The Queen was moping.

She had been moping for a while now. And pacing.

Yes, she had recovered from her failure. Most of her Changelings had returned safely, a few still healing worse wounds. The hive was back to normal, and life went on. True, it was a little harder to find food now that the ponies were on alert, but they were kind of stupid.

But none of that was the reason.

The reason was that little rat, Shining Armor.

For once in a millennia, she had been able to feed freely from true, unfaltering love. And damn, it had been good while it lasted. It had been such a long time since...

Chrysalis flinched, almost missing a step. Her heart. The one thing that made her able to be Queen, to find even the smallest amounts of compassion across Equestria.

It hurt.

She lay down with a sigh, rubbing her forehead with one hoof. "Damn that fool." She hissed. "Damn that stupid love potion..."