"Anon, shut that door this instant!" Celestia exclaimed, her voice nearing royal Canterlot levels.

"You're being a reckless idiot!" Twilight shouted.

"Anon, she's still dangerous!" Javelin added, rushing toward the cell door.

"She's starving to death. We don't have time to argue this." Anon replied, stepping into the cell.

With now unimpeded access to the changeling queen, Anon suddenly felt the weight of his decision catching up with him. He froze for a moment, his eyes glued to the unconscious Chrysalis, with nothing between them but open air. He took a deep breath and swallowed back his nerves, before stepping into the cell, much to Celestia, Twilight, and Javelin's dismay. He cautiously made his way over to the equine creature, each step echoing in the deathly silent room.

Finally, he reached her side just as Javelin arrived at the cell door, his horn already glowing white hot. Anon carefully crouched down beside her, his hands hovering awkwardly above her chitinous form. After a moment to ponder his next move, he lightly pushed her wither, rolling her over slightly, only for her body to roll back over to its resting place. He pursed his lips as he brought one hand over to her head and snapped his fingers next to her ear. The appendage did not respond to the audio stimuli.

"Uh... Chrysalis?" Anon asked, his voice coming out small, yet deafening in that silent hall.

Again, no response. Anon slowly placed his hand on her barrel, and immediately did a double take at the softness of her chitin there, compared to her wither. It didn't feel like a a hard exoskeleton at all, in fact, it felt much more akin to pony skin, only without the fur. Anon suppressed his surprise as he searched for her heartbeat, and find it he did. Twice.

Anon did yet another double take at the presence of two beating hearts inside the changeling Queen's chest. He reached further forward, his hand coming under her foreleg and brushing up against yet another startling trait of the changeling queen. Her chest was covered in a thin layer of soft, black fur. The feeling caught him so off guard, that he jumped as he felt her elytra involuntarily opening. Anon nearly fell to his back, but Chrysalis kept him from falling with her foreleg hooked over his hand.

Javelin instantly aimed and prepared to unload a barrage of magical energy bolts at the sight of potential foul play from the changeling queen, but Anon quickly held up a hand to stay his attacks. As he looked down at her slightly open elytra, he saw her surprisingly beautiful wings, neatly folded inside and semitransparent. However, what truly held his attention, was the look of relief on the changeling's face as she came to and looked up to him, her intimidating green eyes conveying nothing but gratitude.

"Uh... a-alright, Chrysalis... you get one meal... and that's it." Anon announced, trying his hardest not to stutter.

"That's all... I need." Chrysalis responded, quietly.

Anon silently nodded and observed as the changeling queen slowly opened her mouth. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge as he saw row after row of fangs in the changeling queen's maw, and the long, forked, green tongue between them. He gulped in anticipation of her next move, but nothing could quite prepare him for the sensation of love being siphoned from his body, nor the sight of the pink mist suddenly being pulled from his chest.

On instinct, Anon clasped a hand over his chest in an attempt to halt the flow of pink escaping him, but the mist simply phased right through his hand and funneled straight into Chrysalis's jaws. Once he knew he could not stop the flow of love, he simply observed as the queen fed from him. Strangely enough, he felt almost nothing aside from a slight tickling sensation on his chest.

The seconds ticked by while the queen fed, and all eyes focused on her and the volume of love she was ingesting. With perilously little information to go off of with regards to changeling eating habits or portion sizes, the two alicorns found themselves increasingly concerned as the feeding continued well past ten seconds, then twenty, and finally thirty.

"Alright, I think she's had enough!" Celestia shouted.

Albeit after a moment of hesitation, Chrysalis closed her jaw and licked her lips as the last of the love mist returned to Anon's chest. Only a second later, he fell down to a sitting position and rubbed the spot where the love was drained from.

"Huh... well that was certainly somethin'." Anon muttered, pressing against one of his pectorals in an experimental fashion.

"It's not meant to be painful, if that's what you were worried about." Chrysalis replied, sounding much more alive already.

"Anon, get out of there." Celestia ordered.

Casting a glance up to his wife and the rest of the ponies in the room, he gave a hesitant nod and pushed himself to his feet. He staggered slightly as he made his way to the door, but quickly regained his balance and headed out, allowing Javelin to slam the door shut behind him. Almost the second he was clear, he was pulled into an embrace by Celestia.

"Are you okay?" She questioned, they worry in her eyes just barely overshadowing her anger.

"She didn't take too much from you, did she?" Javelin pressed.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a little dazed, but I already feel better." Anon replied, happily returning the embrace.

"That makes two of us." Chrysalis spoke up, suddenly sounding much more calm and like herself.

All eyes darted back to the changeling queen as she sat upright on her haunches. She gave Anon a grateful smile, before looking back to Celestia and Twilight.

"I only took what I needed to stave off starvation for a few days. I have no intention of hurting the prince." She announced, bowing her head ever so slightly.

Celestia pursed her lips before looking back to Anon and unfurling a wing to give them some privacy from the changeling queen, "I have half a mind to smack you. What the hay were you thinking!?" She whisper-shouted

"Tia, she was passed out! Clearly she's not getting any food in here and she was already starving when we got her yesterday. I just... it just felt like the right thing to do. I didn't have time to think about it." Anon defensively replied.

"She could have been faking! She could have taken you hostage!" Celestia shot back.

"Well that's what you, Twilight, and Javelin are for, isn't it?" Anon rebutted, "You know, I can also take care of myself too. I can do shit like this. I'm not helpless." He continued, a smidge of resentment boiling over in his voice.

Celestia pinched her brow and let out a sigh, "Honey, I know you're capable... but that was reckless. You can't just throw yourself into situations like that, you just can't." She explained.

Anon let out a huff as Celestia furled her wing and turned to Chrysalis, "Why didn't you feed on the ambient love of Canterlot? Why let yourself get to this point?" She demanded, narrowing her eyes at the changeling queen.

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, "You locked me in a cage, who knows how many hundreds of hooves underground, and completely surrounded me with ponies that hate me. What ambient love are you even talking about down here?"

Celestia opened her mouth to reply, but quickly found that she had no answers. Her ears splayed back against her skull as her gaze fell to the floor.

"For what it's worth, we don't know what kind of distance you can feed from. Changeling biology is still very foreign to us." Twilight offered.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, "Regardless, we were discussing something before my little... episode, were we not?" she asked, in a bid to change the conversation.

Celestia sighed, "Y-yes... you were just telling us what exactly you're offering us in exchange for providing... food for your kind." She replied.

Chrysalis nodded, "Right. As a ruler of a prosperous nation, I'm sure you're well inclined to know about the threats present to your nation within a certain perimeter, correct?"

Celestia subtly chewed her tongue for just a moment, "We are well aware of threats to our borders, if that's what your implying."

Chrysalis grinned, "But just how far out does your intelligence reach? I know there aren't more than a hoofful of ponies outside Equestria's borders, and your allies aren't exactly in any place to lend a helping hoof, should something happen..." She trailed off.

Celestia's brow furrowed, "Just what the hay are you getting at? Our allies might not be quite as strong as us in the region, but they have strengths elsewhere. As for scope, we have allies all the way to Hippogriffia." She rebutted, an indignant undertone in her voice.

Chrysalis's grin widened, "Oh, you haven't heard?" She asked, with faux surprise.

Celestia grit her teeth, "Heard what?" She demanded.

"That Queen Novo has been defeated and disappeared, along with the entirety of the hippogriff race." Chrysalis replied.

Celestia stepped back as she'd been physically struck. Her jaw opened ever so slightly, words desperately trying to form but finding no purchase, "I-I... w-what are you talking about!?"

Chrysalis shrugged, "I suppose long distance relationships aren't exactly your strong suite, Princess. Half the world knows by now." She answered, matter-of-factly.

Celestia leveled a glare at the changeling queen, "You're lying."

Chrysalis scoffed, "And why would I lie about that? What do I get from it? After I just answered all your questions and you know I have no ill intent against you. You only don't know because you keep ninety nine percent of your ponies sheltered behind Equestria's borders. As for the rest of us, skulking out in the badlands and such, we've known since the day it happened. Which does bring me to what I'm offering, by the way. You know, if you're still curious and all." She responded.

Celestia let out a quiet huff, "How?"

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, "How? How, what?"

"How was Queen Novo defeated?" Celestia asked.

"Ah, ah, ah," Chrysalis tutted, "You see, that is exactly the information I'm offering. I've had changelings down at Mount Aris for years and I could tell you exactly who, what, and why he attacked the Hippogriffs, but only if we have a deal." She explained.

Celestia scoffed, "It would go a long way, in helping convince not just me, but my sister, husband, and Twilight, if you told us everything we need to know about this threat immediately."

"I could tell you his name. I could tell you his species, his weaknesses, and I could even tell you whether or not Equestria is next on his chopping block... but how do I know you'll ensure my subjects are fed and not treated as prisoners after the fact?" Chrysalis responded.

"You are our prisoner, Chrysalis, and your surrendering only makes the rest of your hive prisoners of war, for the moment." Celestia replied.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, "Yes, but I am offering you information that would be vital to the protection and longevity of your kingdom, as well as changeling infiltrators that can gather more intelligence on threats to Equestria before they happen. You have a nasty problem with threats just appearing on your doorstep well before you know they're coming, you know that, right?"

Celestia pursed her lips and stared at the small grin on the changeling Queen's face. After a few moments, she felt Anon's hand on her wither, and she turned to look at him.

"We don't need to decide right this second. We should talk with Luna first, and decide from there." Anon offered, quietly.

Celestia let out a sigh, "You're right," She said with a grateful nod, before turning back to Chrysalis, "I will inform my sister of what you've told us and we will all discuss this matter tonight. We'll come to a decision by tomorrow."

Chrysalis gave a thankful nod before laying back down on her mattress as Anon, Celestia, Javelin, and Twilight exited the cell. Swan ushered them all outside, ensuring to close the door behind her, before letting out a low whistle.

"Well that was certainly something." Swan announced, slowly shaking her head.

"Aside from that little misunderstanding of when it's appropriate to take a risk, I think it went rather well." Celestia replied, giving a subtle glare to her husband.

Swan chuckled, "As long as nopony got hurt, I suppose everything went okay." She offered.

Celestia sighed, "Indeed. We have much to discuss with Luna, so I imagine we will be either waking her up early, or coming to a decision late into the night."

"Well, good luck with that, Princess. We'll keep Chrysalis locked up until you say otherwise." Swan replied, giving a quick salute.

"Thank you, Swan. hopefully we'll have the situation sorted rather quickly." Celestia returned the salute, giving a tired smile.

With that, the group made their way out of the prison and back to the lift leading out of the crystal caverns. They swiftly found themselves walking through the halls of the castle and toward the throne room once again. As they proceeded, Javelin found his way over to Anon's side, and gave him a curious look.

"So... what did getting fed off of feel like?" He asked, quietly.

Anon shook his head, "Sooooooooo fucking weird, bro. Like... it didn't hurt or anything, but I could feel that something was being drained out of me. In a weird way, it almost felt kind of... good? I guess? It's hard to explain." He admitted.

Javelin smirked, "So what you're saying is, you like being drained dry?"

Anon rolled his eyes and playfully smacked the back of Javelin's head, "You know, I think we worked that stick too far out of your ass. Now you're all jokes on duty and I barely see you outside of work. Your switch got flipped."

Javelin gave an apologetic shrug, "I know, and I'm sorry about that. Trying to move in with Raven has been a hassle and there's been a lot going on since we got engaged. Good news, is that she's going to see her parents this weekend, so I have all that time to hang out if you can sneak away for a bit." He offered, noting the rising excitement in Anon's eyes.

Twilight gawked at the guard and human beside her, "Anon, Sergeant... you do realize we have Chrysalis to deal with, right? Don't you think she takes priority over a weekend of drinking, or whatever it is you two get up to in your free time?"

Anon practically scowled at the little purple alicorn ,"Twiggles, I haven't been able to drink with my best friend in over a month. A month! We'll get the love-bug situation sorted by tomorrow. Last I checked, this weekend is not tomorrow, so pump the breaks there, kiddo. Let uncle Anon and his buddy have a few cold ones to celebrate this huge ass victory we've basically already won."

"We haven't won quite yet, honey," Celestia said, over her wither, "You might want to put a hold on the celebratory drinking until we've actually agreed on terms. We have a call to make tonight that I'm not sure how it will go." She sighed.

"What call?" Anon asked, giving Celestia a curious look.

"Cadence." Celestia replied, before nodding to the two guards standing beside the throne room doors.

The massive wooden doors were swiftly opened for the group as they arrived and found Raven sitting beside the throne, her magic holding a quill and parchment. She furiously scribbled away on the paper, her eyes never leaving its edges, even to acknowledge the arrival of the princess of the sun.

"There you all are. Princess, I've got over three hundred requests to know what the situation is with Chrysalis. The nobles are demanding to know why she's imprisoned here and not Tartarus." Raven announced, her quill never ceasing in its scribbles.

Celestia's brow furrowed ever so slightly, "Because we're still interrogating her. At least, we were. I believe we've gleaned enough information to make an informed decision with regards to her future. I'll tell the nobles that we'll have a decision by tomorrow." She replied.

Raven nodded, "Very good, Prin-wait... by tomorrow? Isn't that a little soon?" She asked, finally looking up from her parchment and adjusting her glasses with her hoof.

Celestia nodded, "Indeed, but we don't have much time to delay. However, before I come to a decision, I need to send a letter. I don't suppose you've heard anything about the hippogriffs, have you?"

The moon sat high in the night sky, sending streaks of white light into the small conference room Celestia, Anon, Twilight, and Luna inhabited. The open windows allowed a cool breeze to gently flow into the room, though the soft breeze did little to calm the frantic look in Celestia's eyes.

"I can't believe it... They're gone. Completely wiped off the face of Eques... How-who could even do that?" Celestia questioned, pacing back and forth.

The crystal hologram projection sitting on the table between them all, showed Cadence and Shining Armor in their own castle in the Crystal Empire, both of their brows furrowed in thought as they pondered over the news they'd just been informed of.

"At least this means Chrysalis was telling the truth... again. At this rate, she's going to have a better track record than we do." Luna huffed, blowing a strand of her ethereal mane from her face.

Celestia frowned at the remark but kept her pacing.

"Hun, you need to stop doing that. It's not good for you, or the baby." Anon placated, having had enough of watching his wife pace a trench into the floor.

Celestia snorted, "Oh, don't you start with me, Anon. After what you put me through today, you don't get to tell me not to stress about something." She barked.

Anon quickly took the point and let out a sigh, "I already said I was sorry. There was no time to think of a better plan!" He exclaimed.

Luna shook her head, "I must admit, I'm not happy with you either, Nonny. That said, we have more important things to focus on." She admonished.

Anon sunk further into his plush chair as Cadence cleared her throat and addressed the group.

"While what Anon did is a bit reckless, Auntie Luna's right. We have to focus. Auntie Celestia, that means you need to sit down and discuss with us." She offered, shooting an expectant look toward her aunt.

"This is part of my process!" Celestia exclaimed, an indignant look on her face.

Anon sighed, "Hun, you're pulling a Twilight right now." He said, pointedly ignoring the offended look Twilight sent his way.

Celestia huffed, "Fine." She admitted defeat, making her way over to her chair and sitting down. Her sore legs gratefully accepted the relief as the weight was taken off and her belly rested between her haunches. The ever-present soreness in her back lessened just a tad at the sudden relief, and she let out a small sigh as she sat down properly.

"There we go. Now, as for the Chrysalis situation... we know that she doesn't want to hurt anypony. That's... honestly a fantastic start. Did she say anything about the intelligence she's offering, other than it's what wiped out the hippogriffs?" Cadence questioned, looking to everyone in the group, one by one.

"She said she would tell us if we agreed to her terms." Celestia replied.

Cadence blew a strand of her mane out of her face, "Well she's not really in a proper position to negotiate, is she?"

Luna sighed, "Unfortunately, she somewhat is. Chrysalis knows Equestria's defenses well. She has to, for having remained undetected for centuries while still feeding off of ponies every so often. She knows that we don't have great ties with most of our neighbors at the moment, and therefore, little intelligence from outside our borders. Some of our neighbors could be plotting to attack and we wouldn't know until they were already at our borders. With our own countermeasures for detecting changelings, we can find them, given enough time. Our nonmagical or magically limited neighbors on the other hoof? Zero chance unless the changeling in disguise is an awful infiltrator and is summarily caught. That level of intelligence gathering would be extraordinarily valuable." She admitted.

"Are you suggesting we spy on our neighbors? That's a massive breach of trust with governments that would result in potential war if the changelings were caught." Twilight balked.

"Decisions like this have to be made, Twilight Sparkle. You're naïve if you think our enemies haven't tried to spy on us every chance they've had. Besides, do you think I'm even suggesting we just randomly throw spies at our neighbors?" Luna glared at the purple alicorn.

"Well which ones would you even have these changeling spies go to then? If it's literally any of our allies, then you'd be breaking their trust in us forever." Twilight reasoned, shrinking into her seat slightly at the lunar princess's glare.

"I'm not suggesting we use them to spy on any of our allies. I said 'neighbors'. We do share a border with several nations that would consider us enemies. Spying on them, I am more than comfortable with." Luna replied.

"All this talk about spying depends entirely on if we accept Chrysalis's offer in the first place," Celestia interrupted, "Which, mind you, is the more pertinent issue at the moment. We can decide whether or not to use spies at all after the fact, what's more useful now is the intelligence she actually already has. If we decide to accept her terms, that information will be vital with regards to deciding what to do about the threat that attacked the hippogriffs. However, none of that matters if the ponies of Equestria completely reject this news and try to burn her at the stake the moment we release her from that cage." She explained, a tired look in her eyes.

Cadence shared a look with her husband while the ponies in the room dipped their heads in thought. A few moments passed by in silence as the group thought over what to do, before Cadence looked back into the room, her gaze flicking over to Anon for a moment. She noticed that unlike everyone else in the room, he was staring out the window, his finger idly tracing a small circle on his chest.

"Anon?" She asked, gaining his attention.

"Hmm?" Anon responded, snapping out of his stupor and looking up to her.

"Are you alright? You've been uncharacteristically quiet so far." She replied, tilting her head to the side.

Anon shrugged, "I mean... I dunno. I don't really have anything to say at the moment." He admitted.

"No insights that we don't have at the moment? Didn't you gain any new perspective from when Chrysalis fed off of you today?" Cadence pressed.

"I mean, it was a rushed decision, but I don't think I got any special insight out of it other than it feels really weird. Not painful or anything, but just really strange. Kinda hard to describe, if I'm being honest." Anon replied, shrugging again.

"Well, that is actually useful to an extent. It would help convince our ponies not to fear the changelings too much if they knew that their feeding was a harmless affair." Luna reasoned.

"Combine that with the fact that feeding off of ambient love is even less intrusive than what Chrysalis did to Anon, and I think you might be able to convince them to at the very least, not completely panic." Twilight offered.

Cadence tapped her chin in thought while Shining leaned in toward the crystal, "Just be careful around her. Don't forget that she can cast a spell on you to alter your mind." He cautioned.

The gathered group shared a nod, "We can do daily check-ups to ensure no mind control whatsoever is being attempted." Twilight acknowledged.

"I suppose that does make that point decided then. We'll accept her surrender, explain to our ponies that they won't be fed off of directly, and that their lives shouldn't change at all, and then we'll decide what to do with the intelligence Chrysalis has given after the fact." Luna stated, looking to the rest of the group for approval.

Another round of nods rang through the group before Celestia spoke up, "That leaves just one final issue. Who will be watching Chrysalis and ensuring she doesn't do anything she shouldn't?"

"Couldn't we just... take turns?" Anon offered.

"There's going to be a political nightmare from this announcement, the fallout of which, we'll be dealing with for weeks at best. Luna and I have our own royal duties to attend to, as well as the upcoming births of our foals. As much as I hate to admit it... we aren't the best choices for this." Celestia admitted, a small frown on her muzzle.

"What about Twilight?" Luna asked.

"Twilight is returning to Ponyville next week, sister. Not to mention, Chrysalis is particularly disgruntled with her since Twilight was the one who saw through her disguise at the wedding. Pairing them up would create a very hostile environment." Celestia shook her head, not noticing the pensive look in Twilight's eyes.

Once again, Cadence found her eyes drawn to Anon as he quietly sat in his chair, rolling his tongue in his mouth.

"Anon? What about you?" Cadence asked, drawing all eyes to the human in question.

"Huh? Me?" Anon asked, surprised.

"Yes, you. Think about it, you came to this world an outsider and managed to fit in and become a loved member of our family. Chrysalis isn't quite so different. She's an outsider who wronged us, but now, at least as far as we can tell, she's trying to make it right." Cadence reasoned.

Celestia and Luna both opened their mouths to protest, but were cut off as Cadence continued, "Remember, at the moment, she looks as ponies as 'others', instead of a part of her tribe. This deal might ensure peace for now, sure, but there's always that possibility that down the line, she decides to change back to her old ways. This deal is how we can make her good, but true integration is the only way that she stays good, going forward. Honestly, I think Anon is the prefect fit for this. He's a literal alien to us and Chrysalis is quite the same in many ways. There's already a shared experience there that almost no other pony in the world can comprehend." She elaborated, giving a subtle glance to Luna.

A few moments passed as the group digested the love princesses words. It took less than a minute for Twilight to decide and nod in affirmation, quickly followed by a hesitant nod from Luna, and lastly by a resigned nod from Celestia. All that left, was the lone human sitting among them, all eyes suddenly on him as he contemplated what exactly he would be undertaking.

"You did say that you wanted more responsibilities, honey, but just know that the choice is very much yours." Celestia kindly offered.

After carefully considering his options, and letting out a sigh of acceptance, Anon nodded, "Alright, fuck it. When do we tell press?"

Decisions, decisions... hope ya'll liked that one. There will be something of a political shitstorm to follow, be sure of that lol.