in there sometimes. It’s why I put up an anti-Starlight shield on my room. Phasic, so she can’t teleport past it.”

“Star’s not abusive per say… just… She was pushy for awhile.” Chrys wasn’t looking at either of them.

“Well were you behaved?” Scoots asked, tilting her head to the side.

“I had a rough start, but I wanted to do better.” Chrys sighed. “Star was a terrible influence.”

“You speak in the past tense like she still isn’t terrible,” the stallion pointed out.

“Fine!” Chrys snapped. “Star is a terrible mare who treats us like shit, who regularly tries to make me relapse, and who is flat out aggressive to the both of us!” The bugmare snarled as her horn lit and her eyes glowed. She snorted heavy breaths.

“Thata girl,” the stallion chuckled. “I’m sure your therapist would be proud.”

Chrys deflated. “I… kinda became a bit of a doormat.”

“Well, you convinced me you’re not.” Scoots blinked, leaning against Weave.

“Mhm,” the stallion nodded. “And I think once you’re doing better, you know, get off parole and are allowed to do as you please, that’ll remove Star’s means of lashing out and a target she can hit on. She’ll be stuck being her awful self and seeing where that got her compared to you.”

“I just have a week. Just a week.” Chrys took a breath. “I can do it!”

“I know you can, you’ve gotten this far,” the stallion praised the bugmare.

Chrys grinned shyly.

“Oh no, she’s cute.” Scoots blinked.

“Yup, and more ponies should see her when she’s being cute,” the stallion commented. “By the way, spell’s done.”

“What?” Scoots blinked. “But… Minecraft, and talking…” She waved her hooves at the TV.

“Yeah, just, hold still,” the stallion said, his horn sparking green before a bolt lanced off and hit the pegasus. “Now you’re going to feel some growing pains, but it should-”

“Ugh….” Scoots shivered as her wings started to grow. “Haven’t felt this weird since college.”

“It’ll fix up your wings entirely,” the stallion promised. “You may want a drink to dull the pain.”

“Gimme something hard.” Scoots grunted.

Chrys levitated over a bottle filled with a deep amber liquid. “Well I’ve got a bourbon that I’ve been-”

Scoots snatched the bottle, popped the cork, and pounded a good half of it.

“-saving…” Chrys finished weakly.

“Oh, you’ve got great taste.” Scoots grunted shaking her head roughly. “Good burn.”

“It should stop in roughly a minute,” Weave commented. “After that, your wings should be fixed up to being the same as any other pegasi’s.”

Scoots relaxed with a sigh. “Oh… better…” She sighed, flopping into the stallion’s lap. “How can I thank you?”

“No thanks needed, it’s what I do,” the stallion quipped. “Invent new spells on the fly. Might send that one up to Canterlot Medical, see what they make of it.”

“Sure I can’t thank you in the bedroom?” Scoots smirked.

“Yes, Weave, that sounds like a great idea.” Chrys smiled with a nod.

“But I just got us the books we need for our gear,” the stallion whined.

“Weave, this is a game. We can pause.” Chrys rolled her eyes.

“And you’ve shown that you can multitask.” Scoots blinked her bedroom eyes at the stallion.

“I really don’t see the need for you to thank me for a simple spell in the bed-” Weave started to say.

Scoots nuzzled her face into his lap. “Are you sure?”

“I mean, I don’t know how you can see-” the stallion tried another tactic.

“I see something I like.” Scoots hummed.

“I don’t think she’s gonna be happy until she’s… occupied.” Chrys blushed. “I’ll just pause this and, you two can…. Have some alone time.”

“Seriously,” the stallion rolled his eyes. “Look, I just don’t-”

“Scoots. He’s pretty resistant.” Chrys commented.

“Can’t you hit him with something to, I don’t know, pep him up or something?” Scoots raised a brow.

Chrys looked unsure. Then she looked at Weave. “I mean… Do you want to actually enjoy what Scoots would do to you?”

“I may have become desensitized to sex thanks to you and Star...mostly Star,” the stallion admitted.

“Weave. I’m a changeling. I can fix that, if you want me to.” Chrys tapped him with a hoof.

“I’m just tipsy and horny, don’t take me as pressure.” Scoots rubbed at his thigh with a hoof.

“Mixed messages much?” the stallion snorted.

“Sorry.” She took her hoof away. “But if I’m being honest. I’d love to suck your dick.”

“Maybe not tonight, you did sort of do a few unprofessional things this afternoon,” the stallion commented. “It’d probably take Chrys blasting me before I got it up anyways, and-”

“Sorry.” Chrys’s horn lit up and a beam of green light struck the stallion. “This’ll just balance you out.”

Weave’s whole body shuddered as Scoots could suddenly see something emerging from his sheath.

“Bwah! Reaction was stronger than I thought!” Chrys gasped. “Weave you repress too much.”

“There it is.” Scoots cooed, then got up off of his lap and shifted to step to the floor. She started to trot away. “But if you want me to go-”

Weave’s controller hit the floor as he pounced the mare. A flash of green light later, and his door slammed closed behind the suddenly teleported pair, leaving Chrys alone with the game.

Chrys shuddered. “Just focus on the game, you don’t need it. You don’t need it.” She hunched over and stared at the TV. “Stupid sexy Weave… Happy fuckin’ New Years.”

002 - Date central

Chrys hummed happily as she trotted around the kitchenette. Eggs? Check. Toast? Check. Coffee? Brewed.

She pulled out her ‘#1 Queen’ cup and set it by the pot.

There was a click as a very drained Scoots plodded towards the kitchen. She blinked and looked at Chrys. “Shower?” Her voice was hoarse and dry.

“Taken by Star unfortunately. Coffee?” The bugmare asked sweetly.

“Please.” Scoots trotted over and planted her flank on a chair by the dinner table.

Chrys retrieved a cup, and set it by the pot, right as said pot dinged. “Timing.” She levitated the pot only to pause. “Cream? Sugar? Creamer?”

“Seventy-five percent coffee, twenty-five percent creamer, surprise me.” Scoots blinked slowly.

“Right.” The bugmare hummed as she fixed the cup and levitated it to the table.

“Oh-ho-ho yes…” Scoots inhaled the aroma and sighed, taking a sip.

“Happy you like it.” Chrys nodded as she trotted over with her own cup and sat down. “So, how was it.”

“I haven’t been fucked like that since….” Scoots blinked. “Ever.”

“It’s what happens when you attempt to balance out someone that repressed. Backlash. I mean, he’ll be normal in a week or two, just like taking drugs to adjust something like depression, but he’s gonna be kinda on the opposite end at the moment.” Chrys sipped her coffee. “I apologize in advance. Might need to borrow him when he’s lucid enough to cast, just so he can have something to balance out the actual balancing.”

“And while you do, I’ll enjoy his new found freedom.” Scoots grinned.

“Oh, just in case, I did throw in a spell, on the off chance he fucked you, so you wouldn’t get preggers.” Chrys pointed at her. “How much of a monster was he, by the way?”

“Stomach’s full and so is my womb.” Scoots hummed.

“Knowing him, and the massive post-nut clarity he’s going to have,” Chrys rolled her eyes. “He’ll probably come out confused, and apologise. Give him half an hour-”

There was a groan from Weave’s bedroom.

“And never mind, he’s up.” Chrys took another sip. “Happy New Year!” She called out.

There was a yelp from the hallway. Moments later, a dripping Star stormed from the bathroom. “Fuckin’ Weave and not allowing me proper time to-” Star’s door slammed.

“Weave limits Star’s showers to half an hour.” Chrys commented.

“And… how much of that time is cleaning?” Scoots asked.

“About ten minutes soaking, ten minutes of cleaning, and another ten minutes of, ahem, private time.” Chrys rolled her eyes. “Like she ever leaves her room unless it’s to attempt socializing.”

Weave slowly walked into the kitchen, wincing as he sat at the bar. “Coffee,” he asked/commanded. “I need it.”

Chrys rolled her eyes and fixed a third cup and levitated it to the stallion. “How’re you feelin?”

“Sore,” he admitted, not looking towards Scootaloo. “Liberated. Tired. Free. How did I live like this before?”

“Quite peacefully.” Chrys replied.

Scoots trotted up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Stealing the shower.” She mentioned, then trotted off down the hallway.

“I’m sorry. I kinda feel like I pushed it on you.” Chrys sighed. “I panicked.”

“It’s not that bad,” the stallion commented, sipping his coffee. “It’s just hard getting used to having boners again.”

“Weave, those are normal. They happen and aren’t anything to be nervous about.” Chrys swiveled her chair around.

“Yeah, well after living with Star for a year I sort of grew numb to the idea.” The stallion rolled his eyes. “Honestly, that mare. I could write a book about her.”

“On that note, I had a thought.” Chrys hummed, tapping her chin with a hoof. “If not rehabilitate her fully, why not go meet somepony, see if they actually know her. Ya know the name Sunburst?”

“Not off the top of my head,” Weave replied. “Why?”

“You seriously don’t hear Star scream that name when she has a particularly explosive… hmmmph… release, the one, two, every time she doesn’t waste time in the shower?” Chrys raised a brow. “Or have you just tuned it out at this point?”

“Probably the latter,” Weave admitted. “Like the boners.”

“Like the one you’re sporting?” Chrys pointed, sipping from her cup.

“...That has nothing to do with Scoot’s flank,” the stallion tried to deny.

“Right, just like you don’t want to go join her in the shower.” Chrys raised a brow.

“Nope. Nuh-uh,” the stallion shook his head. “Nothing doing.”

“Okay.” Chrys shrugged. “If you’re sure. You can definitely ignore it.”

“That I can,” the stallion nodded. “Okay. So…” He tried to think of a normal topic. “Ummm...what’re your plans for today, Chrys?”

“Going out. Maybe get lunch. Maybe ask Lyra and Bon Bon on a date?” Chrys blushed and chugged her coffee.

“Sounds like a plan,” the stallion agreed with a smile.

“Yep! Yepyepyep. Everything’s going to great!” She grinned nervously.

“Chrys,” the stallion deadpanned. “It’s just a date. It’s not like you’re planning on doing anything else, right?”

“Of course not!” Chrys yelped. “I… just… don’t know how to act like a normal pony...”

“If you knew how to act like a normal pony, I’d be shocked,” the stallion pointed out. “You’re a changeling queen. Don’t act like one of us. Act like you. See if that works.”

“The last time I did that, Twilight shot me.” Chrys blinked. “B-but that’s the old me. I-I can just act like I’m hanging out with you. That would work. Just… everything’s chill, and relaxed, and there’s nothing to worry about.” She sighed, smiling. “Thanks Weave!”

“See, nothing to it,” the stallion replied. “Just relax. As long as you’re comfortable, that’s what matters. It’s just a test to see how well you get along, after all. If you mess up, it’s not a big deal. Just try again.”

“Right!” Chrys got up from her chair and set herself, puffing out her chest. “I can do this! I am going to go out there and ask those mares on a date!”

“That’s the spirit!” Weave praised her.

Chrys confidently trotted towards the door. “Wish me luck!” With that she threw the door open, trotted out and.. Politely shut it quietly behind her.

“Welp, that’s the healthy mare out the door,” the stallion hummed. “Now all I have to worry about is-”

“That’s a rather impressive boner you got there.” Star deadpanned from the kitchenette. “Chrys work some of her mojo so you could poke the pretty mare in the shower?”

“Yes, because living with you for a year killed my sex drive to begin with, because the court would have fined me more than it was worth to house the pair of you if I fucked either of you,” the stallion deadpanned.

“Whatever. I’m fine by myself.” Star grumbled.

“Oh, sure you are, miss masturbates on my bed and in my shower,” the stallion snarked. “You need to get that stick out of your plot before you get laid. Well, I say stick, it’s more like an entire tree.”

“I-I…” Star looked almost… hurt. Then she glared and snorted at the stallion. “I’ll be in my room.” The mare started for her room.

Scoots trotted past her, the last few drops of water clinging to her mane. “What’s her deal?”

“...Might’ve gone too far,” the stallion admitted. “But she needs to realize the things she does affects ponies other than herself. That’s kinda the entire point.”

“So, maybe shove her face in it enough until she either snaps or breaks down?” Scoots raised a brow.

“I could do that, but she’d probably fight back. Unless I slap a mark eight magi-lock on her horn and have Chrys hold her down,” the stallion hummed. “That could work.”

“Ooooo! Aggressive intervention.” Scoots snorted a laugh. “Lemme know if you need something to keep her hooves or horn in pla- Wait…” She hummed. “What if I integrated a magi-lock into a conical mechanism that, every time she tried to cast, would just reconfigure and reset the lock and strengthen the magical matrix in charge of the enchantment. Like a one-hundred percent anti-magic cone that goes over the unicorn’s horn. Leaves no chance for lock burnout because the unicorn themself is unintentionally powering the mechanism… Ooooo… and it won’t come off because it’s tied to the unicorn’s magical signature! That could work!”

“Make it, bring the prototype here, I’ll enchant it, pass it to Chrysalis, and she can slap it on Starlight and we can both give her a tongue lashing,” the stallion replied. Not like he actually expected Scoots to do it. It was a nice fantasy though.

“Gimme like, half an hour, I can make a working prototype and upgrade it as I go.” Scoots glanced at him. “And don’t think I didn’t see that dick twitch when I started babbling.” She smirked. “You don’t touch it and when I’m back we can make wonderful machinery together, as well as maybe have a few more romps in your room.”

“I still need to clean- no, burn those sheets,” the stallion muttered.

“Great! You housekeep, and I’ll go get my stuff!” She leaned in and kissed his cheek, before racing to his door. “See you soon!”

“...She realizes I wasn’t serious, right?” the stallion asked himself.

Chrys trotted through town. She tried to keep her smile on, yet, she was very aware of the looks she was getting. She’d trotted through town tons of times. Just… not as herself…

She quickly shook away the mounting panic.

Everything was fine. Everything was going to be fine.

She took a breath and rounded the corner. Good! Bon Bon’s Sweets was closed! At least… she hoped that that was a good thing.

She knew that their actual home was behind the shop. Thus she trotted around the back and knocked on the door she found.

“I got it!” A voice called out.

Chrys steadied herself with a breath and sat on her haunches.

The door opened and a mint-green mare poked her head out. Her golden eyes widened. “Bonnie… I think it’s for you…”

“Hi-”

The door slammed.

“Lyra! Don’t slam the door!” A second voice sighed. “Who was it?”

“Changeling Queen!” ‘Lyra’ squeaked.

Chrys felt a sick chill roll into her stomach.

“What?!”

The door flew open and a cream colored mare with a blue and pink mane in a bun stared at Chrys.

“H-Hello… I-I was just won-”

“Listen here, you!” The mare thrust a hoof in her face. There was a burst of flame and a changeling drone stared back at her “We want nothing to do with you! I am fine on my own and I do not need to go back to a Hive! I have a lovely mare who loves me, and if I ever see you here again I’ll snap that twisted horn right off your head.”

Chrys blinked back tears. “O-Okay.” She sniffed standing up. “I-I’m sorry f-for interrupting your d-day. You… You won’t see me again…” Chrys turned around and trotted away.

Chrys rounded the corner to the front of the sweet shop and almost broke down right there. Her eyes burned. She felt sick.

She trotted out into the road, choked back a sob, and started towards the market.

She needed ice cream. Lots of ice cream.

She didn’t pay attention to much as she trudged through the streets, her mane hung low over her head.

“Chrys?” A voice spoke up.

Chrys paused to look up. Twilight Sparkle was staring at her.

Chrys heaved a breath and put on her best smile. One she could manage at least. “Twilight! H-hi! Fancy seeing at the market.”

“I’m just doing a little shopping- you okay?” The purple mare tilted her head to the side in concern.

“Oh, pfft, I’m fine.” Chrys grinned weakly. “I-I just got turned down for a date pretty harshly it’s no problem, I actually have another option set up just in case.”

“I’m sorry to hear then. But I’m so glad that you have options and are actually getting out there!” Twilight beamed.

“Heh heh. Yeah…” Chrys spied a white unicorn mare, with an electric blue mane and violet shades totting next to a gray earth pony mare, with a charcoal mane and violet eyes. “I-in fact there they are now! See ya Twilight!” Chrysalis raced off to trot up between them. “I am s-so sorry, I j-just needed to get away from Twilight S-Sparkle.” Her barely contained tears, as well as the shake in her voice was back with full force. “I-I just need t-to g-get a-away so I can get home… alone…”

“Oh goodness, dear, are you alright?” The charcoal mare asked, in a posh Upper-Canterlot accent.

“Octy, she looks somewhere between vomiting and sobbing, she’s not alright.” The white mare’s shades were gripped in a red light as they were moved to sit on the mare’s horn, also revealing dark red eyes. “She looks like she’s dying inside.” The mare’s voice was strangely gravelly.

“Vinyl! I was being nice!” ‘Octy’ snapped at the white mare then returned her gaze to the queen. “Dear, come have a sit down, you look dead on your hooves.”

“I-I d-don’t want to r-ruin your d-day.” Chrys choked as Octy guided the bugmare to a bench. “R-really. I-it’s fine.”

“You’re really not.” ‘Vinyl’ mentioned as she and Octy sat on either side of the queen.

‘N-no… I-I’m not…” She held back a moment longer before bursting into tears.

“Oh there, there.” Octy patted her shell. “I-It can’t be that bad…”

“I-I ju-just wanted t-to ask Bon Bon and Lyra out on a da-ha-hate…” The bugmare sobbed. “Ly-Lyra got s-spooked and B-Bon Bon was a changeling and- s-said she’d did w-want anyth-thing to d-do with m-me… And- and Bon Bon thra-threatened to b-break m-my ho-hor-horn… I-I dun wanna be al-o-ho-hone….”

“Nope. It’s bad.” Vinyl commented.

“Vinyl! Not helping!” Octy hissed.

“Shhhh…. It’s going to be alright.” Octy soothed. “What’s your name?”

“Chr-Chrys…” Chrys managed after heaving a hiccuping breath.

“Like Queen Chrysalis? The queen who was being reformed?” Vinyl asked.

Here it came. Chrys readied herse-

“Holy shit. Awesome!” Vinyl gasped.

Chrys blinked. “Wut.”

“Octy! OctyOctyOcty! We hit the jackpot! Imagine all the cool stuff she can do! And you know she’s probably freaky in the bedroom!” Vinyl babbled much to the confusion of the queen and the annoyance of the earth mare.

“Vinyl!” Octy snapped. “She. Is. Right. Here! Could you please not treat her like your most recent purchase! She’s not a toy, she’s a hurting mare and shoving her in the bedroom won’t just suddenly fix everything!” She hissed then looked at Chrys. “I am so sorry about her, she tends to speak before thinking.”

“It’sal’right.” Chrys sniffled. “I… was expecting a-a different reaction.”

“What, like, Oh a changeling gross. Fuck that, you’re awesome. I’ve read the books Twilight has wrote about you.” Vinyl nudged her. “Yes, Octy, I do actually read.” She gave a small smirk to the gray mare. “You’re off parole in like a week right?”

“I- Yes?” Chrys blinked.

“I… may have been keeping track, because Octy’s a prude and needs a nice, sexy queen to help pull the stick out of her plot.” Vinyl snickered. “And I think you’re pretty good lookin too.”

“Vinyl, were we going to court her, we would actually need to sit her down and have a reasonable chat like the adults we are.” Octy rolled her eyes.

“I’m… What?” Chrys blinked.

“You’re a Wizard Hairy.” Vinyl smirked at the bugmare.

“I’m a wot?” Chrys blinked again.

“Vinyl, for pete’s sake, be serious.” Octy face-hoofed. “I am so sorry Chrys.” She groaned. “Weeks of planning, gone. Thank you Vinyl.”

“You’re welcome.” Vinyl smirked smuggly at the mare. “Say, Chrys wanna come back to our place?”

“I-I p-probably shouldn’t.” Chrys gulped with a blush.

“Vinyl, we are not starting this courting by having sex!” Octy snapped.

“But it’d be fun tho.” Vinyl pointed at her.

Octy slapped the hoof away. “We are going to do this properly!” She looked up at Chrys. “Would you like to go to lunch with us?”

“Then come back to our place for freaky-” A hoof smacked the back of Vinyl’s head.

“Y-Yes…” Chrys nodded, suppressing a giggle as a hint of a smile finally returned to her face. “I-I’d like that.”

“Wonderful! We were heading to Le Grande’s, care to join us?” Octy asked.

“I’d love to.” Chrys beamed.

“Nice! You know you might have a point here Octy.” Vinyl grinned as she reset her shades back on her muzzle as she got up.

Chrys nodded and got up as Octy did.

“Of course I do Vinyl, it’s just that you rarely listen to me.” Octy sighed as the three started along the road.

The white mare grinned. “You get through to me eventually. You always do.”

Weave sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time. It had been a while since he felt this...normal. Was this how he was supposed to feel about mares? It was kinda...embarrassing.

There was a knock on the door. “Housekeeping.”

Weave got up from the couch and walked over to the front door, cracking it open to see who was on the other side.

Scoots waved. She had a pair of very stuffed saddlebags on. Various metal parts and blue pages were hanging out. “Hey Stud, care to let a girl come inside?”

“Sure, why not,” the stallion rolled his eyes, opening the door more fully and letting the pegasus inside.

“Thank-” She blinked as she stepped inside and shut the door. “Been working out or are you just happy to see me?” She grinned at him.

“Huh?” the stallion blinked at her. “I’ve mostly been sorting out my own feelings. They’re...confusing.”

“Oh… Well, before we do any kinda work, wanna talk about it?” Scoots asked. “I promise not to make many jokes, you get enough abuse from Star as it is.”

“No no, it’s fine, my mind focuses better on technical stuff than the fine details anyways.” The stallion urged her inside and made sure the coffee table was clear in the living room. “Let’s see what you’ve come up with.”

Scoots shrugged her bags off with a thud as she sat down and started shifting through the bags. “So…” She set a blueprint on the table and unrolled it. “Here’s the design. Aaaaand… Here’s the prototype.” She set down a metal cone. She settled onto her haunches and picked it up. “So it has a latch here.” She hit a button and the cone split, being held together with a latch. There was an indent on the inside. “So you open it to put a ring in, then you latch it closed.” She closed it with a click. “Then you put it on a horn.” She plopped the metal device over Weave’s horn. “Obviously ineffective right now. Probably needs a ring, of whatever Mark you choose, and the accompanying spellwork.” She gestured to the blueprints. “I wrote down my earlier thoughts here to help in your spellwork.” She hummed, tapping her chin. “You know, if this works, we could sell it to the Crown for use against unicorn prisoners. Maybe modify pieces of gear depending on what race needs restraining?”

“Could work for that,” the stallion agreed, going over the blueprints. “Hmm. This is actually pretty clever mechanical work here, and the spells to make it self-correcting in my spell will probably only improve your device. I think that together they’d be something like a mark 9. Something that Star can’t break out of at her current skill level.”

Scoots nodded. “And, since it only requires a ring, then any upgraded Marks can just be put inside the device as you produce them.”

“Oh boy,” the stallion chuckled. “Well this promises to be one bad day for Star. Okay, two seconds.” His magic found an untarnished silver ring that he kept plenty of lying around, bringing it to his face. With a look of concentration, a beam of green light carved the runes into the loop of silver, before he nodded once. “Done,” he said. “Mark eight ring.”

Scoots pulled the cone off his head. “Care to add your spellwork to this?”

“Hmm…” the stallion looked the cone over a few times. “I think I could add a few things,” he admitted. “Let’s see…” His horn lit up a fainter green as he traced a few symbols into the device. “Efficiency and containment, mainly,” he explained. “There’s not much I can do to help the genius bit of engineering you did here.”

“Oh pfft… It’s not that much.” Scoots waved a hoof as she blushed.

“Seriously, it’s like a spell made mechanical, it’s that good,” the stallion pointed out. “Okay, open it up and let’s pop the ring in. If it starts talking at us though, I’m throwing anti-magic at it until it’s dead.”

Scoots rolled her eyes poked the latch, and opened it. She slid the ring in and flicked it closed, then pressed the latch again. “Oh, and since this is a prototype, only I can open the latch.”

“...That would make taking it off when I’m done teaching Star a lesson much harder,” the stallion pointed out.

“True.” Scoots nodded. “Soooo what do you wanna do now that we’ve made a technomagic baby? Wanna make a real one?” She winked with a smirk. “Just joking, you’re probably not in the moo-”

“I am semi-constantly horny now,” the stallion pointed out, shifting his hind legs a bit. “The only reason I didn’t jump you is because you promised a second date first.”

“And what was this?” Scoots tapped the metallic cone.

“...I was expecting lunch or something,” Weave admitted.

“Well, we could go to lunch if you want.” Scoots smiled. “Would make up for that terrible thing we had as a first date.”

“Fair point,” the stallion agreed. “Nothing fancy though. I just want something to keep me going. I hear there’s a good pizza place in town.”

“Ooooo! Pizza!” Scoots’s eyes sparkled. Then she glanced at his crossed legs. “Want a little time to calm down first?”

“It’s fine, I’m sure this will go down eventual-”

“A shaft that thick would take a bit. I swear my back legs are still tingling. I could help you out there.” She winked. “If you want to. Other option is, pretend it doesn’t exist and go get pizza, while flaunting your endowment and the mare who’s getting it.”

Weave had a choice to make. It wasn’t a hard one. His horn lit up, put the magical restrainer carefully to one side…

Before Scootaloo was flipped onto the coffee table on her back as her stallion reared up and prepared to break some furniture with her.

“And getting it, she is!”

“And getting it, I am.” Vinyl grinned, looking up from the menu.

“So, a Kaisar Salad for the Lady, A Meatball Alfredo, and a side order of garlic breadsticks for the Queen, and a” The waiter sighed. “Double order of Garlic Bread for… you.” The waiter deadpanned at the white mare.

“Sounds right to me.” Vinyl grinned happily.

“Very well, ladies, I will put your order in.” The waiter bowed and trotted back into the restaurant.

The three sat on the patio, even had the patio to themselves.

“You sure me eating meat doesn’t bother you?” Chrys asked, magically adjusting her place setting.

“Chrys.” Octy put a hoof on Chrys’s hoof. “You don’t have to be nervous. We’re not going to judge you.”

“Do you want me to be brutally honest?” Chrys sighed.

“Of course dear.” Octy nodded.

“I haven’t done the relationship thing for a long time. I don’t know what I’m doing. And I’m shocked and a little overwhelmed at being accepted so… well… quickly.”

“Why?” Vinyl asked, trying to balance a spoon on her water glass. “You’re kinda awesome.”

“But… How?” Chrys asked. “I mean, look at me.” She raised a leg with a few prominent holes.

“I bet you could fit a few dicks through there.” Vinyl commented.

“Vinyl if you weren’t across the table I’d slap you!” Octy groaned running a hoof down her face.

Chrys glanced from Octy, to Vinyl. Then she reached out and clocked the white mare upside the head.

“Gah!” Vinyl yelped.

“I’m sorry! Was that too hard?! I only did it cause Octy couldn’t!” Chrys immediately shrank back into her seat.

“You’re good.” Vinyl shook her head.

“Chrys dear, you really need to relax…” Octy shot a glare at Vinyl. “No.”

“Awww…” Vinyl pouted.

Octy took Chrys’s hoof. “Dear you are lovely, holes and all.”

Chrys blushed. “I-I don’t know about that.”

“It’s really true. Especially your eyes. And your voice. I wouldn’t mind hearing you read me poetry.” Octy smiled at the bugmare.

“Stand a-and unfold yourself. Long live th-the king…” Chrys managed to get out.

“Whoa, Chrys know Razorback?” Vinyl raised a brow.

“I had a lot of time when I was home bound.” Chrys blushed. “I like Hal’bard.”

“Vinyl, idea.” Octy glanced over at the white mare.

“Huh?” Vinyl adjusted her shades.

“Say we have Chrys recite Hal’bard over one of your EPs?” Octy smiled.

“Oh huh… Wait…” Vinyl blinked.

“Are you offering me a job?” Chrys blinked.

“I think Octy’s onto something.” Vinyl hummed. “Know any more?”

Chrys hummed. “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”

“Oh, wonderful choice.” Octy hummed.

“So, great idea. But moving away from potential awesomeness.” Vinyl spoke up. “Chrys, what is your current job?”

“I’ve had more than a few, but currently I’m a bouncer at The Drunken Grape.” Chrys said with a hum.

“Well that must be quite exciting.” Octy smiled.

“It helps that I don’t really have to do much to intimidate people.” Chrys chuckled.

“Bonus!” Vinyl grinned. “Have any cool stories?”

“Not… really?” Chrys blinked. “I mean there’s the occasional drunk stallion who gets too hoovesy. All I really do is throw them out.”

“How far have you yeeted a pony?” Vinyl bounced in her chair.

“How far have- What?” Chrys tilted her head to the side.

“Ugh, Vinyl, yeet is not a word.” Octy shook her head.

“Yes it is!” Vinyl pointed a hoof at the gray mare. “Yeet. Noun or Verb. To shoot or throw an object or person a great distance!”

“So…” Chrys hummed. “... I don’t get it.”

“I don’t get half of the words that come out of that mare’s mouth.” Octy groaned rubbing her temples with her forehooves.

There was a clopping of hooves on stone.

“Ladies! Who had the salad?” A waitress asked as she levitated a large bowl filled with salad.

“Oh wonderful, a distraction.” Octy sighed. “That would be me.”

“And the Meatball Alfredo with breadsticks?”

“Here.” Chrys gently pulled the plates from the mare’s magical grip.

“And that must mean-” The mare froze as her eyes fell on Vinyl.

“Oh… Oh Celestia… You’re DJ Pon-3!” The mare gasped.

“Nice! A fan!” Vinyl grinned. Pulling four baskets of bread off the waitress’s tray.

“Great. A fan.” Octy rolled her eyes.

Chrys glanced around at the mares. “Wait, what’d she call Vinyl?”

“Ya know, it might not be the best pizza in town, but the fact that it’s a buffet with dozens of types is kinda amazing. I can let my inner fat mare out.” Scoots chuckled as she slumped in the booth across from Weave and chomped down on a slice taken from her personal pile.

“A-men,” Weave nodded as well, having assembled his own pizza from many types of them. “Great fuel to keep the body going late into the night when working on spells, or just unwinding.”

“Ooooohhhh… Date idea.” She managed to say through chewing.

Weave poked his ears up as he stacked two pieces on top of each other and ate them at the same time.

“Don’t you flirt with me like that!” Scoots pointed a hoof at him. “So! We get a bunch of pizzas, probably from here because they’re cheap. We kicked back at your place, maybe play some Minecraft, or something else co-op, or even throw on a movie, and we just… chill.”

“Chill?” the stallion asked, raising a brow at her. “Why do I get connotations when you say that word?”

Scoots blinked. “You know, I didn’t mean it that way, but if you want to make it pizza, movies, and rutting, then that’s fine by me.”

“...Honestly not sure which option I like more,” the stallion admitted.

“Wanna grab some pizzas and head back to your place? Or my place?” Scoots asked.

“If you want to,” the stallion replied with a shrug. “I think there’s some new movies available for me to look through. We could find something cheesy and bad to watch and comment over.”

“Oh the best kind.” Scoots pointed at him. “I did not hit her! It’s bullshit! I did not. Oh, hi Quill.”

“He belongs to the world. Oh, I knew that. Totally not an alien. Totally not going to lay my eggs in your chest cavity later.” Weave quoted back. “May not be the right one, but I’ve watched so much it all blends together.”

“You. Me. Pizza. Movies. Sex. My place. Now.” Scoots stared at him.

“Sounds like a plan,” Weave agreed.

“Well that was wonderful.” Octy sighed, getting up from the table.

“And I have leftovers.” Vinyl levitated her boxes of excess bread.

“This was really nice, you didn’t have to treat me though.” Chrys smiled, joining the pair.

“Of course we did, what with how much of a wreck you were earlier.” Vinyl nudged her leg.

“Vinyl!” Octy hissed.

“It’s fine.” Chrys nodded. “I’m much better.”

“Wonderful dear.” Octy nodded.

“Wanna do this again sometime?” Vinyl asked. “And do you wanna come back to-”

Both Octy and Chrys swatted the white mare.

“Thanks, but I should probably head home. Who knows what Star is up to, and I wanna hear what Weave and Scoots have been up to.” Chrys smiled.

“Understandable.” Octy nodded.

“Here’s our address, you know, if you wanna come by sometime.” Vinyl levitated out a piece of paper.

Chrys took it in her own and smiled. She glanced between the two of them, then quickly leaned in to kiss each one on the cheek. “Th-thanks again.” She giggled, blushing madly as she took a step back. Her wings popped out, buzzed, and she took off with a silly grin on her face.

The pair watched her go.

“She totally wanted to smash.” Vinyl smirked.

“Dammit Vinyl.” Octy sighed.

Meanwhile the other couple were trotting through town. Scoots grinned in anticipation as Weave levitated a few pizza boxes between the pair.

Scoots’s face suddenly fell as her eyes widened. She stopped walking.

“Something the matter?” the unicorn asked.

“We left my gear, and blueprints, and prototype anti-unicorn cone back at your place.” Scoots said flatly.

“Ah,” Weave nodded. “Could be a problem. But what’s the likelihood someone will clamp it onto their horn?”

“I’m more worried that we left it in the apartment with Star of all mares.” Scoots frowned. “She can’t fuck with your spellwork, right?”

“Considering how long it’d take her to undo? Nope,” the stallion shook his head. “Plus I made it to defend itself against Star.”

“So… we could come back to your place later with Star having it on her horn?” Scoots asked.

“Plausible,” the stallion admitted. “In which case, it’d have already happened, and we’d be losing out on good bad movie time and pizza by going back already.”

“Point.” Scoots commented. “Well then. To my place!”

Her place ended up being a loft above her garage/workshop. An apartment with a bathroom, living room, small corner kitchenette, a single two-door closet, and a rather spacious bedroom. The stairs up from her garage lead to the living room. Which was cozy. It mainly consisted of a large black couch, a central square coffee table, a quite large entertainment center, and doors that lead to the bathroom, bedroom, and closet.

“Well, here it is. Sorry about the mess downstairs. Ummm can I get you anything?” Scoots rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “Sorry, I haven’t really had any guys over in… awhile.”

“Hey, you should see my place after Star’s done trashing it,” the stallion joked. “Also, some drinks to go with all this food would probably be a good idea.”

She trotted over to the kitchenette, opened her fridge, and ducked her head into the fridge. Her tail softly swished from side to side as she looked. “Got… mostly soda… in cans.”

“Soda’s good,” Weave commented, taking the pizzas towards the entertainment center and stacking them on the table.

Scoots trotted over and stuck three twelve-packs on the table. “Mister Pepper, Mountain Stream, and cream soda. Right, and I got some whiskey in the closet.”

“Let’s save drinking for later,” the stallion commented. “Okay, so, bad movies. What’ve we got around?”

Scoots trotted over and tugged the doors to either side. From left to right, in columns were: video games divided by console, movies divided up by genre, A couple shelves devoted to alcohol, and what looked like a plastic tote filled with Legos. “Let’s get it over with. Shame me now. I’m a nerd at heart. Dash would be so embarrassed.”

“And what do you think a unicorn that spends all day coming up with new spell ideas is?” Weave asked from the couch.

“Eh, true.” Scoots turned back to the closet. “What you in the mood for? So bad it’s good, just bad, dumb action movies, awesome action movies… Anything catch your-” She gasped and tugged a few DVDs free. “White King’s Sleepwalker, The Room, Doom, yes, the one with Bulk Rock, and Maretol Kombat Annihilation.”

“Pfft,” the stallion snorted. “Okay, some of those are just awful, but let’s go with Doom.”

Scoots slid three back into place and trotted over to the TV. She popped Doom into the DVD player and poked the TV to switch the input. Trotting over to the table, she flipped a box open. “It’s never a good sign when the one good part of the movie is the part blatantly made to look like the old game.” She plopped down next to Weave.

“Mhm,” the stallion nodded, levitating a pizza slice out. “Honestly, their attempts at making the demons was great. Maybe we should ask Tartarus what they think of their special effects.”

“Yeah…. I’d just as soon replay Fatal Frame Two.” Scoots shuddered as she hit play.

A stallion’s face popped up on the TV.

“Seriously, watch how many times he blinks. You make a drinking game out of it you’d be dead within a minute.” Scoots gestured at the TV and stuffed pizza in her mouth.

“Also, while part of me wants to scream ‘that’s not how teleporting works’, we’ve never tried to make a mechanical device to teleport before,” Weave admitted. “Any unicorn can tell you there’s like five layers of safety between charging and going anywhere.”

“It’s like that this thing literally just finds a point and throws a power at it.” Scoots snorted. “And of course they couldn’t just make a portal to Tartarus on Equis, no, it had to be on Vulcan. And yes, I know the games did that too. On that note, fuck, I kinda feel worried that playing the twenty-sixteen version made me wet when I murdered demons. Also, I never knew I could love the auditory violence that was the soundtrack, you played that version of Doom, right? Oh, and sorry if I’m babbling.”

“I know a new challenge I want you to try,” the stallion teased. “Doom: Getting fucked edition. Every time you win a battle, you get ten seconds of sex.”

Scoots looked over at him slowly. “Marry me.” She snorted. “But no, I. Would. Love that. Oh, switch off the player every level, you pound me doggy, then I get to ride you, and back and forth till we beat the game. Huh, also tangent. There’s this vibe that vibrates in time with the music that the dongle is attached to. Play BFG Division.”

“...Pretty sure you’d destroy yourself on it,” the stallion commented. “Hmm. We’ll have to come up with bonuses and penalties if we do well or lose.”

“Mmmmm true.” Scoots looked at the TV while chomping down on another bite. “See, Bulk Rock isn’t bad, neither is Urban Warfare, but the others are so bland. It’s like the creators thought. Hey! Let’s put this video game franchise and Predator in a blender.”

“Yeah, the movie really starts picking up when they realize ‘oh shit, there are demons running around,’” Weave agreed. “And still we don’t really see some of the mainline demons in it. Where’s our summoner, our imps, our barons of hell? Nah, just random fucking infectors and Pinkie demons, that’ll tide them over.”

“Pinkie’s already a demon.” Scoots giggled. “Oh, thought. Start a franchise, like Jojo, only make it follow Bucky Blaster and follow the family line to the fucking Doom Slayer.”

“Not impossible,” the stallion commented. “We never do get to know what happened to the guy after he was stabbed in the back. Maybe he fought his way out again and started a family somewhere when he couldn’t build a ship to get back to Vulcan.”

“Oooo… Good idea- and here’s the love interest.” Scoots sighed. “Why does every scientist mare have to be unnaturally hot?”

“Isn’t she also his sister? Iiiiincest~” the stallion sang. “I know it’s wrong and we’re literally surrounded by demons, Bucky, but kiss me!”

“Ugh…” Scoots poked her tongue out.

“Well we can’t go any more to Tartarus than we already are, so…” Weaver teased.

“Hi, welcome to Tartarus, have you met the Bannisters?” Scoots smirked back.

“Oh, I think I shot them two rooms ago. Speaking of-” Weave said just as the star of the show shot another zombie.

“Ha- Nice.” Scoots snorted. “Ohp and there’s the creepy marine tha- and there are the extra eyes.” She waved a hoof. “Also, why is this movie so dark? As in, physically dark. I can’t see shit.”

“Well I think all the special effects went into the BFG, and they had to cut the lighting budget to make enough space for that one shot,” Weave pointed out. “Or maybe the licensing to play the original music.”

“All of the above.” Scoots chuckled, virtually inhaling the rest of her pizza.

“Honestly, total shitshow, where Bucky totally isn’t going to bang his sister when they get home,” the stallion commented. “I think some director needs to have a talk with his sister when he gets home.”

“Ahem. When you talk to your author about his next gangbang scene, how about a little more PG, and a lot less thirteen.” Scoots snorted. “Nopony can out do the creepy like White King. I’m not kidding, some of his novels… blehh.”

“Might look into them...or not,” the stallion shrugged. “More of a fan of the Dream Demon of Elm Street. Watched that film once, liked the concept of ‘if you know about me, I can fiiiiind you.’ Naturally I had a nightmare about it and uh...surprised Luna when she showed up.”

“A) Surprised?” She raised a brow. “B) Poor Weaver, wanna watch it again so I can cuddle you to sleep when it’s over?”

“Won’t need to,” the stallion grinned. “I say nightmare. The demon showed up, naturally. But uh...he kinda was begging to be let out of my head.”

“Tha fuck did you do to him?” The mare blinked.

“There...might be mental manifestations in my head I wasn’t aware of,” Weaver supplied. “Or wasn’t until Luna showed me just how my talent for coming up with new spells works. Apparently I’m connected to the collective unconsciousness subtly, so I draw from a wide range of minds to make new ideas for my spellwork. So when he came after me…”

“That poor, poor demon.” Scoots chuckled.

“Yeah. I can’t pull on anything, unless I know what I’m looking for,” the stallion supplied. “And I can’t pull together knowledge that doesn’t exist somewhere. But enough minds working in unison when one is being attacked sorta, kinda, almost beat the nightmare before Luna showed up.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Scoots hummed.

“Yeah,” Weave nodded. “It was...interesting. But I’m not afraid of anything when I’m sleeping anymore.”

“That’s great! Wish my mind worked like that.” She chuckled.

“Sorry, can’t scale it to you as well,” the stallion shook his head. “It’s kinda my mark for a reason.”

“Oh, it’s fine.” She shrugged.

“And, movie over,” the stallion pointed out. “And we’re only halfway done with the pizza.”

Scoots blinked and looked at the TV. “Huh. Well, what do you wanna watch next?”

“We could try that idea for the game out,” Weave suggested.

“Oh I am all over that.” Scoots rolled off the couch and moved to push the table out of the way.

She trotted over, retrieved the game from the closet, and switched the TV input. She grabbed the Y-Box controller, turned it on and popped the game in. Lastly she trotted over to lay in the middle of the room. She looked back at Weave as she held up the controller and the main menu music of Doom kicked in. “You first.”

Weave took the controller in his magic and sat up on the couch, focusing on the game. “Eh,” he mused. “Hmm. We don’t want to go too hard on the difficulty, otherwise it won’t actually be fun.”

“Easy mode? This is supposed to be something special.” Scoots rolled her eyes.

“Let’s just go one rank up from normal. No need for ultra-violence,” the stallion pointed out.

“Thoughts on outside influence or distractions?” The mare asked.

“Only if you want it done back to you when it’s your turn and you’re trying to line up a shot,” Weave pointed out.

Scoots shifted her tail to the side. “Deal.”

“We’re going to ruin each other by the end of this, aren’t we?” Weave asked with a chuckle.

“If we actually make it to the bed by the end of the night, it’d be a fuckin’ miracle. Now, start slaying, Slayer.”

“Oooh, there’s a thought for that movie later,” the stallion chuckled. “He retires from slaying demons and slays pussies instead.”

“I’m sure I’ve seen that before online once. Or twice. Or… a few times.” Scoots blushed. “Don’t kinkshame. I like good animators.”

“Let’s do this then.” The screen flashed the opening finally. “Doom, get fucked edition.”

“Ready…” Scoots hummed with a smirk as she spread her back legs.

“Go.”

003 - Nowhere to go but up

Author's Note

In all honesty. This chapter hurt to write. That doesn't mean that I don't like it. I love it. But it explores some pretty dark themes. This is just a warning sign. Just letting you know that while this may get a bit painful.

003 - Nowhere to go but up

Chrys trotted into the apartment happier than she’d been in awhile. The date was fantastic! Vinyl and Octy were fantastic! She was feeling-

A pained, frustrated grunt came from the living room.

Chrys’s mood immediately soured. Taking a breath, the queen trotted into the living room. Star was on the floor, her forehooves were scraping at a metal cone where her horn should be. Chrys glanced around, saddlebags packed to the brim with metal bits and papers, the clear blueprint on the table, Star. She sighed. “What did you do?”

“Chrys!” Star stopped struggling and flipped onto her hooves. “Great! This thing attacked me-”

“Those say that it’s pretty much unbreakable.” Chrys pointed a hoof at the blueprints. “You wanted to test it didn’t you?” She deadpanned.

“Ugh… fine.” Star rolled her eyes. “Maybe…”

“I can’t believe you.” Chrys shook her head.

“Soooo… wanna help me get off- get it off?” Star feigned the verbal hiccup.

“Honestly, no.” Chrys frowned.

“Come on… I’m helpless here.” Star whined sitting on the floor and making puppy dog eyes.

“You have hooves, this’ll teach you to not be so over confident.” Chrys shook her head.

“But it’s eating my magic… Every time I use my horn, I just get shut down.” Star continued to whine.

“No, Star.” Chrys shook her head again. “Plus, I don’t think I can get it off in the first place.” She turned to trot towards the kitchenette.

“You- You help me and I’ll suck you off!” Star snapped.

Chrys froze.

“Yeah, thought that’d get your attention. How long’s it been?” Star smirked.

“Star… don’t.” Chrys said, her voice shaking as a cold trailed down her spine and a heat built in her stomach.

“Come on, you… you help me out of this, or at least try, and I’ll- I don’t know- let you fuck me.” Star trotted up behind the bugmare.

“S-stop.” Chrys’s voice shook. She clamped her eyes shut.

“Come on, we have the place to ourselves.” Star hummed. “And I’m so helpless you could do anything to me….” A hoof ran over Chrys’s flank.

Chrys’s eyes snapped open, blazing with sickly green light. Her horn erupted in green flames, bathing the room in the same eerie light.

Star was engulfed in green. The breath was forced out of her lungs as she felt her whole body get squeezed. “Ah-” She didn’t have time to yelp as she was slammed into the ceiling, cracking the molding. Before she could think, she was slammed into the floor. Her nose erupted in a stinging pain. The wind was driven out of her as she was thrown across the room and pinned to the wall next to the hallway.

Chrys’s head turned, and a furious glare actually made the unicorn mare pale a bit. “Don’t. Touch. Me.”

“Chr-Chrys! Damn, where’s this been when I-” A shot of something green was spat out of the queen’s mouth, whatever it was slapped over Star’s mouth. “Mmmmph!” The mare jumped as each leg was pinned to the wall by something sticky. As was her chest by a line of the stuff.

“Shut. Up.” Chrys seethed, taking a step into the middle of the living room, glaring hate at the mare. “Star. I am finished. I’m done with you.” The mare’s horn died, letting the mare hang on the wall. Only the glow in the mare’s eyes remained. “I’m tired of you abusing me. And you do abuse me. Fuck, you abuse Weave too! How do you do it? How do you fucking fool everyone else? How can you call yourself even remotely rehabilitated?!” The bugmare snorted.

Star blinked at her.

“You trash the house, shit talk your roommate, and your fucking parole officer. Queen knows how he lets you get away with anything! And don’t- You know what, yes, let’s talk about your serious problem.” Chrys bared her teeth. “How many times have you ruined your sheets? Or Weave’s for that matter?! Your room constantly stinks of sex! Well, it would be sex, if it wasn’t just you ruining your cunt alone because you can’t get a stallion! What?! Are you trying to maintain a constant cum high so you don’t have to think of how much of a fucking failure you are?! Or is it because you pine for fucking Sunburst?!”

Star’s eyes widened.

“Oh, yes.” Chrys nodded with a wicked grin. “I may not know who he is but I know for a fact that he would want nothing to do with a useless, sad-sack of a mare who’s only enjoyment in life is either rubbing one out or abusing her roomies! What happened?! Who hurt you?! What caused this fucking deathspiral into depression and suicide?!”

Star blinked at her.

“I’m an Emotivore, Star! You’re hollow! If I poked you, would your skin crack like porcelain?! You’re empty! Dead inside! When was the last time you truly loved something?! I swear to Queen, if I was only living with you I’d be fucking dead already! Everything in your life is a momentary distraction because you’re probably constantly seconds away from fucking offing yourself!” Chrys snarled as her eyes shifted to slits. “You’re so weak!”

Star actually nodded.

“Pathetic! Ending you would be a favor to the universe!” The mare took a step forward. “I should just put you out of our misery…” She hissed. Her horn lit in green flames again. “But… Maybe you’re not entirely useless.”

Star squeaked. Her eyes widened and she started to pant as she saw what was growing between the mare’s legs.

“You’d make a great brroood-” Chrys blinked. Her eyes flickered between slitted and normal. “Brood-m-mare.” She roughly shook her head. “No.” She took a step back. “No. No. NO!” She shook her head violently. “I’m not you anymore! You don’t control me!”

The queen tripped over the table and tumbled to land against the wall. Her hooves went up to her horn, physically dousing the flames. “I’m not you. I’m. Not. YOU!” She started to shake. “I’m better. I-I’m b-better n-now.” Her breaths came in gasps. “I-I h-have g-good fr-friends… I-I-’m n-not a-alone… ‘M not al-lone...”

The mare shakilly looked up at Star.

“I-I’m s-so s-sorry…” Tears rolled off of the queen’s eyes. “I-I- I j-just… I-I w-wanted to- to h-help you…” Chrys was almost begging the mare. “A-and… Y-you th-threw it all i-in my face… Y-you u-used me…” She gave a gasping sob. The light in her eyes died, leaving the room in darkness. “S-Star… I-I… I’m done. Y-you…” She took a breath. “You can’t hurt me anymore…” The bugmare shakily got to her hooves and silently walked down the entryway. There was a click. A brief silhouette of the mare from the hallway light. Then the door slammed.

Starlight Glimmer was left in darkness.

Alone with her thoughts.

Octy jumped in her seat of her couch as there came a pounding on her front door. She blinked, her eyes snapping to the door. “Vinyl!”

The white mare was busy poking her keyboard on the other side of the room, her headphones on.

“Vinyl!” Octy shouted as the door pounded again.

Octy rolled her eyes with a groan and hurled a book at the mare.

Direct hit. The mare’s headphones came off. “AH! Octy what the fu- Oh, Octy, door.”

“Yes, Vinyl, shut that off. I think we have company.” Octy sighed and shook her head as her roomie hit a few buttons and set down her headphones. The gray mare trotted over to the door and opened it. She gasped at what she saw.

Chrys was framed in the orange evening light. She sat on her haunches on the landing, she was slumped like there was a massive weight on her back. Her forehooves both had white-gray smudge on them. Her ovipositor appeared to be slowly shrinking back into her waist. Her wings hung limply. Her silk mane hung over her face. Tears streamed from eyes that virtually bled pain and shame.

“I-I didn’t know who else t-to go to.” Chrys said brokenly. “T-Twilight is convinced th-that ‘m doing so w-well… I-I didn’t w-want to l-let her down… I-I’m s-sorry I sh-shouldn’t have c-come… This- this-” She hiccuped and choked out a sob.

Octy immediately thudded onto her haunches and opened her arms. “Shhhh…. Shhh. Shhh. Shh… C’mere.”

Chrys let out a sob and half-slumped onto the mare.

“Shhh… There, there.” Octy hugged her neck, and gave soft nuzzles.

“Octy, I hear-” There was a light thud as Vinyl wrapped her forelegs around the bugmare’s barrel.

Chrys sobbed into the gray mare’s mane.

“What happened?” Vinyl whispered.

“Don’t know, but we’ll sit here until she’s well enough to move.” Octy whispered back.

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Vinyl nuzzled her face into the hurt bugmare’s shoulder. “You’re gonna be okay, Chrys. We’re here for ya.”

Chrys stared down at the brown carpet. Her tears had been spent. A glass of water sat on a black stoop in front of her. A gray mare and a white mare sat on either side of her.

“Okay enough to talk?” Vinyl asked quietly.

“It was Star…” The bugmare sounded… empty.

“What did she do? Did she hurt you?” Octy asked softly. “Did she…”

“N-no…” Chrys shook her head. “I-I came home after the date...” She paused.

“Just take your time.” Octy patted her shell.

“Or, spit it all out, like a poison.” Vinyl added. “Whatever you prefer. We’ve got time.”

“I can stay Vinyl, you have a-” Octy began to whisper.

“Canceled it- family emergency.” Vinyl whispered back.

“Thanks… Thanks for letting me be here.” Chrys said with a slow blink.

“Of course/Always.” Both mare said in unison.

She took a breath and a heavy gulp. “I came home after the date. Star was on the floor. She’d found some new lock that I think Scoots and Weave made. Put it on her horn, completely knocked out her ability to cast.”

“Serves her right.” Vinyl muttered.

“She tried to get me to help her to take it off. I said no. She begged. I said no. Then… she said she could suck me off.” The bugmare shuddered.

“She wouldn’t…” Octy’s eyes widened.

“She tempted me. Saying that she was helpless. Changed from getting the lock off to getting her off.” Chrys’s eyes closed as she gagged and dry-heaved.

“Whoa! Need the bathroom?!” Vinyl asked quickly, getting to her hooves, with a hoof still on her shoulder.

“N-no… No.” Chrys shook her head. “I… just need to get it out.” She took a steady breath then continued. “She asked if it had been awhile, obviously it had, but… Not with her… Not again…” She shook her head. “She- She ran a hoof over my flank… and. I snapped. It was like picking up a toy. I slammed her into the ceiling, then the floor. Then I pinned her against the wall. I didn’t want her talking. Shut her mouth with silk. Silked her legs and barrel to the wall.” She gulped then. “I let her have it….” Her eyes opened and she sniffled. “I was tired of the abuse. The abuse of Weave. The vile words that she spits. The endless orgasm that she tries to ride.” She hiccuped. “She’s so… damaged… broken… hollow…” She shuddered. “I- It was like a switch was flipped. S-suddenly I was gone and she was back… Queen Chrysalis… She- I hurled abuse at her. T-told her she was nothing. Then… Then…” She gulped. “I got horny. I could use this helpless mare before I put her out of everyone’s misery.” Her head hung low. “I-I managed to stop myself. Snapped myself out of it.” She paused. “I put my horn out.” She raised her hooves, still burned white and gray.

“Vinyl! Go get the bandages!” Octy hissed and Vinyl took off down a hallway.

“I felt- I feel, so sick. I told myself I’m not her.” Chrys spoke as Vinyl returned and started to wrap her forehooves. “I’m not. I’m not her.” She shook her head.

“No you’re not Chrys.” Octy shook her head, rubbing the mare’s shell. “And you’re not alone.”

That got another sniffle. “Thanks…” She took a breath. “I told Star I was sorry for… what I almost did… But, I tried with her. She threw everything in my face. Abused me. Abused Weave.” She swallowed. “I said I was done. And I am. Unless there’s some massive changes. I’m don’t want anything to do with her.”

“That may be for the best.” Octy nodded as Vinyl finished the bandaging and sat down next to Chrys again.

“Can… Can I stay here t-tonight? I’m sure Twilight and Weave w-would understand-”

“Absolutely.” Vinyl cut her off. “We have a guest bedroom that you can sleep in.”

“Thanks…” Chrys nodded. She looked at her bandaged hooves. “I… didn’t want this…”

“What, dear?” Octy asked softly.

“This.” Chrys gestured a hoof at all of herself.

“A… changeling?” Vinyl blinked.

“A changeling Queen.” Chrys corrected.

“Well you can’t change what you’re born with.” Octy smiled softly. “Like, I was born Octavia Philharmonica Melody, to a posh family in Canterlot. Vinyl, actually Vincenza Scraterra, is Canterlot nobility.”

“Hate it when you use my name.” Vinyl snorted.

“The thing is, you can’t change what your born with.” Octy smiled at the bugmare.

“That would be true.” Chrys nodded. “Were I actually born like this.”

Octy blinked. “What?”

“So, you weren’t always beautiful, long cheeselegs?” Vinyl asked.

“No.” Chrys giggled softly, shaking her head. “I was just Drone Cheeselegs.”

Both mares blinked at her.

“Well… See, In hives you have the Queen, the Guardians, the Intellects, and varying levels of Drones. I was a Drone that had a knack for crafting and building, especially building defenses. Fortifications, false tunnels, stuff like that. I apparently had impressed the Intellects and the Queen. So I was given a gift.” She spat the word. “Only the combined efforts of the Intellects and the Queen can make a changeling ascend to Queendom. So, I was ascended, and tasked with starting a hive in Equestria.” She sighed and shook her head. “I had information shoved into my brain and I was sent out just with a bunch of Drones. Thankfully Drones that I used to work with. Everything was confusing and frightening, and don’t get me started on the new egg laying appendage.” She grumbled. “I took my ‘lings and started a hive to the south of Equestria in the Badlands.” She frowned and snorted. “Hives can be quite noticeable, like termite hives, unless you build underground. We survived off of captured Diamond Dogs, mostly.”

She leaned back and looked up at the wooden ceiling. “Want to know the worst part? There’s something that only a Queen can tell you. Queens are cursed. Well, it’s probably genetics, but… Queens are prone to bouts of madness. Anger, mania, paranoia, and one tartarus of a God-complex.” She glanced at the mare’s leaning on her every word. “The assumption is the mixing signals from having a brain wired to be both male and female. The entire reason I attacked Canterlot, with my entire hive nonetheless, was because I was so far down the crazy hole I couldn’t climb back out….” She paused. “Twilight… saved me… out in the Everfree. I was a mostly insane wreck. I had just enough sanity left to realise that I finally had a way out. Twilight had thrown me a rope.” She gulped and leaned back forward. “And earlier today, I felt the hole trying to swallow me again….”

“Chrys… Is there anything you can do about…” Vinyl gestured to all of the bugmare.

“Yes, actually.” Chrys nodded slowly. “I can give up my power. Literally. I transfer the Queendom to anything changeling and I get to be a Drone again.”

“So! We just need to find a willing changeling.” Vinyl grinned.

“Good luck. The one changeling in Ponyville swore she’d snap my horn off if I came around again. And the other changelings have become something new, plus… I don’t think King Thorax has any love for me.” Chrys sighed.

“Well, we could talk to Twilight, right? Perhaps she has an idea.” Octavia asked.

“Wait…. You mentioned Weave being good at magic, and Scoots being good at mechanical stuff at lunch. Yes, Octy, I was listening.” Vinyl rolled her eyes at the mare. “What if they could slap together some container that functions like a changeling so you’ll literally be bottling that power and body on the off chance you need it for something. Or, it’d be a nice thing to stick on a shelf to show where you came from.”

The bugmare and the pony mare blinked at Vinyl.

Vinyl blushed with a pout. “What, I can come up with good ideas some times.”

Failure.

Broken.

Empty.

‘You are not pushing yourself hard enough, Starlight!’
‘I’m sorry I’m not the grand mage that you wanted, dad!’

‘If you just applied yourself a little more...’
‘I can’t do it, okay?! I’m never going to be as good as Sunburst!’

‘Starry, what happened to you? We were such good friends-’
‘You left me! You left me with them! Alone! I was never as good as you! Dad always wanted a son! Yet he got me! And he never let me forget it! Mom left because of me!’

All her fault.

All of it.

She’d hung there for… who knows how long. Time didn’t have any meaning.

She wanted to escape. Make the pain go away for at least a little while.

But… that wouldn’t fix anything. That wouldn’t heal anything. She’d been putting bandaids on gushing wounds for years, and lashed out whenever somepony poked them.

Chrys was right.

She was a monster of a pony.

Maybe… Maybe the world would be better off-

There was a line of light as the front door clicked. The door opened and light ran almost to the kitchenette. Two silhouettes muddied the light.

“Why’s it still dark in here?”

Weave’s mare?

“Huh,” Weave hummed. “Let me just get the lights and-”

The lights clicked on with an application of the unicorn’s magic, to reveal Star hung against the wall, the horn lock firmly in place. “Um. Scoots, I think Chrys and Star had a disagreement,” he noted out loud.

“Think…” Scoots looked at the crack in the ceiling. Then looked down at the visible dent in the wood flooring. “So….” She looked over to Star. The pink mare looked half-dead. Bags under her eyes and a look in her eyes that almost seemed to beg for death. “Weave. I don’t think Star’s doing okay.”

“...I am half tempted to leave her there, just so you know,” the stallion grumbled. “What with the way she’s been treating everyone in this house. It’s no less than what she deserves.” However, his horn lit up, and a green glow surrounded the bindings keeping Star in place. “But I’m nicer than that.”

Star came off the wall with a thud. “You’re right… It is what I deserve.” She sounded… broken.

“...Okay,” the stallion quirked an eyebrow at the mare. “Who are you and what have you done with Star?”

“Weave…” The mare shifted her head around to look at the stallion. “I need help…”

“That’s what I’ve been saying from day one,” the stallion huffed. “Come on, sit in the living room with us and we’ll figure this out.”

Star pushed herself to her hooves somewhat shakily and made her way over to flop in a chair.

Scoots moved over to sit on the couch, eyeing the unicorn with concern.

“So,” Weave said, sitting on the couch next to Scoots. “What happened?”

“I put on your contraption because I thought I could beat it. Chrys came home. Tried to get her to help me get it off. She said no. I offered a BJ. She paused. I offered sex. She snapped. Slammed me into the ceiling, floor, and wall there. She laid into me. Everything was true. Her Queenie came out, but she managed to box it up in time. She said that she was done with me. That I couldn’t hurt her anymore. Then she left me there. That was last night. I think.” Star rattled off in a monotone deadpan. “I’m broken, I’m worthless, and I need help.”

“...Okay, I’m going to be honest here,” the stallion said. “I am not the pony to put you back together. But, I think I know a pretty good psychologist in town, that can help you now that you admit that there’s a problem.”

“Okay….” Star nodded. “Can… Can we burn everything… I- I’d like to have sheets that don’t smell like… me.”

“Scoots, think you can clean up?” the stallion asked. “I’m going to take Star to the mind doctor that I know of.”

“I’ll do my best. Don’t be surprised if everything smells like bleach when you get back.” Scoots nodded. “Wait. Hold up.” The mare trotting over to Star and unlatched the device and pulled the ring off. “Better?”

“Not really…” Star sighed then got up and trotted over to Weave.

“Come on,” Weave led the mare to the door. “She should be opening soon. Do you want me there for your first meeting?”

“Might be for the best…” Star nodded.

“Okay then, I’ll be there while you confess your mental woes,” the stallion smiled reassuringly at the mare.

“Start with today and work backwards?” Star blinked slowly.

“That sounds like a plan,” Weave nodded. “Okay, to the psych doc.” He held the door open and let her walk out first.

Star sighed as she trotted into the hallway. “To the mind surgeon…”

“Hey, you need it,” the stallion pointed out. “After all, from here, there’s nowhere to go but up.”

“You play Minecraft.” Star hummed and looked. “You know what happens when you shovel a block of gravel. I was shoveling gravel.”

“Trust me, you can always improve, no matter how bad the situation is,” Weave countered. “We’ll have you feeling better soon enough. Probably healthier than you were, to be honest.”

Star sighed. “If you say so…”

The ticking of the clock made Star’s ear twitch. The gray couch she sat on was comfortable, at least. Weave sat in a chair next to her, and the doc sat across from her.

“That is...quite the tale,” the doctor mused. “It took that long for somepony to point out to you how self destructive you were being. And now that you realize it, you want to do...what exactly?”

“I don’t know… Be better? Work on myself? Come to terms with my shitty childhood? Maybe get a prescription for some anti-depressants?” Star asked. She took a moment and hummed in thought. “I… I want to start over. But not start over by forgetting what a shitty pony I was.”

“Well, the foundations are laid for some growth,” the doctor admitted. “Now we just need to decide how to proceed. You deal with your issues by, frankly, ignoring them and not confronting the reasons you’re upset. You’d be happier with some friends. I doubt any of them will be as fulfilling as your first friendship was, but unless you know where this Sunburst lives now, then you’ll have to reach out to ponies to help you not feel so alone at night.”

“At… At this point, I’d probably be better off not finding Sunburst. I… said some really harsh things when we last met.” Star shook her head. “I should probably try to be personable with Weave and Chrys, and whoever their significant others are. That’s like four? Five ponies? It’s a start.”

“A good friendship circle is at least three ponies, so yes,” the therapist nodded. “I’m also going to write you a small prescription that should help you feel a little better. It’s meant to mainly help you feel things in general, but with the help of friends, you should overcome your depression with it’s help.”

“Mmmm… That’s good…” Star nodded. “Should… We set up like a weekly meeting? Isn’t that a thing that happens?”

“Do you feel like we need a weekly meeting?” the therapist raised an eyebrow. “I certainly do have room in my schedule for one if needs must. I can accommodate you. But I wouldn’t expect any major growth in just one week. Two should be after the drug takes effect and your friends should be there to help you with it.”

“It would help me unravel the mystery that is myself.” Star said with a hum.

“Fair enough then,” the doctor replied, pulling up his calendar.. “How about...hmm. Wednesday's open. How does 1 in the afternoon sound to you?”

“That works for me.” Star nodded and got up off the couch.

“Take this to the hospital,” the doctor said, holding out a slip of paper. “Take one every night before bed. It should help you in a few week’s time. I want you to keep a journal about the things you did, how they made you feel, and spend plenty of time with friends.”

“I will, thanks.” Star nodded, taking the slip in her magic.

“Be sure to keep track,” the doctor called as they left.

“That went well,” Weave said after they closed the door behind them.

“Aren’t I supposed to feel lighter after bearing my soul?” Star asked, sounding exhausted. “Because all I feel is tired.”

“That just means you got it all out,” the stallion chuckled. “C’mon. It’s a pretty far walk to the hospital.”

“Still willing to let me stay after all that?” The mare asked, following him. “I mean, I’m kinda a terrible pony.”

“You’re willing to grow, though, and that’s what matters,” the stallion pointed out. “Maybe now when you realize how terrible you’ve been, you’ll be better at being you.”

“But… I don’t know how to be me anymore.” Star replied. “I… I don’t know myself.”

Weave paused and looked back at Star. “Then we’ll help you remember,” he said simply.

“Thanks…” Star nodded with a weak smile. “You know, before I fell into my pit, I had a bit of a knack for spellwork. Not as good as Sunburst, as dad would always remind me, but I was good enough to get a cutie mark in it.”

“Really?” the stallion asked. “What were you good at?”

“Uhhhh…. A bit of everything? Though I prefered abjuration.” She hummed, lighting her horn. A faint teal shield popped up around her. “I’m so rusty.”

“Heh. Well, I’m sure you’ll get back in the swing of things in no time,” the stallion teased. “When you’re not busy trying to crack locks, your magical prowess should come flooding back.”

“If you say so.” Star rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get the pills. I want to lay on the couch and stare at nothing.”

“That is what the TV is for,” Weave mused aloud.

“And you and your marefriend can just keep playing adult Legos, making all sorts of unholy Magi-Tech.” Star replied.

“Hey, we play well off of each other,” the stallion commented. “You should find something you like as well. It’d help you unwind.”

“I need to go out and see if I actually have the ability to like anything.” The mare muttered.

“...Point,” the stallion admitted. “Well, we should figure out if there’s a game you enjoy, or an aspect of a game you like, so that you can at least kindle something.”

“Well Resistance wasn’t bad. Storyline was interesting, gameplay… eh.” She shrugged. “Might need to just start by trying out Gamestation game genres.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Weave commented. “Hmm. It’s still winter. Shame, otherwise I’d suggest we spend some time in the park. A healthy day consists of a mix of personal time, outdoors time, and friends time.”

“Do sleds still exist?” Star mused aloud.

“I’m fairly certain they do, yes,” the stallion chuckled.

Star paused to wave a hoof at the snow all around the surprisingly cleared road.

“That is an idea, and not a bad one at that,” Weave mused. “I’d have to go get one, but we could go sledding around the hills here.”

“Mmmm… fun.” Star nodded, returning to her deadpan look.

“I am trying,” the stallion pointed out.

“Not your fault.” Start shook her head. “Running on empty.”

“Point,” Weave agreed. “Okay. One order of pills, and then we can head home and cuddle the broken pony.”

“I don’t think Chrys will want to cuddle the broken pony…” Star mumbled.

“We are going to cuddle you until you feel better,” the stallion snarled. “This is going to be the most aggressive cuddle therapy you’ll ever have.”

“Aggressive cuddle violence. And I’m going to be in the middle of it.” Star smiled softly. “That… actually sounds nice.”

“There we go, a smile!” Weave smirked. “Pills, then home,” he outlined.

“Thank Celestia for pills.”

004 - Gaming Therapy

Star blinked at the rather impressive stock of games. “I don’t know where to start… Ummmm…. Dark Souls 3 I’ve heard is, well not easier, but… mmmph. Heard good things. Though It’d also probably make me rage. And rage is better than emptiness. Mmmm… New Pegasus…” Her horn started to levitate a game or two down. She looked at Weave. “You sure I can just pick whatever, I don’t want you to spend all your money? Though do you do get a boost from hosting Chrys and I- Not the point. You sure?”

“I get plenty for submitting new spell ideas to the Canterlot R&D department,” the stallion waved her off. “With Scoots helping me, we’ve perfected the unicorn containment cage. So that’ll keep bits flowing in.”

“And, how was the meeting with the Princesses when you two went to show it off?” Star asked, turning back to the shelves. “Persona 3… Dawn: Zero Mourning.... The Hunter 3: Wild Hunt… Oooo Space Hulk: Wings of Death… I swore I saw a video about this. No don’t whip the flamer like a pool noodle.” She snorted a laugh.

“You pay more attention to the game market than I do, then,” the stallion quipped. “And Twilight was amused. Took her a full two and a half hours to work out how to get out of it. The answer was ‘Ask Scoots to take it off.’”

“UCC can be made and sold to jails and prisons for particularly bad unicorns.” Star blinked. “And that sounds like a young adult novel.”

“Most likely could be one,” the stallion nodded. “Okay, you got everything you want?”

“I think this’ll be… Something caught her eye. She tugged a game down from the shelf. It showed a cute anime stallion. “Lover’s Leap…” She read. “Oh, it’s a visual novel. Multiple endings… per character pursued. It’s a romance game for mares… I’m trying it, maybe it’ll help me to get out of the house and try dating.” She chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Like that’ll ever happen.”

“Well, as long as you enjoy playing it,” Weave chuckled. “Okay, so, let’s pay for your gaming binge here and you can try to trigger something back at your room.”

“Nah. Living room. If you don’t mind. Room feels a little claustrophobic, even with the door open.” Star shook her head.

“Fair enough,” the stallion shrugged. “Good thing we’ve got that cable splicer to handle the inputs.”

“Might actually bring the TV and gamestation out to the living room and take up that corner that we haven’t been using. Might make for some interesting co-op stuff.” Star smiled softly. “Oh, thought. See if we can find a couple of old Y-Box’s and a couple copies of Halo: CE. Prisoner. Rockets only.” She shook her head. “After we build up the drained bank account from this purchase.” She gave a soft chuckle. “But yeah… I think I’ll be good for a little bit.”

“Well, I’d certainly hope so,” the stallion chuckled.

Weave pushed the door open as Star trotted in with her bags.

“Hey Chrys.” Star said weakly with a bit of a shiver in her voice. She disappeared from the entryway into the Living room.

“Hi Star.” Chrys replied, her voice a little shaky as well.

“Weave. Need your help with a thing.” Scoots called out. “Tech goes only so far with something like this.”

“What is it?” the stallion asked, heading into the kitchen by the table where Scoots was working.

“So I’ve got the container for Chrys’s Queendom Magic, whatever it is.” She held up a cylindrical container, with a clear line on the side to show the inside of the container. “It’s basically a magic bottle. Got a thing here to open the top.” She pushed a button near the clear line and the top split and opened like a flower. “Same button closes it.” She hit it again and it closed. “If you weave some spells into it, Chrys should be able to pull it out as needed, maybe something to keep it in, even if it’s left open for whatever reason.”

There was a bit of a thudding noise as Star slowly backed into the living room, levitating her small entertainment center slowly.

“You good?” Vinyl called out from her place on the couch, snuggling next to the Queen who was intently focused on the TV, a controller was hovering in her magical grip.

“I got it…” Star said with a bit of a grunt as she slowly set the boxy furniture down in the corner across from the kitchen.

“Hmm,” Weave looked at the mechanical device. “Intricate. Complex. Very advanced, nice work Scoots. I think I can come up with something...like a magical pressure valve that only Chrys should be able to turn, that’ll work in both directions once the interior is full, so she can pull it out or put it back in as she likes. Let me…” His horn lit up green as he started to hum. “Doable,” he eventually said. “But I’ll need an hour to enchant this.”

“You’ve got time.” Scoots nodded as Star slowly backed into the living room levitating a TV.

“It’s not an emergency.” Chrys called out. “I can’t really believe you’re doing this for me at all.”

“They’re- umph- nice like that.” Star grunted as she set the TV down on the entertainment center. She stuck her tongue out, shifted the TV to the left, then nodded. She then trotted back to the hallway.

“Sure you don’t need help?” Vinyl called again.

“I got it.” Star repeated, levitating a surge protector, her gamestation, an HDMI cable, a controller, and a bag full of games.

She sat down in front of the entertainment center and started to hum as she started plugging things in.

“How’s it going Chrys?” Scoots asked as Weave stuck his tongue out in concentration.

“Well, I’m setting up a little hideaway base in the Nether.” Chrys said with a hum.

“Chrys, if you want to play any of the games that we got. You can.” Star called out, somewhat nervously.

“O-okay. Thanks.” Chrys said, not looking away from the TV.

“Just be careful not to use a bed in the nether,” the stallion called from the kitchen. “Not only will it not work, but it’ll explode, likely killing you.”

“No. Of course not. It’s just chests and some workstations.” Chrys replied.

“Success!” Star cheered as the TV lit up.

“Remember water doesn’t work there either,” Weave outlined again. “But if you’re making a highway between spots using the nether, ice doesn’t melt. You can’t brew easily, but you can slip and slide.”

“Oooo cool.” Chrys nodded.

“Heh. Puns.” Vinyl snickered.

“What to play first….” Star muttered to herself, then blinked. “Weave would the love seat in my room fit here?” She gestured at the space in front of the entertainment center. “If it does we could put a rectangular table behind it and make a mini walkway to the hallway.”

Weave poked his head out of the kitchen. “No, but I’m nothing if not prepared and creative. Two seconds, y’all might wanna hold onto something,” the stallion drawled, before his horn lanced a bolt of green fire into the center of the floor.

The room shuddered. Suddenly there seemed to be...more space. Twice as much space in every direction. And yet, all the doors and windows were exactly where they had been before. “Spatial expansion spell,” Weave said once they’d gotten their hooves under themselves again. “How else do you think Twilight’s castle has all that shelf space in the library and still room for the rest of the castle?”

“Huh, that’s not gonna fuck with my brain at all.” Star blinked. “Okay, Vinyl? Now I need your help, I’m a bit too rusty to attempt to lift a love seat on my own.” She chuckled, “With all this space I may get some bookshelves and start my own mini-library.”

“But my cuddle buddy.” Chrys whined finally looking at Star.

“Y-you’ll get her back.” Star visibly winced. “A-actually, it’s fine. I think I can get it.”

“No you don’t. Three works better than two.” Vinyl got up and pulled Chrys up with her.

Chrys whined a little, but all three disappeared down the hallway.

“...They’re getting along better than I’d hoped after that little episode,” the stallion commented, his attention now returned to the containment device.

“Still some nervousness between the two, but I think it’ll fade with time.” Scoots nodded. “They’re both still kinda beating themselves up from what I’m gathering. Can’t force them to not do it, it’s part of the coming to terms process.”

“Fair enough,” the stallion shrugged, his eyes already alight with his emerald green magic as he looked at the device’s inner workings. “Hmm...If I put this line here…” he muttered to himself.

“I got it… The hallway’s just being a bitch.” Vinyl grunted as a loveseat slowly emerged from the hallway, surrounded in a mix of red, green, and teal magic.

“We’re okay. We’re just fine.” Star called out from behind the loveseat. “It’s just awkward.”

“Like things between us?” Chrys asked.

“Exactly like that.” Star replied.

The loveseat popped free of the hallway. And was shifted around to be set in front of the entertainment center. There was space enough for a long and not too wide table, if they got one.

“Kay. Back to the couch.” Chrys nodded and returned to the couch as Vinyl returned to her cuddling.

“Thanks.” Star nodded at the pair and moved around to sit in her own comfy spot as she grabbed her controller and levitated the games to pick what to play.

“Hmm...this is tricky,” the stallion muttered. “I think I can see how the rest of it should go…”

“Having trouble?” Scoots asked.

“And should I look at it?” Chrys asked. “You have analyzed my magical signature, right?”

“After living with you for a year, I should hope so,” the stallion called back. “I think I can do this. I’m just trying to work out how to do it so it doesn’t make a feedback loop.”

“Mmmm maybe like a… mmmm no…” Scoots hummed. “Trying to equate magical concepts to physical mechanics is harder than I’d like it to be.”

“You two are the best duo who can do it.” Star called from her seat as she finally decided to pop in Dawn: Zero Mourning.

“Trust me, I can do it,” the stallion’s horn kept up its steady emerald glow. “Just got to...make sure the containment is secure…”

“Just don’t rush yourself.” Scoots and Star said in unison.

“I think that...Got it!” the stallion smirked. “The rest of it is just the mechanics of the valve, which is small potatoes compared to holding the power.”

“And gimme.” Scoots chuckled holding a hoof out.

“I haven’t quite finished yet, but...you can take a look while I work on the spellwork,” the stallion compromised by putting the device on the table.

“Mmmmm.” Scoots leaned in and narrowed her eyes at the device. “Huh. It’s kinda like an urn. And it’ll hold more metaphorical ashes instead of real ones.”

“That it will,” Weave chuckled. “Valve should only take me a few minutes. Then it’ll be prepped.”

“Just so you know, and so you’ll all be prepared.” Chrys spoke up. “I’ll have to cover myself in a cocoon before I start the transfer. Then I’ll spend a day-ish in the cocoon and I’ll come out a different bug.”

“Shedding the old you and becoming something new, I like how the metaphorical turns literal,” the stallion quipped.

“True. And I’ll be smaller.” Chrys nodded with a giggle.

“Easier to cuddle, but I’ll be sad that I didn’t get to use the equipment.” Vinyl chuckled and waggled her brows at the bugmare.

“Oh, I won’t miss it.” Chrys shook her head.

“Neither will I.” Star called out. “I caused a lot of trouble because you had a dick. Not that it’s your fault!” She yelped quickly.

“I see what you’re trying to say Star.” Chrys nodded, and glanced over the back of the couch, but the mare was hidden by her own loveseat. As just a quick flash, Chrys saw that the game Star was playing, was gorgeous. “We’re both trying to change. Mine will just be more literal.”

“You’re both going to be better ponies after your therapy,” the stallion commented, pushing the latch to close the device. “Also, it’s ready for tonight.”

“So… I’ll go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow night.” Chrys nodded. “Oh, when I wake up and come out of the cocoon, I am going to be weak, and really out of it.”

“Cuddle party.” Vinyl commented. “I’ll make sure Octy can be there.”

“Cuddle the bug party, save the date,” Weave quipped.

“Make it a movie night, not that Chrys will notice that much.” Scoots commented.

“That’d work for me.” Chrys nodded.

“Huzzah, I think we have plenty of bad and good movies lying around,” Weave pointed out.

“And I could always bring some movies over.” Scoots added.

“And Octy and I could bring munchies and stuff.” Vinyl said.

“And I will bring my glimmering personality as I eat all your food.” Star called out dryly.

“So business as usual then,” Weave smirked as he joined the cuddle pile on the couch.

“Weave, watch your hooves now or Octy will beat your ass.” Vinyl smirked and winked at him.

Scoots trotted around, climbed over the arm of the couch and laid herself over Weave’s and Chrys’s laps.

“For your information, once Chrys started to loosen up and show progress, us at least hugging was not an uncommon occurrence,” the stallion replied, sticking his tongue out maturely at Vinyl.

“And It can be again.” Chrys nodded with a chuckle. “I just won’t be towering over you for once.”

“Huzzah, welcome to the short club, we have snacks,” the stallion quipped.

“All of you are my snack.” Chrys chuckled then paused.”...Take that however you want.”

“Well Octy’s not here to stop me from saying anything.” Vinyl smirked.

“Vinyl, behave,” the stallion chided her. “This is a friendly cuddling session.”

“Oh fine.” Vinyl sighed dramatically.

“I won’t hesitate to clock you now.” Chrys mentioned. “Oh, what do you think of the little safety zone?”

“Pretty nice,” the stallion commented. “Okay. We’ve got the gear, we’ve got blazes on lockdown, we have an end portal with eyes in. We could go into the End right now and do the whole shebang, but I have a different plan.”

“Well grab some things.” Chrys gestured at the controllers. “What’s the plan?”

“Wellll...the ultimate plan to going to the End is to get the Elytra, so your character can fly. Or at least glide,” Weave explained, nabbing a controller and logging in. “In order to fly, you need firework rockets. Which are made with gunpowder and paper. So I’ll set up a creeper-spawning box so that we have an infinite supply of the stuff.”

“Is there anything that doesn’t explode when a creeper explodes?” Vinyl asked.

“Obsidian,” Weave supplied instantly. “Good luck getting a lot of it though, it’s only mineable with diamond pickaxes.”

“And perfectly located water and lava.” Chrys added.

“Well, you can bring the water to the lava,” the stallion pointed out. “Still, even with a max efficiency diamond pick, it takes a while to mine. Unless we...nah, plans for later.”

“Weave, you plan more than a supervillain.” Star called out.

“Well we could try mining obby with a diamond pick with max efficiency, and have it take a while,” the stallion pointed out. “Orrr, we could try mining it with a beacon giving us haste 2. Which would speed the process up a lot. Problem with that is, it takes for-ever to be able to fight the wither boss. And the best way to do it requires us to be in the End already!”

“Wither. Boss?” Chrys, Scoots, and Vinyl all blinked.

“Yeah,” Weave nodded. “Put that looting sword to work on the wither skeletons of the nether fortress, and you can get a skull. If you get three...well, we can unleash a terribly evil boss. It’s even hinted at one of the pictures you can get if you put it on the walls in-game.”

“And how bad is it?” Chrys raised a brow.

“Put it this way,” the stallion hummed. “The portal out of the End is made of bedrock. You can dig under it. That is why I’m holding off on summoning the Wither. Because you can trap him in the portal so he can’t shoot at you. Or move. Or do anything.”

“Ooooooo!” There was a chorus of ooos.

“Yup, easy nether stars for beacons,” the stallion nodded. “And you can abuse a wither very easily in the End for other purposes.”

“Wait… Waitwaitwait. Can you get the Ender Dragon and the Wither to fight?” Vinyl asked.

“Hah! No,” the stallion shook his head. “By the time you made the Wither, the dragon would knock it into the abyss. Or destroy the blocks as you placed them. Buuuut…” the stallion smirked. “If you kill the dragon a few times. You’ll notice he starts spawning little gateways around the island. If you toss a pearl in, you’ll be whisked to the outer islands. And if you happen across another gateway out there, that isn’t connected...that is also made of bedrock…”

“What? What happens next?” Vinyl stared at the stallion.

“Well, you can trap a Wither in the mini portal, because they can’t go through the portals,” Weave explained. “Then you can turn the Wither into a Wither Rose maker. Because it will aggro the enderpones, who can’t get at it. And when they die, they’ll spawn wither roses...which you can use to, say, make an Iron Golem farm.”

“Eh?” Vinyl blinked.

“And why would you need an Iron Golem farm?” Chrys raised a brow.

“Infinite iron,” the stallion answered easily. “Stick some villagers in the sky with enough beds and far enough apart that they’re considered two seperate villages. Give them spawnable blocks around them that has water pushing the iron golems into the roses. Put a zombie on tracks between the villagers, and he’ll scare them into spawning an iron golem. With a clever gathering system, you can pump all the iron you need into a chest and have infinite iron ingots for anything you could ever need.”

“Metal houses.” Chrys grinned. “A world of metal.”

“Slow down, Ultron.” Vinyl nudged her with a smirk.

“Or,” Weave pointed out. “Pistons require redstone, cobble, iron, and wood. All of that is farmable. Yes, even redstone,” he said to their expressions. “Cleric villagers can have it as a trade if you’re lucky. With a swamp for slimes, you can make all the sticky pistons, and all the movable things you want.”

“Conveyor belts. Things to make workstations function easier.” Vinyl commented. “Mechanize your base a little bit.”

“Hopper chains,” the stallion agreed. “Item elevators. Moving things via water and ice. All sorts of ways to keep things sorted. All possible with infinite farmable things.”

“Like farms.” Chyrs commented. “Never was a farmer myself.”

“I could take a crack at it.” Vinyl looked up at the bugmare.

Chrys shrugged and levitated a controller to her.

“Okay, so,” the stallion hummed. “That’s just about the creeper making box sorted. And the redstone to flush it all down the drain to the killing zone...And yep, it’s working. Creepers in the box. Now we need a much larger sugar cane farm…”

“How do you do sugar cane?” Chrys asked. “Pausing a moment to let Vinyl do a thing.”

“D. J. Pone. Three.” Vinyl commented. “And good.”

“Alrighty.” Chrys nodded. “We’re good.”

“Okay, so the best way to do it is in the ocean,” the stallion answered. “Make strips of dirt on the surface of the water, with a one-block gap of water between them. Put some slabs over the water so that you can walk on it, and connect the strips at the ends. Voila, as long as the block they’re planted on touches water, the sugarcane will grow. But to get enough, we’re going to need a lot of space to grow it.”

“Can do/got it.” Chrys and Vinyl mentioned.

“Gunpowder, check, paper, being worked on. Okay then! Once that’s all set up, it’ll be just about time to go after a dragon,” Weave commented. “We want the infrastructure in place to get all the rockets before we go for the wings.”

“Sounds good.” Chrys nodded. “Anything else?”

“Hmm,” the stallion hummed as he thought. “No, I think we’ve got just about everything,” he admitted. “Oh, those bows have Infinity, right? Not Mending. Because you don’t want to carry all the arrows in the world, even though it’d be nice to have a bow that healed off of XP. The two don’t stack.”

“Ah. Good to know.” Vinyl commented. “I’m kicking dirt currently.”

“...Chrys, didn’t you give her co-ords to the base?” the stallion chided the bugmare. “Come on over and get some gear.”

“Shit, my bad.” Chrys winced.

“All good.” Vinyl shrugged.

“Hey. Do we have enough extra resources so I can set up a four-tier beacon in the village?” Chrys asked.

“That’s the eventual plan,” Weave said. “Iron farm for iron blocks for the beacon. But that’s a few steps down the line, because we don’t even have the End beaten, or three Wither skulls yet.”

“The pyramid under the beacon, does the type of resources matter?” Chrys asked.

“Only if you want to show off,” the stallion chuckled. “You can use iron, gold, diamond, or emeralds. Iron’s the easiest to get, though there is a way to make an infinite gold farm. It’s a bit tricky though. Involves breaking out of the bedrock ceiling of the Nether.” He hummed for a moment. “Might do that later.”

“Excuse you?! You can do that?!” Chrys stared at the stallion.

“If anyone was wondering how I was doing, I’m currently hiding in a bush from these one-eyed machines. Also this game is really pretty.” Star called out.

“I’m just happy that you’re somewhat being part of the group. In your own way.” Scoots called out.

“There’s no wrong way to play, just enjoy yourself,” the stallion agreed. “Also, yes. It’s totally doable. I’ll need an ender pearl and some fiddly bits to destroy one block of bedrock, and I have to make sure it’s one that’s got nothing under it. And some ladders to get back down.” He chuckled a little. “Getting out is easy. One pearl. Getting out of the nether after that is trickier. You either need to break the roof, or build a new portal.”

“What’s above the Nether? Scratch that.” Vinyl shook her head. “What’s below The End?”

“Above the Nether is a nice, empty blank canvas for you to build on, as long as you don’t mind potentially spawning Ghasts or Pigpones if you’re not careful,” the stallion answered easily. “Below the End is the infinite void which will kill you for falling in it. I’m interested in building a nice, big, pigpone-spawning chamber above the Nether...and forcing them to die via fall damage or nearly so. Then we can kill them safely, get all that XP and the golden nuggets they drop on death. Bam, instant gold farm.”

“Oh awesome. Is gold gear and armor any good? Or is it just to look pretty?” Vinyl asked.

“It’s mostly vanity.” Weave was sorry to break the news to his fellow unicorn. “But, golden nuggets around a carrot makes golden carrots, which are the best food item in the game. Very saturating, very filling.”

“Unlike actual gold carrots.” Star commented dryly.

“Eh, give it time, I’m sure the farmers will catch up,” the stallion chuckled. “Hey, at least she didn’t ask about the apples.”

“... Did you say apples?” Star asked.

“Yeah, you can get apples from tree leaves sometimes,” Weave explained. “And you can make them into golden apples too, which are just as good as golden carrots. Problem is, there’s no sure-fire way to get an apple from a tree, which makes golden apples less usable than the carrots. And the best version of a golden apple, you can’t craft. You have to find it.”

“...Kay. I’m going back to shooting things with my bow.” Star said bluntly.

“Fair enough,” the stallion turned back to his game. “Okay. Ladies, got that cane farm up?”

“Yup.” The mare and changeling said in unison.

“Perfect. Okay then. With that, I think we’re ready. Let’s go kill a dragon.”

“Wait, we’re ready for that?” Chrys blinked.

“Hol’ up. Gearing.” Vinyl commented.

“One sec, I’m coming too.” Scoots said, gesturing for Chrys to give her a controller. Which she did.

“Well, if we have four sets of diamond armor, infinity bows, an arrow for each of them, a nice sword, and some potions of slow falling, which everyone should definitely have a set of three of those just in case, then yeah, we’re ready,” Weave explained. “Heck, we don’t even need to bring a lot of blocks with us. Couple of pearls each and some pickaxes in case we’re off the island or buried in it.”

“I guess we are.” Chrys blinked.

“And I’m stacked.” Vinyl added.

“Same.” Scoots nodded.

“You got this guys. Woo.” Came the half-hearted cheer from the other end of the room.

“Okay, I’ll go first,” Weave said, throwing a nod at Star to show his appreciation for the support. “I’ll tell you all if we need to dig up or pearl on. Heck, we could get incredibly lucky and have the platform spawn just on the island.”

“Good luck. Try not to explode.” Chrys encouraged.

“And...well this isn’t optimal, but it’s better than showing up floating in the void,” the stallion commented. “Okay, it’s safeish, let’s dig up and see how things look!”

“Let’s do this.” Scoots grinned.

“Yay small spaces.” Vinyl groaned.

“I have the strongest urge to reinforce the arrival point.” Chrys blinked.

“No, we should be running,” Weave pointed out. “The moment I arrived, the dragon was angry. Got the tunnel out and...Okay. I’ll do the tricky shots on the ones with cages. The rest of you need to get the other crystals, fast.”

“Shit. Shit!” Vinyl yelped.

“Why are there enderpones EVERYWHERE?!” Scoots snapped.

“Cryyyystaaallllsssss.” Chrys said through grit teeth. “Fuk. Turned into Sombra for a sec.”

“Just don’t look directly at the enderpones and they won’t attack!” Weave pointed out. “Got one of the caged ones! Okay, moving to the second one. Also, drink a slow fall potion if you haven’t already, the dragon can knock you around like nobody’s business! If he knocks you up, you’re probably dying of fall damage if you don’t land slowly!”

“Shit! Thanks. Perfect timing.” Vinyl leaned closer to the TV.

“Celest- Out- Fuck. Off!” Scoots actually growled.

“Got another one.” Chrys called out.

“There’s so much yelling, panting, and heavy breathing, I’m honestly wondering if I should leave you four alone or not.” Star commented.

“Very- FUNNY! Ah HA! Damn! I went to space!” Vinyl said going from frustrated to laughing in half a second.

“You’ll be fine, try to snipe one of the higher crystals while you’re up the- Ha! Got the other caged one! How many are left?” Weave was actually smirking now. The hard part was over.

“One! Aaaaaaaand… YES! Got it on the way down!” Vinyl hoofpumped.

“Shoot the dragon! Shoot it! Shoot it now!” Scoots snapped.

“Dew it! Kill it!” Chrys’s horn lit up with green flames. “Slay the Dragon!”

“Oh, if you’ve got an empty bottle, which you should, get some of the dragon’s breath too,” the stallion commented. “It’s useful for making area of effect arrows. I’m terrible at aiming at a moving target, so I’ll sit by the portal and wait for him to do- that! Haha, have some sword in your face!”

“Oh look at me, I’m Weave, I can’t aim worth shit.” Scoots teased.

“Unlike m- And I’m in space again.” Vinyl giggled. “Rolling around at the speed of sound… Why aren’t their lyrics for the Moon theme from GooseTales? That’d fit perfectly.”

“He’s almost dead,” the stallion noted. “Okay, come on, just one more shot or cycle on top of the portal…”

“Incoming! Holy- I just fucking landed on- FUCK YEAH!” Vinyl shot to her hooves accidentally tossing Scoots to the floor.

“Yes!” Scoots cheered from the floor.

“Finally.” Chrys groaned as she shook the flames from her horn.

“Okay, clever trick time,” Weave smiled. “With this one torch, and this pickaxe, I will steal the dragon’s egg on top of the portal. Touch it once, find it after it teleports, aaaand dig under it a little bit, put the torch down, then dig the block it’s sitting on. The egg falls on the torch, and drops like a block. And we now have a trophy.”

“Ooooooooo!” Scoots ooo’d as she got up and plopped herself between on top of Weave and Chrys.

“And now for the boring part,” the stallion sighed. “Okay...ah, found the mini gateway. So we go there, throw a pearl in, and we get taken to the outer islands. Out here, on the bigger islands, we can find chorus, which is a cool plant and makes cool purple building blocks. And we can also find End Cities. If we find one with a ship, we’ve found the Elytra. The wings.”

“Wings!” Chrys grinned.

“You already have wings.” Scoots rolled her eyes.

“You already have wings.” Vinyl rolled her eyes.

“And I’m trying to teach myself how to fly via magic.” Star called out.

“Ex-fucking-scuse you?” Vinyl turned around and stared towards the other TV in the room.

“Um. Girls?” Weave pointed a hoof at his section of the screen. “That’s a tower. With a ship.”

“Bwah? Ship?” Vinyl whipped back around.

“Ship?” Scoots blinked.

“What do we do with it?” Chrys asked. “Does it fly?”

“I wish,” the stallion chuckled. “No, we build up and raid the ship of its wings. Then, with the creeper and paper farm, we make stacks and stacks of rockets. We put Unbreaking and Mending on the wings, and use them to fly across the End looking for more wings.”

“Ooooooo!” Scoots ooo’d.

“Well we have more plans.” Vinyl nodded.

“Of course we do.” Chrys rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, but looking for more wings is going to be annoying and tedious,” the stallion noted out loud. “Buuuut, if you want to, you can start abusing the portal out of the End now. Y’know, easy Nether stars, suffocating a Wither.”

“Welp there’s my plans.” Vinyl nodded.

“Same.” Scoots grinned.

“Imma go make explosives.” Chrys replied.

“Good luck getting the Wither skulls,” Weave noted. “Even with a looting 3 sword, it can take ages.”

“We have time.” Scoots replied.

“You do.” Chrys rolled her eyes. “I have a cocoon to wrap myself in and some power to dump.”

“Oh, you’re doing that now?” Vinyl asked, looking at the bugmare.

“I’d prefer to have some day left after I come out dripping and out of it.” Chrys chuckled as she scooted off the couch, plopping Scoots in her spot.

“Imma go watch.” Vinyl got up and followed the bugmare as she retrieved the container.

Chrys paused. “Mmmmmm Weave, where should I wrap myself up?”

“Is it likely to be messy and involved?” the stallion questioned, turning his head to look at the bugmare.

“Yes actually. Excess fluid will come out of the cocoon, basically the liquid remains of my previous exoskeleton.” Chrys explained.

“That’s not gross at all.” Star commented.

“Sorry, I wish there was a less gooey way.” Chrys replied looking towards the loveseat. “Ooooo, you’re right, that is pretty”

“Huh. Weave, could she like wrap herself up on the ceiling above the bathtub?” Vinyl supplied.

“...That could actually work, as long as somepony was there to catch her,” Weave agreed. “It’d be an easy way to solve the drainage problem.”

“Trust me. You’ll hear it.” Chrys replied. “It starts out wet and hardens over the course of the day.”

“Good to know.” Scoots added, half-listening.

“Also, the chrysalis, yes I know the pun, will softly glow.” Chrys said. “Soooo, nightlight.”

“When the cocoon glows, get ready to cuddle the bug,” Weave commented. “I’ll get a cheesy romance flick on and be sure to invite your marefriends over.”

“Perfect.” Chrys nodded with a smile. “To the bathroom! Ehm… in the most wholesome, nonsexual way. Fuck it. I’m cocooning myself now.”

The unicorn mare and the bugmare trotted down the hallway.

“I should be concerned about that, but eh, she’s growing as a pony,” Weave shrugged. “I’m just glad she didn’t pick a day when she had any meetings planned to do this on.”

“Why be concerned?” Scoots asked, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Potential mess, it still is my apartment, nopony’s going to be able to use the bath tomorrow, it’s going to need to be cleaned to Tartarus and back, you know, little things,” Weave pointed them all out. “But again, small sacrifices to help the mare grow.”

“Wait, you sure the bath can’t be… Eh true either way.” Scoots shrugged.

“Why can’t I go through a physical transformation to help sort out my issues?” Came a half-sigh, half-whine from the other end of the room.

“Because you’re not a changeling queen?” the stallion answered easily.

“Weave, horrifying thought…” Star added. “Nopony else can get the magic out of the container, right?”

“Nope, it’ll only respond to Chrys,” Weave answered easily.

“Oh good.” Star heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh and lemme know if you wanna play any of the games we got.”

“Yeah, we’ve got a library now,” the stallion chuckled. “But I think that’s enough Minecraft for me for one day. We need mending and unbreaking on the wings, all the rockets, and like...two hours to search for more ships.”

“Sounds good. What’s the plan now?” Scoots asked, nuzzling his cheek.

“Well...eventually, we need to respawn the dragon a fair few times-”

“Excuse you?” Scoots pulled away and looked at him. “You can do that?”

“Yeah?” Weave blinked. “Four end crystals on the portal. Eye of ender, ghast tear, glass. Highly unstable, so don’t punch them or they explode just like the normal ones.”

“And… Why would you fight it again?” Scoots raised a brow.

“Why wouldn’t you want to slay a dragon?” Star called out.

“More portals to the outer End islands,” the stallion pointed out. “Easier exploration.”

“Oooh… Right.” Scoots nodded. “Now that makes sense.”

“WHAT THE SHIT?!” Star yelped. “WHAT IS THAT THING?! Sorry! Don’t mind me! Just- Giant- Robot- Cat- Thing!” There was a few noises from Star’s end of the room. “Never mind, it’s weak to fire. We’re good.”

“Most things are weak to fire,” Weave commented. “Also, we’re going to need stacks and stacks of iron. Later. For now I’m going to bed.”

“Welp,” Scoots got up. “I should head out then.”

“Chrys is now a glowing pod. There’s this stream of green light moving from her to the box thing.” Vinyl announced, coming into the living room. “I shut the door just in case. But the toilet should be usable, the box is on the edge of the tub.” She looked at the two. “Scoots staying over?”

“She’s welcome to,” Weave pointed out.

“.... Mmmmmm, cuddles or a lonely bed by myself…” Scoots hummed.

“And I’m out.” Vinyl commented, later all. Later Star.”

“Later.” Star half-heartedly called out.

“Well you know where the bedroom is,” the stallion noted. “So really it’s up to you if you want to join me for bed or not-”

Scoots immediately raced towards the door to his room, she almost took it off its hinges.

“You two going to actually sleep?” Star asked, pausing her game and looking at the stallion with a deadpan blink.

“I guess I’ll find out when I get there,” Weave chuckled, proceeding at a much more sedate pace to his own bedroom.

“Night. I’ll sleep… eventually….” Star waved a hoof and turned back to the TV.

“Gotta see where this story is going. I like Rust. He’s a good father figure…”

005 - Setting up the night in

“Hey, Weave. What all are we getting for the hangout, celebration thing tonight?” Vinyl asked as she glanced at the unicorn as she telekinetically pushed the shopping cart down the snack aisle. Her shades were perched on her horn.“Oh, Octy’s bringing various types of alcohol once she’s done with her practice for the day.”

“Eh, something easy to warm up and is good for you would do,” Weave shrugged. “I buy in bulk. You have no idea how much the girls can eat.”

“Lasagna.” Vinyl said with a nod. “Maybe two of them, preferably something with thicker noodles. Oh, and we can’t forget junk food for later.” She blinked and suddenly snorted. “So I just had a thought, technically we could call this Chrys’s coming out party.” She laughed.

“Pretty sure she was already well aware of that fact,” the stallion chuckled. “Oooh, pizza rolls. Big bag of those will last me maybe three days.”

“Holy shit.” Vinyl blinked. “So, two boxes then?” She asked as they got to the freezer section. “Oh and I’m paying for all this by the way.”

“That works for me,” Weave smiled. “Let’s see, what else. Oh, loaded potato skins, those are great to heat up. And breaded mushrooms, also a good junk food.”

“All of the above, hopefully we don’t bust your oven.” Vinyl chuckled as the pair pulled stuff out of various freezers. “Hey, Chrys like chocolate?”

“I think she does, why?” Weave turned his head to look where Vinyl was looking.

“Well, Imma get her some chocolate.” Vinyl grinned. “Octy doesn’t like chocolate and I’ve always wanted to give a romantic interest chocolate.”

“Aww, how sweet,” the stallion chuckled. “Oooh, go for a chocolate cheesecake,” he suggested.

“Ooooo! Good idea!” Vinyl nodded and pulled one out of the nearby fridge. Their cart was filling up quite nicely.

“Hmm, what else,” the stallion mused. “Frozen snacks, dinner, dessert...I think we’re good,” he finally said. “Though naturally we may end up needing like another one of everything just to be safe.”

“Fill us up, we’re using Octy’s credit card.” Vinyl snorted and turned to head down another isle. “Oh, thought. Drinks. Non-alcoholic drinks. Anything that comes to mind beyond soda?”

“Ummm…” Weave cringed a little. “Not...really? I mean...soda’s a staple around the house. Oh!” He suddenly pointed a hoof. “There, that brand. Those energy drinks. Don’t ask me how, but they’re all-natural, just the extract of a leaf, but no sudden rush, no crash. Just more energy later.”

“Huh. Kay. Might have to try ‘em myself.” Vinyl gave the drink a look. No fancy advertising, just a mission statement on the side of the can saying it used stevia leaf extract to make a can of liquid energy that would leave anypony with no crashes later. She blinked. “I won’t believe it till I feel it.” She shrugged and put a few in the cart.

“Yeah, helps me keep up with them,” Weave nodded, grabbing a small box and putting it in the cart as well. “But other than that, it’s mostly soda around the house. You could grab some juices, I suppose.”

“Apple juice.” She nodded, levitating a bottle. “Water is easy to come by. And… I think that’s it.” She nodded. “Let’s get the stuff and head out of here.”

“Sounds good to me,” Weave agreed. “And for once, I don’t have to come up with a new spell to pay for it all.”

Starlight sat in the bathroom.

There was something calming about watching the softly pulsing light of Chrys’s cocoon. It was peaceful. And honestly, she didn’t feel as much of a drained mess as she did normally. Progress perhaps.

She heard the front door open.

“Star! Help us get things! We went a bit overboard!” Vinyl yelled into the apartment with a groan.

Star blinked and trotted out of the bathroom. Vinyl was panting on the living room floor. There were a couple plastic bags next to her.

“Weaves… ferrying up… more.” She said between breaths.

“Uh huh…” Star nodded. “And why did you get so much?”

“Ummmm because we forgot that we had to carry all of it… Because we also forgot to bring a cart?” Vinyl replied.

The door bounced against the wall as the rest of the bags floated in, followed by an only somewhat strained looking Weave. “Glad I figured out how to make things weigh less for a little while on the way up,” the stallion huffed. “Maybe I’ll refine it in a bit.”

“Weave, fuck you.” Vinyl complained.

“Scoots has that covered.” Star commented, magically grabbing most of the bags and moving them over to the dining table, then moved over the ones she’d missed. She trotted over to the table and started unpacking.

“Yeah, we prepped for a party for when Chrys comes out,” Weave commented, ignoring the jab. “Junk food, easily made dinner stuff, aaaand a chocolate cheesecake or two for dessert.”

“Oooooo Cheesecake…..” Star cooed as she stuck it in the fridge.

Vinyl finally got up and started to help organize things.

“Oh, has my package arrived yet?” Weave asked Star. “Was expecting it to show up today.”

“You mean that?” Star pointed a hoof at the table in front of the TV. “What is it?”

“This,” Weave said, walking over to the box and lifting it with his magic to sit on some empty counter space in the kitchen. “Is the latest kitchen appliance. An air fryer. Also known as a very powerful toaster. It toasts, it bakes, it reheats, it does all of that precisely with a dozen different settings.” He smiled at them both. “I got a good one. So your concerns about my oven are nice, Vinyl, but I think this little baby’s gonna see us through most of the night.” He paused for a moment. “...Once I learn how to properly use it,” Weave admitted begrudgingly. “Would rather not burn the snacks.”

“Feel like I need a camera. I’m sure the creators would love to use that as free advertising.” Star said dryly.

“Hey, it’s a very powerful little box, okay?” Weave huffed. “Plus I got some pizza rolls. Wouldn’t you like to learn how to toast those in half the time?”

Her eyes widened. “Yes.”

Vinyl nodded. “Could we make some now? I’m hungry.”

“Okay, okay,” Weave smiled. “Let me just plug it in and see if there’s an easy way to convert normal recipes into air-fryer ones, okay?”

“Sounds good.” Star commented as she finished putting everything away, yet left out a bag of pizza rolls. She trotted over to the couch and plopped onto it. She flicked on the TV and grabbed a controller to turn on the PS4.

Vinyl grabbed the bag of pizza rolls in her magic and looked over the instructions. “Hmmm kay. Get that figured out, this thing has times.”

“Yup yup,” Weave pulled out another bag, looked at the time and temperature listing, and then headed to his study. “I’ll see if there’s a conversion formula out there, and then we can go from there,” he promised.

“I mean it has times for an airfryer.” Vinyl poked the package with a hoof.

“Wait what?” Weave walked back. “Huh...must be a newer bag,” he admitted. “Okay, I’ll plug her in and we can see if they’re right.”

“Let’s find out.” Vinyl shrugged and set the bag next to the fryer.

While those two made food. Star was starting up the collective Minecraft world. “Weave, what should I work on?” She called out.

“Huh?” the stallion poked his head out the door. “Oh, cool! Um, first, head to the base, and then look through the chests until you find the emeralds and diamonds,” he said. “We need a beacon next, and in order to get that in any reasonable amount of time, you’re going to want good gear. Looting 3 on a sword is a must.”

“Ooooookay?” Star said, checking on the multitude of boxes. “Why?”

“Well,” Weave said matter-of-factly, “Now that we have access to the End, we have access to the ‘cheese the hell out of the Wither’ strategy. But we still need to summon him, and that takes three wither skulls. Which you can only get from wither skeletons in the nether fortresses at a really low drop rate. Looting 3 helps it only take a few hours.”

“Whelp. I’ll get started then.” Star sighed.

“I mean, there’s always the chance that you won’t take long,” Weave shook his head. “I think they have a...what, five percent chance to drop at max looting level? Plus you’ll be getting plenty of bones and coal for the furnaces.”

“Have I mentioned I hate the- Whoa, what did Chrys do?” Star blinked. “Did she pimp out the area around the nether portal?”

“...Whelp, I mean, I only wanted a nice place to be safe in, but I’ll take decorations as well,” the stallion mused. “Oh, I also went exploring and found a few things. I’ll be making a gold farm later.”

“Gold farm?” Star glanced back for a moment, then moved onto her job. “Explain. And how’s the food going?”

“Air fryer’s warming up,” the stallion said. “And I found turtles and made a rudimentary turtle farm. And if there’s one thing zombies love to do, it’s crush turtle eggs. And you can use that and abuse that so well~”

“Well that’s horrific.” Star blinked. “I hate it.”

“Yeah, well, the idea is to keep the egg safe while using it to lure zombies in from all over into a killing chamber,” the stallion replied easily. “Then you can just kill them at your leisure as more zombies keep pushing the old ones into the hole.”

“Zombie Murder Room sounds so much better.” Star nodded. “Hey, guess what?”

“What?” Weave quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Got a skull.” Star replied.

“...Okay, that’s fast,” the stallion admitted.

“Now just wait. It’ll take-” Vinyl was cut off.

“Got another one.”

“Duh fuq?” Vinyl poked her head out of the kitchen.

“The RNG Gods are with me!” Star cried.

There came a noise from the front door. “What’s going on? Why’s star screami- Oh hey a wither skull.” Scoots blinked as she came into the living room and stared at the TV.

“Three is not enough! I need more!” Star was actually cackling.

“Well….. At least she’s not depressed?” Vinyl offered.

“We might have more skulls than sense in a minute,” the stallion pointed out.

Star continued to cackle as Scoots trotted over to peek into the kitchen. “Hey you two. Vinyl you behaving?”

“Yes ma’am.” Vinyl nodded with a chuckle.

“Just supervising the fryer,” the stallion promised.

“Fry- Oooooooo!” Scoots dashed into the kitchen. “This is a beauty!”

“I know, right!” Weave smiled as well. “This thing will cook all the snacks for us tonight. I saved up for the good one.”

“Oh very nice.” Scoots looked at the box. “Good specs too.”

Vinyl took that moment to trot out into the living room.

“You did good Weave.” Scoots chuckled.

“I like to think so,” the stallion smiled. “Granted, I did have to come up with half a dozen spells to afford it in the long run, but yeh. This is my fryer.”

“And it’s a beautiful fryer.” Scoots nodded.

“You two are weird.” Star called from the living room.

“Just because we can appreciate a good appliance doesn’t make us weird,” Weave called back.

“Sure….” Star called back with a groan.

“She’s currently sitting here with seven skulls.” Vinyl called out.

“...When do you plan to stop tormenting the poor skeletons?” Weave asked.

“When I have twelve.” Star replied.

“Oh great, she’s planning ahead,” Weave moaned. “Well, that’s going to be a bit of time on my end getting the stuff to make the beacons...maybe I should move into making the iron farm first…”

“Did I hear iron farm?” Vinyl asked.

“How’s the pizza rolls coming?” Star asked.

“Just about…” the fryer beeped. “Done! Let’s see.” Weave used his magic to pull the door open and released the pizza rolls from their confines. “Well they don’t smell overcooked…” he noted. “A few seem to have attempted to burst their confines, but that’s to be expected. On the whole...they probably came out well. But I leave it to our resident pizza connoisseur to tell me if the fryer lives up to its hype.”

“Put them in bowl. Bring. Feed me.” Star said with a grunt.

“Hungry little cave pony.” Vinyl snorted.

“Yeah, she gets like that sometimes,” Weave chuckled. The rolls were deposited into a bowl and floated out as the stallion emerged from the kitchen. “One offering before the RNG goddess,” he mock-intoned, bowing as the bowl was floated to be sitting next to Star.

Star’s magical glow levitated a few as she bit off a corner of each one. “Can’t be too careful.” She mumbled as steam escaped from the bitten holes.

“Yes, well, if it works for the most popular food item in the house, I’ll have to make it a preset so you can make it with a push of a button,” the stallion snorted.

“Yay.” Came her half-hearted cheer as Vinyl trotted around to sit on the couch.

“Okay then, time to make an iron farm,” Weave settled next to Star on the couch. “Don’t tell Chrys what I did to do this, though,” he said to the others. “It involves kidnapping and scaring villagers.”

“Oh how horrible.” Vinyl chuckled.

“Chrys does love her villages.” Star nodded.

“Yeah, well, if you put three in the right conditions, and stick a zombie on a minecart to go past them constantly...they’ll make a golem to defend themselves from the zombie that will never get to them,” Weave pointed out. “And if you move that golem to a pit of lava, it’ll die and rain iron into a collection system. Thus, iron farm with enough modules. Popular configuration is six modules of three villagers each. So...I’ll be kidnapping like half the village..”

“We tell her nothing.” Star nodded.

“Wait, where’s greg?” Vinyl giggled.

“And with infinite iron, it’ll be easy to do...basically everything else,” the stallion nodded. “I have enough rails to move all the villagers, I just need them to get close to my minecart and they’ll go for the ride of their lives.”

“Gotcha.” Star nodded. “So how are we stealing villagers?”

“Oh easy, I just need to make the modules like this…” Weave hummed. “Put down the main platform to summon the golems on...make the water flow...and there! Now, I need to make the killing chamber, so nopony distract me. Spilling lava on yourself is a recipe for a bad day.”

“Fine. I’m just gonna go stow these skulls.” Star commented.

“Aaaaand...there’s the iron invested into the hoppers,” Weave sighed. “And the chamber is done. Now we just need to herd villagers into a minecart system so that three of them go to each module. That’ll get the system ready for the next step, which can only be done at night. I need a nametag named something silly.”

“Mumbo.” Vinyl spoke up.

“Dick.” Scoots pitched in.

“Whoever gets there first can name it,” Weave said with a smirk. “Okay, rail line is in place for villager module one. Now to kidnap three villagers.”

“How?” Scoots asked. “How we do that?”

“Watch,” Weave said, placing a minecart down. He waited for a villager to walk nearby, and then pushed the cart. The moment it passed the villager by...well, there should have been a ‘shoop’ noise for how easily it was scooped up and was merrily riding along.

“They’re so trusting.” Star giggled.

“That’s great!” Vinyl laughed loudly.

“And now we just repeat that seventeen more times,” Weave sighed. “Chrys better never find out about this.”

“Never.” Star shook her head.

“Hmm,” Weave mused as the villagers were being put in place. “Well, that’s one resource settled. Now we need to work on things liiiike...bees. And slime. I’ll need to work out a good device to gather honey.”

“And what else do you have cooked up?” Vinyl raised a brow at the stallion.

“Well I mean, getting bees is going to be fun,” the stallion grumbled. “But also I need to figure out how to collect the honey once there is honey without us needing to do it ourselves. Honey is like a bootleg slime block, and things stick to it. Meaning it can be used to make moving devices, like giant piston doors.”

“Are we going to be turtling? Don’t tell me we’re going to be turtling.” Star glanced over at Weave. As she looked back to the TV. “Huh, that’s seven.”

“Well I mean, I’m tired of the great big hole in the wall that anything can walk through,” the stallion pointed out. “And we can’t light up the whole world.”

“Glowstone.” Star replied. “I’ve been stockpiling.”

“Aren’t there doors and things you can use. Also in front.” Scoots commented as she stepped in front of the TV and set a plate of munchies down. “Sorry.”

“Down in front!” Star complained as the pegasus mare got out of the way.

“Well yes, we could go out and put some lights out there, but honestly, a great big door that opens at the push of a button also looks impressive,” Weave pointed out. “And it doesn’t take up much space.”

“Mmmmm, you’ve got a point.” Star hummed as she levitated a few pizza rolls over and popped one into her mouth. “Ahhhh! Hot!”

“I just took them out!” Scoots complained from the kitchen.

“Bite a hole in the corner and blow into it.” Vinyl added.

“Bullshit! I will eat it and ha cha cha while breathing out fire!” Star said, stuffing another one in her mouth.

“How did she get those burns? Oh she kept eating pizza pockets that came right out of the fryer!” Vinyl glared at the huffing mare.

“I’ll just get the parts together for a door,” the stallion muttered to himself. “Hmm. Might need some quartz. Good thing we’ve got uber-picks.”

“Need me to grab anything while I’m in the Nether?” Star asked through her chewing.

“I’m free to grab whatever in the overworld.” Vinyl offered.

“Let’s see here,” the stallion mused. “Hmm. Stone we’ve got, redstone we have a fair bit of, sticks, we have plenty of wood...just got iron sorted. Planks, also good. Cobble, we actually will need cobble for the pistons and things, a little bit of it. Aaaand we’ll need to dip into the slime reserves to be able to make the first door. I’ll put making a slime farm on my list next.”

“Kay. Need me to bring anything?” Vinyl asked as a knock came from the door. Scoots trotted by and opened it. There was the sound of plastic bags as Scoots and Octavia entered.

“Hello all, I come bearing copious amounts of alcohol.” Octavia announced happily.

“Yay, booze.” Scoots chuckled as she and the gray mare deposited the bags on the dinner table and started to sort the bottles.

“I don’t know if anyone likes bourbon. I bought shot glasses just in case.” Octavia commented. “How goes the crafting?”

“Skeleton Genocide.” Star stated, once again ha cha cha-ing her way through a pizza roll as the fryer dinged.

“Weave being Weave.” Vinyl added as Scoots went to get more food.

“Well someone has to think of ways to get resources,” the stallion replied with a huff. “I mean, I’m no good at making it look good, but at least we won’t have to worry about iron. And we’ll have a nice big door in a moment.”

“This all seems very exciting, but has anypony went to check on Chrys?” Octavia asked.

“One sec.” Vinyl set her controller down and trotted out of the room.

“While she’s doing that, hello,” Weave nodded to Octavia. “Nice to have you. And thanks for paying for our casual dinner.”

“Of course. Honestly, I sometimes feel like I have bits burning holes in my bags.” Octavia smiled. “And I believe I will help in the kitchen.” Octavia trotted over to the kitchen. “Oh this is nice.”

“Air fryer…” Scoots said with a happy giggle.

“We’re breaking in the new device with a hot load of food,” Weave called out.

“A heavy, hot load.” Scoots added.

Octavia sighed and face-hoofed.

“Behave.” Star rolled her eyes. “Huh, M’at nine skulls now.”

“Hmm. Well, one beacon I could use underground to mine out a slime farm or just mine out everything,” the stallion commented. “Which would leave two lying around providing various buffs.”

“Alright, want me to abandon my hunt?” Star asked.

“Chrys’s sack seems hard and kinda hollow. ... And it's glowing. Shouldn’t be too much longer now, I think.” Vinyl announced as she came back in.

“Cool,” Weave commented to Vinyl’s news. “You might both wanna be there for her when she wakes up. And sure thing, Star. Pass me some skulls and I’ll show you how to cheese the hardest boss in the game.”

“Point.” Vinyl trotted back down the hallway.

“Sure thing.” Star shrugged. “Meet you in the base soon here.”

“Let me just nab some stuff from the nether chest and, perfect, thanks for that,” he said to the mare on the couch next to him. “Now, I only need to do this the one time, so I’ll leave it up to you to turn the rest of the skulls into beacons. But here we go. First, to the fortress. Then, to the End. And then, we want to stay on the main island.” The stallion hummed a little as they made the not-really-dangerous journey.

“Yay. World jumping.” Star said blandly.

“More food should be out soon.” Octavia popped her head out of the kitchen. “Can I get anypony anything to drink?”

“Juice is fine for me,” Weave said. “Okay, now this part requires careful digging. You see how the portal is a pool contained in bedrock, and there’s a central pillar to it?”

“Yep. Oh and I’ll have something soda.” Star nodded as Octavia came down and set down a couple of glasses.

“So, if we dig out the underside of the portal like so...and put some markers down so we know where to put the rest of this...then we can build the Wither sideways, and when he’s ready…”

The Wither exploded into life...and then nothing. He was stuck in the sheer bedrock of the portal, unable to do anything because of how he’d spawned. In fact, he was even suffocating.

“Brother. Brother! Brother I am stuck in the terrain!” Star said in a deep voice then started laughing.

“Yup,” Weave chuckled. “Here, let me put him out of his misery with some sword action.”

“You have great sword action.” Scoots chuckled as she trotted out and propped herself up on the couch behind Weave.

“So I hear,” Weave noted out loud. “Anyways, one wither dead, one nether star for me, and I’ll be making use of the infinite iron to make a beacon underground so I can dig out all the diamonds and later, a slime farm.”

“Yay. We have a plan.” Star chuckled. “And now, I return to skeleton murder.”

“Mhm, and now for resources out the wazoo,” the stallion smiled as he headed back to the overworld via the portal he’d just been abusing.

There was a weird cracking noise. Not unlike crackling glass.

“What’s-” Star began.

“She’s coming out!” Vinyl yelped.

There was the sound of somethings hitting the tub.

“I got her- Ugh… she’s gooey… It’ll be a sec, gonna wash her off, maybe spray off the remaining goop.” Vinyl announced, before the sound of the door shutting echoed down the hallway, quickly followed by the sound of the shower.

“Well, at least that worked,” Weave commented. “So. You all are going to throw me under the bus about who did the villager terrorizing the moment Chrys comes into the room aren’t you?”

“What villager terrorizing? They spawned there.” Star smirked at him.

“I’ll go help out a bit.” Octavia said as she trotted past Scoots and into the hallway.

There was a knock. “Vinyl? Chrys? I’m-” The door opened. “Goodness! She’s adorable!” The door slammed.

“Oh dear,” the stallion chuckled. “Well, I’m glad I’m not diabetic, I think a cute Chrys is going to make weaker ponies faint in the knees.”

“I’ve seen cute. She’ll be nothing.” Scoots rolled her eyes.

“Well, they might be a bit.” Star shrugged. “Also valid, but what’s the plan now. Want to make that convenient door?”

“Oh, sure. I can do that. Let me just scrounge up the supplies and...Hmm. Gonna need to build it into the walls here, but it’s doable.” Weave stuck his tongue out for a few minutes as he built a door out of iron blocks into the wall surrounding their base. When he was done, a push of a button opened the three by three piston doorway, and another button on the other side closed it.

“Oooo very nice.” Star nodded.

“Talk engineering to me baby, how’s that work.” Scoots nuzzled the top of his head.

“One input gets turned into lots of outputs,” the stallion explained. “All of them timed with clever redstone devices to delay the signal until the next block is out of the way. The center block is the tricky one to get rid of, but perfectly doable with a simple double piston setup. The tricky part is making sure the starting inputs on either side trigger the door the same way.”

“Soooo, wait, is redstone like coding?” Star’s brow furrowed.

“No, redstone is harder than coding, because coding isn’t ruined by running water,” Weave countered.

“Well fuck…. Dig under the water.” Star replied.

“This is why most redstone devices aren’t built near water,” the stallion nodded sagely. “Though I have heard of crazy ponies who make water elevators that change whether they shoot you up or pull you down with redstone.”

“Excuse me, what?” Star blinked.

“Now that, I wanna hear about.” Scoots chuckled, trotting around to sit on the arm of the couch.

“Basically, if you build a column of water, contained in something like glass, and put a block of soul sand at the bottom, it’ll turn into an elevator that shoots you to the top,” the stallion explained. “The reverse happens if there’s a block of magma at the bottom, it’ll suck you down into the bottom.”

“Well that’s interesting.” Scoots said with a hum.

“Yeah, it’s the fastest way to move up and down that doesn’t involve jumping off of something or taking flight,” Weave nodded. “Perfect for use in bases to go up or down a whole lot of space at once.”

“Useful for a place that’s high off the ground.” Star commented.

“That too, it’s a rocket conserver, for those of us with wings,” the stallion added.

“Ah.”

“Okay, we’re coming out.” Octavia announced. And the mare did, though she was slightly splattered with water. Vinyl trotted out slowly with… a changeling drone leaning against her.

Chrys was now smaller. Significantly smaller. She was probably shorter than everypony else here. Bright blue eyes with a small white light (indicating her iris) blinked sleepily. She was small, and holey, and… her large fangs were revealed as she yawned. Her wings buzzed a little bit, as if to dry off the excess water.

“Hey Chrys.” Star said softly.

“M’hmmm…” Chrys hummed, clearly out of it. Vinyl helped her up onto the couch, before hopping up herself so the bug could nestle into the mare’s side. Octavia trotted over and sat a glass of water down for the small bug.

“Hey there lovebug,” the stallion teased. “Look at you. So much smaller and cuter. I bet you could get away with anything with a practiced innocent face.”

“Mmm’maybe.” Chrys nodded slowly.

“It’s like she just came out of surgery.” Scoots commented.

“She did, in a manner.” Octavia sat in front of the couch, right in front of Chrys, as if she was being protective.

“What we need now is a photo of her, so we can inform people of how cute she is,” Weave commented.

“Someone get a camera.” Vinyl said quickly.

“I don’ really care.” Chrys yawned again.

“Got it.” Scoots trotted into Weave’s room.

“Iron, check. Door, check. Beacon, next task, so that I can get slime. Then…” The stallion hummed. “I think I’ll make some automatic farms.”

“How’s things?” Chrys blinked at the TV. “Wait… are those villagers? Why are those villagers up there? What did you do?” She waved a hoof at the TV.

“Put a zombie in a minecart in their line of sight so that they keep getting scared into making an iron golem, which gets flushed down the central drain into a lava deathtrap,” Weave said, letting her see how it worked. “The iron it drops on death gets put into a series of hoppers and collected into a chest. I have plans to turn the poppies into bonemeal with a composter.”

“What…?” Chrys blinked slowly. “Can’t brain… Can’t brain for Minecraft.”

“It’s okay. You can just chill.” Vinyl patted the bug’s head.

“Weren’t we going to watch bad movies when she woke up?” Octavia asked, raising a brow at Weave.

“Oh, so we were,” Weave nodded. “Let me just...ta-da. One beacon crafted. I’ll close it down and we can put on the video garbage.” He pushed a few buttons and turned off the game, before switching it over to the disc reader. “Huzzah. Now, you all pick what you want to watch, I’m gonna go make those mushrooms.”

006 - Getting and forgetting a headache

It had been a good evening. Chrys conked out early, in the middle of the movie in fact. Octavia and Vinyl bid their goodbyes, and left, however Scootaloo decided to stay over. Weave didn’t end up getting much sleep.

The following day, Starlight was vegging in her chair, reading ‘Spell Matrices for Dummies.’ Chrys was on the couch zoning out to something on the TV. Supposedly she’d be out of it for a few days while her body adjusted. Scootaloo was sitting at the table, blinking sleepily at her cup of coffee.

Weave was humming to himself as he prepared a breakfast for everyone, making sure not to burn any individual part of it with multitasking green glows on just about everything flying around the kitchen. Some days it very much paid to be a spell researcher unicorn. Quite literally. And other days it was simply helpful to make sure everyone under his roof got food before they conked out from exhaustion.

“Smells good.” Scoots commented, sipping at her coffee.

“Hey, Chrys, how are you holding up?” Star called across the room.

“Mmmm, bleh.” Chrys grumbled out.

“Mood.” Star said, turning a page.

Seems everyone was worn out today. Well, everyone except Weave, who was still on the rebound from what Chrys had done to him when she was still her bigger self. He was still, perky, would be the word for it. As Scoot’s hips could attest to from last night.

Plates began floating out from the kitchen and found their ponies to sit in front of, with Weave’s following him slightly behind his head as he took his own place at the table. He paused for a moment as he passed by Scootaloo, before pecking her on the cheek and sitting next to her.

“At least somepony’s got some life to them.” Scoots smiled as she slowly started on her food.

“Got any plans for the day?” Star asked, half-paying attention to her book, and half-trying to make sure the food got in her mouth.

“Sit.” Chrys yawned. “Cope.”

“That’s a good plan,” the stallion of the group nodded solemnly. “I, meanwhile, am simply going to go over my mail, see what new requests have come in and see if they’re at all viable before picking a new project.”

A piece of mail stood out, from Ponyville General.

“Whazzat?” Scoots pointed at it. “You get tests done.”

“Oh, has to be from the small cock club. He got rejected for having too massive a dick.” Star spoke up.

“Well she’s not wrong.” Scoots giggled.

The stallion rolled his eyes before opening the letter up and reading it.

To Mister Intricate Weave;

Some of your recent spellwork has come to our attention, namely after a physical for a one Miss Scootaloo. Our medical unicorns are very interested in the spell you cast to improve Miss Scootaloo’s stunted wings. We’d be very interested in learning such a spell, for it could prove beneficial to numerous pegasi with similar conditions.

Whenever you are free, if you could come by the hospital.

Doctor Redheart, PHD.

“Huh,” the stallion hummed to himself, before glancing over at Scootaloo. “Redheart wants me at the hospital. Something about the spell I used to fix your wings. They’re not giving you any issues, right?”

“No. But the doc was surprised at how well your spell worked.” Scoots shrugged, flapping her wings for emphasis.

“Everyone’s having medical issues minus the one guy in the room.” Star said with a chuckle.

“Hey, I’ll take it,” the unicorn stallion quipped back. “It’s better to be helpful in my opinion. Where you can, lend a helping hoof, but don’t run from your own issues and spurn it when you need it in turn.” With that being said, he finished off the rest of his breakfast and levitated his dishes to the sink. “I’ll mess with them later,” he promised, giving Scoot another peck. “Apparently I’m off to the hospital.”

“Be good for the doctor.” Chrys said sleepily.

“Fully intend to,” the stallion said, giving the changeling drone a hug as he walked by. He raised an eyebrow at Star for a moment. “Do you think a hug would be appropriate for you at this juncture?” he questioned his fellow unicorn carefully. He still had memories of what she had been up to before she had her breakdown and didn’t want to encourage bad habits. “Because I want to give you some form of affection before I go if so.”

“Hugs are fine. Thanks for asking.” Star said, smiling weakly at the stallion. The moment she finished talking, Weave gave her a nice, big hug, being careful not to disturb the food, and held it for a few seconds. After which he stepped back, nodded at her with a smile on his face, and headed out the door towards the hospital.

As he was on his way…

“Hey! Hold up a sec!” A voice called out from above. The stallion paused for a moment, turning his gaze upwards to see who was talking to him.

A bright cyan mare, with a short-cropped rainbow mane flapped down to hover in front of him. “You’re the guy that Scoots is seeing, yeah?”

“After a bit of a bumpy start, yes,” Weave confirmed. He knew who this was, she was the lead weathermare of Ponyville, and one of the heroes who kept the chaos mostly controlled. When she wasn’t a contributing factor, anyways. “What can I do for you, miss Dash?”

“Oh, not all that much, just wanted to say thanks for her wings. You did a lot, though I think she’s more into her engineering stuff now, over wanting to do stunts. Though… Thanks again.” She rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “Never thought I’d get to go flying with her. Well, without the baby carrier.”

“Hey, I wanted to help, all the pieces were there, I just pulled them together into a spell that would help fix her,” the stallion said with a chuckle and a shake of his head. “Once she apologized and I saw the problem for what it was, it wasn't much effort to pull the answer together and cast it on her. I’m actually on my way to the hospital to give an explanation to them about what I actually did.”

“Good!” Dash grinned. “You treat her right though, you hear? You break her heart and you answer to me.” She stuck her tongue out and gave his shoulder a shove before flying off.

“Crazy mares. And I live with a few of them, I should know,” the stallion rolled his eyes and continued on his way.

Thankfully the rest of the trip was uneventful. Additional thankfulness for the hospital being quiet when he got there. He walked up to the front desk and smiled at the receptionist. “Hi, I’m Intricate Weave, Redheart wanted to see me about the spell I used on my marefriend to help her with her wings.”

“Oh, yes! Mister Weave, I believe she’s free, but I’ll give her a call to find out.” The mare said, smiling and picking up the phone and tapping at it. “Sorry, it’s ringing.”

“No, it’s fine, I’ve got nothing else going on,” the stallion said, shaking his head. “My housemates are all dealing with their various issues today, so they need space as it is.”

“That’s too bad.” The mare frowned sadly. “I- Oh! Yes! Mister Weave is here.” She had to cut herself off to talk on the phone. “Yes.” She nodded, she looked back to Weave. “How much time do you have, you might have to stay a bit, or help us record some things.”

“I didn’t have any other plans today,” the stallion said with a wave of a hoof. “Granted, it might take me a minute to cross-reference all the parts of the spell I came up with, what with how my talent works.”

“That’s not a problem.” She said before staring off into the middle distance. “Yes, he’s got time. Okay.” And she hung up the phone. “Alright I can bring you back.”

“Lead on,” Weave said with a nod.

It had been a rather long hour and a half, and Weave’s voice was hoarse from explaining. He was very much understanding the feeling of coping that Chrys and Star were doing.

“I’m just glad you accept the fact of my talent working in weird ways now,” the stallion sighed. He never thought being connected to the collective unconsciousness would result in more talking. “As long as I don’t think too hard about how to solve the problem, it happens easily. The moment I have to explain it, I start getting a headache.”

“Of course, sorry that we kept you so long.” Doctor Redheart apologized profusely as she walked Weave to the hospital entrance. “You’ve really done a lot for the medical community, I’m serious.”

“The answers were all already there,” the stallion demurred with a shake of his head. “I just sort of…pulled them all together and looked at them in a new light.”

“Well thank you again.” Doctor Redheart smiled. “If we need anything else, we’ll contact you.”

“I’ll make sure to charge you a good rate for any projects you throw my way,” the stallion replied cheekily, with a wink to show he was joking.

“I’m sure you will.” Redheart giggled, waving goodbye before she turned back to the hospital hallways. Weave gave a nod to the receptionist before turning and heading out the front doors himself. He needed some aspirin for his head. Fortunately he had a bottle back home, specially dosed for cutie-mark induced explanations of his talent.

Praise be Celestia, the walk home was uneventful!

The home was quiet when he got in, as he peeked in, he saw Chrys curled up in a ball, snoozing on the couch. Star was nowhere to be found. Peace and quiet for the first time in… awhile.

Weave didn’t even so much as say hello to the snoozing ‘ling, heading instead for the bathroom and the medicine cabinet therein. He needed to pop some extra-strength headache medication. Explaining one spell for over an hour felt like a railway spike was being driven into his head from the feedback from the collective unconsciousness. You weren’t supposed to think too hard about it. Doing so had…consequences.

There was a soft clopping of hooves. “How’d it go?” Star asked quietly from the bathroom doorway. Weave held up a hoof as his magic grabbed ahold of the bottle, popped the top, and gulped two pills down. He let out a sigh before turning to Star, his magic absently putting the bottle away.

“An hour long explanation of things that don’t want to be explained, which results in feedback from my talent and giving me a headache,” the stallion deadpanned. “Fortunately it wasn’t that hard a spell to explain, and she had a lot of the relevant texts to hoof. But it was still something that left me feeling like someone was splitting my skull open.” He put his hoof back down and shook his head, closing the cabinet and sighing again, this time in relief. “I’m also fortunate that I have this sort of medication-strength headache pills at home for situations like this.”

“Let me know if you need me to go and grab anything for you.” Star said with a small smile. “I’m assuming you don’t want to go anywhere else.”

“Give the meds an hour and the headache will go away entirely,” the stallion agreed with a nod. “I’m probably just going to go read for a bit, unless someone comes up with something else to distract me.”

“It’s what I’ve been doing.” Star shrugged before wandering off back to her room. Weave hummed to himself as he headed back to his own room, plucking a book off the nearby bookcase and heading towards his bed. He laid down on it and picked a random spot to pick up the story again.

There came a knock at the door and an annoyed mumble from the couchling, who proceeded to cover her face with a hoof like a cat. The stallion marked his place, put the book down, and got up from the bed, stretching a little bit before answering the door.

A pearly white mare with a cotton candy mane of purples and pinks grinned at him from the other side of the door. “Weave! Scootaloo told me all about you!” The mare said happily.

“Ah, she had mentioned her friends to me,” the stallion agreed with a nod and a smile. “Going by your colorations, you’re not an Apple, so that would make you Sweetie Belle, yes?”

“Yes indeedy.” Sweetie Belle giggled into a hoof. “And I’ve heard that you’re the one who helped out her wings.”

“Ah, it wasn’t much,” the stallion said, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof. “An hour of mulling the problem over got me a solution that seems to still be working today, so I’m going to call it a permanent fix. Which isn’t bad for my talent. Just, don’t ask me to explain it. I already did that once and got a headache for my trouble.”

“Oh, no. I don’t really have the brain for any kinda complicated magic.” She shook her head. “I’ve always enjoyed singing, among other things.” She batted her eyelashes in his direction.

“So I’ve heard,” the stallion agreed. “So what brings you by?”

“I wanted to thank you properly, and I’m making up for Bloom too, because she’ll be busy for awhile.” She leaned in a bit, giving him the sultriest eyes.

“Oh. Oh.” Weave blinked a little. “Is Scoots…aware of your intentions?”

“She’s the one who asked me since she’s gonna be busy with some work for the next couple days. So, I’m here to make up for it.” Sweetie said proudly, puffing out her chest. “You might’ve forgotten, what with your busy night.” She tittered, sticking her tongue out playfully.

“It, was kinda busy,” the stallion chuckled sheepishly. “So, uh, how did you want to-”

And she caught his lips with hers.

“Hey! If you’re gonna bang, at least make it to the bedroom!” A quite annoyed Chrys yelled from the couch.

With that pronouncement, Sweetie dragged Weave off to his room.

Well, his headache would definitely be forgotten.