Part I, Chapter IV - Showing the Ropes

Your eyes slowly open. The sun's rays that shone through your window before you fell asleep have now been replaced with the eternal blackness of the night, the only light shining through now coming from the moon's beams. You look down to find yourself fully-clothed.

"What the hell?"

You roll your head to the left, squinting your eyes to read the small, red text on your digital clock.

8:00 P.M.

"Shit. Was I really out of it for that long?"

You turn your head back into it's resting position, then carefully move your right leg so that it is hanging off of the side of the bed, careful not to move to fast and pull something.

You  slowly move your body so that it alligns with the leg, knowing that this will make the process of standing up easier when the time comes.

You mentally prep yourself, moving your arms behind you and propping yourself up on your elbows. With the added bit of leverage, you are able to lift your upper body up off the bed without exerting to much force, and as your momentum causes you to hunch over, you hear and feel several 'pops' from your spine.

You let out a groan as you straighten yourself, trying to move onto the next step of getting out of bed.

"What the hell? Why is this so difficult?"

The thought stays in the front of your mind as you lift your arms up over your head, extending them as far as they would go, making sure they got stretched and ready for future use. You move onto your legs next, stretching them one at a time, but extending them out like your arms.

You use your hands to push yourself off the matress, and now stand upon the carpeted floor of your bedroom. You lean back slightly and give yourself one final, full-body stretch, hearing two more 'pops' come from your spine. You sigh heavily as your arms return to the prone position.

You walk towards the door, trying to remember a dream you had.

"It was something to do with My Little Pony, I'm sure. And one of them came to my house, then yelled at me, but who was it?"

You twist the cold, gold-colored doorknob, pushing the door outwards and walking forward, rubbing your eyes as you did so.

You continued to try and remember who the character in your dream was as you close the door to your bathroom behind you.

Minutes later, you flush the toilet, pull your pants back on, quickly run your hands underneath the faucet, then walk out into your living room.

"Holy shit!", you whisper-shout, remembering who the figure in your dream was.

On your lovesat sits Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, eyes closed, and back left leg twitching as if she were chasing creatures in her dreams. You freeze where you stand, unsure of what to do now that you know what happened wasn't a dream.

"Wait. She was a bitch to me earlier...but I let her stay. What the fuck is wrong with me?"

You try to remember your reasoning behind doing so, praying to God that this wasn't some sort of kink that you weren't aware of until now, but dismissed the though almost as quickly as it popped up. You come to a final conclusion, knowing that following through could lead to the possibility of her harming you, but you don't care, because it has to be done.

And, you're just cool like that.

You take a step forward, but stop once more as you hear her coo in her sleep. The sound doesn't last long, but it was almost enough to make you change your mind about showing her who's boss.

Almost.

She has to learn to respect you if she wants to continue living with you, and you're prepared to use any means necessary.

You still take the time to just stand and watch as her chest, or what you assumed was her chest, slowly raised and lowered itself as she slept. A small smile works its way onto your face. You change your mind about waking her up, instead walking into the kitchen, flicking on the lights as you opened the fridge.

Your eyes grazed over the small stock you had, making a mental list of what you needed to get the next time you went out.

"What to do, what to do..."

You spot the half-empty carton of eggs, the nearly-full gallon of milk, and the butter, and decide on just making eggs and a glass of milk. You know it's lame, but you've gotta get used to bland meals like this until you find a source of income. You grab a small, rounded pan out of one of the cabinets under where the microwave sat, put it down onto the front left burner of the stove, place a small amount of butter down onto the center, turn up the heat, and begin the cooking process.

You tilt the pan around after moment, making sure that you spread the butter across the entire surface. You place the pan back down, moving onto the eggs. You grab two out of the carton, bringing your total down to four, and crack them on the edge of the counter. You split both of them, breaking the yolk on the first one, and lthe second one splashes just a little bit out of the pan.

Mentally scolding yourself for your sloppiness, you continue the process. You turn your attention towards Chrysalis as the eggs begin to crackle in the pan, and you watch her ear twitch. Your attention turns back to the eggs, and you expertly flip both of them over, revealing one side to be cooked, as evidenced by the hints of brown mixed in with the regular white and yellow.

A minute later, you flip the eggs back over, seeing that the other side is now cooked, and allowing the first side to cook for just a bit longer.

Moments later, finally satisfied with your work, you turn off the burner and walk towards the pantry, grabbing yourself a paper plate and a plastic fork. You slide the eggs out of the pan, then place it into your sink, giving it a quick rinse before walking away. You pull out a glass and pour yourself some milk. You stand at the edge of the island in the kitchen, cutting your eggs up with the fork before eating.

You take a swig of the milk, then look back over at Chrysalis. She has the same steady breathing pattern as before, but you notice her nose begin to twitch. Not knowing much about animals, or whatever she wanted to be called, you payed no mind to it, but watched as her eyes slowly opened themselves, stopping when theywere half-lidded.

She opened her mouth and let out what you assumed to be a yawn, but came out more as a short, high-pitched squeak. She smacked her lips, running over them both with her tounge, and then focused her eyes on you. You stared back, not sure what she was planning on doing. Her horn suddenly became encased in a dark-green glow, and you saw your eggs float off the plate towards her.

You remembered your plan, and smacked the eggs to the ground. The green glow instantly left from around her horn, and her eyes opened all the way, though she didn't get up from her spot on the small couch. She glared at you, and you stared back, intending on standing your ground if she tried anything.

"You're going to ask for things if you want them. You will not just take them. Understood?", you say.

She turns her head from you and heaves a sigh, laying her head back down on her front legs. She goes back to staring at you as you stand up, preparing to make yourself two more eggs, not being able to take more than a bite of your first two.

As you turn the burner back on, you look over at her, holding two eggs next to your head, and ask, "Would you like some eggs?"

She doesn't say anything, and just continues to stare at you with a mixture of anger and boredom. You turn back to the stove and repeat the process of cooking, then sit back down at the edge of the island. You begin to eat, keeping an eye on Chrysalis, making sure she doesn't do anything. You finish your eggs and take a seat on the floor infront of Chrysalis.

"So, not talking now?"

She turns her face away from you.

"Uh-huh. No insults?"

She remains silent, face still turned away, and you hear a grumble come from her abdomen. You look up at her face, but she continues to look away from you. You feel something inside you, and you stand up, walking back into the kitchen.

You grab out the things you need for eggs for the third time and ask once more, "Would you like some eggs, Chrysalis?"

All you get is a grumble. You begin to cook your last two eggs.

Minutes later, the job is done, and you set out the eggs on a plate and a glass of milk on the island.

"Whether you ask me for them or not, you're getting them."

She finally looks at you, eyes half-lidded, a small smile on her face. Her lips move slightly, and you swear you hear a "Thank you", but you can't be sure, so you brush it off.

You get back on to the ground, and watch as the dark-green glow encompases her horn again, and the eggs and milk levitate towards her. She extends her neck a bit, leaning down and giving the eggs a sniff before lightly nibbling on one. Her eyes grow wide, and she goes back in for more. She eats rather sloppily, bits of egg flying both on to the loveseat and the floor. You watch in wonder as she eats, eyeing the fangs that sit at the front of her mouth. You don't know why you find it so interesting, but you find yourself unable to do anything else but watch.

She finishes, moving on to the milk, tipping the glass up against her lips, and as the liquid drains, you catch a glimpse of her forked tounge trying to remove all the liquid from the cup. You stand up as she finishes up, placing the cup on the floor next to the plate. You pick the two items up, putting the glass in the sink and the plate in the small, white trashcan. You grab a paper towel from the roll and walk over to pick up the egg from the floor.

A burp escapes her mouth as you clean, and you look over to see her cover her mouth and blush as she notices you staring. You smile and finish the job at hand. You place the eggs in the trash, and, once again, sit back down on the ground, hopefully for the last time for a while.

You open your mouth to say something, but before you can, you hear Chrysalis faintly say, "Thank you."

Almost instantly, you say, "What?"

She looks back, and, just a bit louder, repeats herself.

You nod, deciding not to question her further. You say what you were planning on saying earlier.

"Now, Chrysalis, I need to talk to you about something serious. Are you listening?"

She nods slowly, then returns to looking directly at you.

"Good. Chrysalis, I want you to know that what you did earlier was unacceptable. I don't know if that's how you acted to people back in Equestria, but that is not how we treat people here. Understood?"

She nods, remaining silent as you continue.

"Alright. Now, if you want to continue living here, there can be no more of that. I'm also gonna be showing you the proper way to do other things in this world. Understand?"

She nods for a third time.

"Good. Now, do you have anything to say for yourself?"

She doesn't do anything, and just stares at you.

You shrug your shoulders, assuming that Chrysalis will just understand apologizing later on.

The two of you sit in silence, staring at each other. Though the lights in the kitchen are on, you can still see a faint glow coming from Chrysalis' eyes. You try to keep your eyes trained on hers, while, at the same time, trying to observe her other features. Granted, it would be much easier to just ask to look at her, but you figure that she'd take the question the wrong way and accuse you of being a pervert. You try to trace up her long, jagged horn without having her notice, and it appears to have worked. You move on to her front legs next, looking at the holes, able to see the red fabric of the couch through them. Chrysalis clears her throat, and you, startled, lose your balance for a second.

"Observing the Queen, are we?", she says, hints of suprise and mockery in her voice.

You feel heat flood your cheeks and your pulse quicken as you stutter out your response.

"Uh....n-no, I was-wasn't....checking you....out...."

You want to curl up into a ball and disappear as you feel her gaze still locked on you. Finally, after a very long and awkward minute of silence, she says, "You could have just asked."

You give yourself a mental facepalm at her response, and you hear her chuckle a bit as you turn back to her. The awkwardness is still heavy in the air as the room fall silent once more. After a moment, you manage to squeak out, "So, wanna learn stuff?"

She giggles softly, saying, "Sure".

You watch as she slinks off of the couch, arching her back as she stretched. She then continues to stretch, first pushing herself forward, supporting her weight on her front legs, then throwing her rump in the air and supporting her weight with her hind legs.

"Like a dog...", you think to yourself.

She turns towards you and says, "Alright, what first?"

                                                                  ***

Minutes later, you are squeezed next to Chrysalis on the loveseat, a copy of the novelization of "Indiana Jones & The Raiders of the Lost Ark" firmly held inbetween your hands.

"You know, I thought this was a good idea."

Chrysalis turns her head slightly, looking at you out of the corner of her eye. She says, "Yes, and?"

"And I was dead wrong. I'll sit on the floor."

You begin to stand up, but Chrysalis reaches a hoof across your chest and stops you. You look up at her, then almost immedeatly look down as you hear a faint 'squelch'. You find that it's coming from the holes in Chrysalis' hoof, each one contracting slightly, as if they were trying to grip something that wasn't there.

"No, please. I'll sit on the floor", she says.

"Are you sure? I could just-"

She lightly taps the holey hoof on your chest, and you look over to see her smiling.

"I insist."

"Alright, I guess."

Seeing that there's no point in arguing with her, you scooch over just a little to allow her enough space to squeeze out from between you and the armrest, and she situates herself on the ground, her back legs curled up next to her, and her front legs sticking straight out.

You look over her form, wondering if it hurts to sit like that, but remember that dogs do it all the time, so if it doesn't hurt them, it probably wouldn't hurt her. You quickly think of something to say to lead in to the book in your hand.

"Mention Daring Do, they love her in their world, and she's just like Indy! Wait...she doesn't know that she's a character in a cartoon about her world. Damnit."

Your mind blurts out the next thing that pops into your head.

"Do you know how to read?"

She stares at you.

"Yes?", she says, unsure of how to interpret the question.

"Wait! I mean, not that you couldn't read, it's just...you know, this is a book, and...books..."

Chrysalis stares at you more.

You hold out the book infront of yourself, head hanging low, not even looking her in the eyes and say, "Here. Just take this."

The green glow around her horn appears again, and the book floats towards her. It hovers infront of face for a moment, and you see here eyes moving from left to right as she reads. The glow disappears and the book drops.

"Interesting. This "Indiana Jones" character sounds alot like Daring Do."

You look at her, faking interest in her observation, asking, "Daring Do? Who's that?"

Chrysalis clears her throat, and begins.

"Daring Do is a fictional character from my world, and she goes on adventures, much like your "Indiana Jones"."

"Oh."

Silence falls over the room once more as you two sit there. You lean over and pick up the book, your hand lightly grazing over her hoof. It was unlike anything you've ever felt before. It looked almost like latex, but when touched, it was incredibly soft and smooth. You wonder how something like this could be possible, but remind yourself that she's from a cartoon.

"Well, you've seen a book. Now what do you wanna see?", you ask half-assedly.

"I'm not certain", she replies, rubbing her chin with a hoof, eyes pointed down at the floor.

You sit and wait for an answer. After a minute, she doesn't reply, and you look up down to see her still in thought. Suprised that it would take someone this long to think of anything, you try to find another way to entertain yourself while you wait. Your eyes drift over to her form once again. You sit and stare for a moment, then mentally slap yourself for what you're about to do.

You told yourself that you'd stop staring affer she caught you the first time just a few minutes ago, but you find that wenever she's not looking, you try to see more of her. You don't know what it is about her, but you just find her figure...appealing. It could be the little crown-like thing next to her horn, it could be the holes in her legs, but you just don't know. You begin at the top of her body.

You've already eyed her horn more than enough times to know what it looks like, and her hair is nothing special, other than its color, but her being from a show, you'd expect that. You move down to her wings, which are joined to the body either at the shoulder blade, or are fused to the shoulder blade itself. You decide you'll just ask her later. Thinking back, you realize you havn't really seen her wings extended, but you think that that's because there would be no use for them here. First, there wouldn't be anywhere to go, since all the rooms were right next to each other. Second, if she did get off the ground, there'd only be about an extra foot or so before she hit the roof.

Next, you spy a green thing around her abdomen. You have no idea what it is, nor what purpose it serves. You brush it off and move lower. You have your eyes on her flank when you hear "Ahem". Your eyes snap back to Chrysalis, who looks less than amused.

"My eyes are over here", she says, clearly frustrateed that you were eyeballing her.

"What do you mean? I can't look at my own apartment?", you try to argue.

She caught you red-handed though, saying, "I've been watching you for the past minute. You know what you were doing, I know what you were doing. Your Queen is not amused."

You think of retalliating, but she's giving you a look, so you just stare at your folded-up hands.

She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes as she does so, then exhales, opening them back up shortly after.

Having calmed herself down a bit, she says, "I would like to learn about this...thing."

She motions behind herself with her head, pointing at the television set with her horn. You get up and walk over to it, pushing the "Power" switch on the side. You snatch the remote up off the T.V. stand as Chrysalis rotates her body to face you and the screen.

"So, Chrysalis, do you know what this is?"

She shakes her head.

"Right. From what little I've heard about Equestria from you, I'd assume you guys don't have T.V's."

She cocks her head slightly to the left, and repeats, "Tee...vee?"

"Correct. "T.V." stands for "television", which is what this is", you motion to the screen beside you. You look down at the remote, thinking about what to do next.

"What can this "television" do?", she asks.

"Well, I'll show you."

You walk back over to the loveseat, remote in hand. You sit down, and Chrysalis' eyes remain locked on the screen, a re-run of an old "Spongebob Squarepants" cartoon playing. You watch as The Krusty Krab is filled with anchovies, then Spongebob flies in with his spatula, and begins making Krabby Patties at incredible speeds. You hear Chrysalis let out a laugh as the montage of the yellow sponge preparing the burgers continues. A few minutes later, the episode ends, and Chrysalis turns to look back at you, a tear in her eye.

"That was one of the funniest things I have ever seen! Nothing in Equestria could ever compare to that!"

She wipes the tear from her eye, and you smirk, saying, "Well, this is just the tip of the iceberg."

She smiles and turns right back around to watch the screen flicker between shows. "Adventure Time", "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives", Project Runway", and "Tosh.O" all flash by as you get higher and higher on the channels list. You reach the HUB Network, then the unthinkable happens.

My Little Pony, My Little Pony, Ahahahahahh~

You watch as Chrysalis tilts her head to the side as the opening credits roll on. She turns back to you.

"What...what is this?"

You gulp, body shaking, and say, "A...a show."

You watch her bare her teeth, her cheerful attitude from moments ago replaced with that of anger.

"Do not lie to your Queen. How are you able to see that wretched Twilight Sparkle and her friends on this "television"?"

Your eyes dart back and forth, looking around the room for something, anything that could give you an answer.

"Uh...it's a...it's a portal."

"A portal?"

"Yes, she's buying it."

"Yes. It allows you to, uh...see what your enemies are doing."

She contemplates this for a moment, before saying, "I see..."

She turns back to the screen in time to see Rainbow Dash giving a speech about having enough wingpower to get water to Cloudsdale. Finally, after minutes of making sure she didn't suspect anything, the commercials start, and she turns back to you.

"This may prove useful in the future. Thank you for showing me."

She turns back to the T.V. as you change the channel, wiping your forehead.

"Holy shit, that was close. Too close..."

You pull your iPhone out of your pocket and check the time.

10:13 P.M.

You lean back, stretching your arms and legs to their fullest, letting out a yawn as you do so.

You stand up, but Chrysalis doesn't seem to notice, as she is currently transfixed on an episode of "Friends". You walk over to the closet in the guest bedroom, opening it up and grabbing two blankets and a pillow. You walk back out to the living room.

"Alright. Where do you want to sleep?"

She pays you no mind as she continues to stare at the screen infront of her.

You try again, but with the same results.

Finally, you grab the remote off of the loveseat's armrest, turning the television off.

"Hey!", she yells.

"I just want to ask you one question. Then, you're free to watch as much T.V. as you like. Deal?"

She contemplates her choices, and finally nods. You don't like that you had to bargain with her for simple stuff like that, but you had to do what you had to do.

"Alright. Where would you like to sleep? We've got a guest room, which has a bed, the couch, the floor, just pick one."

"Does the guest room have a T.V.?"

You shake your head.

"Oh, I'll just sleep here then."

You nod, turning the television back on and placing the remote next to her, making sure she saw where it was. You place the pillow down on one side of the couch, and place the blankets over her body. She looks back at you suspiciously.

"Hey, it's supposed to be cold tonight. Just trying to help."

She stares at you for a few more seconds, then turns back to the television screen. You shrug it off and turn towards your room.

You're just about to close the door when you hear Chrysalis call out your name.

You poke your head back outside.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to say..."

You listen, no idea what she's about to say. Insults? Thanks? Does she need help? What she actually says suprises you.

"I'm sorry."

You stand there, shocked. Instantly, your mind jumps to, "Don't worry about it."

You see her turn back to the screen, and you close the door behind you, now unsure of what she could possibly do next. Just this morning, she was being a total bitch, and now, she just apologized. You strip down to your boxers, slipping yourself underneath the covers on your bed, listening to the faint sounds of Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, and Chrysalis' laughter.

"Why the sudden change in attitude?", you wonder.

You think about it for a moment, then your eyes close, and a final thought passes through your head.

"Who cares?"

You drift asleep as Chrysalis laughs from out in living room.