Part I, Chapter VII - Buds

You lean back in your red beanbag as the film progresses. You watch with limited interest as Hooper leaps out if the boat and down into the ocean to search for evidence of the shark being around Amity.

"Why the hell are we even watching "Jaws" when we could be doing something else?" you wonder to yourself as Hooper searches along the sunken ship's hull for evidence.

Turning your attention towards Chrysalis, who is sitting on the edge of her seat, or at least as far as you can get to an edge on a beanbag, causes you to chuckle quietly to yourself. You keep switch your attention back and forth between the creature to your right and the television, but paying more attention to one over the other, and it definitely wasn't the movie.

You manage to catch part of a scene where Hooper finds Ben Gardener's decapitated head floating freely, causing him to drop the shark tooth he found to the ocean floor. Chrysalis lets out a shriek, and before you can react, she's clutching your body tightly with her holed hooves, her jagged horn dangerously close to your face. She's shaking with fear, which is something you couldn't really understand, as that scene never seemed to affect you. You accept the fact that the Queen of an entire race of creatures that feed off of emotions was scared by a cheesy effect, and do the most calming thing you can think of as Hooper swims back up to the surface: rub Chrysalis back gently.

At first it the idea felt weird to you, but the more you thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed as you ran you hand and forearm up and down her smooth back a couple of times, just assuring her that everything would be alright. You stop as she slowly relaxed in your hold, paying attention to the film again. After a few minutes, you realize that Chrysalis hasn't moved her resting head from your chest. Looking down at her, you realize that she's not paying you any mind as she is focused on the film. Clearing your throat proves fruitless as she continues to stare at the screen.

"Uh...Chrysalis? You know you're still on me, right?"

Without missing a beat, she replies, "You're still on me."

Confused, you look to down at her, noticing that she’s clearly sitting on top of your torso.  Before you can form any sort of rebuttal, you feel something soft pressed against your right hand; only to realize that her back was resting against your hand.

"See?" she says with a sly smirk.

You move to pull it off, but she stops you.

"You can leave it there if you'd like, I don't mind."

You think for a moment, and then shrug, realizing that having your arm around someone isn’t really a big issue. The two of you sit in silence as the Orca IV begins its journey out into the blue. Chrysalis speaks again during a silent part in the film.

"You can do that rubbing thing if you'd like as well. It does not bother your Queen."

Your arm begins to ever so slowly work it's way up to the back if Chrysalis' neck, and then down to the green sash around her middle. You still didn't know what it was, but you continued to rub despite it. She practically melts under your touch as you continued to stroke her back, at one point feeling each of her vertebrae in one pass.

You try to readjust, Chrysalis' body slowly crushing your legs, but the combined efforts of her weight and the beanbag below yourself didn't allow for any movement whatsoever. Accepting the situation, you continue to rub the Changeling Queen’s back as you slowly lose any feeling below your waist. Looking up at the screen, you watch as Quint shoots his rifle at the shark, and the near immediate explosion of flesh that followed. Chrysalis lets out a purr, but you couldn't tell if it was in response to your continued efforts to comfort her, or that the shark had finally been defeated. You think about asking her, but change your mind. She twists her head to look at you.

"What next?" she asks, rubbing her eyes gently, a cute yawn pushing past her lips.

"Whatever you want." You say with a relaxed smile.

"I see..."

She trails off, and five DVDs float over to where the two of you sit. The choices that levitated in front of you were "The Little Rascals", "Monty Python & The Holy Grail", "Napoleon Dynamite", "The Running Man, and "The Matrix". You personally wanted to see "The Matrix", as it was your favorite, but this was about her experiencing these things, not your personal preference.

She inspected each one, taking a moment to stare at the cover, and then flipping it over to read the description. It was at least ten minutes of sitting in silence before Chrysalis made her decision. You saw four cases float back to the stack with the others, and looked to see that she selected "Monty Python".

"Done", she announced, the DVD floating into your hand. You sat and waited for her to move off of you, but she didn't, and you had to nudge her with your arm.

"Hey! What is wrong...with...you...” she trails off, following your gaze down to your trapped legs. She blushes, most likely embarrassed after her outburst, and rolls off onto her own bag.

You stretch out your legs, extending your arms above your head, hoping to get some blood flowing back before standing up. Feeling confident, you walk forward only to nearly fall flat on your face, bracing your arms forwards to keep from hurting yourself. With a sigh, you try again and slowly limp your away over.

You take the previous DVD out, switching it out for the new one. The new film starts up, and you crawl back to your red seat. Chrysalis settles back into her original position across your chest, and you reach your right arm back across her body, the two of you getting comfortable as the film's opening credits begin rolling.

***

You feel a nudge in your side. Your eyes open, and you look down to see Chrysalis staring back up at you. You look over at the screen, which is displaying the main menu of the film.

"Shit"

"I wanted to change the movie myself, but I didn't know how. You were the only one that could, but you were asleep. Sorry."

You run your fingers through her hair, softly saying, "Hey, don't worry. I would've done the same if I were in your position."

She continues to just stare, so you smile to show her you're alright, and a smile slowly works itself on to her own face. You get up, standing still, using the wall behind yourself as a support while the blood rushes back to your legs. While you wait, you ask, "So, what do you wanna do next?"

Chrysalis looks over at the DVDs and CDs, levitating two of each over to herself. You see that she's picked "The Thing", "Shaun of the Dead", "Hi-Five Soup" by The Aquabats, and "Hybrid Theory" by Linkin Park. She looks over each choice, finally smiling and stating her decision.

"This one", she says, floating "Hybrid Theory" towards you. You look at her, shrug, then place the CD in the DVD tray, letting both slide into the player. The first track, "Papercut", begins, and you sit back down as Mike Shinoda begins his rap portion of the song.

Chrysalis stands completely still for a moment, probably from hearing such new sounds. You remind yourself for the umpteenth time that Equestria doesn't have the same technology as Earth. The chorus kicks in, and Chrysalis lays down on the ground, curling herself up into a ball. You stop the music.

"You alright?"

She takes a second to respond, but you finally hear, "My ears..."

You get out of your seat and down on to all fours, crawling over to her form on the ground. "My ears...", she moans out again. You place your hand on her side, not rubbing, just sitting still.

"It's gonna be alright. If you still don't like it, just tell me and we'll stop. Understand?"

She nods, and you get back up to resume the album.

"Papercut" finishes, and the second track begins. Chrysalis gets up, walking back over to her beanbag next to you, allowing you to rub up and down her back once again.

Track Two quickly becomes Track Three, which quickly turns into Track 5, which then becomes Track Twelve. Time flew by while you were listening, allowing your eyes to close and take in all the sounds coming from the television. "Pushing Me Away" fades out, and you look down at Chrysalis, whose eyes could not possibly get any wider. She wasn't blinking, and you knew that you should feel worried, but you want her to bring herself out of whatever she's doing.

She blinks rapidly, and then looks up at you.

"That...that was absolutely...", she begins, trailing off and looking at you.

"Yes?"

"Absolutely amazing! We don't have anything like that in Equestria!" She gushed, a wide smile on her face.

You smile, enjoying how happy she was to find something she liked. She looked at you, the smile still on her face.

"Can I ask you something?"

You don't even think about what the questions could be, just saying, "How can I help you?"

"Well", she begins. "It's about you."

You gulp nervously, but allow her to continue.

"Yes. While we were watching the movies, and I had my head on your chest, I was

close enough to your heart to hear what it beat for. What I heard was...interesting."

"Fuckfuckfuckfuck"

"Oh, really? What did you hear?"

"That's what I want to talk to you about."

You chuckle nervously, your shirt suddenly feeling tighter around your neck

"Could you tell me about your love life?” She asks curiously with a cute tilt of her head.