Queen Chrysalis fumed in her private chambers.

But this wasn’t her normal fuming when one of her perfect plans went awry. This was a special kind of fuming brought on by the most infuriating of circumstances. The kind where her love repositories churned in ceaseless unrest, the kind where that vein in your neck that pops popped. Her breathing was shallow and heavy all at the same time as she sat at her writing desk, a dull and throbbing headache invading her very mind. Her eyes felt as if they reflected the inferno that conflagrated her brain.

This wasn’t the proper humor for a Queen, though. She put a hoof to her chest and took a deep breath, thinking of happy things—like puppies and rainbows and flowers. That seemed to work for a moment, until she snapped the puppies’ necks, stomped on all of the flowers, and ripped the rainbow clear out of the sky and murdered it. Chrysalis clenched her jaw and smashed her kerosene lamp under her hoof, the bits and pieces migrating to various parts of her room as a new bolt flashed through her. She glanced at where the lamp used to be, seeing her dilated pupils in an errant piece of glass that hadn’t gotten the message and laid there, taunting her. She exhaled what felt like a plume of smoke, grasped the glass in her magic, and compressed it until it was nothing more than fine powder. Somewhat satisfied, she released the dust and watched it fall to the floor.

She briefly awoke from her mad angriness to reflect on just how difficult it was to obtain that kerosene lamp. Her and a detachment of changelings had run a raid on a freight train in the dead of night. It was very difficult to keep track of them because they blended in rather well with the darkness. A wry grin snuck onto her face as she took pride in the fact that changelings hid well in dimly lit conditions. Still, it made night operations rather troublesome unless everyone was on point.

And on point they were! Her elite unit and her had knocked out the guards before they even had a ghost of an idea that they were indeed being knocked out, giving them ample time to rifle through the train. The others grabbed dumb things like clothing and art, but Chrysalis in her infinite wisdom had the good sense to grab the shiniest thing of all: the kerosene lamp which she had just smashed underhoof.

This sparked an idea in her mind. If smashing something of personal value had alleviated her aggression, maybe other things would? Chrysalis glanced at her writing desk. She couldn’t very well smash that; she needed somewhere to sit and feel important. She pushed herself out of the chair and ambled tensely around her quarters, appraising the breakability of her valuables.

Her bed might make nice sounds, but it felt like that would take too much effort. The mirror would create a delicious feeling if she broke it; she had broken thousands of mirrors in her years. But it was so much trouble replacing them, so she kept her hunt up.

Then she laid eyes on it. The perfect breaky-thing, looming right above her: Cadance’s chandelier. Well, her previous chandelier. Chrysalis was pretty sure it had been replaced after she stole this one from that stupid alicorn’s bedchambers while she was sleeping. Her eyes sparkled as she reflected upon how easy it was to steal something when the guards thought you were removing your own chandelier from your bedroom while you were sleeping.

She also found out that guards weren’t exactly selected for their intelligence.

Still, the holocaust churning in her very being refused to yield. The chandelier had to go for her mental welfare. Chrysalis grasped the ceiling mount and tugged with all of her might, the magical exercise reinforcing her ire. She pulled and pulled, no longer mad as her previous target but now at the stupid chandelier for refusing to budge. This might require a bit more horngrease than she had estimated.

Chrysalis braced herself and screamed, her voice echoing around her room as she pulled with all of her might, a bead of sweat joining in from her forehead to watch the show. Finally, she felt some give and took her chance to yank the light fixture from the ceiling and watch it tumble to the ground. It hit the floor with a roar as glass broke and wood snapped, the cacophony of destruction veritable music to her ears. She smiled at the massive yet quick phosphorescent massacre she had just committed. Chrysalis supposed she actually had murdered a rainbow, in a sense.

Now she was satisfied.

Chrysalis heard a knock at the door. “Come in,” she said breathily.

Her door creaked as a changeling peeked in. “Is it safe?”

“Yes, it’s safe.” Chrysalis exhaled. “Just releasing some tension, Unter.”

Unter sighed extraneously as he entered the room. “Alright. Good. For a second there I thought you were worked up over me eating the last of the cookies.”

A fresh wound tore into Chrysalis as she slammed Unter into the wall. “That was you! I knew it you little—”

She glared at Unter, who was currently shivering as much as her arcane grip would let him. He probably thought she was going to kill him or something dumb like that. Pony propaganda was rather effective, especially to emotivores—not that the ponies knew that. She sincerely hoped they didn’t know that. That was under her list of things that would be bad for ponies to know.

“Listen, Unter, I’m not going to kill you.”

“T-that’s good.” He didn’t believe her.

“No, really, I’m not. I have a better use for you, though,” Chrysalis said.

Unter gulped. “Oh dear.

“I don’t think stealing cookies from Sugarcube Corner is such a good idea, Chry—”

“Amethyst Star!” Chrysalis hissed. “And you’re Raindrops.”

“F-fine, Amethyst Star,” Unter whispered. “I don’t think stealing cookies from Sugarcube corner in the dead of night is such a good idea. Couldn’t I just pretend to be a Canterlot pony and buy them in the daytime? When it’s not dark outside?”

Chrysalis smacked Unter upside of his head. “Everyone knows stolen cookies taste better. Now get going; do well and you’ll get an extra serving of daffodils when we get back.”

“...I do like me some daffodils.” Unter gulped and expertly stole inside the shop, Chrysalis gratified as how sneaky Unter was.

He’s nothing if not well-trained.