The Things We Do For Love

Tunk. Tunk. Tunk. Tunk.

The sound of Chrysalis’s head dully thumping against the cold crystal wall was her only company, guards having long since left her within the darkness of the chamber. She wasn’t even doing it to pass the time anymore. Or what darkness she could manage, as the outside light from the hall seemed to penetrate the room fairly well.

Not quite the stereotypical ‘dungeon’ that she had expected upon her capture, but it was depressing enough.

A solitary patch of dim light filtered in through the steel bars set firmly into the thick iron door, the light blue crystal surrounding it just as sturdy. The ceiling, while lower than she would have liked, was still high enough that she could stretch. Chrysalis sat in a stew of her own despondence and bitterness atop the thinning military cot against the wall, and fought the urge to shiver again.

It might not have been because her confinement was too far below ground and warm air was hard to come by; it also could have been because she had been kept from feeding in too long. The pitiful remnants of the vegetables that her captors had presented her with did hardly anything to assuage her constant wringing hunger, but it kept her alive.

Or maybe she was shivering because she was about to be executed.

Chrysalis scowled hatefully, not ceasing her dismal assault on the wall with her noggin. Her temples were aching and her head twinged painfully, but she didn’t care anymore. What was the point of caring anymore, anyway?

None of her servants answered her cries. She was drained and weakened, both magically and physically. And the constant hunger. In all likelihood, the wretched ponies were probably keeping her locked up to ensure that her last days were spent in misery before her inevitable death. Chrysalis vaguely wondered again what kind of punishment the Crystal Empire’s princess would bestow upon her. Possibly beheading – it was still favored amongst the Griffonians as a primary method of dealing with usurpers. Or maybe hanging; it was thoroughly unpleasant, but at least it was quick enough.

Chrysalis did not particularly like the thought of being drawn and quartered.

Doubtless they would threaten her with it, ponies were an unsavory bunch. An even worse thought occurred to Chrysalis, one that marred her enough to cause her to finally stop bumping her head against the wall.

What if they weren’t even going to come back?

She wrung her hooves together, picking at a strand of her filthy and matted seaweed green mane.

What if they just left her down here, left her in the dark to die? They could just as easily just stop bringing her the meager scraps of ‘normal’ food that kept her alive, and simply let her organs fail one by one as she was denied the ability to feed. It was far too deep underground to draw in energy or even the barest of emotions through ambience; and maybe that was their intention.

That was what they were going to do.

Chrysalis was going to rot. She was going to fall apart from the inside out. She was going to die down here, and there wasn’t a single damned thing she could do about it.

She bitterly resumed her dull thumping against the wall, her jagged black horn occasionally scraping against the cool crystal.

Chrysalis barely registered the heavy clopping and jangling of armor, which she recognized as the clanking of the guards. It wasn’t meal time, and nopony just came by for a friendly visit. In all likelihood, she was either to be taken for another interrogation or her execution was awaiting her.

She let out a quiet, empty sigh and stared at the door. Not out of curiosity, only because she just so happened to have been facing it. At that point, Chrysalis didn’t really care if she was just staring at a wall, and for all the enthusiasm she produced, she might as well have been.

At least, until an all too familiar face poked into her little world.

How could she possibly forget that face?

“Good afternoon,” Princess Cadence cleared her throat, clearly having rehearsed. The crystal guardsponies flanking her stood at attention, hefting large spears to their shoulders when she spoke. “Thank you, both of you. At ease.”

Each giving a swift salute before backing out, the guards latched and locked the door behind Cadence, the loud clamoring hurting the changeling’s ears.

“… Hello,” the pink alicorn smiled kindly at her. Chrysalis finally allowed her eyes to flicker dully upwards, her face expressionless. “I see you’re awake this time.”

“Don’t toy with me,” Chrysalis croaked, her throat twinging unexpectedly. “Just hurry up and kill me, already. I won’t stand for this disgrace any longer.”

“You really should be thankful that you’re alive at all,” the princess’s smile faded slightly. “You were barely even breathing when you were found.”

Chrysalis remembered. The weary old farmer and his wife, stunned to see the once proud changeling queen broken and beaten, smashed into pile of rocks. Had she possessed the energy, she would have simply drained them both on the spot.

But instead of replying, Chrysalis held her tongue.

“I hear that you’re still giving the guards trouble,” Cadence said conversationally. “Copper Hoof had to get stitches, you know. Your harassment of them isn’t helping anypony, let alone yourself.”

Still, Chrysalis said nothing.

“Or the constant insults about their mothers, for that matter.”

“What do you know?” Chrysalis spat hatefully, curling up a little away from her. She contemplated striking the princess, and heavily; but chances were that with her weakened condition, she wasn’t likely to do very much lasting damage before the guards mangled her.

“I know plenty,” she replied curtly.

“And what you don’t would likely fill many libraries,” Chrysalis fumed.

“All right,” Cadence nodded thoughtfully after a moment. “Expand my knowledge, would you kindly. Let’s talk about you.”

Chrysalis stared at the calm mare for a full beat, head beginning to pound again.

“This is because I locked you in that pit, isn’t it?” Chrysalis glowered at her. “Because I want you to know, I would absolutely do it again.”

“Interesting. I don’t think you’re telling the truth, though.”

“Ooh. Shocker,” Chrysalis refrained from rolling her eyes, the urge to hit the princess growing again. “The Queen of Confusion might not be entirely truthful.”

“Is that what you call yourself?”

“I am called many things,” Chrysalis stated bluntly. “I might add that I disagree with ‘captive’ the most.”

Cadence furrowed her brows slightly, thinking.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Chrysalis scowled suddenly. “I’m not going to play your little game until you get bored. Why are you delaying the execution?”

“Execution?” Cadence slowly raised an eyebrow. “Whatever are you talking about?”

“Ahh. I see,” she let out a sarcastic half-laugh that was more reminiscent of a bark than anything else. “Simply easier to let me starve to death.”

“Are you still hungry?” the princess asked quietly. “It would be no trouble to bring you-”

“Still toying with me, are you?” the queen of changelings barked again. “Or do you really mean to say that you’re that stupid?”

“Emotion. You need to feed on love,” Cadence mused aloud.

Chrysalis clapped slowly, deadanning.

“Oh, bravo. It only took you six days.”

Chrysalis would have carried on her tirade, and even opened her mouth to continue; however, she was interrupted by her own befuddlement upon the princess’s actions.

Cadence carefully held out an upturned hoof to the changeling queen, and Chrysalis peered at it in suspicion.

“… Well?” Cadence gave her hoof a little jiggle. “You need to feed to survive, don’t you?”

“Are you mocking me?” Chrysalis raised her voice a few octaves, steadily growing angrier. “Are-”

“Look,” the princess cut her off sharply. “You need the emotion – the love, as it were – you need it, don’t you? Who better to get it from than the mare of amore herself?”

Chrysalis blinked, conflicted. There was simply no way in Tartarus that it wasn’t a trap. There had to be some kind of trick to it, something that she was planning. Multiple scenarios crossed her mind, one of the prominent ones being that the princess would call in guards the moment she attempted to feed. Those spears didn’t look to be for show, with the perfectly honed ridges and sharpened tips perfect for piercing.

As if to assuage her fears, Princess Cadence ever so gently took the uncertain changeling’s holed hoof in her own, lifting it unhurriedly.

“They already know,” she said when Chrysalis’s eyes flicked toward the door in doubt. “Nopony will interfere unless you overstep your bounds. Just try to take what you need to.”

“… Don’t move.”

Chrysalis lunged forward, and the princess flinched automatically; she felt a sharp sting just below her jugular, a sharp hissing noise emanating from the changeling’s mouth. Every muscle in her body locked up tightly, and Cadence slowly but surely began to feel a draining sensation that seemed to widen along her neck and spread through her body the longer she sat still.

Eventually, Cadence tapped the changeling on her holed foreleg. For a moment, Cadence was afraid that she would not answer; however, Chrysalis finally leisurely pulled away, and the painful draining sensation vanished almost instantly. It didn’t stop Cadence’s limbs from feeling oddly heavier, and her movements were sluggish.

“You took more than you needed to,” Cadence stated eventually, and her words came out a little shakily. She rubbed her sore neck instinctively, almost expecting to find pinpricks.

“You took your time stopping me,” Chrysalis answered smugly, and Cadence was surprised to actually see a tad of color in her black cheeks. Or at the very least, a bit darker and less sickly grey than she had been before. Her green eyes glowed a little more with a hidden luminescence, and her movements were quicker.

The changeling’s smug air eventually dwindled, until she was left sitting in mild bewilderment and growing doubt once again as the princess rose to leave. The jangling at the door pulled her from her thoughts once more.

“Is that it?” Chrysalis balked, a strange sense of urgency settling in her thin chest. “Well? Answer me!”

She didn’t slow down.

Nopony said a single word to her as they left her alone.

Princess Cadence didn’t even look back.

The Pilgrims

Some water dripping slowly from the ceiling. A couple bits of old moss growing up one side of the wall. Perhaps some chains and shackles. Maybe a lovely torture rack here and there.

Anything Chrysalis could think of to add to her measly little dungeon that might make it just a bit less... boring.

There was no real way to tell what time of the day it was, and hardly anything ever changed inside her dull cell aside from her awkward uncomfortable position. She let out another weary sigh, blowing a tuft of mane from her face in irritation.

The torture would be preferable to the unbearable boredom, surely.

Princess Cadance had not returned the since the previous day, and Chrysalis had grown more than a little impatient. The added energy was a welcome change of pace, she silently admitted to herself, but she only wound up pacing in circles in her cell over and over again before collapsing back onto the cot to stare at the bars on her prison door, the only other thing to look at.

Chrysalis seethed quietly, forcing her steadily tapping hoof to be still.

Why is she doing this?

She mulled silently to herself as she rose once again, the guards outside her door accustomed to her sporadic pacing by now. Clearly, she was developing cabin fever; the dreadful wench must have planned it, giving her a little extra energy to watch her burn out a little slower. That must have been it. Chrysalis gnawed her lower lip as her brows furrowed, her steps quickening as she walked wall to wall. Insufferable though she was, Cadance must have been far cleverer than she anticipated – evidently they wished to drag out her imprisonment for as long as possible. It might have even been that they were going to wait for her to go absolutely mad. It happened to lesser ponies that were locked away by themselves for too long, ponies that nopony else would talk to.

And the reason the guards wouldn't talk to her was because they were definitely trying to drive her batty. Not because she bit two of them and harassed them literally every opportunity she got. That had to be it.

Chrysalis growled furiously under her breath, spitting vile curses on all of their mothers. Fortunately, she didn't say it so loudly that she couldn't hear the creak of her cell door, causing her to freeze mid-pace.

“... Good morning,” the familiar pink alicorn cleared her throat, the armed and armored pegasi at her side standing at attention as she entered seemingly without caution. “Did you sleep well?”

Foolish filly.

“You know full well that I would prefer to sleep on a bed of spikes rather than that meager plank you call a cot,” Chrysalis spat, green eyes narrowing dangerously. However, she remained perfectly still, even though one hoof was still an inch off the cool floor.

“Right,” the princess nodded to her guards once with a determined, if albeit slightly frustrated look. “Positions.”

And with that the two mares were left alone in the cell, the heavy clunking latch resounding loudly throughout the room.

“No, please, make yourself at home,” Chrysalis deadpanned as Cadance sat on the edge of the cot, hooves folded professionally. Chrysalis also made a note to finally and inconspicuously lower her hoof to the floor, leveling a glower at the pink mare instead. “Can I get you anything, your highness? A cup of tea, perhaps?”

“There's no need to be snide,” Cadance frowned, meeting the changeling's angry glare at last. “I've come to speak with you about important matters.”

“No, no, I insist,” the queen of changelings mewled in a mocking, simpering tone. “I like to welcome my guests, how about a lovely bottle of wine-”

“Chrysalis, if you aren't going to take this seriously, I can just leave.” Cadance's reaction was curt, quick, and sharp, but she didn't sound the least bit angry. For some reason this only served to irritate Chrysalis even further, but she refused to give the mare the satisfaction of seeing it. She bit her black lip, ears flattening against her head.

“If you're here to discuss the terms of my surrender, don't even bother,” Chrysalis fumed. “I have no army to command, no spoils to plunder, no-”

“Actually,” Cadance interrupted with a small frown. “I'm here to negotiate your freedom.”

For all that she tried, Chrysalis couldn't quite bring herself to speak. She tried, certainly, but although she opened and closed her mouth several times, nothing came out. She snapped her jaw tightly shut afterwards, brows furrowing once more.

“Alright. I give up,” she harrumphed, almost tempted to resume her pacing. “Who put you up to it? Was it Shining Armor? He seems like the type to try it, I should have known he'd love to see me mindfu-”

“Nopony put me up to anything,” the princess's face was a blank mask, and difficult to read, which Chrysalis unconsciously found herself matching. “It isn't a trick, I'm not pulling your leg. It was a heavily discussed matter, and now I am taking action.”

“... I see,” Chrysalis's mouth shifted tightly from one side to the other as the gears turned. “I see. So, what's the catch?”

Cadance blinked.

“Catch?”

“There's always a catch,” the changeling queen finally gave in to the impulse to continue pacing, eyes locked firmly onto the mare before her. “So what is it that you want in return? You want my help? Something only I can accomplish? You want me to impersonate somepony important? Is it a suicide mission? It's a suicide mission, isn't it? Was I right? What is it that you want? Forgeries? Theft? Espionage? Assassination?”

“No!” belted Cadance immediately, standing so swiftly that Chrysalis froze once again. “No! Good heavens, no!”

“Then what do you want?” she scowled angrily, turning fully to the princess. “If it's not-”

“Do you want to be locked in here for the rest of your days?”

Chrysalis bored a hole in her with her gaze.

“... Stop interrupting me.”

“Answer the question.” Cadance didn't move an inch. She didn't so much as blink.

“... No.”

“No, you won't answer the question?”

“No, I... don't want to be locked in here any longer.”

“I'm glad we're finally on the same page,” Cadance said with an almost inaudible sigh. “But you are right.”

“That you're playing mind games with me?” the changeling's eyes narrowed to slits.

“No, I-”

“That there's a catch?”

“No. That I- that we want your help,” Cadance nodded curtly.

Chrysalis looked at Cadance. Then she looked the very heavy door with the bland iron bars set in it. Then she looked to the impenetrable wall, to the door again, and finally back to Cadance.

“I'm waiting for you to say that you're joking,” Chrysalis spoke at last. “Please tell me you are. Because if that were my only choice, I would rather-”

“Remain locked in an uncomfortable boring cell for the rest of your life?” Cadance finished with a tiny smug smile.

Chrysalis didn't seem to have a response to that.

“So is that a yes or a no?” Cadance checked an invisible watch on one hoof. “Because if not, there are always contingency plans in place.”

So that's it. I'm merely a matter of convenience.

“Yes,” Chrysalis shot as quickly as she could, with more malice than intended. “Yes, yes, fine. Whatever it is, just fine. I'll go on your stupid suicide mission for you. One more day in here and I've have done it myself anyway.”

“There's no suicide mission,” Cadance tried to reassure her in a surprisingly disconcerted tone.

“Then what aren't you telling me?” she threw up a holed hoof in exasperation.

Cadance cleared her throat uncomfortably after a long pause.

“When you were – when we cast the changeling repulsion spell,” Cadance began to explain. “That ejected literally every changeling away from Canterlot for miles.”

“I know,” Chrysalis snarked. “I was there.”

“It dispelled any and every illusion created by you and your kind,” she continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. “All of them.”

“... And?” Chrysalis rolled a hoof through the air impatiently. The fact that the princess was clearly uncomfortable gave her a small bit of satisfaction, which she was glad to latch on to.

“And... not every changeling that happened to be in the surrounding area was one of your personal minions.”

“... And?” she stared at Cadance as if she were being stupid on purpose. “Any foal could have told you that.”

“We – nopony knew,” Cadance cleared her throat uneasily, finally looking back at the queen of changelings. “For a long while it was widely believed that any changeling alive was directly under your influence.”

“... That's stupid. You're stupid.”

“Chrysalis-”

“I am a Queen,” she demanded. “You have no right to rule! I will not tolerate-”

Chrysalis didn't have much more time to demand anything in particular, as the room seemed to... shrink when Princess Cadance rose.

“Enough!” Cadance drew herself to her full height, wings flaring once to their full span. Even though she was a full head shorter than Chrysalis, even though the duchess of deceit should have easily been able to overpower her if she wished, Chrysalis suddenly found herself feeling very, very small in a room that for some reason felt much, much too dark than it should have been.

Although she would not admit it, for a tiny, brief moment, Chrysalis felt afraid.

And just like that, it was over.

Cadance's face seemed to sag a little with weariness, and the lines under her eyes showed just how little she'd slept. Chrysalis said nothing for what felt like an eternity, opting instead to wait for a reaction from the pink mare.

“... Chrysalis,” Cadance said tiredly, “There are a very large number of changelings that have rejected anything to do with you or claim to have never even known of your influence in the first place.”

For some reason, this stung a little.

“Even in the Crystal Empire, we have changelings flocking here in droves,” Cadance went on. “From all over the place.”

“For what?” Chrysalis asked finally, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“For safety,” she rubbed her temples. “For parlay. Requesting food. Protection. Leadership. Citizenship, if you can believe it. Changelings.”

“You speak as if changelings aren't even ponies at all,” Chrysalis answered very, very quietly.

Cadance's nostrils flared.

“That's not what I meant,” she groaned, pinching her nostrils as her wings drew in tightly. “Chrysalis, we have got a royal problem on our hooves.”

“And you want me to take care of it for you?”

“I want to help you,” Cadance stood abruptly, with an unexpected amount of vigor. “I don't want to see you withering away in here when you could be out there doing something... good.”

Foolish filly. You... naive, foolish little filly.

“Good,” Chrysalis repeated faintly, not realizing that she had been staring. “Doing good.”

“I believe that you're capable of it, yes,” she nodded once.

“I threw you in a pit. Do you even realize-”

“They're starving,” Cadance grew a little louder. “From being constantly shunned almost everywhere they go. Loads and loads of them, like ponies on a pilgrimage, begging for help, and they're starving!”

“So am I!” Chrysalis said even louder. “What did you think-”

A couple of swift raps at the door silenced them both, leaving each of them to discover just how tense the other had become.

“Your highness?” one of the guards asked through the bars.

Cadance took one glance toward them, giving a long, drawn out sigh.

“... Will you let me help you?” Cadance offered an upturned hoof toward the changeling queen. “Regardless of whatever happened before. Will you let me help them? Will you let me help you? Just this once?”

It was silent in the chamber for a very, very long time.

Nopony moved. Nopony even breathed.

Chrysalis slowly, cautiously, ever so gently took the princess's pink hoof in her own, the black ones almost enveloping hers entirely.

Naive, foolish little filly.

Although which of them she meant, Chrysalis wasn't really sure anymore.