Taking the Queen

They didn't spend a lot of time in the gallery. Chrysalis kept finding paintings and sculptures she liked, but the noble kept following them around and complaining. Spiceberry could tell that she was making Chrysalis uncomfortable, and wanting to avoid an incident, escorted his date out and away from the conflict. It was unknown to them, but moments after they left, the noble was escorted out, kicking and screaming for bothering the other guests. They had come to look at the art on display, not listen to somepony tell them that they were wrong about everything.

They found themselves now in a public park, walking along the bank of the stream that ran through it. Not a natural stream running down off the mountain, but a lovely water feature designed by the architect. This particular park was not a plot of land untouched by ponykind, but the remains of a large block of torn up buildings that had been put under the care of a gardener and given new life. What was once a basement was now a small pond of fish, the plumbing was refitted accordingly, and exotic grasses and shrubs were planted. In spring, the plums would blossom, and the whole park would be showered in red, white and pink petals. It was a good time to be a guest, but a bad time to be the pump that circulated the water.

"This is pleasant," nodded Chrysalis. "As a changeling, I tend to enjoy the cold and damp." She swirled her hoof through the water, letting it flow through her holes. "Although, I have been growing accustomed to the warmth of ponies of late."

"Let's hope it stays that way," nudged Spiceberry. "I like the cold myself, but nothing beats a fresh cup of hot cider."

"You'll hear no argument from me."

The two shared a laugh and continued walking, chatting about nothing in particular. This brief respite from being leered at was doing wonders for Chrysalis, allowing her to open up. But as they rounded a corner, she suddenly froze up. At the edge of the pond sat Fluttershy, feeding some bread to the ducks and the fish swimming around. Chrysalis tried to take a step backward, but her lead snapped taut against Spiceberry's ankle, and she could go no further without his leave.

It took mere seconds for Fluttershy to notice them, but rather than leaving or going back to her critters, she stood up and walked over to them. Chrysalis wanted nothing more than to bolt away at what might be said, but Spiceberry held her hoof firmly in place.

"Something you wanted to say, miss?" asked Spiceberry, holding up his hoof to signal her to slow her approach.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked him, glancing sideways at Chrysalis from time to time.

"Certainly."

"Alone?"

Spiceberry gave the lead to one of the other two guards, turning back to Chrysalis. "I'll just be a moment," he promised. As he walked off with Fluttershy, Chrysalis sat down next to the stream and ran her hoof through the water. She dreaded what Fluttershy might say to him, and how it would reflect on her. Being out of earshot, she dared not try to read their lips. Whatever was said, she'd have to deal with after, no matter what it was.

Thankfully, it was over quickly, and Spiceberry returned, a somewhat glum look on his face. Had it really been that bad? "What happened?"

Spiceberry waved his hoof. "I'll handle it later. Don't worry about it for now, but I do think we should move on to our next location right away."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong just yet," answered Spiceberry, taking back her lead, "and I'd like to keep it that way. Come along."

Chrysalis followed him out of the park, down several roads to a less extravagant part of town. Actually, calling it less extravagant was a bit of an overstatement. The gilded buildings lit up from the inside gave way to smaller, more plain buildings lit by streetlights, and even further went to dirty buildings lit by sparse, flickering lights. The building they stepped into was brick, with graffiti covering the door. The interior was no better, with the hum of the fluorescent lights complimenting the worn, dirty carpeting.

"Why are we here?" asked Chrysalis, looking around. "Kind of a step down from where we were..."

"This is the last place we're going tonight," nodded Spiceberry. "This is just the entrance. The third floor is better. We just have to go upstairs." He led her further in, down a dirty hallway, up two flights of stairs, and then another hall. He stopped at a door marked 306 and pulled out a key.

"So, this is going to be a bit of a step down from what you might expect. I know I said the third floor was better, but I've just realized that I may be biased. Just... temper your expectations, okay?"

Chrysalis took a deep breath. He was definitely nervous. He practically reeked of it. She placed a hoof on his shoulder, giving him the assurance that she was going to try to stay calm.

The door opened to a small apartment that was admittedly cleaner than the halls. It was sparsely decorated, with a few posters hanging from the wall over a folding couch. One depicted a tiger clawing apart a guitar and read "Trans-Equestrian Orchestra." Another depicted two blindfolded dental hygienists trying to draw a circle with square blocks. There were a few more, as well, but they didn't look like much of anything from what Chrysalis could tell. Dull beige walls gave way to an exposed wood floor draped with old rugs along the paths better travelled, except in the kitchenette, where there was a solid sheet of grey linoleum. The only furniture was the couch, a standing lamp, and two bookcases.

"So, uhhh..." Spiceberry cleared his throat. "Why don't you make yourself comfortable on the couch?"

Chrysalis stepped into the room and poked around a bit. There were only two doors, with an open one leading to what seemed to be a bathroom, and a closed one with a shirt sleeve poking out from underneath. One of the bookshelves was loaded with cookbooks and the other with fantasy novels. The one with the novels also included several record sleeves and a board game box. She turned her attention to the couch, which was visually unappealing and had a very clear worn-out spot where an entire section was covered in silver tape. Draped over the back was a blanket that was just blue, and on the side away from the tape was a single pillow with a bear picture on it.

While she had been looking around on her way to sit down, Spiceberry had been fumbling around in the kitchenette. He'd been in a rush all day preparing for her, and had known that he'd wanted to make dinner for her, especially as she could only eat food made with love, but he hadn't worked out the details until just now. He didn't know what he was going to make, but he had to put his care into it.