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.