A hand tapped endlessly at a brightly colored table, the owner of which was busy muttering to herself for the fifteenth consecutive minute. “Stupid Starlight Glimmer. Stupid Tree Of Harmony, stupid ponies.” And other words and phrases one might expect coming from an annoyed changeling queen who had her most recent evil plan sabotaged before it could reach fruition could be heard.

Though the most recent defeat wasn't quite as bad as losing her entire hive, it had been humiliating due to the fact that it had been an ingenious plan, which was dashed by a tree of all things. If the changeling queen had any other peers, or anyone whom she could yell at for her failure she would no doubt be doing just that instead of sitting there. Now however, she was currently disguised as a tall slim earth pony with a green coat and a teal mane, had no one save herself to vent her rage at. Except maybe the scone she was currently devouring with all the gusto one might imagine an enormous beast would use to tear apart it's prey.

Crumbs dribbled down her bright red shirt and landed on her fluorescent pink skirt, where they were brushed away, allowing the queen to continue to grumble silently without such a distraction. Though she usually hated spending bits on, scones, tea, and coffee shops in general, the queen was out of options, and with little else to do but stew and scheme she had chosen to fall back on the old plan of simply observing the ponies and gathering gossip.

Something that was hampered by her own anger, which came out in the fact that she was too pissed to bother listening to most of the conversations going on around her. Each time one of the ponies started speaking about something inconsequential, the queen would ultimately loop back to her own failures, ending with her becoming too angry to do anything but grumble to herself. A sip of her bland tea did little to ease her worries either, still, the bit of pity she had received when the waitress brought the tea and scones to her was a little tasty as the emotion was genuine. Which was just another thing undercut by her own rage, as she resented both the fact that she couldn't say no to the emotion, and that the emotion itself was pity of all things.

With a sigh, the changeling pushed her empty teacup aside and continued to drum her fingers along the edge of the table, staring out over the coffee shop while attempting to clear her mind enough to pay attention to what was going on. The booth behind her was heatedly discussing the possibility of replacing their petunias with lilies and arguing with surprising intensity that one was better than the other. To her right, Chrysalis could hear a more hushed conversation, one that initially drew her attention only for the queen to discover that the brother and sister were only planning on what to get their mother for her birthday.

This continued for nearly every bit of gossip she was able to acquire, which was considerable, but ultimately as useless as Chrysalis currently felt.

With a sigh, the queen placed her chin into her upturned hand and stared listlessly out the window. With nothing else to gain at this point, the queen usually began contemplating her newest, and grandest plot. Now however, with her most recent defeat weighing heavily on her shoulders and almost no resources to work with, the queen merely sighed and stared vacantly out the window.

She watched as a yellow furred and orange maned earth pony bearing an enormous armload of papers in one hand and a staple gun in the other trotted into the cafe and began to staple one of the sheets to a bulletin board near the entrance. The pony seemed to be in an even fouler mood then Chrysalis, as she stomped angrily into the cafe, and all but slammed the staple gun into the wall before stomping back out. Leaving behind the distinct taste of resentment, with a hint of guilt that lingered in the air.

“I wonder what that was about.” Chrysalis muttered idly only to growl to herself. Now you’re talking to yourself, get it together Chrysalis.

The queen turned back to her mindless staring, and continued to ignore the idle chatter that had grown strangely quiet. The queen brushed off the shift as a stupid pony thing, until she heard the name of her most hated enemy suddenly brought up.

“They say Twilight Sparkle is going to be studding again.” One hushed, female voice whispered.

“Really? I thought she retired after last year, what with her already having like a few thousand super gifted kids at this point.” Another voice responded in an equally hushed tone.

With her ears now perked up and her interest peaked, the queen leaned a little closer to her left where the conversation originated from.

“Nah, they are just getting more serious about security this year. I think Rarity was the one that started the whole she's retiring rumour to try and get less people to show up.” The first voice answered.

“Ahh that makes sense, I bet the princess is pretty tired of all these ponies coming to Ponyville just for her.” The second replied.

“Exactly. And though I agree with her in theory, I admit I have been tempted to ya know, take the plunge if it was her doing the plunging.” The first voice whispered awkwardly.

“You have the worst metaphors for sex that I’ve ever heard in my entire life.” The second remarked tiredly.

The changeling could feel an idea beginning to take root in the back of her mind, and with the air positively charged with lust, she stood up and trotted over to the poster, eager to inspect what had prompted the interesting conversation in the first place. The poster in question was easy to spot, as it was posted overtop of three other ones and was far brighter than most.

“The Festival Of Life…” Chrysalis murmured to herself.

As the queen read over the pamphlet, a crooked grin slowly grew across her face, and the idea that had taken root in her mind began to bear fruit. “Oh yes, this is perfect.” Chrysalis muttered.

With a yank, the poster was removed from the board and the changeling queen ignored the reprimanding tone of the waitress who complained about it's removal. Chrysalis had little time to deal with lesser beings, and trotted out the door and down the road, the pieces of information she had overheard clicking into place.

Suddenly the hushed conversation about a recent influx of magical prodigies made sense as well as the boisterous claim by another mare that her triplets were the most powerful and intelligent ponies for their age group. It was obvious in hindsight that these ponies were all speaking of Twilight’s progeny which Chrysalis guessed must have numbered close to ten thousand after the six years she had volunteered as a stud.

With such a potent bit of information, her plan to rebuild her hive suddenly had a foundation, one that would be built on the superior genetic stock of an alicorn princess. The mere idea of having hundreds or perhaps even thousands of changelings that were each as powerful as her former lieutenants sent a shiver down the queen’s spine. The thought of her new and more powerful swarm taking over Equestria was inviting on it's own, but the fact that same swarm would be fathered by one of the very rulers of that nation made Chrysalis grin wolfishly.

The irony was delicious, and even if they didn't all turn out as powerful as she hoped, the fact that Twilight’s spawn would spell the alicorn’s downfall left a pleasant taste in the queen’s mouth.

“Oh yes, this is going to be perfect, but first a few disguises.” Chrysalis muttered, the queen looking left and right before opening the Ponyville giveaway box and digging into the pile.

Pulling out a heap of clothes, Chrysalis grit her teeth and forced herself to close the bin and walk away, taking with her the donated clothes with a palpable taste of bitter resentment. She hated that she had to stoop to such lows, but for the sake of the plan unfolding in her mind she would need to brush aside the urge to throw the clothes back into that wretched box.

“These stupid ponies won't know what hit them.” Chrysalis muttered, the changeling queen making a beeline for the Everfree forest, and her temporary hideout.

The idea of conquering Equestria with her new swarm became so tantalizing to the queen that she couldn't resist laughing aloud at the mere thought. Her laughter growing louder as it became more evil, ballooning to the point that everyone who heard it shivered in fear and glanced nervously in all directions.

“It's good to be queen.” She whispered, a grin spreading across her face.

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