Princess Cadence lay on the royal bed alone, for the first time in a long time. Except for the Wedding based abduction, she and Shining Armour had shared each others warmth every single night for many years. But with some urgent business requiring the Crystal Prince in Equestria, and the Crystal Princess unable to leave the kingdom unprotected, the pairing would be separated for the devastating length of time of one whole night. And it was proving to be the longest night for the pink alicorn.

Cadence rolled over and stretched out - she knew that the bed in their castle was large, but being in it alone just brought home how oversized it really was. And how large and empty the castle currently was. No doubt in time her and Shining's foals, and associated extra staff, would soon be making enough noise and chaos to make the castle seem more homely, but currently it was all a little sterile.

Cadence looked up at the moon now high in the sky, knowing she had been trying to get to sleep for a good number of hours now. Failing to get comfortable, she tossed and turned under the silk sheets again until a familiar clopping sound filled her ears. She lay there as a large alicorn got into bed, and cuddled up behind her, taking the position that her husband usually did.

"I heard you moving around and guess you couldn't sleep" Chrysalis softly spoke. After the initial few days of constant playtime, the threesome had settled down a little with alternative nights of spending the nights together, but also nights where the changeling gave the couple their private time together. The changeling would sleep on the chaise lounge in Cadences' boudoir, despite the insistence of the Princess of Love that there was no need.

"Chrysalis, you know you are welcome in this bed whenever you want!" Cadence backed herself into the embrace. The changeling nuzzled the ponies’ neck, before giving it a few soft licks. Cadence stretched her neck enjoying the attention the changeling was giving "Mmmmm, Chrysalis, that feels nice. But don’t feel you have to sooth me or something by grooming me, I’m sure I can cope one night without Shining!”

“Of course not silly, I just wanted to comfort you, that’s what friends do isn’t it?”

“Friends…given how we first met I bet nopony would ever think we would end up friends!”

Chrysalis moved her mouth up to Cadence’s ear and started to gently lick and nuzzle it, resulting in soft moans from the pony “Yes, it is amazing how everything turns out sometimes. And it’s thanks to one purple unicorn, princess, or …whatever”

“Yeah, everypony owes her so much!”

“For saving the world a few times?” Chrysalis laughed before returning to Cadence’s neck “That does sort of make everypony owe Twilight one!”

“Not just that. She’s why I met Shining Armour in the first place when Celestia sent me to foalsit her!”

“Yeah, and because of that I didn’t know one stupid dance that gave the whole plan away”

“Actually, I always meant to ask you about that. Given how you managed to get everything else right, how come you didn’t know that Shining had a sister?”

“Well, I suppose that there's no harm in telling you…” Chrysalis mused, giving the neck a nip before continuing “Originally, I hadn’t planned on taking your place, at least not right away. I was sneaking around the castle disguised as a guard to scout out Celestia’s defences to see how I might try to worm my way into her or Luna’s courts. It was going to be a long game of many years...well, that was the plan”

“What changed?” Cadence asked a little surprised.

“I...I was jealous of you” A silence fell over the room as Chrysalis licked Cadences ear delicately a few times before continuing.

"You are just so beautiful, that when I saw you for the first time in Canterlot, gliding down the street in that effortlessly elegant way you do, I was just so envious! The way the other ponies bowed and greeted you, through love and not by fear, it was just so flawless compared to the fear I used to control my swarm with”

After a few more licks and nibbles on the pony’s ear, the Queen carried on “It was a major risk going for you and Shining Armour when I should have built up more intelligence first, but I…of course there was no need to rush, it would have made much more sence to wait a while, until after you were married….”

Cadence took the pause to ask the question in her mind “Then why did you, why did you rush?”

“I just had to destroy your perfection; it bore into me like a drill! The way everypony just gave you love without you asking for it, whilst I had to steal every single drop in my life. Of course, the loving and trusting nature of Equestrian Society made abducting you so easy…too easy.”

Chrysalis nuzzled Cadences neck “Not a day goes by that I don’t regret what I did, but I fear that if it wasn’t for Twilight helping to reinvent my way of life I would have still been willing to do it again. Of course I have apologised many times, but I feel you should know how I feel”

Cadence turned her neck as far as possible, and gave Chrysalis a lick on the underside of her muzzle, the only place she could reach “Chrysalis, thank you for being so honest, it means a lot to me”

“With everything all of you ponies have done for me, it’s the least I could do!”

Cadence nestled back into the changelings embrace, and felt a wave of sleepiness wash over her. She was fast heading for Luna’s dreamscape, when she remembered something. Stifling a bit of a yawn, Cadence spoke softly “Don’t you need to feed? It’s been a few days since you’ve been in and feed on either of us…or done anything else come to think about it!”

Chrysalis smiled as she held the generous loving pony “I’ve wanted to give you both a bit of space for a few days, knowing you would be separated tonight”

“But you must be hungry?”

“Not really, I had to go months without feeding before coming to Equestria. Besides, I would rather you saved your love for when your Prince returned!”

“You just a big old softie really, aren’t you?” Cadence giggled

Chrysalis gave the princess a final few tender nibbles on her ear “I seem to be heading that way”

The pair snuggled up to each other under the Princesses silk sheets and lay their heads to rest. There was no sex, there was no love, it was simply friendship.

Author's Notes:

I'm struggling to get back into writing, so I thought I would do a fluff chapter to get typing again! Next two chapters are more than half done.

And OMG - 50K of words? Really must start wrapping this up soon!