"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble." -Plautus

"The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love." -Hubert H. Humphrey

Chrysalis awoke in searing pain. Her head was pounding. Her chest was burning. She felt like she went ten rounds with a manticore. The flickering of torch light drew her attention away from the pain. In looking around, Chrysalis found that she was still inside her dark, depressing cell. A quick look through the iron bars held no image of the captain of the royal guard. Chrysalis turned her head to look at the small cot in the cell.

It was the only thing offering any respite from the pain. It practically begged to be lied upon, like it was calling her name. The changeling rose off the ground. Just getting onto her hooves was a struggle. Her legs wobbled terribly, and she felt light headed whenever she moved.

Chrysalis laid down. The cot instantly greeted her with a rough softness. Unfortunately it wasn't much better than the ground in the comfort department. Chrysalis sighed deeply.  All she could do now was sit and wait around for something to occur.

The changeling had tried to sleep, but to no avail.  She drank a gallon of water out of boredom, not ending well. She even resorted to playing with her mane to keep her mind occupied. Nothing worked. She was still bored. Worst of all, there was no clock, no window,and no way to tell the passage of time. Chrysalis had finally settled on staring at the ceiling, contemplating her life so far.

A set of hoof beats trotted down the hall. The changeling's ears perked up at the suddenly approaching sound. She lifted her head to peer out the cell. The cell opposite of Chrysalis had it's door open wide, like it was expecting a visitor. The torch light revealed two ponies walking to the open cell. One was a royal guard, as to be expected, but the other mare Chrysalis didn't recognize. She was a light blue-cyan, and her man was a lighter shade of cyan, with a streak of white running down the side. Her cutie mark puzzled Chrysalis though. It was a wand and crescent moon.

Chrysalis took a moment to examine the mare's face. She was obviously in disbelief, but looked hurt as well.

"There you go Trixie! Next time, don't forget to renew your street performing licence!" The jailer escorted Trixie into her cell and closed the gate on her. As soon as the Guard left, Trixie started to talk to herself, completely unawares of a certain changeling listening to her every word.

"Oh, why didn't the great, and apologetic Trixie just renew that stupid licence! They said next time was jail time, but did Trixie listen? NOOOO..." Chrysalis stared at the pony blankly. "Trixie just HAD to do that one last performance! A lot of good that did! Now Trixie is in jail!" The self conversation could have continued on like this for hours, until Chrysalis said something.

"You know your'e not alone right?" Trixie jumped at the sudden remark. "Who's there?" Chrysalis was sitting in the shadows, so it wasn't too hard to believe that she wasn't detected. The black chitin did it's best to hide her, as per usual. But Chrysalis wanted some company. The tall changeling (former) queen arose off of her bed, much to her muscle's complaints, and walked to the bars.

Trixie gasped and stepped back into the corner of her cell. "W-Who are you?" She barely stammered out.

"I WAS the changeling queen Chrysalis. Now, it's just Chrysalis." Trixie calmed down a bit. "Chrysalis? As in, THE Chrysalis? The changeling queen that moved to Ponyville?" Trixie seemed to relax a little at the mentioning of her name. Apparently this whole "I'm reformed and moving to Ponyville" business was a big deal in Equestria. Especially after she tried to invade Canterlot.

"No. I'm the one that sells clocks in Manehatten." Trixie rolled her eyes at the blatant sarcasm. "Wait, what do you mean, former?" Trixie raised an eyebrow.

"Former. I once ruled over all the changelings in the badlands. But after the failed invasion of Canterlot, I was axed from the throne by my sister," She spat the word 'sister' with enough venom to drop a rhino in its tracks, "Although I still technically am a queen. I just don't rule any pony anymore."

"Like a queen bee? But with no colony?" "Exactly."

The Day had worn on for hours. The changeling had been conversing with the show pony for all that time, much to the complaint of the other prisoners.

"...So THAT'S why you don't trust wheels! And I was starting to have my doubts about you..." the changeling said with a small, mocking grin. Trixie just laughed at her. "And the great, and apologetic Trixie can understand why hate Discord so much! He must have been just terrible." Chrysalis looked at the floor. "You have no idea..." Several awkward moments passed between the two, before Trixie spoke up.

"So why are you in here? I thought the princesses pardoned you. Being reformed and all."

"That they did, but my sister..." Chrysalis trailed off. Her face contorted from thought, first from regret, to anger, before finally settling on betrayal. "...she framed me for a murder. To have me out of the way, so she can negotiate with Celestia and the 'Canterlot Elite'." Chrysalis rolled her eyes at the mention of those high-and-mighty acting bastards.

"Oh." Trixie lowered her head. "Yikes."

Chrysalis lied back down on the welcoming cot. It's hard springs doing their best to hold the giant form of Chrysalis, doing their best to comfort her from the pain. Chrysalis soon fell asleep.

The dreamscape had reappeared. The table was shorter. There was no pink party mare this time, and strangely enough, no doppelganger. Just traces of another changeling's magic. "Wait..." Chrysalis looked closely at the remains of the magic. It was roughly changeling shaped, and had a hole burned clean through it. The chest was blackened from a bolt of magic, and It looked a lot like Chrysalis. "Pupae..."

"PUPAE." The realization hit chrysalis like a freight train. "PUUUUPAAAAAE!!!" Chrysalis slammed her hooves down on the table in a fit of soror-cidal rage. It cracked from the force, but didn't buckle. Her own sister had tried to drive her insane! She violated her mind! The one place never meant to be violated! Sure it could be deceived easily enough, Which Chrysalis had done on numerous occasions. But spells like that were outlawed for a reason! They messed you up, bad. But as much as Chrysalis tried to hate her sister, the only thing she felt was the pain of betrayal. She still felt something for her sister. She was her own sibling after all. How could she not care for her?

Chrysalis glared at the remnants with enough hate and disappointment to set them ablaze. A quick bolt of magic vaporized the thing, leaving nothing but ash. She stood victoriously over the table, when Chrysalis felt dizzy. She collapsed moments later.

Some guard slid some prison 'food' into Chrysalis' cell, waking her rudely. The word 'food' being used pretty loosely. Changeling slime would be envious of the sticky qualities of this muck. Chrysalis took the tray and wolfed down the 'food'. Trixie was up as well, holding a "I'm in deep thought don't disturb me" look about her. The guard made his rounds, then the great and apologetic Trixie spoke up.

"Hey, tell me something then, did you use any magic on the deceased's body?" Chrysalis cocked an eyebrow.

"No. Why?" Trixie perked up. "Because, that means that they can't prove that you did it! If they can't find any of your magical residue on the body, then your all in the clear!" Trixie grinned from ear to ear.

"Why is she so happy? She's not going anywhere soon." "Thanks kid. You just saved my hide. Or in my case, Chitin." Chrysalis rolled over onto her side.

CLICK. CLACK. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!! The iron bars on Chrysalis' cell opened loudly, alerting every pony in the dungeon. She rolled over on her cot to face the noise maker. Shining armor was standing there, with five guards in tow. She rolled over again to face the wall. "Its too early for this..." Her head felt as if it would implode at the slightest bump, and her muscles were starting a civil war with each other.

"Queen Chrysalis." Shining Armor's voice echoed across the entire dungeon. Other prisoners started to gripe about the noise level on this particular morning. She covered her head with a pillow.

"You can quit with the formalities captain. I'm no longer queen of anything." He seemed to ignore her as he rambled on.

"You are hereby being summoned into the Royal Canterlot Court to stand trial for foal napping and murder." Chrysalis started to shift in her cot. "This is the sentencing hearing. You will..." He was cut off when Chrysalis practically jumped off of her cot, his words finally clicking into place in her head. "Can we just get this over with? I don't have all day." The news that she might be able to go free set her heart ablaze. As she was leaving her cell, she nodded at a very tired Trixie.

Chrysalis was waiting outside the courtroom. The hearing would begin in five minutes, and she was anxious to prove her innocence. Many of Canterlot's royalty and powerful were already in court. Celestia, Luna, Mi Amore Cadenza, the elitists, Discord, and the jury, were all waiting for the clock to strike 1 PM. Chrysalis was practicing her defense in her head, mentally going over everything she needed to say. Twilight Sparkle would have been envious of Chrysalis' mental list. It rivaled anything Chrysalis had done before, and accounted for almost every possibility. Chrysalis wasn't the queen of the changelings for being an unprepared pushover. Except at that damned wedding.

Chrysalis was excited to say the least, the prospect of being able to go home filled her mind. Visions of Ponyville filled her head. pictures of her friends smiling warmly, the library, her house...

"GONG!" The doors slid open and Chrysalis walked inside, head held high. "Nothing held back" She told herself as Every pony arose from their seats. Quick glances left and right told her exactly what the spectators wanted. Her imprisoned for life, or worse. Chrysalis took her seat at the defense table. Up with the judge were just who she was expecting. The princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, some nobles she didn't know enough to care about/care about to know about. And that smug bastard, Discord. "Well, this court room just got a whole lot more interesting..."

"Chrysalis, you stand accused of foal napping, and murder. How do you plea?" She looked at the judge with a sly grin. "Not guilty."