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.”