I couldn't believe my ears! "W-what?"

"You're far stronger than me in my current state, and the entire hive couldn't hope to stand against you. My children don't know, because I didn't want their last moments to be spent in terror," she said looking up, now softly crying, "So I can only beg that you have mercy."

The words of Discord hung ominously in my head as I stood slowly, causing the Queen to slightly flinch. I walked around the small table and wrapped my arms around her, horrified that she thought I would exterminate them (or maybe by the fact that I might eventually have to).

She sat totally still, and silent for a moment. I had no idea what to say; I had never had to comfort someone like this before. So I went with the first thing that popped into my head. "I would never do that. I only wanted to be friends."

She wrapped her arms around me and miserably wept for a good five minutes. All I could do was hold her tighter and rub her back gently, being only moments from tears myself. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

Eventually she stopped crying, and let go. She sniffled as I settled back into my chair. "Are you okay?"

She merely nodded, sniffling. "I'm sorry for that, I didn't mean to have an outburst. It was rather undignified." She wiped her eyes while her horn flared, causing her bloodshot eyes to return to normal. She sniffled one last time, leaving no further trace of her tears.

"So, why did you think I was here to wipe out your race?" I asked, slowly recovering from that sudden emotional roller-coaster. There was no way she had heard my discussion with Discord.

She sighed and looked to the mural on the ceiling, a small frown on her face. "Long ago, when Mythas was still young, My people were very different. Originally, we looked quite similar to the depictions on this mural," she said, returning her gaze to me. I looked up, deciding to spend more time looking at it.

"We were loved by all, and spread peace wherever we went. That was our ordained purpose, and we were content with it for a time,” she said, taking a brief pause.

I looked to the start of the mural by the door. Much like on the tapestries (though in far better detail, thankfully), the mural showed the Progenitors laughing, playing, and drinking. Many appeared to be mid-sentence, and several other species were intermixed with them.

“As the centuries passed, however,” she said, sighing wistfully, “my ancestors discovered that we could benefit from our neighbors' unrest. We then started the first ever Fey War.”

My eyes shifted further down the hall, toward us. I could see the Progenitors talking with the Dragons and horned Pegasi. They seemed to be playing both sides against each-other, while they took food and money from the distracted combatants.

"As the Dragons attacked and slaughtered thousands of Alicorns, we raided their weakened cities and pillaged all their lands. The Goddess Dike, furious with our blasphemy, laid a terrible curse upon us."

She sighed, and I could hear her take a sip from her tea. I did the same, finding it to be cold. I looked back to her as I set the cup back in the saucer. "They twisted our shape and perverted us. Food could no longer sate our hunger, only love was enough. With our curse, the other Fey drove us from their lands, forcing us here. We have starved for centuries, slowly withering to nothing. The sands have reclaimed most of our city, and this is the only one that remains. All the others were swallowed, either by the dunes, or the Wyrms that live in the west."

"So, you thought the Gods sent me to finish you off?"

"Though it hasn't been for longer than I've been alive, the Gods have given similar punishments. I thought I'd acted impudently and angered them enough to send you," she said, placing the nearly full teacup back on its saucer.

"Well," I said, letting out a pleased sigh, "I think you'll be pleased to know that that isn't even remotely why I was sent here, Your Majesty."

"Then why were you sent here…?"

"Oh! Um, call me Samaritan, if it pleases you, Your Majesty."

She smiled, "There's no need to be so formal around me, Samaritan. You did just see me cry like a larva, after all. And please, you don’t have to use my title while it’s just us."

"Alright,” I said, smiling. I leaned back and cupped my hands behind my head, “I will if you do, Chrysalis. You can call me Steve then, too.”

She smiled, practically beaming. “Wonderful! But I believe we were discussing your purpose here.”

"Oh, uh, well I was sent here on a matter totally unrelated to you, actually."

"Really?" she said, leaning forward slightly, "Do tell."

"Well, my only directive, really, was to cause change."

"That's it? Change? Change what, exactly?" she said, shifting in her seat.

"Well, that's the thing; I’ve been given free reign to cause chaos, within reason."

"That's not exactly comforting," she said, gently pressing her hooves together in front of her face.

I nodded, “I probably take less comfort in it than you do, Chrysalis. I’m just an average Joe, and yet I’m probably gonna have to do some really bad shi— I mean, stuff.”

She nodded, her face turning grave. She placed her front hooves back in her seat, “I understand what you mean. As a Queen, I must do many unsavory things. Were I a lesser ‘Ling, I would have likely taken my own life in despair by now.”

Her answer was shocking, but not very surprising. A single city-state in a desert, whose population was globally reviled? Yeah, I could definitely have it worse.

“Looks like we both got a raw deal,” I said, reaching for my non-existent pocket to grab my missing cigarettes.

“Raw deal?” She said, cocking her head to the side.

I snapped my fingers, conjuring a pack of Camel Crushes. “Yeah, it’s a euphemism. It means we were both given bad lots.”

“You mean like drawing lots? I believe I understand, now,” she said, eyeing the cigarettes curiously.

I had to stop packing my cigarettes to think for a moment. “I actually forgot that that phrase was inspired by something so dark,” I said, taking out a cigarette and snapping the menthol ball in the filter.

“Yes,” she said, shaking her head, “Many things are forgotten with enough time.”

I nodded, offering her a cigarette, “Want one? I think I need one after this.”

She eyed it curiously before using her magic to levitate it. I heard her pop the menthol ball before I lit them both.

“Take a long drag, and then inhale it. It’ll calm your nerves.”

She did as I said, taking a few seconds to draw the smoke into her mouth before inhaling. She seemed to savor it, before slowly exhaling.

“Calming leaf and mint?” she said, taking another drag. “This is a hard thing to get here, even for me.” She released another cloud of smoke, smiling the entire time. “We usually partake in hænp, as it’s easier to grow here. This is far more mild, though, so I can appreciate it. Hænp is just far too intoxicating. ”

“Wait,” I said, almost forgetting that I might not get to have cigarettes in the future, “do you mean to tell me that you guys grow weed here?”

“We do indeed, if we’re both referring to the same thing. Though it is mostly used as medicine, paper, or cloth by us. We have precious little time to waste on narcotics here.”

“Huh,” I said, making an ashtray from nothing, “Who’d’ve thunk; Changeling weed.”

We sat in silence for a moment, contentedly savoring the smooth flavor of a menthol cigarette. I was, however, curious about something.

“So how did you know I was an agent of the gods, anyway?”

She looked back to me, drawn from her silent enjoyment of the delicacy. “I was performing a routine scan of a sensitive document when I felt a sudden surge of power far to the north. I had a forward scout relay information back to us, and he found you.”

“Huh,” I said, flicking more ash into the tray, “how much did you actually find out?”

“Very little,” she said, pausing to french inhale some of the menthol smoke, “but I suspect that you aren’t a regular satyr.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“Well,” she said, taking a final drag on the cigarette before snuffing it in the ashtray, “Probably the fact that they were wiped out by a divine plague around one thousand years ago.”

Damn, I hadn’t even considered that. Not that I had any information to go on, but still. “So what happens now? I don’t suppose you take too kindly to deceptions.”

She smirked, leaning forward slightly. “If that was the case, I’d have to give myself a slap on the wrist. We’ve been shapeshifters since the dawn of time— I can allow a crude disguise every once in a while. I wouldn’t suggest making a habit of it, however.”

“Right,” I said, silently processing the new information.

“That does beg the question, however,” she said, making a vague gesture with her front hoof, “What are you, really?”

I let out a small sigh, “It doesn’t matter what I truly am, really. I’m a singularly unique creature either way.”

“I suppose,” she said, airily. She looked off somewhere into the distance, seemingly lost in thought.

We sat in silence for a while, thinking on what the other had said. Eventually, I let out a curious hum, placing my burned-out butt next to hers in the tray. “Well, what do you want to do now, Y— Chrysalis? There’s still quite a bit of time left in the day.”

“Oh!” she said, startled from an apparent reverie. “Well, I must admit, I hadn’t actually thought this far in advance. I thought I would have been thoroughly crushed into paste by now.”

“Ah.”

“I had actually cleared my entire day, too.”

“I see.”

“Sorry.”

I released a sigh, thoroughly feeling like a piece of shit. “It’s not your fault— if anything, it’s mine.”

She nodded, extending her hoof across the table. “Then now it’s settled.”

I smirked and gingerly grasped the offered hoof, giving it a firm shake. She smiled gently and let out a small giggle.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some governing to do,” she said, standing up.

“Actually, Chrysalis, I’d like to steal just one more moment of your time, before I forget.”

“Oh?” she said, seating herself once more.

“I’d like to give you your present.”

Author's Note

Edited! (*speaks in bitch* Sentries, what do you see?!)

(also, if you don’t smoke already, don’t. It’s a bad habit )